SX23 Day 1

We were rip-roarin' and ready to go with DAY ONE of Summer Xtreme 2023.  You can see Maddie along with the rest of the cast above, or at least most of them, as they've time traveled back to the wild, Wild West.  They're putting on their best tough faces in case they have to duel or something.  

Of course, there's more than skits to Summer Xtreme, but this is a big part of it, and this year we really went hand-in-hand with the game segment where Josh and his co-hosts were battling the villain who messed up the timeline, a guy named Manhead.  

The skit was perfection.  Seriously, I've been doing these for twenty years or so, and this one was so immaculate in its execution.  It was a ten-pager, so it was certainly more challenging.  But the cast was on top of things in a mighty way, and so was Mom, getting these costumes together for days one, two and three. With a cast of nine actors, that made twenty-seven different costumes!

We had balloon decorations outside, and they looked really great.  The whole service was fantastic, with praise and worship doing a fantastic set, and then of course the game segment with Josh and others getting involved in the first of a few very messy games.  Today's involved popping balloons over people's heads using small nerf guns with sandpaper on them, with the balloons filled with shaving cream.

Meanwhile, Maddie and the cast were rehearsing in the office.  Maddie was snapping a few pictures along the way.

And I was all over the place as usual.  I was down the hallway taking pictures of the younger kids as they were getting a visit from the older students of Edge Martial Arts.  This is a tradition for Summer Xtreme pre-schoolers that goes back a ways, including a visit where Maddie got involved in 2012.

After service, today's visit was to the local movie theater to see "Super Mario Brothers."  Maddie was helping with a group of kids and getting to sit in the theater too.  You can see her in the picture below, part of a sea of blue t-shirts.

So I think that makes this year the first one where she's hanging with a group of kids and helping them along.  It's an important job, one that keeps that child-to-leader ration lower too.  We've traditionally had a 5-1 ratio with leaders.  Anyway, she's hanging with Mrs. Sharon, a volunteer that's been with us since nearly the beginning of Summer Xtreme, a legend!

We had a good first day, although the dismissal part was a little rough with the car line.  Still, everyone got out and home, or at least we did eventually.  I dropped Maddie off at Free Chapel Youth tonight, and she went to church with a few of the others before I came back to get her so we could all get home, and get a good night's rest.  Two more days to go!

'Merica!

Happy Fourth of July!  It's a tradition each Independence Day to head over across the street to our neighbors to watch a little fireworks display, and then when they're done we head deeper into the neighborhood for the other fireworks display, which includes some monsters.  It's a loud night, something like the sound of warfare all around.  The weather was ideal for pyrotechnics, although there was a threatening amount of rain south of us.  It made its own noise, but never got close enough to us to cause worry.  Afterwards, Maddie and I were spending some time with sparklers taking a few photos of Maddie and then also doing some time exposure shots where we set the shutter to stay open for thirty seconds or so while running around the front yard.

It was a nice day.  We grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, and had all the fixings and traditional things like ears of corn, potato salad, macaroni salad, baked beans, salad, and all the toppings for the burgers and hot dogs.  It was quite the feast, including watermelon too!  Our salt and pepper shaker are the Liberty Bell and the White House.  So yeah, tonight we were saying to one another, "Can you please pass the White House?"

I got a new vinyl record yesterday of patriotic tunes, and we were playing that.  Robert Shaw was conducting, and it was actually a good album.  Of course we also plug in the Voices of Liberty and a Phil Driscoll collection of patriotic music.  

We were spending a lot of today preparing for Summer Xtreme.  It's going to be a good one.  We read tonight, and we said our prayers.  Sleep did not come for me though, nor Mom, mainly because she was taking care of me.  My blood pressure was pretty high all night, and it was kind of scary.  It might be a dietary thing, I think.

Anyway, below you'll see a collection of Fourth of July photos from across the street, deep in the neighborhood too.  We ran into some friends and neighbors where we sat together watching the rockets red glare as we screamed out things lie, "'Merica!"

Punk Mom

Weird Monday today, at least along the time line.  We're here before the Fourth of July, and supposedly at rest because of the holiday and yet we're not because it's all about Summer Xtreme upcoming.  Mom has been working on twenty seven different costumes for the cast members, including some cool steampunk hats and a pretty funny punk look for Camille's character, a villain from the dystopian alternate present.

Arrr!  The hat is pretty amazing.  You'll see that on Day Two.  Today there was no taekwondo, so tonight we were doing our Indiana Jones marathon, this time with "Temple of Doom," a movie I've seen so many times since it was first released.  Still, it's great riding along with Indiana Jones again, on elephants, airplanes, life rafts, mine cars, or whatever.  Remember this arcade game for "Temple of Doom"?  I always liked that one, and the one for "Return of the Jedi."

Anyway, today we were doing a lot of work for the new series.  There are handouts and there are scripts and soundtracks and there are name tags and many, many other things to do to set things up.  We were at the movie theater today to run through the basic plan for getting hundreds of kids in to get popcorn and drinks and getting them to their theater.  The folks there haven't seen this many kids come in all at once since 2019, and that was probably us back then.  

It's been a quiet day, although a busy one.  We're getting ready for Summer Xtreme, and the Fourth of July too.  Tonight we read from "Life, the Universe, and Everything" just before bedtime, and then said our prayers.  Tomorrow should be a fun day.

