Alligator Loki

Well, here we are at Gotcha Day, now thirteen years later.  As a gift for this wonderful day, Maddie got an alligator with a Loki helmet on.  Okay, not literally.  But tonight's episode of "Loki" featured a variant of Loki from another universe, one that is apparently a small alligator with a Loki helmet on.  

We don't know what this Alligator Loki can do or will do.  But it's so left field, and I know this thing will be a hit long after this first season is ended.

Tonight was a Marvel night, with the latest episode of "Loki" followed by an episode of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." again.  We're almost there at the end of season three.  The "Loki" episode was a big one too, with such a wild ending.  For us, there's no way to predict what will happen next.

Today was a big work day, getting ready for "Thunderstruck" and writing for this new series in Oz that starts very soon.  Also, writing for "Thunderstruck," our new Summer Xtreme theme upcoming.  Lots going on and lots to do!  

I had cardio in the morning as always, but otherwise it was a pretty ordinary day today.  The biggest significance of the day would be Gotcha Day, where of course we spent time looking back on pictures and slide shows of our adventure in China thirteen years ago.  Quite a bit has changed since then - our countries aren't exactly on the friendliest of terms.  This might have something to do with a worldwide pandemic, widespread persecution, or something like that.  But for a short time, a window was open, and we dove through that window with God's tremendous help, and now Maddie is over here rather than over there.  And we're all very happy for it.

Here Comes Tropical Storm Elsa

Wimbledon continued today, and we're having fun watching matches and all these obscure matches too.  We haven't picked any favorites to win, although Djokovic has been formidable these past few years.  On the women's side, we have no idea who will wind up on top, but it's fun watching this from day today, along with all the little side extras.

Maddie was watching Marvel theories for a good bit today, but also talking to some small group friends online too.  We had tacos tonight, and oh my, they were really good!  Mom did such a good job with grilled chicken, peppers and onions, and all the toppings you need!  Speaking of toppings, we have a really good tomato out there ready to be picked now, almost red.  We may pick it early and let it ripen on the counter, but wow, it's a big one!  As for the blueberries, they're not quite ready yet.  I'm so anxious about those!

So we're doing a variation of Summer Xtreme, something we'll call "Summer Xtreme Nights."  It's last-minute.  We were not supposed to do anything like this, and now all of the sudden we're being asked to.  It's going to be a fast-paced planning, and here we go with all the preparations.  It won't be as big, but there are a lot of things to be done - three nights in Gainesville, and the same thing elsewhere in Gwinnett, Cumming, Midtown, Spartanburg, and Braselton.  As for the title, we're going with something that goes along with our Storm Chasers series, so that series is technically not quite over with yet!  Who would have ever thought that "Storm Chasers" would be our biggest series of the year?  

We had rain in the morning, not storms though.  But a lot of this rain is from a tropical storm, I think, one that was pretty small, but still brought us a good amount of rain.  We've got other rainstorms coming later this week, some of those with a bit of a punch.  So yeah, we might all be thunderstruck.  

But as we're talking about storms, there's a tropical storm forming, and this one is called Elsa.  Prepare for the memes.

First we had a Tropical Storm Ana, and now a Tropical Storm Elsa.  Whoever determines the names of these things must be a "Frozen" fan.  When I pointed this fun fact out to a friend, there came the question, "Who makes up the names for these things?"  My answer to him was as follows:

I don’t know the person who comes up with these names, Joey.  I think the guy’s name is Butch Farmer.  He’s a single guy who lives in Preston, Idaho, and all he does for a living is come up with names for hurricanes.  No one knows exactly how he got the job, other than his dad used to have that position.  The National Weather Service calls him up three times a year to check in, and somewhere around February, he sends them a list of names from the alphabet that he was thinking of.  Last November, his niece was watching “Frozen II,” and he thought it would be an interesting name to add to the list.  He crossed that one off the list early, and has always said the “Z” names were his least favorite thing about his job.  Ironically, there hasn’t been a Hurricane Butch - this is because he’s a rather humble sort of character and didn’t want that sort of notoriety.  He regrets naming that hurricane in 2006 after his mom.

Obviously, that's not true.

Anyway, at bedtime, we said our prayers, and we read too.  Jackie Chan the sea turtle is there with us, listening in to the latest adventures of the Kingdom Keepers.  After prayers, it was time to get tucked in, and time for bed.  Pretty tired tonight!

