Friday, April 11, 2025

Keep On Running

  Life never lets you sit for long! At least that has been my experience.  So as Daniel shifted into outage, I shifted into high gear to get everything done. The youth were having a camp fundraiser, and since Henry was feeling poorly, (he has been fighting the flu and an ear infection poor kid) so he stayed home with Daniel. The older kids were waiters and Lizzy stepped in to manage the youth since they didn't really understand how to serve. Luckily she has been trained well. She met some fun people and had a great time.



Water boy eagerly waiting to refill a cup.


Daniel has started our garden. He was eager to get it going. 


Daniel took me Back to the Future!


It was cool, they used a humungous screen to add all kinds of effects.

    Daniel really enjoyed the show. It was neat, but I was surprised by how many songs there were. The actors were great, the performer who portrayed Greoge McFly was channeling Jim Cary with is limbs everywhich way as he moved. The singers were great. It was a fun night.

    Lizzy got asked to Prom!


Ethan got her teacher in on the ask. She was so surprised! She has been working hard as Dracula in the student-led One Acts.
















    The plays were fun, The first one was a student-written about siblings finding aliens, the second was a tender play about a couple where the wife has dementia and they are trying to remember their first kiss. They were in greyscale, which was a fun twist. Then Lizzy performed, and the final play was about two beauty pageant moms. One was the win at all costs and we find out that was instilled in her by her mother, the story was so sad. The other mom had abducted her "daughter" and at the end of the play, she sent her to the police station to return her. They played it for laughs, but I found it tragic. Everyone's lives were a facade hiding trauma. It made me cry when the winner Mom revealed what lengths her mother went to to make sure she won. She clearly just wanted her mother's acceptance. 
    It was so nice of the Blacks to come watch Lizzy's performance. She got to keep her costume including the massive boots which she said were very comfy.








Thursday, April 3, 2025

Planet Comic-Con

 I saw the billboards, the ads skipped down my feeds and I was tempted, but decided I was not going to Planet Comic-Con. We had too much going on...it was too expensive...etc. Then they announced this:


  As you may or may not recall, I missed seeing Alex Kingston at the last con I went to due to John Barrowman's inconsiderate nature and the con's inability to keep a schedule. Why no, I am not still bitter, thank you very much! So when Daniel mentioned it, I jumped at the chance. I purchased my tickets and the photo op. It was a mere weeks before the con so I didn't have time to get a cosplay together. Then a week before the con Mrs Tate had a schedule change and I was refunded for the photo op. A subsequent email said an opportunity to have a photo with the other two would be coming. That email never arrived, and I emailed to inquire, but never got a response. This did not excite me for the con, especially when I found out that they were only speaking on Friday and we were only going on Saturday. Gah! So now I could not see them nor get a picture with them. Why do I bother?!?!? 
    We went anyway and I was surprised at how well it was run. Plenty of staff and other than getting lost a few times due to the size of the event, it was quite pleasant. We saw Don Bluth and Phillip Glasser who sang the first line of Somewhere Out There. That was so cool. We learned about armor and cosplay lighting, how to build droids, and mostly community. I love these crazy people. I couldn't stop smiling. There is something wonderful when you see people just loving something so much. They glow. 



We saw Margret-Ann and she was sweet but a little confused at times. She kept growling at the crowd. in a playful way. 




This was my favorite cosplay. They were perfect!




Spidy out saving the day.


Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb!


I found Him!


Turns out there were several Waldos and quite a few Loraxes, I was surprised by that.





It was great. I remembered just how much I love being surrounded by passionate people. While my quest to see Alex Kington is as yet unfulfilled, I live in hope that one day I will.
 

Spring Break

 We started spring break, with Pi Day! Then St Patrick's Day.


I sported my Irish pride.




This year Lizzy made the meal. She was a little disappointed at how much work was involved, but she did a great job.


We went to a few parks and the Zoo.




Henry loved the lobsters and eel.










The Blacks came over and took my oldest to the temple with Grandpa Ron, and I got to go myself. 


Lizzy and Henry mixed some dirt for the garden.


Lizzy was DM for our little D&D session that only had one person rage quit, so it was mostly successful? I guess. We didn't get very far, but it was fun.



All in all, it was a fun week.













Keep On Running

  Life never lets you sit for long! At least that has been my experience.  So as Daniel shifted into outage, I shifted into high gear to get...