Out of Africa

It was a return to the Pridelands, and a wonderful set!  Just look also at all of the costumes Mommy helped assemble - including Daddy's to the right there.  I love that African shirt - I'm a narrator, as is Mrs. Jeneen, who is in the picture below seated on the steps.

It's a series that's distinctly West Africa, as above you can see the characters:  turtle, mouse, rhino, four gazelles, three zebras, an ostrich and of course the lion himself.  This morning's story was the first of four weeks, a story about harambe.  It was a busy morning, as we actually took "the show on the road," and performed for Madison and the other kindergarteners down the hall in KidPak Jr. as well.

Here's a shot of Marilyn the mouse, and of course our friend Lance as a lion.  Madison likes Lance a lot - as do all the other kids, of course.  You can see below Daddy in the distance, as he reads from the story.

Mrs. Karen does one of the more elaborate costumes, an ostrich.  She didn't have much of a role this morning, but that will change as the weeks go by.  Different animals have different parts, and in some cases, their mere presence is all the eye candy you need:

Mommy and Daddy put this one together largely - Mommy assembled all of the costumes, fixing them up and getting them organized and on the actors and actresses.  Meanwhile, Daddy did the graphics, music and  scripts.  Also the lighting.  Busy, busy, busy - but it came out very well, and the kids were treated to a story from the Serengeti this morning - four times!

After services, we were all rather hungry - especially Madison.  So we decided to treat ourselves to a visit to the Texas Roadhouse.  Madison kept saying she wanted to go to Texas, especially after she remembered they had all kinds of peanuts there.  She loves the peanuts, and when we arrived, she was scarfing them down, one after another.  Fortunately, it takes time to shell them, so there were some breaks in between.  But she was hard at work until the real orders came!

We got home, where Mommy and Daddy were pretty tired.  Madison, of course, was quite spirited!  Our compromise was the next part of the "Lion King" series, which was the movie, "The Lion King 1 1/2."

This is actually a pretty funny movie, and it's made more fun because of the Hidden Mickeys all throughout.  We had fun hitting the pause button frequently when one person would spot a Hidden Mickey, and wait for the other two to spot it.  Madison got a few before we did - she's got an eagle eye for those things!  Speaking of which, did you catch the Hidden Mickey in the photo above?

After the movie, we played a few board games together:  Madison chose the Monorail game a few times, and after that we played Disney Princess Checkers.  She's still learning how to play well, and has her moments of wisdom - but for now, Daddy's the ancient master of checkers, training her young padawan in all the ways of checkers.  Formerly, our only place of learning was at Cracker Barrel, where every single time we drop by to eat - we play a game of checkers as well.  The weather is too cold outside now, but it'll be great to play a game or two outside on their front porch area.

Speaking of young padawans, this weekend marked the end of season five of the Clone Wars.  It's been a little too much for Madison to watch, so that's more of a Mommy-Daddy thing.  Anyway, the story of this grand finale featured a predictable and yet still completely baffling choice of a traitor in the Clone Wars.  The only thing we didn't see coming in this four-part story was our favorite jedi padawan leaving the jedi order at the end.  Still not entirely sure what to think there, but we're big Star Wars fans, so I suppose we'll endure.  We're still thinking about going down for "Star Wars Days" in May.  At the very least, we have a Star Wars Princess paper doll book to give Madison on May 4th.

Tonight we went to bed earlier, all of us pretty tired from the weekend of setting up all things related to Pridelands.  But before bed, Daddy told one more story.  It was basically the skit we did this morning, where Daddy wanted to reinforce what we learned at service.  As the sun sets on the Pridelands here once more, here again is that story Daddy retold, all in rhyme (and somewhat modified for print here).

As each day we watch another sunrise 

a grateful heart understands   

We give thanks for what we see with our own eyes,

just like the animals do in the Pridelands.

Gazelles dance ‘cross the land as they were made to

Zebras zip about, whinny and neigh!

The ostrich cranes her neck at the remarkable view

As the slow turtle there makes his own way.

There are more creatures out here on the Pridelands

All connected in a circle:  a ring!

As the animals pound their feet – and you clap your hands…

Let us all now welcome …the king!

Now each of you wait – for this isn’t right.

Hold on for a moment everyone.

That isn’t the king up there standing in the light

It’s the prince!  Yes, it’s the king’s son!

He’s a young lion, who has some learning to do

From his Father, each lesson to impart

But for now, with this “king” thing, he is somewhat new.

What I mean is – he’s not terribly smart!

LION:  Hey!  I heard that!

Still the animals bowed and respected

And they went about doing their thing

But then something completely unexpected

Happened then to the soon-to-be-king!

Standing there was the tiniest of mice

Right up to the lion she did walk

To say he was surprised I think would suffice

 LION:  Hey!  There’s a mouse here up on my rock!

This angered the lion quite immensely

He let out a deafening roar!

He looked at the mouse quite intensely

 LION:    I will eat you right now for sure!

But the mouse said something amusing

 MOUSE:  The word harambe means we are one

 But this was a thought quite confusing

In fact, the lion laughed at that one!

What the mouse meant is we are all connected

Everyone has value – and is a part

Nobody should ever be rejected

At this the lion showed a little heart

LION:  You amuse me you strange little creature

Such an odd talk you should now give

You act like a small little teacher.

You make me laugh, so I shall let you live!

So the two went their own separate ways

And life on the Pridelands went by

The hours, they turned into days

But then the animals heard a strange cry!

The animals gasped when they saw the prince

The lion was trapped in a net!

 He never looked more helpless before or since,

As he struggled in a poachers’ threat.

Who could help this poor king as he battled?

The fire of danger, who could it douse?

They were all quite surprised, and quite rattled

When out from the shadows stepped…a mouse?

Yes, the ropes were strong, tied up in a wad.

No animal could break them with might

But the mouse was given a gift by God

And so she then helped him out of his plight.

You see, the mouse is blessed with very small teeth

 Which she used to free the mighty cat

 When no one else could, the mouse did what was good

 MOUSE:  There now!  What do you think of that?

So the lion realized that wonderful day

As he enjoyed his new freedom under the sun

That harambe is a word that we all should say

That working together, we are one!

The point is that we all have some worth

We should each be a friend to those in need

Jesus paid a price for all, when he came here to earth

So instead do something nice:  a kind deed!

So that concludes our little animal tale

We hope you learned a lesson or two

So join us next time as we follow a zebra’s trail

Until then…our story …is through.