new circus in town

We did an Easter Egg hunt at Grandma Joy's this evening & while listening to Gma Joy gives instructions on the number of eggs for each child to find, Jacob clapped his hand over his mouth & Noel immediately copied. These two are so funny together - they adore one another & play really well....I think so much of it is that Jacob finally has someone younger than him that looks up to him...he doesn't let a chance go by to make Noel laugh, chase her and do things that she'll copy. They are quite the pair!

After the egg hunt we had a light-dinner & then we were back outside for relay races (it was definitely chilly, but we started to move up & warm up rather quickly. My mom has an amazing backyard that my sister Brooke and Dad designed & put in years ago (it was probably at least 12-13 years ago?).  It has an old English-style design which was well used to have us all on different courses for the race. The kids had a blast, and I laughed more than I did the group any good.

The last relay we were supposed to square off to see which team could hula-hoop for as long as possible. I don't know how long we actually did that exact activity - however the side shows were hilarious and much more fun! We stood in a circle and threw or rolled the hula-hoop to the person across from us. Jacob learned how to turn the hoop on his arm, as he was getting rather frustrated with the traditional hip version.

The kiddos were taking the hula-hoops and throwing them extremely high and they started to go close to the fence separating our yard from the neighbor. Eventually, a hoop went over and after a few moments deliberation on what to do, Bryson (Sr.) stood back and took a run to scale the 8 foot wall. Once on top, he lowered himself over the side & was going to let go when I mentioned to him that I thought the neighbor's had a bulldog. His face popped back up over the fence. I told him I wasn't sure on the type of dog, but they definitely had a dog. He brought his upper half of his body up, and then his whole body was finally resting on the fence. He told us that he wasn't afraid of a possible dog - he was the one that made the choice to try to get the hula-hoop this new way. The timing and delivery of the line was perfect for the moment - it's hard to recreate how funny it was...but he did lean his body down and with his arm grabbed the missing hula-hoop and then after doing a circus wall routine - was back down on the ground.  If we ever need to act out Samuel the Lamanite we know where to go...and who will be cast as Samuel :) 

Oh, those hula-hoops provided the best entertainment of the evening! We were probably out there for at least a 1/2 hour just playing with those, and fine tuning our skills in case as a family we want to join a circus. Or maybe we'll create our own circus...although I think we are already a certain type of circus most days :)

We definitely look forward to what we've decided Grandma Joy's Easter Games will definitely be an annual treat now that we are in the area to enjoy with family!