More flying toddlers and Ringling!

Our trapeze group has really enjoyed having a little one around the rig, as you can tell by all the pictures I have of little Rayn. You won't ever see her face on here though, as they don't show her face on the internet. Taeko and Rayn stayed for the week while Ryan went back to Vegas to work, and then he'll be back to go to Ringling with us. 

The belt she's been using was a makeshift set up using a safety belt along with some ropes that were fashioned into a harness, but George got her a new harness that could be combined with the best. 

It was funny to watch all of the team working together to try to figure out the best way to get this on her properly for the first time. How many people does it take to put a harness on a toddler? 6 apparently. 

Since Ryan wasn't here, she let Coconut try to catch her! "You catch me Coconut?" Yes, I have Rayn call me by my camp name--it's way more fun than Erica. Of cousre, she didn't actually let go of the bar, so I didn't catch her. Probably a good thing though, I'm sure Ryan wants to be the first one to catch his girl. It's so fun to see her big, happy face swinging through the air!

The other fun thing happening this week is that Ringling is back in town. We all went two years ago too, so it'll be great to see the act again. Our crew is planning to go Saturday, but since Ryan can only be in town for today's show, a few of us decided to go twice. 

Little Rayn has watched more circus performances than most, as she spent nearly a full year of her life on tour with her momma in Germany. There are some cute videos of her standing in the audience, mimicking the dances the performers are doing in the ring. 

We know quite a few of the performers in the trapeze act, and of course, Ryan knows them all. After the show, we got to say hi and take a picture before the security team finally managed to get us to leave. Afterwards, a few of us went out for drinks and late dinner with some of the trapeze team. It was great! Earlier this week, we also hosted a bunch of the Ringling cast and crew out at George's. We had food and they got to fly. It was mostly non-trapeze people flying, but it was a fun chance for some others to get to fly. 

A couple days later, we did it all again! Dave and Tyler joined me this time. I think Tyler goes to things like this partially for the production value. He was pretty impressed by the rigging systems that go into making this happen. Sounds like Ringling is struggling a bit financially, so they are cutting their season short and may not be coming back for awhile. That's sad to hear, it' is really a great show. 

StuCo goes to Disney

Ava has an exciting year ahead of her as a senior, and as senior class president. I am so proud of her for taking on this leadership role, and for doing all the things I've spent my career encouraging college students to do. She has also had a very busy summer, working full time as a lifeguard and synchronized swim instructor. Between work, seeing friends and spending time with the boyfriend, she is not home much! She did get one mini-vacation though, a Student Council trip to Disneyland. In addition to the fun of Disney, they were participating in a Disney Leadership Institute for a couple days. If you think these Minnie ears look familiar, they're from her Halloween costume when she was three. 

I don't have much to say about any of these pictures, which were all borrowed from her Instagram. 

They had a long day at the park! I think they arrived early afternoon and then stayed until the park closed. There was leadership training mixed in with fun time at the park. 

These were some funny photos from a couple of the rides they went on. They're all doing the same gesture in this one. 

This is their entire group on the Guardians of the Galaxy ride. That's Ava in the front row in the middle.

Day two and they're all in their StuCo shirts. This time she's wearing the Minnie ears she got when we went to Disneyland as a family in 2022. 

I love that she's getting to have all of these great experiences with Jodi. These two have been friends for a very long time, and it's great that they're finishing off high school together. 

Before leaving Cali, they got to spend a little time at the beach taking photos (they weren't allowed to swim), and then they had lunch at a restaurant on the pier before heading home. 

Their time on the bus was for planning some of their activities and themes for the year. They picked Homecoming themes and spirit days, as well as some other planning for their year as student council leaders. There is a lot of responsibilities for this group, and some extra stuff just because Mesa has so many strong traditions that the StuCo upholds each year. It's going to be a great one! 

The other thing Ava has going on right now is her Lifeguard Olympics. All throughout the summer, the Mesa pools are competing against each other for LGO, but there is a final event after all the kids competitions are over. Each pool competes in a couple different events, bu the big finale is the synchronized swim competition. Ava and her co-coach taught all the lifeguards at her pool a routine using music from Lion King (each pool was assigned a different musical). It was so fun to watch all of their routines, they were so creative with their costumes and their moves. It's pretty impressive that they could teach synchro to non-synchro people and have it turn out that good! Here are some pictures Ava posted from LGO. Jodi's pool was doing their routine to Greece, and she was playing Sandy. These girls had so much fun! I think lifeguarding has to be one of the best jobs for a teen out here. It's great pay, reasonable work, and so many fun people. I loved being a lifeguard, but it looks even more fun now. She's living her best life this summer! I'm so proud of her. 

First gig for the RelayArt trailer

The trailer is ready for business! Tyler and his RelayArt team have their first big job this weekend, and the first time their completed broadcast trailer will be put to use. Awhile back, they were given the contract to live stream the championship games for NABI, which is the Native America Basketball Invitational. It's a tournament for high school boys and girls basketball from various Indigenous communities from around the country (there might also be some international teams). It was originally going to be played at the Phx Suns arena, but due to a scheduling conflict it'll be held at Phoenix College. It's a big deal! Tyler has been working very hard in the recent weeks working primarily on the graphics package that would be used during the stream, creating something unique that would fit with the event. This is the opening sequence he came up with. I think it's so cool, especially the textures he created.  For extra support, he flew his buddy David out from Austin TX (he was Tyler's partner for the years of VRML Con) to help with aspects of the event and he was a great help, troubleshooting a pretty major issue at the beginning of the boys game. Here is a look at the inside of the completed trailer. Pretty impressive, right? A lot of hard work went into making this happen, and now it's time to put it to the test. 

