Pumpkin Blossoms

These pumpkin plants have been blossoming, and the flowers are actually really nice there in the midst of our back yard.  And of course each blossom represents the hope of an actual pumpkin in the fall.

The garden is coming along well.  Today Maddie and Mom and Nana were out looking for some swimwear, and doing a bunch of other shopping too.  It's summer time, and we'll be hitting the pool again soon.  I was doing a lot of Summer Xtreme writing and graphics, and tonight was another episode of "The Mandalorian," which we're binging along with a few other shows too, like "Loki."  It's a busy season - lots to do!  We continued our reading tonight, and we prayed - and now it's time for bed!

Memorial Day 2022

This afternoon we returned to the swimming pool, our first visit of the year.  It's Memorial Day, so it was a slightly obvious destination, and in fact an obvious destination for many others in the neighborhood too.  Despite there being a good crowd there, we found our seats easily and then had plenty of space in the pool to swim, throw a water football back and forth, and play our usual game of "Guess Who?"  It was fun though - someone brought a big boom box to play some music in the background, and it wasn't obnoxious either.  In fact, there was some reggae music playing, and it struck me of how great that music is to hear when outside in a pool.  

We got home and I got to grilling on the back deck for a bit, cooking hot dogs and a salmon burger too, while Mom had all kinds of other foods for the table including baked beans, potato salad, corn on the cob, salad, and all sorts of condiments for our grilled items.  It was a traditional Memorial Day feast!

We slept in today, and there was some time spent reading of course - continuing the adventures of The Mysterious Benedict Society.  But we were also watching a few episodes of "The Mandalorian" again tonight, and of course doing a bit of gardening in the back.  I got a few squares of red, these flat red square stones, and another six bags of mulch.  We brought them back and the idea is to expand our "Alice"-themed area somewhat.  It's looking nice!

The rain came suddenly and it completely surprised us.  We heard a bit of thunder and we're so unaccustomed to actual rain happening in those instances that when it happened mere moments later, we were quite shocked!  

It was a decent Memorial Day.  I was glad to get to the pool - that was certainly the highlight, along with that fantastic meal we put together.  It was a good day.  We said our prayers, and moments later, we were all off to sleep.

Charlie's Angels

We had a great Charlie's Angels skit this morning, and it was just so much fun!  Nia, Skylar and Maddie were the Angels, and they did such a great job.  

KidPak Adventures:  Spy Games
Charlie’s Angels

CUE SLIDE:  SPY GRAPHIC

 

LIGHTS UP

 

DAVID comes out on upper stage area to read a story from his Spy Games notebook that he carries.

 

DAVID:  With Spy Games, you cannot help but share

                  A story of three spies who had fabulous hair!

 

                  Each one had skills – they passed every trial.

                  And they did it with fashion.  Oh yes, they had style! 

 

                  Well where can they be and what’s taking so long?

               Oh, I know now.  Yes, we must have their theme song!

 

CUE TRACK:  1 “CHARLIE’S ANGELS” (start at :25)

 

SKYLAR, NIA and MADDIE enter STAGE RIGHT

 

CUE LIGHTS:  FLASHY LIGHTS

 

DAVID:    Ah, here comes the girls now – look at ‘em go.

                  Don’t mess with the Angels.  That’s good to know!

 

SKYLAR, NIA and MADDIE pose “Charlie’s Angel Pose”

 

DAVID:    They practice karate.  Fists swoosh through the air!

 

GIRLS do all sorts of karate moves.

 

                  Then watch as they stop, and straighten their hair!

 

GIRLS abruptly stop, pull out mirrors and brushes and check their hair.

 

DAVID:    Their boss is a man that they never have met.

                  From a box with a speaker, big orders they get.

 

SKYLAR, NIA and MADDIE run to computer system at CENTER STAGE, in order to listen in to their orders.

 

DAVID: To the table, these angels they speedily flew

         They’d hear their new orders, and yes, you should too!

 

DAVID:    Let’s all be quiet a moment and listen in!

                  That way, this mission for the angels will be a win!

 

SKYLAR presses button on computer.  A voice from offstage calls out:

 

CUE TRACK:  2 “PERILOUS LOOKOUT” 

 

CHARLIE:     Hello girls, this is Charlie.  I’ve got a mission for you.

             Listen carefully to the instructions that you are to do.