Learning to Instruct

One thing I love about Maddie's leadership class - and her time spent with the younger class before her - is that she's not only learning to do taekwondo.  She's also learning to instruct as well.  She got there for the classes before hers, and just like she's been doing the last few weeks, she's been helping Mrs. Edge instruct the youngest ones for forty-five minutes or so.  Then after that, in the leadership class that follows, she's getting tips on how to be a better instructor herself.  The class that follows that, she's with her fellow blackbelts doing combat sparring as well.  She's using her combat stick in sparring, and was having a great time with that tonight.  She's super good with the combat stick, not only with the attacks but with the defense as well.  She was doing some other sparring tonight, and got some good kicks in.  Her form is pretty amazing to see - such intensity!  Tonight she was there for nearly three hours, and loving every moment of it.

So we got a device today for the television, and we are now subscribing to ESPN+ in hopes of getting some Wimbledon footage.  The idea is that Nana enjoyed watching tennis, so this might give her something to do that she likes doing.  We were watching a few matches today on and off, all this between trips out.  I was out first at cardio therapy again, this time back on the treadmill keeping the heart rate up at 130 and above for a good solid pace.  Getting home, we had some prep to do for the upcoming visit to our Oz series, so we were out getting costuming pieces for Scarecrow.  While there at the thrift store, I saw a Christmas recording that I've been after for a while, so that was a nice surprise.

It was a much calmer day today, as you'd expect.  Maddie slept in, and if not for the walking, I would have too.  I'm fairly exhausted.  But we got a lot done, and closed out the night by catching up on "The Bad Batch," and watching a new show as well.  And then some more tennis, of course.  By then, Maddie and I were upstairs reading again, moving the story along for book #4 of "The Kingdom Keepers."  Suddenly, we're really moving along with these books - we're a good bit into this one.  We prayed tonight, and yes, we were off to bed pretty quickly.  Maddie made sure she had Jackie Chan the turtle alongside her tonight for story time, and afterwards.  He's our newest companion!

Neon Festival

Maddie got to destroy a gingerbread house with Mjölnir this morning, and what a great start to your day, right?  

This was part of a funny skit we had, an illustration of the perils of not building your house on the Rock.  Eventually Nerdo learns this the hard way, as shown in this great picture here with an airborne gingerbread house.

We ended Forward, and today we ended "Storm Chasers" as well, ending it with a great illustration that was lots of fun.  We got the gingerbread houses several weeks ago for just two dollars, and at home Madison and Mom were decorating them.  We've done this illustration before, and like then, it turned out really well.  Kids like seeing stuff get destroyed!  But here's something else we did this morning...

 The indoor rain storm.  Maddie helped lead her part of the audience in doing various sound effects that waved across the room, making it sound just like a rainstorm.  At the peak moment, there was even a sound effect of thunder playing.  It was super fun today.

We got home after this, and yes, I was asleep.  We had a few hours to take a nap and relax, but yes, we were back for the last unofficial part of the Forward Conference, a Sunday night celebration called "The Neon Festival."  It took place at this year's Forward Island, which is apparently a moving island.

Before the festivities outdoors, there was a great concert indoors.  There was a live music set as our church was promoting its new release, a concert experience indoors, and after that the weather was just absolutely perfect for a night out riding rides, eating food and having fun.  Maddie spent the night with her friend Lily, and the two had some funnel cake, and also got to ride on the pirate ship ride.

Maddie likes this one a lot.  She already rode the giant slide earlier, so she was pretty excited to see this pirate ship here, ready to go back and forth.

They had a great time.  It was a really good night, a lot of fun!  I was snapping pictures of the event, ones to share with others later, and happened to run into Maddie a few times.  Later on, they were looking for me, and found me by one of those carnival games, relentlessly pursuing victory.  It was one of those games where fifteen people line up with squirt guns and shoot at a target.  As you shoot the target, your racing turtle competes with the others to get to the top first.  I lost the first several times, but I was determined to get Maddie a turtle!

In the end, I won not just once, but twice!  My last attempt, I won a turtle for Maddie's friend, so the two could have a prize on the way home.  That's where they found me.  One time they were trying the game too, but it's obviously something meant for professional quick-draw squirt gun artists like myself!  

Obviously I'm exaggerating.  But this was one of those things that I've always wanted to do - win an item at a carnival game.  Tonight, I won two, and the girls really liked their prizes there.  I asked Madison what the name of her turtle was, and she told me Jackie Chan.  So we have a sea turtle in the house named Jackie Chan!

