Solstice Festival

Beaching at Cabo Fish Taco Temporary Beach

Alright, I can't help dropping a few pics of the Solstice Festival. I blogged about this last year and, I think, the year before, so I don't want to be redundant with description. But it was a pretty good time, as always. 

Longest-Day Tiki-lamps.

 Both kids enjoyed the amusement park rides this year. Adele probably wasn't technically tall enough for either of these, but they didn't seem all that fussed about exactitude.

Adele's favorite, hands-down.

All by himself! Be amazed.

Don't you think these Scoobys are kind of terrifying?

A living statue. He'd come to life at intervals and play guitar.

Balancing a sword. Like you do.

Bellydancing; seemed appropriate.

Our yearly picture with the Solstice Goat.

More waterballoon wars!

 Okay this kid-rejunivation station was amazing. Complete with water table, snacks, changing table, places to sit, opportunity to talk with doula AND sleep consultant...

 ... and this breastfeeding throne. :-)

We got a good hour or more out of the Big Beach on Saturday.

We even had a supermoon that weekend. It was delightfully pagan.

With so much darkness in our lives, among those we love, it's important, I think, to soak up as much light as possible.

"Because of you I will always go to Memphis"

I took my first trip away from the kids last weekend. Previously, I had spent one night away from Miles, once. Anne and I ventured south to visit our dear friends who have been enduring just about everything the world can dump on a family lately. We weren't sure exactly where they were, or where we'd be staying. But, we had reason to believe we all would be received. ;-)

Guy hauling an ark in TN. Like you do. 

Veronica is my Starbucks name. 

Melissa took us out for brunch at Bronte's, the cutest literary cafe in a bookstore!

And afterward, we checked out House of Mews, a whimsical cat shelter that really resembles a cat bed and breakfast. Those are some happy & well-loved strays!

Next, we hit up Stax Records, and the museum commemorating Memphis motown/soul. Artists who recorded with Stax include Al Green, Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Isaac Hayes, and countless others.

Tribute to the one-room church gospel roots of the sound.

Carla Thomas' dress was among the relics.

How many museums have disco dance floors? How many??

Melissa cuts loose.

Baby's first disco

Nod to Dr. King and the effects of his death.

Wandered through the studio to see an actual recording going on! There's a music academy for local kids next door. 

Isaac Hayes' car.

Please excuse the poor quality of my ipod touch snapshots. Please also excuse the fact I may not be blogging for a couple weeks. We are moving, you see, and everything is in chaos and confusion. On Monday we do most of the moving, and then next Friday the 5th we're planning to leave for a 1-month sojourn to NY and MD. We'll be with Leah, with Dad, with Grandparents, and visiting all sorts of beloveds. Please keep us all in your prayers, especially our friends the Hatchers, who are in mourning.

Into your hands, O God, we commend ourselves and all for whom we pray, trusting in your abundant mercy, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

The Muppets Leave Las Vegas (Nearly) As They Left It. (Part 2)

So, a word about the desert heat. I absolutely loved it! People told me, of course, that dry heat is completely different from coastal, humid heat. But trying to imagine a different kind of hot was like trying to imagine a different kind of color. I just couldn't conceive of how 100 degrees could feel like anything other than 100 degrees: miserable. But, surprise! It felt like a delightful heat bath. I remembered warnings I'd read against neglecting to hydrate and use sunscreen because I felt so comfortable, and was careful to do both. But the desert is lovely, much to my surprise! I'd be very happy to go back one day. It felt kind of odd, though. The lack of grass, mosquitos, and clouds made it feel we were actually in some sort of biodome, or on a movie set. Like, that can't really be outdoors. With no grass, no earthy smell, no clouds, and no shrubs, it was occasionally eerie. But mostly, I loved it. Especially the dry, comfortable mornings!

Saturday was The Main Event: Michaela's wedding! The event happened here, at Vegas Weddings' main chapel:

However, because the wedding was a package deal, the photographer came with the package and that meant: no unofficial pictures allowed! Which means we'll have to wait until the newlyweds are able to share their pictures to show you any of beautiful Tita's dress, or Marshall's amazing lei. But I can show you our family:

Wedding colors were black and pink. LBD FTW!

I think she's so beautiful.

Family shot... come on, Miles!

That's better.

This one cracks me up.

Necessary selfie as we drive the strip. Wheee!

He's smiling because both the kids are asleep in the back seat.

Post wedding we took a drive on the New Strip, post 80s:

One of the DOZENS of wedding chapels we saw.

It was one of the few hideous buildings.

All the hotels had some cute theme or other. It was pretty much Disney World for adults:

Pirate Hotel! Treasure Island.

The Venetian.

Casino Royale

Caesar's Palace, of course!

Paris.

Excalibur.

The Luxor, and attendant Sphinx.

The historic sign!

Historic sign with Vegas Bride! Accessories sold separately.

For dinner, we made a pilgrimage to a west coast burger place that Jon remembers fondly from childhood in California:

Unfortunately, it disappointed Jon, who feels it would have been better to have kept on remembering it fondly.

4am PST (which was 7am EST but we had adjusted by now), we arose and put our children and our 7,891 bags into the rental car. Dawn is truly gorgeous in the desert.

I know it's blurry, but I like it somehow.

From the rental car agency to the shuttle, from the shuttle to the main terminal to check 2 bags. Security was its usual nightmare. This time my hands sounded some sort of alarm. HANDS! They wipe down your hands with something and then you either get to pass through and be reunited with your family, or they tell you your hands fail and ask sternly if you used any lotion today. I admitted to using the hotel lotion and the TSA woman said, "yeah, that seems to happen a lot, that the hotel lotions make the sensors go off." What the WHAT?? the HOTEL lotion? why are the hotels and the airports not working together? I have dark conspiracy theories.

Anyway, after my private pat-down, I was able to rejoin my worried children and remaining luggage and we hauled ourselves onto a train to the gate, and from the gate, FINALLY, we got to board our plane. We even got to have a little coffee and a couple of croissants!

This trip had no layover. Hoorah! So we got to enjoy the cloudless views of the desert, of Hoover Dam, and, I'm pretty sure, The Grand Canyon?

Before we hit the less spectacular part of the trip, we were encased in clouds. The kids enjoyed a nap, and we enjoyed a respite- I even got to read for a while!- before we did it again, in reverse, picking up the luggage, our car, and driving the last 4 hours back to our beloved Blue Ridge mountains.

As G. K. Chesterton wrote, "An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." I am happy to report that, on balance, what we had was an adventure. I have positive memories of travel, I have confidence that we can fly with our kids, and I have quite a lot of lovely pictures, a mug, a snow globe, and a glitter-encrusted postcard. All of which is exactly what I hoped I'd bring back.