Farewell to Neverland

It had to end some time.  But as Peter likes to say, we don't say goodbye, because goodbye means going away, and going away means forgetting.  So we'll just say farewell to Neverland, just like the title of that John Williams track from the "Hook" score.  It's a great soundtrack, one we've been using heavily throughout, along with the one from "Finding Neverland," and "Peter Pan," of course.  You can see Daddy and the guy who plays Mr. Smee above, as we cheer on the swiniest swine in the world, Captain Hook.

And here's where Peter and Tiger Lily are trying to figure out how to deal with Captain Hook.  Fortunately, Jane has a great idea, one that involves the residents of Pixie Hollow.  Let's just say all the pirates that showed up on stage got to experience a swarm of laser pointers that Daddy ordered earlier this week.  It was a fantastic ending to an eight-week series, and for all the worries last night about script changes, things turned out just fine.  It was a wonderful ending, one filled with all the sweetness that has rested with this series from the onset.

After church, there was a bit of filming for the Summer Xtreme movie this year, one featuring the return of a villain named Praxis.  He was getting his make-up on in the office, as you can see below:

It's not completely on yet, but Madison posed for a picture with him nevertheless.  The name Praxis was a fun thing, because it could be some evil ruler from another planet.  But teachers know it as a similarly evil test you have to take in order to become a teacher.  Daddy passed that test some time ago, happily.  It was the one for science.  It was a big deal, so big that the name sticks with you and you're naming super villains after it.

Anyway, the filming continues, although we didn't get involved with this round.  We stopped for Sodapalooza, and pretty much went home.  Madison is spending a lot of time working on her piano recital piece, and still has some ground to cover.  But she's doing better than she was two days ago.  As a reward for all her playing, we watched "Iron Man," which she watched for the first time tonight. We were telling her how this movie came out in May of 2008, and how that's the month we saw her face for the first time, and how one month later we would be going to China to meet her.  And now her we are nine years later.  The Marvel Cinematic Universe started the same time our relationship with Madison did, come to think of it! 

She enjoyed the movie, particularly the parts with Dummy in them.  Don't ask me why we all have this strange appreciation for Tony Stark's robotic arm, and it was such a great moment when Dummy saves Tony's life towards the end there.  Madison liked that.

We got to bed on time tonight, with Daddy reading several chapters from the Descendants book, and nearly finishing that science-themed devotional as well.  We'll probably wrap that one up by Tuesday.  A new devotional is coming, one with all kinds of superheroes in it.  That was fun writing.

In the meantime, she's turned in her "Neverland" booklet, complete with a stamp for every appearance this series.  Kids who keep their books for the whole time get a special gift card, so Madison will get one for "Neverland."  And she picked up a $10 gift card today for "Big Top" as well.  So she's starting to really save up these gift cards...!

We said our prayers, and went to sleep easy tonight.  It's been a big weekend!