Ducks in a Row

Maddie had her FCY tonight, and she was heading in solo, which is to say all her friends were busy getting ready for school.  Yes, that's tomorrow morning.  But for tonight, it was a great time as always for the youth, with another solid service, and fun afterwards with pizza and games.  It was an early night though - we have school tomorrow, after all.  We got back and did our reading, and we said our prayers, and that was it for summer break.  It was a decent summer break, and we got to do some things here and there.  Summer Xtreme went well, Forward was great, and Maddie's birthday was super fun.  In between there were visits to the castle at Medieval Times, trips to the movies, mini-golf, baseball games, butterfly gardens, firework shows, video games, and more.  Eventually we'll get out of our quarantine here and go on a trip or two, or three.  But this summer worked for what it was, and we had some fun memories.  Now it's time to make new memories, of course, as we're going forward into tenth grade.  Fall is approaching and that's always a super fun time of year anyway.  

Speaking of super fun, here's a duck onesie, one of three of these costumes that we got in the mail today.  Camille has asked us to write a mad-lib to perform at her wedding reception, and it should be pretty fun I hope.  I wrote this one out, and its based on some of the things that she and her fiancé have done over the past few months, and I think I'll share it here:

KidPak Adventures 
A Wedding!

LIGHTS UP

 

HOST:  “Once upon a time, there was a fair maiden in this land by the name of Camille.  Alas! Here she comes now, (1)______________ into the room.”

 

HOST:  “She looked around at everyone, and gave her usual greeting.  She said, 
‘(2) ___________________.’”

 

DAWN does as instructed.

 

HOST:  “But alas, there was a problem so severe.  Her heart sank.  What was that problem?  Why, it was her hair!  It needed serious help! She cried out in sadness.  She sounded somewhat like a (3) ______________   (4)_________________.”

 

DAWN does as instructed.

 

HOST:  “And lo!  She picked up her (5) ______________ and she called her hair stylist.  That’s when she told her the problem.”

 

DAWN:  “I need help!”

 

HOST: “And apparently the stylist agreed.  For not long later, she introduced Camille to … Chris!”

 

MEGAN and DANIEL enter STAGE RIGHT

 

HOST:  “Ummm… doesn’t Chris have red hair?”

 

MEGAN goes off stage, grabs a red wig and slaps it on DANIEL.

 

HOST:  “Wow, she’s good.  But hold on a moment.  What about the hair cut?”

 

DAWN:  “No, I’m good, thanks!  (abruptly grabs DANIEL and walks away from MEGAN).  Goodbye!”

 

MEGAN:  “Peace out!”

 

DAWN waves at MEGAN, who also waves back as she exits STAGE RIGHT.

 

HOST:  “Chris was pretty impressed!  He took one long look at Camille and couldn’t help but say, (6)_________________!”

 

DANIEL does as instructed.  

 

HOST:  “And that’s when they went on a very nice date.  The two went down to the beautiful shores of (7)______________.  She rolled her eyes towards him.  He rolled them back.  ”

 

HOST:  “They sat together and talked for (8) ___________ hours.  And while they were there, suddenly there appeared before them the cutest of little duckies!”

 

ROBBIE, CALVIN, and ISAAC enter STAGE LEFT in RUBBER DUCK ONESIES.

 

HOST: “Meet Huey, Dewey, and Charles of DuckingHam Shire The 3^rd.”

 

DAWN:  “Aren’t they adorable?”

 

HOST:  “Indeed!  And it was right then, the little love birds (9) ______________ right up to Chris and Camille.”

 

ROBBIE, CALVIN, and ISAAC do as instructed.

 

HOST:  (looking at the three) “Improv is tough.  Let’s just say they’re winging it.”

 

HOST:  “So anyway, Camille and Chris thought these cute little ducks were sweet.  And their quacks sounded like (10)____________ (11) _______________.”

 

ROBBIE, CALVIN, and ISAAC do as instructed.

 

DAWN and DANIEL:  “Awwwwww!”

 

DANIEL:  “Let’s feed these cute little ducks.”

 

HOST: “And of course, Camille knew exactly what to feed their new friends.”

 

DAWN grabs a box of taquitos and hands it to ROBBIE, CALVIN and ISAAC.

 

DAWN:  “Taquitos!”

 

ROBBIE, CALVIN, and ISAAC:  “Hey, taquitos!”

 

ROBBIE, CALVIN and ISAAC crowd around DAWN and DANIEL.

 

HOST: “Ah, such a wonderful time together.  It was love at first sight.  They were stuck together like duct tape.”

 

ROBBIE, CALVIN, and ISAAC quack and laugh.

 

HOST:  “Later, the two had other dates as well.  They went to see a few movies together, including a big hit you may have heard of.”

 

DANIEL and DAWN sit down and face ROBBIE, CALVIN and ISAAC.

 

HOST:  “It was a great summer flick called ‘Top (12) ______________.”