Here are a couple screen shots of Tyler's graphics when they were shared. You can see they all have this similar vibe, which matches the player uniforms. He used that as his inspiration when making his designs. This photo on the right is actually from a drone shot that ran during various breaks in the programming. My friend Heather works at PC, and she was impressed when she found out that Tyler's team got this gig. She said PC has been hosting it for years, and that it's a big deal! Tyler would say there were a few issues that the people from NABI weren't happy with, so he wasn't completely satisfied with how it went (he rarely is though). From my perspective watching on tv, I thought it mostly went well. The biggest issue was that during the boys game, for the first 10 minutes or so, the scoreboard had the wrong team name for each color jersey, so the the points weren't lining up. In Tyler's defense, they were given to him that way, and once they noticed, David was able to correct it quickly. He said that if David wasn't there, it would have taken much longer. They got paid pretty well for this job, and it was their first big event using this set up. We are so proud of Tyler and his business partner for all they've done to get their business to this level. Football season will be here soon, which will include a game every Thursday night on channel 7 (the CW), and Red Mountain games on Friday nights, streamed on YouTube. Tyler is scaling those RM games back quite a bit and running them mostly on his own. Should be a very busy fall! 

Sunsets and flying toddlers

Our coach visits usually slow down in the summer months, but our Vegas coaches don't mind the heat, so we've been lucky to have company several times despite the heat. The monsoon sunsets have been making the evening heat worth it lately, with a couple of really phenomenal appearances. 

Ryan and his family spent 3 months performing in a circus in Germany, and recently came back to town. His wife performed with that same circus for almost an entire year, and had Rayn with her, so we didn't see their cutie little girl much. It's crazy to see how much she's grown up! She'll be 3 in September, and we all love having her around. She has basically grown up with us, thanks to their frequent visits. She knows all our names and after living with a circus for a 1/3 of her life, she is not shy around anyone. She also loves to fly! Today was the first time Ryan tried catching her, so he was giving her a little pep talk and some instructions. The biggest challenge is for her to let go when he says hep, as she just wants to keep swinging back and forth as long as she can hang on--which is a surprisingly long time! How cute is she with her little harness, pig tails and grips on her hands?! I have a video of this interaction too, and it's the cutest thing--ends with a double fist bump of encouragement from Dad. 

She has no fear! She didn't want to wait for anyone to get behind her to climb the ladder. Don't worry, she's connected to a safety line while she climbs, and also has an adult climbing up behind her every time. 

She swung back and forth, kicked her legs up into some different positions, and giggled the whole time...but she did not let go with Dad said hep. That will probably take awhile to figure out, but she loves to fly, and that's a good start! It'll be so fun to watch this little girl on her circus journey! We all really enjoy having her around. 

High fives all around! 

Once Rayn was done, it was our turn to fly. It was a beautiful night! 

Weekend photo dump

Here are some highlights from the weekend. I love having Fridays off in the summer, it makes the weekend feel so much longer! It's amazing what a difference one extra day makes. We really should have 3 day weekends year around. I think it would make for much happier employees. It was Nadia's birthday a couple days ago, so she and I went out for brunch on Friday morning. We went to the same place she took me for my birthday because I loved the free cinnamon roll they give you with a birthday sparkler. 

Before brunch, Dave and I got in a quick gym session, so that made the cinnamon roll and mimosa all the more delicious.

Saturdays are for flying, so that's how the morning started. I've been oddly interested in World Cup soccer this year, so we've watched quite a few games. I've had them on during the day at work (it's pretty quiet on campus, so I just work from my student lounge with soccer on the TV). Ava's boyfriend plays varsity soccer, so we told him we needed to watch a few games with him so he can explain the rules I don't understand. Norway has been the team I'm cheering for the most (me and everyone else who just learned Erling Haaland exists), so Aidan came over to watch that game. Well, "watch" the game may be a bit inaccurate....

Ali came to town on Sunday, and it was so great to see her! Ashley, Ali and I met for dinner at a great restaurant in Tempe and had a lovely time catching up. Ali moved to Vegas at the beginning of the year and she is missed very much! It'll be nice to have her in town with me for a few days. 

I love that Ashley and I have gotten so much closer in the recent months. She's been a member of our trapeze group for years, but it's only been since this year that we've gotten closer. Ali was a big part of that--I think we bonded over missing her. 

Girls nights are good for the soul. 

We spent Tuesday evening together too. We doordashed Greek food and drank some delicious wine together while we chatted for hours. Ali will be back in September, and hopefully we'll find a time to make it up to Vegas to visit too. It was a nice weekend filled with time with good friends! 

First coach visit with the new net

Perfect timing, we had Katie and Petter visiting right after the new net went up. That is the coaching dream team right there--two of the best in the world and they're here to coach us! Shay came to visit too! She's one of the newest members of our group, and our resident PT (who we met because Jan had to go to PT). Shay flew with us for the first half of this year, but then had to have knee surgery and will be out for awhile. It was great to have her visit though! 

Super fun night with this dream team! 

In case you're missing the trapeze videos, here is a video of my returning a layout with Petter. I haven't thrown many of these lately, especially to catch, since they tend to irritate my shoulder. But, for now at least, this one felt great! Petter makes it feel easy.