 

You must find a bad guys!  On their way here they come!

         If you’re fast, you’ll find them by that old set of drums.

 

         There’s more to the mission.  You’ll find out real fast.

         Now go, before your chance to capture has passed!

 

GIRLS RUSH OVER TO DRUM SET AT STAGE LEFT

 

DAVID:    They arrived at the scene and saw the strange sight

                  So the three angels got ready for a flashy fight!

 

EZRA and JEREMIAH appear at STAGE LEFT (from behind piano)

 

GIRLS pose in attack formation! 

DAVID:    But these two were not your typical spies.

                  No, they lifted their hands.  It was quite a surprise!

 

CUE TRACK:  3 “CLOAKED OPERATIONS” 

 

EZRA and JEREMIAH approach GIRLS in surrender mode.

 

JEREMIAH:      Hello my dear friends!  I have nothing to hide! 

EZRA:          We’d love to defect!  Yes, and then join your side!

 

JEREMIAH and EZRA warmly shake the girls’ hands.

 

DAVID:             They shook their hands and then smiled real wide

                           But these little buggers, they were rotten inside!

 

EZRA and JEREMIAH:      Hey, we resent that!

 

DAVID:    So the villains surrendered!  Justice is fair!

         Which means it’s time for the girls…to fix their hair.

 

GIRLS pulls out mirror, hairspray (which is really silly string), and blow dryers.  But EZRA and JEREMIAH pull out plastic weapons.

 

DAVID: Uh-oh! They let their guard down, and they made their move

         They raised up some weapons.  Oh, these guys were smooth!

 

EZRA and JEREMIAH:      Moo-ah-ah-ah!

 

 

DAVID:    They had captured them all, these evil thinkers!

                  They acted so nice, but inside they were stinkers!

 

                  We shouldn’t act one way, all nice and so kind

         And then the next minute as if we’re losing our mind!

 

CUT MUSIC  

 

JEREMIAH:  “I’m sorry, but in our defense, we’re just playing the part of devious villains.  Somewhat like my time at the British Royal Theater when I portrayed Claudius in a stage presentation of Hamlet.”

 

EZRA:  (to JEREMIAH) “Who are you even talking to?”

 

CUE TRACK:  3 “CLOAKED OPERATIONS” 

 

DAVID:    Ahem!  They each pointed their rather unusual toy

                  And if shot with this weapon …uh…oh boy…

 

GIRLS:     What happens?  What happens!

 

DAVID:    You’ll turn wrinkly as prunes – and this part’s no fair:

                  I’m sorry, dear Angels, but you’ll lose all your hair.

 

GIRLS:  NOOOOOO!

 

DAVID:    This bad situation; it was for the birds

                  And these evil minions asked the girls:

 

EZRA and JEREMIAH:      Any last words?

 

DAVID:    The girls they did sniffle, for their moment was through

                           But that’s when they got an idea or two

 

MADDIE:          Hey, I’ve got just one thing to suggest

                           We girls would like just one last request.

 

SKYLAR:          Before you zap us with that weapon unfair

      We would like just a moment to say goodbye…to our hair.

 

DAVID:             Our villains were happy at such miserable plight

                           And to make it all last, they said:

 

EZRA and JEREMIAH:      Oh, all right!

 

DAVID:             The girls got out cans, big cans of hair spray.

                           But listen close now to the words that I say

 

                           It wasn’t hair product inside of the cans

         No!  It was liquid rope – and it shot from their hands!

 

CUE TRACK:  1 “CHARLIE’S ANGELS” (start at :25)

 

GIRLS SPRAY EZRA and JEREMIAH with SILLY STRING

 

DAVID:             The villains were shaken, surprised as they spun

                           And in that sad state, each dropped his gun!

 

EZRA and JEREMIAH drop his guns, and then stops spinning when spray is done.

 

DAVID:    Our villains broke free from their sticky snare

                  They reached down for their weapons, but heard:

 

GIRLS point hair dryers at EZRA and JEREMIAH

 

NIA:   STOP RIGHT THERE!

 

EZRA and JEREMIAH snicker

 

DAVID:  The villains laughed.  What were they thinking?

         Did someone put crazy pills in what they were drinking? 

 

GIRLS POINT HAIR DRYERS towards ground at EZRA and JEREMIAH

 

DAVID:   But just then they pointed, down towards their feet

                  And this part my friends, I think you’ll find neat!

