The Circus Ventures Out

After having spent a lot of time close to home, letting Daddy recuperate, we finally decided to venture out this week. We knew we couldn't handle a big excursion, since Daddy's getting better but still tires quickly. Fortunately for us, our town cooperates with twice-monthly "Thursday Night Live," very near our home! The city closes Mountain View's equivalent of Main Street to all vehicular traffic, and the street fills with pedestrians and music and vendors and fun.

This week featured a classic car showcase. Kathleen was impressed. She delighted in pointing out cars that looked like the ones in Disney's Cars.

We got there early (before the "real" people) and stopped in a Thai restaurant for dinner. We all love Thai food! We discovered that Madeline even loves the lemongrass soup we favor. She couldn't get enough of it! She and Kathleen also ate healthy portions of sticky rice and pad thai. We had a lovely, fairly leisurely dinner. (Or at least as leisurely as dinner can be with three littles.) John David cooperated by sleeping in the Beco for most of the meal, waking only to demand his own food.

The girls have been asking for flowers for the dinner table lately. (They were inspired by the flowers on the dinner table in David Gets in Trouble. Fortunately, they haven't picked up on the fact that David is belching on that page -- just that he says, "Excuse me.") So, after dinner we meandered down the street to flower-seller's. The girls were very serious about their floral purchases.

A mariachi band was playing outside a Mexican restaurant. As soon as she heard the trumpet, Madeline started dancing. She definitely has her own style.

There were a number of small musical groups playing along the street. But there was also a "featured" band, playing on a stage. People brought folding chairs and just camped out in the street, enjoying the free concert. Children gathered right in front of the stage, dancing. We were not about to be left out of that!

Daddy danced with his girls.

And danced some more.

And danced some more!

Indy got some Daddy-time, too. Aren't they handsome boys?

Watching Daddy dance with his girls in the crowd and snuggle with his boy in the fading daylight made Mama's heart and eyes brim. How blessed we are to be all together, to be here, to love one another so well...

In true circus fashion, we topped off the evening with -- what else? -- ice cream. Well, the girls called it ice cream. But it was actually gelato! That made Mama particularly happy and only the tiniest bit nostalgic for Italy. How could she miss Italy when she has this, here?

Full of gelato, we headed home and straight to bed! We're already anticipating the next "Thursday Night Live" in two weeks...