George Washington and Betsy Ross

We had a fun time this morning with a message that started with the Liberty Bell and included a skit that featured George Washington and Betsy Ross, who you can see above.  Our time travelers were needing some "Bill and Ted" style assistance with their upcoming history test, so Professor Wisenheimer came in to help out, bringing a a few faces from the past.

 

That flag!  We ordered one of the Betsy Ross flags, because of course we have Betsy Ross in the skit today.  But the flag is super cool, with the thirteen stars there on equal footing with one another in a circle like the great Round Table of Camelot.  

You can see one thing the historical figures here learned from our current generation:  how to floss.  It seems as if George and Betsy have it sort of figured out.  Fortunately, I was stuck holding the flag.

Ah!  If actual historical figures visit from the past, be sure to take a selfie!  Maddie, of course, actually was taking pictures here - and recording a few videos too.

It was a nice morning.  We had a long day though, with a Summer Xtreme meeting afterwards, and all kinds of preparation going on.  It'll be that way for the next few days, I think, until the big start day on Wednesday.  I feel readier than usual, although there are a few other things I need to get done.

We got home and were pretty wiped out, of course.  It was a good day - we ended tonight with "Raiders of the Lost Ark," of course.  Because it's one of the greatest movies ever made.  Quote me on that.  Every time I watch this movie, I forget how good it is.  The three of us watched this, having seen "The Dial of Destiny" yesterday, and I'm pretty sure we're now heading in the direction of watching the three other movies after this.

Tonight we read, and we said our prayers too.  It was a full day, and it was time for a good night's rest!

The Dial of Destiny

This afternoon we went together to see what may be the final chapter of the Indiana Jones story, or at least the cinematic journey.  There have been plenty of other stories in comics, novels and games, and there may be other adventures still there.  But today was possibly the last time we see Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, and that had a lot of impact on us.  For our generation, Indiana Jones and Star Wars are the greatest movies ever, and of course this actor had a massive part in both.   I did many a Halloween with my bullwhip, leather jacket and fedora.  I think I still have all three, certainly the fedora that later came when Mom got me that for Christmas one year.  

This is the first time the three of us watched a new Indiana Jones movie together in the theater, such has been the length of time between each release.  The last movie was "The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," and that was in 2008.  Maddie wasn't with us yet, and Mom was still recovering from her illness at that time.  There was a lot of hype for that movie, and we went to the theater together - but Mom got sick and went home with my mother so I could stay and watch it.  That put a damper on things.  The previous movie I saw in Athens, pretty much by myself.  And the time before that we were watching it in New Jersey with the family, up in Pompton Lakes on our visit to the grandparents.  And the time before that... countless times before that... was in Hightstown where we would go and see that same movie over and over again.  I still remember the popcorn and the theater there, everyone ready to see a movie we've all seen over and over again, but not really caring because it was so good.

This movie was okay, and we did have the bar pretty low before going, not expecting the dynamic sort of movie from the past, simply because the main actor is now 80 years old.  Many jokes were made at our President's expense, as he's the same age.  Anyway, right away when the Paramount logo did not give way to a mountain of sorts within the movie, I knew things would be different.  The missing factor was Steven Spielberg, and my goodness John Williams too.  He is credited with the music, although he's 91 and I couldn't imagine him doing all of that.  There were certain things we expect missing from this one, and I think those would have helped a bit.  Which is not to say it was a terrible movie.  We enjoyed it, and of course loved that things ended the way they did.  And of course, it was just awesome to see Indiana Jones back again, fighting against those same villains.  Certain action sequences were done really well, and it was a good movie overall.  Too early for me to rank it amongst the previous.  But certainly nothing like the originals, of course.  Still, a great adventure with an old friend.  Forty-two years ago.  That's how long Indiana Jones has been making movies with the same lead actor.  Wow.

The rest of the day was a busy one.  Of course we started out with Team Edge, and a two-hour practice.  I was working on this script for tomorrow throughout the day, one involving Betsy Ross.  It's been a slow sort of process, this writing.  But it's coming along.  Maddie had fun with friends this morning, training and exercising too.

We visited with Nana for a good bit today, and she seems okay, her memory about the same and her mobility also about the same.  Both are fairly limited, but not worse than before, so that's a good sign.  We were there for about an hour and a half, doing mad-libs and watching something on British television that happened a week ago at Windsor Castle.  We always try to have something Nana likes on the television.

Dinner tonight was pretty special - there was this huge deluge of a rainstorm that came thundering into Dawsonville, but we evaded it by diving into the Kani House, returning to a hibachi grill for a really nice meal.  We were celebrating Maddie's adoption - fifteen years ago today we made it all official in China.  Maddie took some cell phone pictures of the chef as he prepared our food with the large flames, the volcano, the onion train, and all the little tricks and gags along the way.  He tossed a piece of chicken to Maddie, who caught it in her mouth.  I managed to make a solid catch myself, both of us not expecting to be so accurate.  But it was fun, and we all loved the food and had a nice time together.

We got home later on tonight, and I finished up things with the skit.  We read from "Life, the Universe and Everything," which is a pretty surreal book at times, but it's fun.  And then it was time for bed - we were all pretty zonked, and tomorrow is going to be a big day.  So off to be we went.  Fireworks are going off already - the Fourth of July is coming soon!