 

         These weren’t just for drying your hair, don’t you see

         These were laser guns!  And they were invented by…me!

 

EZRA and JEREMIAH: (sarcastic) Gee, thanks!

 

DAVID:    No problem!

 

CUE SOUND EFFECT:  ZAP!

 

JEREMIAH and EZRA jumps!

 

DAVID:  Our villains were not quite the sharpest knife

                           But they said

 

JEREMIAH and EZRA: Excuse us folks, while we run for our life!

 

JEREMIAH and EZRA flee through audience as GIRLS aim hair dryers into audience, pretending to fire only when they hear the ZAP sound effects.

CUE SOUND EFFECT:  ZAP (FIRE AT WILL!)

 

JEREMIAH and EZRA jumps up each time they hear the zap, eventually fleeing out rear of audience.

 

DAVID:    Justice was served and the day was saved

                  Thanks to these Angels and the way they behaved

 

GIRLS move to center stage.

 

DAVID:     Don’t be like those two, keep your heart close to God

                  Working for the enemy is something quite odd.

 

         You too can be a super agent, with panache and flair!

         Just don’t be a double agent.  And oh, have good hair.

 

GIRLS fix their hair.

 

                  Next time you’re in trouble, you know what to do!

 

GIRLS pose in classic CHARLIE’S ANGELS pose, with hair dryers

 

         Look to the angels.  And now, friends, we’re through.

 

CUE SLIDE:  “JOIN US NEXT TIME”

 

DAVID exits STAGE LEFT. 
 
FADE LIGHTS as GIRLS exit.

__________________________

We had a super solid morning, and I was just really happy to see Maddie and the girls have some fun with this one.  The audience got a kick out of it too, especially the silly string, of course.  

We got home after church, and Mom had some kabobs ready for the grill, some pineapple, cherries and chicken on kabobs, ready for me to go out and grill on the deck.  I got busy with that right away, as Mom was preparing the table with some other Memorial Day weekend food, like potato salads, corn, and a homemade coleslaw that was delicious.

Maddie and I were hunting on Battlefront, and it was certainly a different version of the game, hunting Ewoks and Geonoshians.  We were doing other versions of the game too, and all of this was inspired by our on-and-off viewing of various parts of the Star Wars Celebration event that's being live-streamed from Anaheim this weekend.  It's been great fun to watch here and there, catching replays of certain interviews and other items too.  As a result of watching this, we've ordered the Skywalker Saga LEGO game that came out recently, and should be having fun with that later on this week.  

It was a sunny day today, and the weather is getting warmer.  We should see some rain soon, or at least a chance of it.  But today was fairly warm, and might warrant a visit to the pool tomorrow.  In the meantime, tonight we settled down to watch a movie that's been on my playlist for quite some time, and haven't gotten around to watching it yet - "Willow."  At the Star Wars Celebration, a new trailer was revealed for the new "Willow" series coming out at the end of the year, and that was the final thing that got us convinced this would be fun to watch tonight.  And it was - Maddie enjoyed it, and of course it was a nostalgic thrill for us.  I remember seeing this one in the theater.  We watched the trailer for the new one afterwards, and that should be a lot of fun when it is released.

Tonight we continued our reading from the first "Mysterious Benedict Society" book, which is now officially not exactly like the television series as much.  Overall, the same theme and story is in place, but both are different versions of the same general story.  I don't have a preference of one over the other - both are good.  We're enjoying this story though, and it works out each night that I can read an entire chapter.  

We said our prayers tonight, and tomorrow we get to sleep in.  It's going to be a good Memorial Day tomorrow!

LEGO in the Gardens

We were over at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens in Gainesville today, using our family pass to get in and take a stroll around the grounds.  It was just a nice occasion for a walkabout, and it was a pleasant walkabout, although the sun was beating down a little too warmly later on, particularly in the more exposed areas. 

We were wanting to see this LEGO exhibit before it was taken down, part of which you can see above.  This life-sized family of deer is made of LEGO blocks, hundreds of them, and all throughout the garden area there were fifteen other sculptures created by a pretty talented LEGO artist.  