We got home late again, and tonight we read a chapter from "Kingdom Keepers IV:  Power Play," a chapter where Willa had quite a few surprises, including a visit with Judge Frollo and Ariel, the Little Mermaid.  It's fun reading at night, but as you can imagine, it's been a long weekend.  We said our prayers, and we got to sleep not long afterwards.

End of Forward

It was another long day, and another good one.  Forward Reimagined II ended tonight in a spectacular way.  Maddie loved it, and really, really wants to go again next year.  There were more sessions today, and more rides, and more food, and more of everything.  Of note:  I had tacos from a taco truck today, so that's off my bucket list.  We'll have lots of taco references in tomorrow's skits too, of course.

Maddie was content with the Chick-Fil-A, which was good, and the Kona Ice as well.  She brought some of her money, and she's been looking through the merchandise, but primarily getting food from outside!  Also, she was out there on the inflatables, jousting away with a friend again, and just hanging out with everyone quite a bit today.  And there were squirt guns too.  War between the tribes!

But there were three sessions throughout the day, so a lot to see and hear each service - the usual crazy games, the incredible worship, and the fantastic Forward messages too.  It was a very full day, and once more, we're feeling that exhaustion that comes from these things, from getting up super early and going to bed pretty late, and just going full speed throughout the day. 

Here's Maddie dropping by downstairs with Camille to visit our friend Jade who was watching the staff and volunteer's kids in the nursery.

Throughout the day, Maddie was right in the middle of all of Forward today an absolutely loving it.  She had such a great time, and as a parent, there's no better feeling than knowing she's in the middle of all these great praise and worship sets, and listening to speakers like Reggie Dabbs and Pastor Franklin.  The atmosphere has been wonderful.  Though I'm tired, I'm quite content with it all.  Just so wiped out!  Maddie is too.  We still have to get up early again tomorrow, but at least we can rest in the middle of the day.  It's still going to be fun though.  Just exhausting!

We were doing Forward at the Gainesville campus in 2005, and I was there.  I remember we were all praying for those in the path of Hurricane Katrina.  It was a huge crowd back then, a large amount of folks coming from all over.  It got so big that we went to the Gwinnett Arena after that.  We're going back there next year, and Madison has asked, "Please, please, please can I go?"  Of course you can, Maddie.  Duh?

We still made time to read tonight, and we prayed tonight as well.  After that, we were asleep very quickly.  It was a wonderful day, but quite an exhausting one! 

Holy Ground

This might be the best day yet of Forward.  The worship tonight was so good, and we really got the sense that all of us were on Holy Ground.  Which is appropriate enough, as that is the theme of the conference this year.  

It was another very long day, but another very good one today.  We got there at 7:30 am, and got home at 10:30pm, just to give you an idea.  There were a few sessions throughout the day, each one with high energy Tribe Wars, incredible worship music, and inspiring messages.  Maddie was seated with her friends and just loving it.   Can you believe TeawithMrsNesbitt was mentioned on stage?

Josh was onstage this morning, and he and Jacob were looking to the online chat area, and spotted me there.  Josh had to call it out, of course, along with a few others.  I was downstairs, getting some things ready for the game.  Also doing photo wall area, plus helping keep score.  That was crazy!

In between sessions, Maddie was hanging out with her friends, going to the inflatables, getting some food from the food trucks outside - there's Chick-Fil-A out there in the parking lot, so she was all over that.  But she is also all over the Kona Icee Truck too, grabbing a cup of cold, flavored ice.  She was jousting on the inflatable wall, having an intense battle with a good friend from taekwondo, after a few minutes of brutal combat, the two of them knocking each other off the side finally.  She's done a large tower slide, and went for a ride over to Red Lobster with some friends before coming back for the evening session.  It's been a wonderful day - we're so tired though.  But before we go, here's a few pictures that Madison has taken along the way.

Forward 2021

 

So Forward is here, and it's off to a big start at the Gainesville campus, as teens and youth leaders from all over have descended upon us to restart this huge youth conference at our church, just as it was quite a few years ago.  I was there for the first Forward Conferences, back when it was here at the church first starting out.  Since then, it's gone to the Gwinnett Arena, and will return there next year too.  But this year is an unusual one for everyone, and this was just great to see so many kids here.  

I was getting a few pictures of Maddie here early, as I know I won't see her much during this conference.  She's off with her friends and she's having a great time.  There are all kinds of things to do outside, plus food trucks, and then for the actual sessions, there's an amazing service planned each time.

