Rise of the Apes

MADISON'S BOOK CLUB

Today's entry for Madison's Book Club is a small little book called "Goodnight, Gorilla." This story features a mischievous little monkey who follows around the night guard at the zoo. At each stop, this naughty monkey uses the guards keys to release a new animal, which obviously leads up to a funny ending. Madison likes this book, pointing out the "naughty monkey." We're not going to correct her quite yet (by telling her it's a gorilla). After all, we're thrilled she's pointing out and naming all the animals - not to mention she likes the little monkey.

This summer, there's

another "Planet of the Apes" movie due out called "Rise of the Apes." This is one of the summer movies Mommy and Daddy are looking forward to, although it looks a bit darker and less campy than the previous installments. In fact, it seems oddly out of place when put it context with the other movies, although it is supposed to take place before the events of the very first one. Still, we'll probably go see it - though certainly not with Madison. It may be tacky, but Mommy and Daddy like these monkey movies. A few years ago, Mommy gave Daddy one of the ultimate Valentine's Day gifts: the entire "Planet of the Apes" series on DVD. I'd never seen them, so we had a Apefest, and spent a week watching them back to back. We are certainly in the minority on this, but even as Planet of the Apes fans, we enjoyed the Tim Burton vision for the series as well. It'll be a long, long time before Madison sees any of the movies, and even then, I'm not sure she'll "get it."

Just remembered something: Madison's Uncle Dave also likes the series - we threw him a Planet of the Apes party one year. Everyone had on monkey masks, and we had the house decorated with bananas, stuffed monkeys and action figures. Obviously, we got him the box set as well. The party was hilarious - and fun. Yes, Madison, your parents can get quite weird sometimes.

Tonight was a first dress rehearsal for AD33. It turned out pretty good, although exhausting for Mommy. Tomorrow will be a day to recover somewhat, although there's still plenty of work to be done. Madison hung out with everyone today at church and was exposed to her first iPad. She played with that thing all night long during practice, pressing numbers and letters and continuing her fascination with learning. We just might have to get her one of these things.

It was a long day, and it's looking like it'll be a long week too. But now it's time for bed - it's pretty late.

Goodnight, Gorilla!