This one was interactive!  The old-school "put your head in the picture" idea was back here, and again remember that this is created entirely with LEGO blocks.  Mom and Maddie were ants, crawling along the tunnel.  The pictures you see below are the others we took this afternoon at the garden.  There are some of flora there, but many photos here highlight the LEGO creations, and Maddie too.

This is a recreation from that scene in "Goosebumps."

Yeah, that's creepy.  It was pointed out that this is not a juro spider, which of course we can see tiny ones starting to pop up in large numbers all around, even on the LEGO sculptures...

That's a big hummingbird.

This is a real butterfly.  Not made of LEGO blocks.  Just putting it out there.

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens

These ants probably bite.

This LEGO bonsai didn't take as long to grow.

That's a cute ant.

They have this place in the kids area where you can "paint" with water on a wall... this is Maddie's message of hope for all the children.

And of course I tried to do a goofy.  It was drying out pretty fast...

It was a nice trip out.  We dropped by Dairy Queen and that made it even nicer, everyone picking up some ice cream for the trip home.  Also, I picked up some mulch because we're still working on that back yard.  Mom's got a big vision for one area, and it'll require some digging soon enough.

Backtracking a bit, this morning we were at the martial arts studio, where Maddie was practicing for the upcoming Team Edge performance at Summer Xtreme.  I did my 45-minute walk through the park there nearby, getting in my steps for the day.  Practice was about two and a half hours or so, the students working really hard to perfect their routine.  After that, Maddie and I went over to get some boba tea, because that's been our tradition of late.  We keep trying new teas, never really settling on one particular flavor - they've all been pretty good so far!  

Tonight we watched one of the movies that Maddie has not seen before:  "The Planet of the Apes."  We opted for the Tim Burton version because it's a stand-alone movie, but my goodness, there are eight other "Planet of the Apes" movies out there, making nine total "Planet of the Apes" movies.  Back before the new movies, Mom got me for Valentine's Day a box set of the original five movies, and I can't explain why, but we love them.  The first one of course is a classic.  The remaining original four are enjoyable, but you have to go into them in the right way, enjoying them for what they are and loving all these apes running around in people costumes.  The new movies - the most recent three - are really great, and they put a lot of the 70's movies in the rear-view mirror.  But those original five are so nostalgic, like watching the original Star Trek series on television.  There's a bit of camp to it all, but it's super fun.

Anyway, Maddie got to see an Apes movie, and I have no idea why we've waited this long, but it was a fun Saturday night.  We had a decent day today, and of course there's church tomorrow, so we got to bed at a reasonable hour, reading a bit from our book and saying our prayers before quickly falling asleep.

Hello There

Mom and Nana were at the Wisdom Club luncheon today, and that was a nice event to attend for the two of them.  Plus, it gave Mom a chance to catch up with some old friends, one of which was our Maid of Honor at our wedding.  Maddie and I were at the KidPak office while this was going on, along with Isaac and Camille, working towards getting this weekend going, and doing a lot towards Summer Xtreme too.

"Hello there."  Maddie uses this line from Obi-Wan Kenobi all the time.  If there's a prop nearby, like a bo staff, or something that's not even a weapon, she'll lift that over her head as if it is a lightsaber, because at that moment, she's Obi-Wan.  And additionally, it is required for those around to respond, "General Kenobi!"

So you can imagine once we got home, we couldn't wait any longer:  we watched the premiere of "Obi-Wan Kenobi," checking out the first two episodes that dropped today.  It was the theme of the night, really.  After watching, Maddie and I played a few rounds of a Star Wars Trivial Pursuit game that we've had in the basement with the boardgames.  After two games, we each won a round - it's an old board game, one made for just the original trilogy that has just hints of Episode I in there.  It was fun, and right after that we kept that Star Wars theme going, watching a lot of the Star Wars Celebration online.  It's a huge gathering in Anaheim, and so many Star Wars celebrities were there to talk about the past and upcoming projects too.  We're such geeks. 

And yes, Maddie and I closed things out playing several rounds of "Battlefront II."  After that, we were reading again, and praying too.  We'll have a nice relaxing day tomorrow - the sun is out again.  It's cooler outside, and not blazing hot.  It was a beautiful day, one that was super enjoyable sitting there on the back deck, just enjoying a cup of tea together as the various birds pop in to visit the feeder.  Chipmunks and squirrels too!

It was a quiet day too, but that's okay.  Time for us to get some sleep.

