Obi Juan

Today was Star Wars Day once more, May the Fourth be with you!  Some time ago, Daddy made this picture and has been holding on to it for just such an occasion:  Madison found in our prop room the young Anakin pod racing helmet.  I had her pose in front of a wall, as if she were racing.  Then later on, we added all the components separately:  jet turbines, lightning, Tattooine landscape, and steampunk logos as well.  Anyway, I think it turned out pretty decent and fun - so we shared it online to celebrate the day.

Of course, with "Star Wars Day," it didn't end there.  Today was Sunday, so we naturally had to do a bunch of Star Wars gags at KidPak.  We even had a guest appearance by the legendary Obi Juan!

Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, so it sort of works out, right?  Our friend's name is actually Juan, so the joke sort of lent to itself.  We gave him a lightsaber and a sombrero, and there you go.  We did quite a bit of Star Wars jokes and gags this morning, and the kids really enjoyed having a few people dressed up as characters out in the lobby.  Plus, our new set for "Tribes" looks quite a bit like the base on Yavin IV.  Here's a shot of a few of the characters we had this morning:

Chewbacca still does not have his medal.  But neither do the other actors on stage, so that's okay.  We left service today - Daddy did not go to KidPak Español this afternoon, mainly because of the late night last night.  We were all pretty wiped out - all of us involved in setting up for KidPak.

But it was Star Wars Day, and there was no time for rest on such a momentous occasion.  Okay, there was time for rest:  what we did was watch "The Phantom Menace" when we got home.  Mommy and Daddy sat with Madison, who watched Episode I for the first time.  We got the popcorn out, and spent a few hours on the couch together, all of us a little sleepy to be honest. But there were times that Madison perked right up, particularly during the space battles and pod racing.

She was inspired after that:  she wanted to play Lego Star Wars for a while.  This was okay with Daddy and Mommy, who wanted to sleep for a while on the couch!  But Daddy still had gifts for Madison, things he picked up long before she was even born.  As noted here, some time ago there was a significant sale on Episode I merchandise at a local Wal-Mart, including some Queen Amidala dolls.  Daddy picked these Barbie-sized dolls up, knowing full well that someday we'd have a little girl in this house to give them to.  And so I've held on to a few of these dolls for years now, waiting for an occasion sort of like this.  Madison was old enough to appreciate the gift, and additionally, she cleaned her room and played some more of her piano.  Therefore, Daddy got her not only the doll, but some Queen Amidala lotion!

This lotion is perfect after a hard-fought battle with the Trade Federation, when your skin tends to dry out so much.  And it smells just as fragrant as a forest moon!  Madison was just as excited about the lotion as she was the doll.

But we didn't have much time for either, really.  Part of the reason here was because we all were rather tired.  Madison didn't get to sleep until 11:00 pm last night, because she stayed at the church so long with us.  Therefore, it was an early night for her, and us too.  But it was a good day overall - lots of fun for everyone, I hope.  As we leave, here's one more picture we took this morning of us planning the production on stage.  It is somewhat of a parody of the Star Wars production photo that was released this week:

May the force be with y'all!