Take the Cannoli

Madison had her first cannolo today, which she enjoyed quite a bit - as did everyone else.  Daddy got a bunch of cannoli for the skits.  Cannoli is apparently the plural for cannolo.  You learn something every day, eh?

Anyway, it was a full day with a fun skit in the morning - we had a gangster skit, because apparently the Gangster Tribe wanted in on the "Tribes" action.  There were Gladiators, Vikings, Pirates, Cowboys, Ninjas, Superheroes and Luchadors - but no Gangsters.  They were quite upset about this:

KidPak Adventures:  Tribes

Fuh-get-about-it!

CUE TRACK:  6 Phil Steals the Money

CUE SLIDE:  “TRIBES LOGO”

FADE LIGHTS UP

KAREN, TONY, LANCE and RICO walk in STAGE RIGHT, dressed as gangsters.

KAREN:  “So what kind of tip did you leave at the pizza joint?”

RICO:  “A.C. says ten percent.”

KAREN:  “Not bad.  Hey, you want to hear a joke about the pizza?”

TONY: “Sure.”

KAREN:  “Fuh-get-about-it, it’s too cheesy.”

LANCE, TONY and RICO laugh.

KAREN:  “You know what that waiter said when I asked him if our pizza would be long?”

LANCE, RICO and TONY shrug.

KAREN: “He said it won’t be long.  It’ll be round!”

LANCE, RICO and TONY laugh

LANCE: “You crack me up.  Really funny.”

KAREN:  “What do you mean I’m funny?”

LANCE attempts to explain, as tone changes slightly.

LANCE:  “Just… you know.  It’s funny.  The way you tell the joke and everything.”

KAREN:  “Funny how?  I mean, what’s funny about it?”

TONY tries to explain.

TONY: “Karen, look, you got it all wrong.”

KAREN:  “No, Anthony.  He’s a big boy.  He knows what he said.  What’d you say?  Funny… how?”

CUT TRACK DOWN A BIT

LANCE:  “You’re just…”

KAREN:  “What?  Just what?”

LANCE shakes his head back and forth, sort of stunned, as KAREN gets intense.

KAREN: “Let me understand this.  Maybe it’s me.   You think I’m funny.  Like a clown?  What, you think I’m here to amuse you?  Is that what it is?”

KAREN stares down LANCE who stares back, stunned, until it sinks in that she’s playing a joke on him.  He breaks out laughing.

LANCE:  “Fuh-get-about-it!”

BRING AUDIO BACK UP AGAIN

TONY, RICO and KAREN start laughing.

KAREN:  “I got you good!”

RICO:  “Ya filthy animal!”

RICO, KAREN, LANCE and TONY laugh again.

BACKSTAGE NOISE – something falling over

CUE TRACK:  7  Heist to See You

TONY:  “Did you hear that?”

LANCE: “I’ll go check it out.”

LANCE swaggers off STAGE LEFT.

RICO:  “I can’t believe they didn’t pick us as a Tribe.  They got all those other Tribes, but no Gangsters!  We got Gladiators, Cowboys, Vikings – but no gangsters?  What’s this world coming to?”

TONY: (mocking) “Mother of mercy!  Is this the end of Rico?”

RICO: “You don’t understand!  We coulda had class.  We coulda been a contender!  We coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what we are, let’s face it.”

TONY: “We’re not bums, Rico.  Look I’ve got an idea.  We’ll get some respect, all right.”

KAREN: “What are you going to do?”

TONY:  (chin up in the air)  “I’ll make ‘em an offer they can’t refuse.”

RICO: “What are you talking about?”

TONY: (with a lot of drama) “They’ll be sleeping with the fishes.”

KAREN and RICO: “ What?”

TONY:  (explaining with a lot of excitement) “Yeah, they got this great program at the aquarium, where you can spend the night with all those little fishies!”

RICO: “That’s right!  You get to bring your sleeping bag and they tell all these stories about diving and fish and mermaids and…”

KAREN: “Hey!”

RICO:  “You talking to me?”

TONY:  “You talking to me?”

RICO: “ No, you talkin’ to me!”

TONY: “No – you talkin’ to me!”

KAREN:  “Zip it!”

LANCE enters dramatically, STAGE LEFT as RICO and TONY do the kindergarten thing and act like they are zipping their lips.

CUE TRACK:  8 Kevin Beak’n

LANCE:  “Say hello to my little friend!”

LANCE gestures at STAGE LEFT, where JAVIER enters.

TONY:  “Hello.”

KAREN and RICO:  “Hey, how ya’ doin’?”

JAVIER: “Hello, amigos.”

TONY:  “What are you doing here?”

JAVIER: “The gang’s all here, I see.”

LANCE:  (gesturing at JAVIER) “I found this one snooping around.”

RICO: “You’ll never take me alive, copper!”

KAREN:  “He’s not a copper.  He’s a luchador!  And you didn’t answer the question.  Tony asked ya, ‘what are you doing here?’”