Flashback Thursday

A friend of ours found an old photo on his phone that we haven't seen yet, and it definitely goes back a ways!  Sometimes at the office we'd hook up a set of headphones to the computer and pop in a DVD.  She'd sit there watching the show and would be completely sucked in - it was funny.  Recently we found another video of Maddie watching a video, and you'll see what we're talking about.

It was so cute and funny!  And yeah, we definitely miss those days.  We're having a great time today, but that was magical.

Maddie had a good day today, a first day for summer break.  She was chilling a good bit today, relaxing at home, at least until an early birthday gift arrived:  her new bo staff!  She didn't like the new nunchucks as much - the cord is too short, and they're not as nice.  But that bo staff is great, and it looks fantastic.  Maddie was practicing with it a bit, and she'll need to get acclimated to it.  But she likes it, and it's exciting.

Mom and Maddie tested something out at home.  We ordered a kit that helps you make boba tea at home, and the idea is to have that for the birthday party upcoming.  But we wanted to make sure it tasted it okay, so they had a good test at the house, making boba tea and sampling it.  Maddie said it was good.  Maybe not as good as going out to get it, and there might be some tweaks to be made, but on the whole it works and she's excited to have this opportunity coming up.

Tonight was small groups night online, so Maddie was online with her friends after taekwondo, talking with her friends for a good while.  Camille had a good message tonight, and the game we made up was for World Redhead Day, which is today of course.  We asked questions like, "What redhead is Nemo - and every other fish - really afraid of?"  Rather than give answers in multiple choice, the girls were racking their brains occasionally to remember this or that.  Like, name two fast food restaurants that have a mascot with red hair.  That sort of thing.  By the way, answers:  Darla, Wendy's, McDonald's.

It was a good day today.  The rain was falling hard today, and we got to sleep in too.  It was a nice day, one we wrapped up with reading, and prayers before bed.  We get to sleep in a bit tomorrow too, and that's never a bad thing.

FCY United Returns

I dropped my ninth grader off for the last time this morning - today was the final day for her as a freshman this year.  We got up at normal time and she took a big biology test, one she was glad to be through with.  I picked her up at the school and that was that for ninth grade - no big parties or water balloon fights or singing kids.  High school's last days are a whole lot different these days - it was all rather subdued.  Not to say there wasn't a great feeling of getting out for the summer.  Maddie is happy to be done with ninth grade, and has big ideas for her birthday and maybe even some things this summer too.  In fact, she was really excited most of all about tonight at FCY.  Here's a few pictures of the event itself:

It was FCY United night, and a big one because Reggie Dabbs was back at the church.  He was speaking with Maddie before service - they were seated pretty close - and there was such a big crowd he told her to go ahead and stand up on top of the chair to see.  

She invited a friend to come to church with her tonight, someone from school.  She was pretty happy to have her friend Maddie come, but as this was a multi-campus event, there were other friends that came too.  It was a super fun service, and a really good message tonight.

They had a "taco in a bag" afterwards, and some ice cream too.  It was a big party afterwards, and the place was packed!  There were so many kids from all the campuses there, and it was a lot of fun with dancing, games, eating and a whole lot of socializing.

Maddie documented the adventures of this poor inflatable tree.  It fell.  But don't worry - it was back up on its tree feet again soon enough!

It was a big day.  We had rain today, and I was getting some things done for this weekend at KidPak.  Maddie was chilling at home, but looking forward to tonight's big event, which she was talking about a lot when we got home.  She had such a great time there.

Tonight we read from our book, and we said our prayers too.  We don't have to get up early tomorrow... summer is here!

Eyes

Maddie did a video call today which you can see above, and of course it's a funny image because she's gotten so close to the camera on the computer she's calling from.  Each day we talk while I'm at the office, and it's nice to hear from home.  Maddie had the day off, studying for the biology test she has tomorrow and just chilling at the house.  

It was Taco Tuesday today, and you can imagine the taco feast we had at the house.  We had lots and lots of rain today, and that was great for the yard of course.  The ground has been pretty thirsty.  Maddie and I had a few rounds of "Battlefront II," mainly because it's been a while.  And it was fun! 

Later on, we all watched "Inception," a movie Maddie hadn't seen before.  It's just been popping up in conversation a lot lately, and Camille watched it yesterday, so we popped that one in tonight.  Maddie liked it - it's a different flick, of course, and pretty influential.