The music, the message from Pastor Franklin, and even the games - all of it was unforgettable, and Maddie was right there in the thick of things.  It was a full day today, and there are zillions of pictures online from all the students who attended, and Maddie took a lot of notes from the message, and cheered for her team in Tribe Wars.  It was a super fun day, but as you can imagine, it was an exhausting one.  And it's only the first day too - we've got a few more of these.  Tonight, we went to bed, and didn't even read.  We just prayed, and were off to sleep very quickly.  But it was a good kind of rest, as we were content in all things this was a spectacular day.

Mola Ram's Pad

So here's a picture of one of the areas they're working on for Forward.  It's designed to promote the new release of the music department, a large anatomical heart there, along with everything painted orange.  I thought it was going to be a photo wall initially, which would have been ironic if I was over there, given the recent heart situation that I was going through.  It's odd to me, and Maddie thinks it's weird.  Later, I did some quick photo work to add someone in who we know likes those human hearts:

In fact, one could argue that this is probably what Mola Ram's pad looks like, his apartment room there adjacent to his man cave with all the visiting Thuggees.  After the latest visit to all that lava and screaming, it's good to have a nice place to chill out and watch his favorite dating game show, "Hearts Afire."  Whatever his pastimes are, he's got a nice place here, one we'll see a lot of visitors at this weekend.

Anyway, it turns out that I'll be doing a few more things than just a photo wall, of course.  I'm doing a bit of writing, a bit of stage help, a bit of photo wall, a bit of maintenance, a bit of prep for the games, and even a bit of scorekeeping through this event, so I'll be all over the place in the coming days.  Plus, I'll be doing all the usual things for KidPak.  Speaking of which, I got a bit done for the Oz script today, getting a toehold on it, and hopefully I can wrap it up tomorrow, which will be huge.  I wanted to get that script out to the cast as soon as possible.

We were testing out our confetti cannons this morning.  Pointing them point-plank range at test subjects and firing away.  First, they're really loud.  Second, anything other than confetti is going to come out with a lot of force.  We had some Fruit Loops in one, and I'm glad no one was standing there in the way, because those came out with some serious force!

I was at cardio therapy this morning, back on that torturous elliptical, but I had my heart rate at 130 or higher for a good bit.  If there's one thing about that device, I know I can get the heart rate up more quickly.  The good news is that it went down quickly too, as did my blood pressure.  Still around 110 or so on that count.

Maddie had her small group tonight, and she won the game there, so she'll get another little prize this weekend in the mail from Camille.  The small group is still together, faithfully meeting each Wednesday night, something they've been doing since way back at the start of the pandemic.  It's a really nice thing, as they've become very good friends with one another.

Tonight I got home later because of all the prep, but there was time for watching the latest episode of "Loki," and then an episode of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." on top of that.  Somewhat of a Marvel night here, and after all that of course reading.  We got a good night's rest after prayers tonight, as we've got a few very huge days coming up!

At the Office

Maddie came along to the office today, but we wound up not filming any KidPak videos, so it wasn't exactly the most exciting day for her.  Still, she proved herself useful, helping Bailee out as she was preparing for Sunday.  We're also doing a lot of preparing for Forward, of course.  The set pieces are coming in up top and outside, and the run-throughs are in place too.  The games are being played out to see if they can work and if they have the energy worthy of a Forward Conference.  We're making slime, and large contraptions that dump slime on victims.  The girder that gets lifted upwards is ready to go, the one that contestants hold on to and try to knock their opponent off to the ground.  The usual banners are up for photo-ops, and Forward Mountain is back, all part of the new location of Forward Island this year.  This year, Forward is here at the campus, but next year we'll go back to the arena.  Maddie will get a little taste of both locations, plus the online one last year.  She's going to have a great time.

I was struggling to get the script done for our next Oz series, but I did get a few ideas in place that should set the foundation.  Writer's block sets in some times, and the idea is to just write something else entirely or do something else entirely.

We made a special trip to taekwondo tonight, not as a student, but as helper.  Maddie just really likes stepping in to help out, and of course seeing all her old classmates that she's moved on from because of the black belt.  But she didn't actually have a class to attend tonight.  We actually just went so she could help and serve as an instructor, and of course Nana and I were along for the ride on that one.  It was nice, and this time fairly quick, as it was just the one class.