JAVIER: “Well, it’s like this.  All the Tribes were getting together and all...”

KAREN, RICO, LANCE and TONY:  “Bah!”

JAVIER: “No!  Listen!  We were thinking it might be a good idea to invite you to join us for a Tribes party!”

TONY:  “Nobody wants the gangster tribe around.  We got too much… history.”

JAVIER: “Fuh-get-about-it!  It doesn’t matter what your past is.  We’re all pretty messed up when you start to think about it.  I mean, pirates and luchadors?  Vikings?  Gladiators?”

RICO: “Yeah, but you don’t want us around.  We got nothing much to offer for you.”

JAVIER: “Fuh-get-about-it!  We’ve all got our weaknesses, but when you have God helping out, you can do all things, amigos!”

LANCE:  “He’s right.  If anything, we’re the best Tribe around.”

JAVIER: “ Fuh-get-about-it!  Hey, you’ve got to remember we’re all only here because of Him.”

JAVIER points upward for emphasis.

JAVIER: “Don’t get a big head.  Then your little hat thingies won’t fit on so well.  But seriously, do you want to join all the other Tribes for a big party?  Everyone’s invited.”

LANCE, KAREN, TONY and RICO mull this over.

KAREN:  “We’d be honored to join youz guys.”

LANCE:  “Yeah, you’re good fellas!”

JAVIER looks relieved, and the atmosphere is happy as everyone looks ready to go.

RICO:  “Great.  Let’s go!  I’ll bring the Italian pastries!”

TONY:  “I’ll go get my tommy gun.”

JAVIER:  “No.  Leave the gun.  Bring the cannolis.”

KAREN, TONY, RICO and LANCE exit STAGE RIGHT

JAVIER:  “It doesn’t matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done – God still loves you and will still welcome you.  You can still be a part of the tribes!”

LANCE:  (offstage) “Ya comin’ or not?”

JAVIER: “Until next time, adios!”

JAVIER salutes and briskly trots off STAGE RIGHT.

_____________________ 

You may be wondering what the message itself was, after reading that of course.  We spoke about our last Tribe, the Tribe of Manasseh.  This has been a really long series.  But it's been fun, with a lot of random ideas that have brought a lot of energy to the place.  We've gone from duck hunters to luchadors to cowboys and cattle.  The Tribe of Manasseh has to do with "forgetting about it," hence the title of the skit.  This is because Manasseh's name actually means forgetting.  In fact, here's the message of the day:

"FORGET ABOUT IT!"

     This is madness! A squad of 300 men could never defeat an army of 135,000 soldiers. Each man by himself would have to fight 450 soldiers! Madness? Certainly some may have thought that when thinking about the chances of victory. And yet there they stood, triumphant: No retreat, no surrender. The Tribe of Manasseh.
      How could they do it? How could they defy the odds to achieve victory? The answer came from a simple message from God, one that we all should learn: forget about it.
      Forget the past. Manasseh’s name literally means that God’s favor and goodness made Joseph forget the past. He was blessed with a son, forgetting the bad that was behind him, and looking forward to a blessed future. If we dwell on the past too much, we don’t move forward – and that’s where we need to be.
     Forget your limitations. Gideon was a mighty member of the Tribe of Manasseh. Yet when asked by God to do something incredible, he first remembered his weaknesses. But God has a long history of using those who think they’re weak. Remember, when we’re weak He is strong. Don’t focus on what you cannot do, when we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!
     Forget your own strength! Gideon and his tribe started out with 32,000 troops. But God showed His great power by reducing this army to a tiny squad of 300 men. This small force of soldiers defeated a mighty enemy, proving God was with Gideon and the Tribe of Manasseh. Greater is He that is in us, than anything in this world.
     Gideon and his army of 300 found ultimate victory – one that you can find too when you remember... to forget. Forget your past, forget your limitations, and forget your own strength! 

We had a great skit this afternoon - it was the start of a pretty long day.  Daddy got home, and ...it was time to go!  We hopped in the car, and made our journey to Florida.  This might be the latest start we've had within the last several years, but we did in fact make it without incident.  The fact that it was a Sunday afternoon helped out immensely, we figure.  There was no traffic whatsoever, really.  The weather was perfect, and Madison was quite occupied in the backseat with her surprise:  Daddy and Mommy got her a new "My Little Pony" game for her Leapster Explorer.  This one device and game kept her busy for pretty much the entire journey south.  Mommy packed food and drinks for the trek, and Madison had her eyes peeled for palm trees.  She said she was looking for those because that means they are close to Florida.  Sure enough, we stopped at the Florida Visitor Center, as we usually do, and sure enough, there were plenty of palm trees around. 

We made it to Nana and Ba-Ba's house around 8:30, and it was still daylight outside.  All of us were a little tired, but not too tired to sit and talk for a bit.  Madison is pretty excited to be here, of course.  It's going to be a nice week!