It's been a rough day for our country, another horrible tragedy in Texas.  We're not so connected to the news, but we heard about this super late, and it was just a terrible day.  So awful.  

Also in the news, today was finally voting day for Georgia.  We voted last week with early voting, and after months of signs, phone calls, commercials and a huge pile of mailers, the first part of this election season is over with.  Some of the candidates we voted for won, and others didn't, and that's okay for this round as it is just the primaries and really most of the candidates should be good as they generally have the same core belief system.

Tonight we did have time to read, but we did get to bed after praying.  Tomorrow we get up early for a test, and one more day for ninth grade.

Taekwondo Portraits

Maddie posed for some photographs this afternoon, an opportunity that's returned to the martial arts studio after a few years.  These were going on for a bit and we just didn't have time for it back then, also having pictures of Maddie for ballet and school.  I actually brought this up with Master Edge several months ago, and hopefully enough people will be getting pictures with their kids to justify the trip for the photographer.  He had everything set up in the studio, along with computers so that we could see the end results, and make decisions about purchasing this photo or that.  We won't get the photos for a while, but it was great to have a professional photographer here to do the shots, and the backgrounds should be a lot of fun too.  There were some patriotic backdrops that just screamed Rex Kwan Do, but nobody was ready for those - we picked some nice backdrops and placed our order for about seven pictures that we'll see in a little over a month.  

Afterwards, the four of us went over to Chick-Fil-A to have dinner, and get this:  we ate indoors.  We ate at the location, something I don't think I've done at that Oakwood Chick-Fil-A since 2020.  I miss these places and the older times when we go places and we could afford food.  Of course, we can afford food now, but it's much pricier than it used to be and we have to be a bit more selective than we used to be about going out to eat.  

Maddie did her taekwondo class tonight, changing into something more appropriate for class.  She and the others were practicing with nunchucks again, which reminds me of something:  we ordered some new weapons for Maddie today!  We ordered her a new bo staff, one we should hopefully see by this weekend or so.  They let you pick colors and combinations and stripes and accents and so on, but I had to make up a format on keynote to sort of plug in the colors to see what the combinations would look like.  The end result of what Maddie was looking for came out something like this:

We'll see how close they get.  It seems to be inspired by Perry the Platypus, doesn't it?  We had this odd thing where it was nine dollars short of free shipping, and unless we found something nine dollars or more, we'd have to pay something like $50 in shipping.  Which is a nice way of saying, "order something else or we'll bill you $50 extra."  SO... we ordered her a new set of nunchucks too, and somehow felt as if we were saving money?  Anyway, happy birthday, Maddie.  Enjoy those nunchucks!

So here's the news today:  it rained.  It hasn't rained in maybe two weeks here?  So we got a lot of rain, and it kept going on and on and on this morning, and it was perfectly pleasant.  I always love the sound of rainfall in the woods.  Add to that the sound of our new wind chimes, and all the birds rejoicing at the downpour.  

We wrapped up our binge of "The Mysterious Benedict Society" tonight, although we're still a pretty good ways from the end of the first book.  There are definitely differences, but they're both still enjoyable.  I know that sometimes when you read a book you realize that the thing you watched with the same name is nowhere near as good as that book, sometimes even after you've enjoyed the movie or series.  Then you go back and watch it and realize is isn't that good and lament, "If only they made it like the book!"  For me, one big example of that was "Patriot Games," which I thought was a pretty fun movie.  Then I read the book and loved it so much that I think the movie isn't all that great at all!  Another terrible, terrible movie was "Congo," whereas the book was so good, that I literally read it from cover to cover without really stopping.  Of course, in that case I was trapped in an airport and had nothing to do.  But the point is, the book was incredible.  The movie was a horrible disappointment.

There have been some great translations to the big screen though, so it's hit and miss.  "A Series of Unfortunate Events" was a really well done television series, from what I remember, really coming close to the book series.  And though it's often impossible to duplicate exactly what is in a book, the point is to get the spirit of the thing right.  "Jurassic Park" had all kinds of differences, even with some of the characters - the lawyer wasn't such a sleaze and the game warden was an action hero - but in the end, the essence of the story was the same, as was the spirit of it all.  Anyway, I digress.

We said our prayers tonight, and fell asleep quickly.  It was a long day, but a good one.