I've been pretty tired lately, which doesn't bode well for this weekend, but we'll see how things go.  Fatigue has been pretty prominent in my symptoms, but my blood pressure remains super low and my exercise sessions are going very well also, so really it's just fatigue at this point.  

Tonight we watched "Luca," which was a pretty good movie from Pixar.  Of course we were looking for the Pixar truck and other Easter eggs, but beyond that, everyone enjoyed the feel and the theme of the movie.  It was pleasant, and it felt like a visit to Italy in some ways, although just one specific location largely. 

We're moving on with Kingdom Keepers IV, and starting to see the evil influence of the Overtakers on some of our protagonists' classmates.  Green eyes is a clear indication that you're on the side of the bad guys, so we'll be looking out for that in the coming days.  If you have green eyes, you're going down!  

We said our prayers tonight, and Maddie was up later, but I was off to sleep very quickly.  Maddie will be off to sleep quickly soon enough, as Forward is coming, and those are some pretty full days!

Summer Monday

Maddie slept in, but I was off to cardio therapy again, this time on the tortuous elliptical, quite a different experience from the treadmill, for certain.  Still, it's been good - I've got about a month left of the sessions, and it's been a good experience overall.  Maddie was helping as an instructor again tonight, arriving early for one class to help teach the little ones with taekwondo.  She really likes doing that.  Afterwards, she was in regular classes, learning herself.  And sparring too.

We had the day off today, so we were cleaning up a bit indoors as it was rainy outside.  We also went back to Monsters University, which is our favorite of the Disney Infinity games.  We seem to be cycling through the all on the first game, just revisiting all the ones we like.  We spent a good bit of time on frat row today, and that super frustrating bicycle challenge.  But we came out victorious, just to say we did it.  And we did a lot of other things too, including some hide-and-seek within the game.  There is no radar or finder, so you can really go off and find anyone terribly easily.  So Maddie and I were doing this little side game that we made up on the spot, and of course the obligatory time spent setting up spring traps for unsuspecting prey.  

I finished the last "Storm Chasers" skit today, wrapping that up and getting ready to go to Oz again.  Maddie has an appearance this weekend for the finale, but then a little break until her big appearance as a special character at the end of that next series.  Speaking of that next series, we watched "Return to Oz" this afternoon before taekwondo, squeezing that one in for "research" again.  I'm really wanting to keep things for the skit in line with the three movies, and see if I can work things out that way.  I believe we can disregard "Oz the Great and Powerful," as it is a prequel that's taken place years before Dorothy arrives in Oz.  

Tonight was "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," followed by reading from the fourth Kingdom Keepers book, which has much longer chapters.  It's still fun to read though, and Maddie's glad to have us reading that ongoing series.  We'll be doing that for a while, this series, and that's okay.  

We said our prayers tonight, and got to sleep quickly.  We've got a busy week this week, getting ready for this big weekend at the church.

Father's Day

This was the card that Maddie made for me for Father's Day, which was pretty hilarious actually.  First of all, "If you're into that sort of thing," is something I say all the time, and secondly, the baby in the Little Tikes car about to do the jump on the ramp is a reference to this:

This is just a small scene of our baby stunt driving that we did a few weeks ago for filming.  We actually were doing this just for fun, but the footage actually made it into a video where we raced these babies through an obstacle course at the church.  It was pretty fun!

So we did have KidPak today, and this Storm Chasers series is a real gem to me, a chance to "do it right" this time around.  We've had such a great skit team, and each time the Storm Chasers come out, it's been a fantastic ongoing story with lots of laughs.  It'll be sad to say goodbye to it next week, but then again, the week after is when we're starting a brand-new series, "Oz," which we'll be writing about later.  But for now, we've been watching the "Oz" movies again.  Yesterday was "Oz the Great and Powerful," and today was "The Wizard of Oz."  Tomorrow we'll "Return to Oz," and there'll be a few other movies after that, including "His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz," which I'm really looking forward to checking out.  It's all part of the research for the new series.  

This series isn't done, however, and all our cast members were up there today, including Maddie of course.  The kids have a pretty fun part next week in a skit that I've been waiting for some time, one involving crushing gingerbread houses.  It should be great!

Today was Father's Day, and Mom had a great meal prepared for us when we got home.  Her meat loaf recipe is incredible, and we all enjoyed a huge meal with corn and mashed potatoes and meat loaf and more.  She's hooked on making us all an Arnold Palmer, half sweet tea and half lemonade.  It's been really good too.