 

ROBBIE, CALVIN and ISAAC pretend they’re pilots, flying around quacking and dogfighting in a super quick segment that ends when ROBBIE pretends he crashes.

 

HOST:  “Oh my.  That one crashed.  I guess that duck was getting down.  Get it?”

 

ROBBIE, CALVIN, and ISAAC groan.

 

HOST:  “Ahem.  Anyway, later on, they went to see her cousin Benjamin’s baseball game.”

 

ROBBIE, CALVIN and ISAAC pretend they’re baseball players.  ROBBIE pitches, ISAAC is catcher, and CALVIN hits the imagery ball.  They watch it sail through the air, and then CALVIN looks disappointed.

 

HOST:  “Oh my.  Must have been a foul ball.”

 

ROBBIE, CALVIN, and ISAAC laugh, as DAWN and DANIEL rise to act out next part.

 

HOST: “The two of them even went on a hike in the woods, where they saw all kinds of wildlife.  Even a rare sighting of a (13) _________________ (14) _________________  
(15) ________________.”

 

ROBBIE, CALVIN and ISAAC quack loudly in a panic, and run away.

 

HOST:  “Which of course eats little ducks.”

 

HOST:  “But nevertheless, it was clear that these two were birds of a feather.  Why, they were just made for each other.”

 

DANIEL grabs DAWN by the arm and beckons her back across the stage again to opposite side.

 

HOST: “So soon Chris knew what he needed to do.  He took Camille back to the shore.  It was there he wanted to do something.  And he needed to do it really, really, really…”

ROBBIE, CALVIN and ISAAC:  (returning)  “Quack!”

 

HOST:  “Yes.  Really quack.  I mean, really quick.”

 

DANIEL gets down on one knee

 

HOST:  “He got down on one knee, and he asked her this life changing question:  ‘Will you be my (16)______________?’”

 

DANIEL does as instructed.

 

DAWN vigorously nods yes as ROBBIE, CALVIN and ISAAC quack in celebration.  DANIEL and DAWN smile and wave to audience.

 

HOST:  “And so there was much rejoicing, as you can see.  (to ROBBIE, CALVIN and ISAAC)  Guys, thanks for playing along.  How much do I owe you?”

 

ISAAC: “Put it on our bill.”

 

ROBBIE, CALVIN, and ISAAC do one of those closing laughs, and then quack as they waddle away.

 

HOST: “Those guys.  They really quack me up.  Anyway, as we close this story, it’s clear this is the beginning of a happily ever after.  So let’s join them right now, and watch the happy couple as they enjoy …their first dance.”

 

DANIEL and DAWN move to dance floor as if to do the first dance.

HOST:  “No!  Not you two!  The real Chris and Camille.  Sorry folks, we just had to get our ducks in a row here….”

 

(and possibly…)

 

HOST:  “Ladies and gentlemen, the First Dance!”

 

 

 

WORD LIST

 

1.     Verb ending in -ing (moonwalking, bootscooting, crawling)

2.     Exclamation (Wazzup!  Booga-booga!  Great Honk!)

3.     Adjective (moldy, exploding, ridiculous)

4.     Noun (cheese wheel, opera singer, garbage truck)

5.     Noun (rubber chicken, Tyrannosaurus Rex, taquito)

6.     Exclamation (Huzzah!  Corn beef and cabbage!  Wababaloobop-ba-bop, bam-boom!)

7.     Name (Wal-Mart, Utah, Jurassic Park)

8.     Number (Five thousand, Pi, One Million)

9.     Verb ending in –ed (rolled, skipped, flopped)

10.  Adjective (deranged, painful, belching)

11.  Plural nouns (yodels, combine harvesters, belches)

12.  Noun (kidney, spatula, booger)

13.  Adjective (speckled, repugnant, bashful)

14.  Adjective (scurvy, sparkly, bloated)

15.  Animal (narwhal, banana slug, bird of paradise)

16.  Noun (burrito, screaming goat, X-Wing Fighter)

 

 It should be fun!  So today while shopping, I picked up another puzzle for my recent obsession with handheld puzzle games.  I mastered the 3X3 Rubik's cube, although I'm no speedster on it.  Still, I can solve it without any problems now.  So I picked up a 2X2 Rubik's cube, and immediately mixed the thing up, thinking how easy it will be to solve.  The funny thing is that no, it's not that easy at all!  I sat there and despite my expertise with the 3X3, I was having trouble figuring this simple little puzzle out.  Fortunately, I looked online and saw a few videos on how to do it... I'm not quite there yet, but I went on to solve it a few times.  Anyway, cool puzzle!

Maddie had a good day today, not doing any puzzles, but instead relaxing and preparing for tomorrow.  She's got her outfit laid out, and her new book bag looks good.  She's got all her supplies, thanks to help from Mom, who is always on top of these things.  Mom's got her lunch packed too, so we'll all be able to get up quickly tomorrow and get out the door, just as always.  We've got our ducks in a row, so to speak!