...Aerial Avocados of Disgust

Maddie made an avocado today.

I only knew about this because I got home and the house was empty.  I called out, but no one answered.  It turns out Mom was upstairs getting a bath, but where was Maddie?  I turned the corner to go up the stairs when suddenly... I was hit by an avocado.  True story.

Of course the avocado was a plush creation that Maddie made today.  We've had this little kit for a while now, one where you can make this plush avocado.  And you know something?  Today was one of those days to try and make one.  She did a good job!

Speaking of green, I finished up the "Inside Out" skit for Sunday, a small little visit with the characters, and really just a chance for us to have the five characters - six, if you include Riley - outside and greeting. And then down at KidPak too.  Maddie is going to be Disgust, which might be a dream come true for her! Mom tried that costume on her, and it looks good!

Maddie sent the image and a text about Disgust being upset because I smell so bad!

Anyway, it was a decent day today.  We slept in a bit, but I still got the usual work routine done in the morning, and then at the office, we were planning a Summer Bash for this Sunday after service, and then of course the Summer Xtreme plans continue.  We plotted out all five days of the set list, and that will be good stuff.  The worship will be solid.  

And so will the skits.  Here's our big bad, a guy named Man Head.  Don't tell anyone yet though, as he's the secret villain remerging from the past to put a chill on Summer Xtreme and the Tropical Breeze resort. I think he's from 2019, and he's based a bit on Andros from "Star Fox," just a giant floating head with massive hands.  Given that the series is called "Tropical Freeze," it's safe to assume there's a lot of Nintendo influence on this creative process here!

And speaking of which, Maddie and I were at Mos Espa tonight, at least on the Nintendo Switch.  We were exploring a good bit with LEGO Star Wars, just to change things up a bit.  It was fun, as was sitting down to watch a few episodes of "Suite Life with Zack and Cody."  There are some genuinely great jokes in some of these episodes.  I'm going to have to re-watch one or two just to write them down for future use!

We closed out the day with reading a new short story "From a Certain Point of View," within the world of "Return of the Jedi."  This one won't go well, we can already tell.  Maddie was happy with the last one, because it wasn't so bleak.  This one, however, features Malikili, and his particular fondness for his pet Rancor.  Yeah, that won't go well.  But the good news is that Malikili - maybe after this story - moves on with his life, becomes somewhat of a hero, and even helps open up a new restaurant in Mos Eisley.  So there's that.  Oddly enough, I remember having a Malikili action figure.  I may even have two - they did an updated version.  But this was one of the action figures from 1983-84... somewhere in there.  I still have him, his hat, and that gaderffi stick (geek terminology there).  He's not exactly the most heroic looking guy, and in fact his whole appearance in the movie was maybe more for laughs. 

Anyway, it was a good day.  We closed it up with prayers.  No rain today, by the way.  We had one of those typical phenomenons where a strong band of thundershowers was approaching the house and area, and it looked certain that we would get drenched.  But it completely evaporated at the county line or so, and once again left us high and dry.  We're praying for rain here now.  The ground is dry and thirsty, and we're keeping our bird baths full.  

The Fourth

Happy Fourth of July!  Tonight's fireworks displays did not disappoint.  So many people here in the neighborhood invest so much in these fireworks, and the skies were mostly clear tonight for a fantastic show of patriotism, with colorful explosions filling the horizon no matter where you look.  We were surrounded by blasts of light, the thunderous sounds popping and booming perpetually.  Our neighborhood sounded like a war zone.  

Maddie looks on at the rockets red glare, bombs bursting in air.

Our neighbors across the street always do a fireworks show for the surrounding houses, and it always dazzles.  Maddie made sure she was there for that one, with Mom and I watching on as well.  We were directly underneath these colorful explosions, the debris sounding like a rain shower as it hit the leaves on trees above us.  We cheered at each one, and then when it was over, we went over to the main strip of the neighborhood, where there was the usual spectacular show.

A rival display was just down the street though from that though, these huge fireworks bursting all around us with such enormity that people from all over just sat there in the grass of their lawns or along the sidewalk, large grins pasted on their faces, and the occasional scream from below:  "'Merica!"

Look at the little heart-shaped cloud puff in the middle!

It was a loud night.  Even at midnight, you could hear the eruptions booming off in the distance.  We watched an episode or two of "Suite Life of Zack and Cody," and then finished a romantic short story of a girl forced to work at Jabba's Palace and secretly longing to be with her roguish man who gets involved in intergalactic races.  We said our prayers after that, and got to sleep as the booms still went off in various places over the countryside.

The earlier part of the day was relaxing, a day off of sorts.  Regardless, I still wrote this skit for the weekend, as the show must go on.  Sunday we're revisiting some characters from "Inside Out," and that should be fun, when combined with our "Castaway Cove" theme.  The genesis of this all was the fact that our church is starting its "At the Movies" theme a weekend early.  We wanted to get some characters up there, and the recent movie has been so successful that we thought this would be fun.  And hey while we're at it, why not make it a skit too?

I did some walking this morning, and we ate a little early on, including some patriotic Cheerios that I found at the grocery store this weekend.  We were listening to our usual array of patriotic music, including some new vinyl records, or rather old ones that I found this year, each playing some classic American tunes. We also had the Voices of Liberty playing as always, plus the Phil Driscoll patriotic music that I like to pop in this year. 

At four, we went over to Ye-Ye and Nana's house, bringing food with us too.  Aunt Shain brought a lot of food there, the theme being "things on a stick."  There were a lot of kebobs, plus watermelon on a stick, and cake pops... on a stick.  I got some red, white and blue ice cream, and we had a nice few hours there talking about Ye-Ye and Nana's recent trip to Montana, plus Aunt Shain's visit to Enterprise, Alabama, home of the Boll Weevil Monument.  I've been there a long time ago, but based on her pictures of other boll weevil monuments and statues in the area, it seems as if the town has really embraced the boll weevil thing.  Which is delightfully weird!

Anyway, we left there as it was getting dark, and it was time to be back at home where it was safe.  We played some "Tropical Freeze" for a bit, but Maddie was anxious to not miss those fireworks from our neighbors across the street.  It's a tradition, one that she's enjoyed for a long time now.  

It's been a good day.  Happy Fourth of July!

...

 ...SX24 work, FCY, Braselton, heat wave, dry, hurricane... updates coming soon...

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 ... boba tea, yard work, bank visit, "The Chosen," Numbers, cooler morning at the front porch, Dark Side Scrub... updates coming soon...

 

...Clearly Canadian Day

 ...Clearly Canadian, Jedi vs. Sith Oreos, haircut, grocery shopping, taekwondo, walking in Martinique, huge hurricane, "The Chosen," ... updates coming soon...