The rain was here all day, just as Claudette was cycling by over South Georgia.  We were getting a lot of those outer bands all day long, but it wasn't very stormy here, and that's okay.  Just rain.  Tonight we watched a episode of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." before bed, and did some reading from the new "Kingdom Keepers" book.  We said our prayers, and I was off to sleep fairly quickly again.  Maddie, however, is a bit of a night owl.  She's been up reading, and doing some writing too - she's now keeping her own blog.  She says she doesn't write that much, but that's okay.  It's just good to get in the habit daily, as it will hopefully improve her writing over time, and there's other benefits.  Also, the earliest entries on this blog are pretty short, so there's that.

Anyway, it's Father's Day, and as the rain poured down outside, this dad went to sleep.

Let's Roll

 

Tonight Maddie joined FCY at the skating rink!  This isn't everybody there, but it's a pretty good group shot, and you can see Maddie herself over there to the left, crouching.

Maddie invited a few friends to the skating rink tonight, and even got there an hour earlier to have a little more time on the floor.  It turned out to be just right, actually, as far as timing goes, because three hours on the floor is actually a pretty decent work-out!  Maddie met some other friends here too, including a neighbor of ours that came to the birthday party last week, a girl named Sophia.  It turns out that her parents were good friends with another friend of Maddie's and these parents hadn't seen each other in a long time.  So there was a happy reunion, and a bit of a "hey, it's a small world" there!

Maddie had a super fun time tonight.  She didn't have a problem back on skates again, moving along just fine.  It's funny, because a lot of her taekwondo friends were there too, and not many of them could skate well, whereas they're all really impressive and black belts with taekwondo.  Still, everyone had a really good time.  Maddie was laughing at a lot at one point, because she had fallen, and caused Pastor Jacob to fall as well.  The two met up later, and he was laughing at her, "You caused me to fall!"  

It was a great night though.  I was skating the whole time, and miraculously did not fall once.  Not that I was doing anything risky or fancy.  Everyone enjoyed the evening, and when it was time to go, Maddie and I were pretty ready to go, meaning, we were ready to get those roller skates off our feet.

On the way home, the two of us stopped at Zaxby's and had some chicken wings.  Maddie really likes chicken wings, and loves adding the hot sauce to them.  She had the nuclear sauce, which is nearly the hottest, and she went through that container pretty quickly, although she admitted that towards the end the spiciness was accumulative, building up and getting a little hot for her.  I tried it, and although I was able to have a good dip of it without any problems, it was actually pretty hot.  So yeah, I can take it.  No, I don't enjoy it.  Maddie, on the other hand, has a much higher tolerance for spicy foods. 

It was pouring rain outside.  We sat by the window and watched it come down as we ate, and told stories of our adventures on the rink.  It was raining solidly on the way there, and on the way home, and all through the night.  It'll rain tomorrow too, all part of this storm system called "Claudette."  

Once home, we had time for an episode of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.", although I was pretty zonked.  We read tonight, and very quickly, we were in bed afterwards.

The rest of the day, was nice too of course.  Maddie, Nana and I had gone grocery shopping earlier, and all of us got some ginger beer while we were there, a spicier ginger ale with a little bite to it.  We got the items on the grocery list Mom made us too, so no worries.

This morning I finished up my walk through Arches National Park with another trail on the treadmill.  I actually was on that thing for over an hour today!  I've loved these trails, seeing where they go and walking along with the camera.  I kept a pretty brisk pace too.

It was a good Saturday today, and tomorrow will be nice too.  The actual heart of the storm will pass by tomorrow, but I think it's just rain for us.  We pulled some items inside just in case, but we should be okay.  The sound of rain is one of those things that is just perfect to go to sleep to.

Stick Wars

This was just a random bit of footage shot on this computer of all things (I turned it around and used the Photo Booth feature).  Anyway, you can see Maddie with her combat stick in what appears to be a free-for-all.  Every so often, the students deviate from their standard one-on-one training, and just go on this free-roam attack-anyone-you-want-to sort of session.  Brief as it is, it's also pretty hilarious to watch.  This is completely informal, but the students have a great time with this one.

Tonight marked the return of Cad Bane, and what an awesome appearance it was on "The Bad Batch."  We sat down and enjoyed that one together.  We were also sitting down to enjoy the sound of birds calling out on the back deck tonight, so many of them in the woods behind us.  A hummingbird came by to visit, checking us out, and taking a long drink or two from our feeder.

