Avalon's Army of Angels
Our
Journey:
Thursday March 19, 2010
Miracles and Magic fundraiser at Martini Park
The following entry is a description of our evening at the Martini Park
fundraiser.  I never posted about this on Avalon's CB site.  There are
lots of pictures after the text.  Some of the pics were taken by me,
some by the AKA professional photographer, Mark Williams.
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Getting in the limo for our sample ride.  The kids loved it!
Martini Park is the restaurant we filmed in for the Thursday morning news segment, and where the M
& M fundraiser was held.  It's swanky, hip, and so far beyond me it's humorous!  
This is the section we were seated in, around the L side of this picture, behind the large column you
see.  The little ones spent the entire night back there, snacking safe in the red leather booth seats.    
Meanwhile, this big person tried to stand on the "chair" side of the tables, to no avail.  People
couldn't fit through if I dared to try to sit.  Oh well, at least the little ones weren't getting squished!
Anam spent his night eating.  Then eating some more...then um, eating.  Oh, and he collected sparkly
confetti from a few tables.  He liked "Lady Gaga" so much - he was willing to share some with her.
My girls were gorgeous!  Funny enough, they were all spiffy on a budget.  One dress was a
hand-me-down and two of them (plus shoes) came from a children's resale shop.  They looked like a
million bucks for under $30!  Hah!!  
The bartenders were a ton of fun - putting on a nearly continuous show to compliment the slight of
hand magic all over the venue.  Behind this particular bartender was the stage Avalon stepped up on.  
Before one round of "drink auctions", Jon Petz (in the red shirt) introduced Avalon as the featured
M& M child of the year.  He gave a brief bio for Avalon.  She stepped onto the stage to thunderous
applause...and LOVED every second of the attention!
Best thing we can do with very little hair is to pull it up and pretend it's in a bun!  Besides, it shows
off those new earrings.  :-D
The main entertainment for the event were slight of hand magicians.  Joshua Jay (above) is
world-reknown, and was the "headliner" for the evening, doing most of his work in a private, closed
off area.  His up close slight-of-hand is remarkable!  "Amazing Aaron" (below)  is a local friend of
Jon's.  He does it for the pure love of magic and kids.  He stayed at his table, and did various
illusions for people who wandered by.
The other two magicians wandered through the crowd, pausing at individual tables to entertain guests.
 As you can see in the pictures below, our kids thought it was amazing.  
There was a really large crowd at the fundraiser.  Yay!
for A Kid Again, boo for trying to move around much
with little people.  Realistically though, it's an over 21
event, no one had "little people" on their radar.  

In addition to the magicians and fun bartenders, there
were plenty of other things to keep the guests busy.  
There were complimentary limo rides around the
shopping area, a photo booth to be silly in, and
celebrity impersonators to have fun with!

We were privileged to share our evening with "Lady
Gaga" and "Elvis".  They wandered around the room,
posing for pictures, and interacting with guests.  Our
kids took complete advantage of the situation, inviting
them to ride with us in the limo.  Afterward, they
danced their tails off with Lady Gaga, and enjoyed the
royal treatment from the sweetest Elvis you can
imagine.  I'm absolutely positive I would prefer "our"
Gaga and Elvis to the real things!  
Yeah, yeah...there are LOTS of pictures of the dancing.  Tough toenails!  The girls enjoyed themselves
SOOOO MUCH, I couldn't stop snapping.  Avalon was bashful at first, and nearly didn't dance.  But,
Lady Gaga smiled, encouraged, and convinced a little girl to enjoy a special moment.  It's one of those
lifetime memories for me.  The pure Joy of childhood - dancing as if no one is looking.  We can all use
to remember that now and again.  

Not terribly long after this dance, Elvis stopped the girls and gave them some of his infamous
"scarves".  The girls not only wore them the rest of the night, they hang in treasured places on their
bunk bed.  Elvis had the exact effect on them, that the real one did on many a woman, young or old.  
They were utterly smitten.  

As we headed out for the night, we stopped to take these last few pictures.  Anam may have eaten his
way through the night, but darn it if he doesn't win the cute award!