We were doing some watering of the plants outside, but Claudette is coming from the Gulf, and we won't have to do that much over the next several days.  I'm doing more "Oz" research, which means watching the movies again - we were watching "Oz the Great and Powerful."  I'm coming up with an idea for a series on stage now that features a return of the Lion, Tin Man and Scarecrow, this time to Kansas, which I thought would be different.

Maddie was cutting out her blob fish stickers today, playing Minecraft, and doing some writing as well.  It was a quiet day.  I was walking in Arches National Park on the treadmill - it's been a great series of hikes that I've been doing on the treadmill.  I'm not sure where I'll go next, but I've done a lot of exploring of the different trails there within the park.  This one had me on the treadmill an hour, and it really helps to go places while going nowhere, if that makes any sense!

We read tonight, and we prayed tonight.  It's been a quiet summer, but next week should be a nice one for Maddie.

Learning to Instruct

I did more cardio this morning, the general idea being to get to 3.14 miles in 45 minutes at increasing grades each day.  I was around 6-8% today, an uphill battle, right?  It's been great therapy though, having people there that monitor my progress with the little wires stuck to my chest and abdomen.  A heart monitor relays my heart rate to the central computer and marks my progress.  The goal is to get up to a heart rate around the 130's.  I haven't gotten there as much this week, as my heart is getting stronger, and it actually takes more work to get to that point.  Also, my heart rate is calming down pretty quickly afterwards too, a good sign.  The low blood pressure is interesting though.  

Maddie got her heart rate up with exercise today at taekwondo, two classes of it.  She was instructing at the first class, like always, and then there for her leadership class afterwards.  She was training as an instructor in that class as well, standing in front of the class and leading them in exercises or instructions on how to do particular moves.  She's got more confidence, and more articulation too.  She's able to fully express her instructions and with enough volume as well.  Everyday she's not only learning more martial arts skills with her class, but she's also learning how to be a better instructor and leader.  I'm super proud!

I was proofing our new "Oz" series today, and working on the script for this Sunday too.  We're getting ready for Forward as well, and a roller skating trip this Saturday.  Lots going on at the church, and it can get overwhelming thinking of it in total - you just have to work on one thing at a time.  

Tonight we didn't have as much time to watch something, so we squeezed in a few episodes of season three of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." where we said goodbye to Bobbi and Lance, two really great characters on the show.  

It's a super sad ending, a "spy's goodbye."  Although it's a happy ending for the two of them, as they are safe and sound, just off the team and on their own separate path.  A show called "Most Wanted" was supposed to be released, and in fact from what I understand they actually filmed the pilot episode of it.  Why they never aired that, I don't know.  Why film something and go through all that, and never actually show it?  I know Maddie would love to see it, so by gum, let our voice be heard and at least let us check out the show, right?  I know we don't have much pull in the overall state of things, but we have been those super fans, and it would be super cool to see.

So tonight we finally finished the long book, "Kingdom Keepers III:  Disney in Shadow"  It ended on a good note, with Wayne being rescued, although there's more trouble on the way for sure.  I took down the next book off the shelf afterwards, and yes, we'll be starting on that one right away.  Maddie's enjoying this series.  She has all the friends there at the bed:  Putnam, Poop, and Chuck the Groundhog there with her to hear each chapter.  It's a nice little group!

We said our prayers afterwards, and went to sleep fairly quickly after that.  Or at least I did.  Maddie's a bit of a night owl lately, hence her sleeping in pretty late each morning.  That's okay, because it's summer!

Blob Fish Slippers

Maddie spent a good bit of time with a coloring book today, one of those more advanced types that take a bit more concentration and effort.  But the end result is turning out really well!  This is one of the gifts she got for her birthday, but the birthday gifts were still coming in today.  This afternoon she got another gift in the mail, one we ordered a while back:

Blob Fish Slippers.  Yes, they make those.  Maddie was walking around with these on all afternoon and night, and why  not?  They're stylish and sleek, a bold statement in the shoe world.  These are perfect for your morning walk or a work-out in the gym, and yet also fashionable for a night out on a town.  They're also comfortable enough to wear around the house, an ideal blend of form and fashion that's suitable for any area of your life.  Soon everyone will be wearing these Blob Fish Slippers!

I didn't have any this morning on my own walk on the treadmill though.  And that's okay.  I was at a 12% grade for 45 minutes, and didn't get quite as far as I usually do, but the heart rate was calming down a lot quicker than it usually does.  One notable trend is the blood pressure afterwards, and how it's been super low.  That might be an indication that it will be time to slowly get off of some of the medication I've been on.  I might go from nine pills per day to eight!

One calming thing each day is being out there in the back yard, watering and listening to the chirping and squeaking too.  The squeaking comes from a scurry of squirrels we have.  They're racing all the way up and down this huge pine tree we have in the back yard, making all kinds of noise as they do.  I've been watering some of Mom's plantings, making sure everything gets hydrated.  Although there's talk of a storm heading our way.  Ironic, given we're in the middle of a "storm chasers" series.  This isn't the stray tornado variety though - this is a tropical storm.  We're going to get wet.

Maddie did some piano today, working on a  few random songs just to keep in the swing of things.  Tonight, we were all there for the next episode of "Loki," which is already out today.  Lots going on in this show, particularly for the multi-universe people, which coincidentally happens on 6-16.  Marvel fans will get that.    

We closed out the day at Hollywood Studios, or what used to be called that, with the Kingdom Keepers getting ready to attempt to take down the Overtakers.  We're so close to the end of this book, and Maddie has already determined we're doing part four next.

We said our prayers tonight, and there is a lot to be thankful for.  Things have been challenging, but there's a lot of good we can focus on.

Blob Fish Party

Today was Maddie's fifteenth birthday.  And though I threatened to have a ranchero band playing and promised to get her a large hoop skirt dress, in the end, we just went with a blob fish themed party.  And it was a great day for Maddie. 

Here's the gang, all together at the playground posing for a picture after their time at the pool.  This was a pool party, and the girls had a good time fooling around, playing games and splashing. 

Maddie got an inflatable unicorn - sadly, there aren't any inflatable blob fish yet.  But she still liked this one.  The girls were playing some games where they had to guess the names of movies based on clues, or other games too.  They had fun in the kiddie pool too, the one they all ran do during the lifeguard break.  

Look, is this a blob fish shaped cloud?  Possibly!  But here below is another blob fish sighting!

There were a lot of blob fish sightings today.  This one is a rubbery looking one that Camille gave her.  Maddie put a wad of paper on top as a hat, because why not?

You can see all the gifts - and blob fish - here.  Maddie was opening presents in the great room there, and she was loving everything that she got.

It was really nice.  The girls were enjoying their time together all day here, and it was just great to get out and have some fun.  

We had all kinds of thoughts early on about a party, and ultimately, a simple pool party at the house won the day, mainly because of the shorter distance many would have to travel.  However, a few of the girls came from a long ways away.  How wonderful that they were so thoughtful!

Here's an old tradition.  Smashing a cupcake in one of the girl's faces.  Presley here had that happen last year at the birthday.  Because again, why not?

The blob fish theme worked out well.  We got the blue table cloth, and the pink cups there where I made some stickers to put on each cup.  Everyone had a different blob fish on their cup.

And we made blob fish themed balloons too, which was great.  We had many of those all around to decorate the place.  But here below is a wonderful highlight:

Blob Fish cupcakes!  Mom did such a great job with these!  Not only are they amazing, they're delicious too!

For our presentation, we had the cupcake tower, a Grand Tower of Blob Fish Cupcakes!  This was a perfect treat after the girls ate the pizza we picked up.  

Before getting to eat these though, we had the candle in place, and of course we all sang "Happy Birthday!"

She blew out the candles, and it was really nice.  The whole day was nice, and the girls seemed to have a great time, hitting it off with one another right away.

Some of the girls stayed a lot later than the party was scheduled for, and that was fine with everyone.  It is Maddie's birthday, and she can do whatever, right?  We all watched a few videos together, and even played some games like Twister.  Nana spun the spinner as the girls tried to win the game. 

Oh, and I didn't mention Blob Fish Bingo yet!  All that work on the Blob Fish Bingo game cards and tokens really, really paid off!  The girls each got a card, and I was serving as MC for the event calling out the various Blobfish characters as the girls put down their blob fish tokens.  Maddie had packages of candy out for the winners.  It was great to play as we were waiting for the last of the guests to arrive.

Also, all the girls got a sticker sheet of blob fish cartoons, and can you see how Maddie decorated the plates in the picture above?  Yep, they're blob fish too!  It was quite the blob fish party.  I might even say it was the best blob fish themed party ever.  I'm not entirely sure how many other blob fish themed parties there have ever been, but that's besides the point.  It was a fantastic fifteenth birthday.