Showing posts with label My Littles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My Littles. Show all posts

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Gordon Productions

It seems appropriate that, on the same day as the Golden Globes were being held in Hollywood (Yay for Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, by the way!), there was an epic production being put on for it's very first engagement right here in the Gordon Theater. 

The boys have been "rehearsing" for days, and today they finally had both Daddy and I home to perform for. I was told, under no uncertain terms, that no photography was permitted to be taken and shared, so you will unfortunately have to use your imagination. I assure you that it was a spectacular event though, complete with costume changes, set designs, and 4 action filled acts. 

We opened with our heroes battling Storm Troopers against daunting odds. They ducked behind bushes that only looked suspiciously like bins of toys if you were a person completely lacking in imagination. Luckily they found themselves able, under cover, to make their way to the Millennium Falcon. (One of them carrying a Wookie on their back no less!) They took off, surrounded, and battled through attacking spaceships with only a single gun and crossbow. Finally our heroes broke away and escaped, traveling to Tatooine, Earth, the Moon, and back to Tatooine. (I might have forgotten a stop or two in there. At some point the audience became quite overcome with giggles, and one tiny audience member decided that she was going to join her brothers the actors on stage where she happily bounced around on the trampoline yelling "Yaaaaaaaay!".) 

Act Two began on the Wookie home planet, which was not Kashyyyk in this version of the Star Wars Universe, though it was something equally as hard to pronounce and spell. Here a loan Wookie (wearing a costume of only underwear, since "Wookies are naked, you know, but that would be inappropriate.") walked and climbed around in his beloved forest of trees. All seemed beautiful and peaceful until an evil Storm Trooper stormed in "Bashing" everything in his path, including the trees. Our lonely Wookie was infuriated by this pointless act of violence, and began beating on his chest and screaming in a manner that I've seen in some Planet of the Apes type movies, but never before from a Wookie. The rest of the second act was a dramatic battle between Storm Trooper and Wookie. I've no idea who won, but I hope our neighbors weren't trying to sleep.

By the third act the Wookie and Storm Trooper were fast friends, and apparently building a life together in the forest. Without warning their home was attacked by a group of roaming Storm Troopers, presumably angered at their companion's betrayal, who demolished their house with such force that audience members were required to remind our actors that giant Lego bins shouldn't be flung around the play room with too much force.   

Act Four finds us back on the Millennium Falcon. After a dramatic battle with the evil Emperor Palpatine, in which the Emperor fell spectacularly, there was a wild dance party of celebration (including the little actress who crashed the scene in Act One) before the curtains fell to tremendous applause.

I have no doubt that it could be taken on the road to critical acclaim of the highest form, but rumor has it that The Company is working on a Gordon Productions version of The Hobbit next. 

Tickets were extremely reasonably priced at only $3 a person, though we were given a discounted price of only $1. (We tipped to make up for the difference though.) The stars even had a meet and greet afterwords where you could get autographs! I have a feeling these ticket stubs will be found in a box years from now and treasured just as much then as they are today. 

"$3 esh
thack you"
(and the 3 is backwards)

Friday, January 8, 2016

The Next Generation

There are so many things I love about being a mommy. I could make an impressive list. However, one of the things I really love is getting the chance to share my passions with my children and watch them discover them for the first time. It's like rediscovering all of the things I love all over again through their eyes. 

When Parker was three, and his daddy was away on another deployment, we were snuggling together one day when we came upon Star Wars on television. I don't even remember which one it was, except that it was one of the original three, and that he was hooked from the first moment he saw Darth Vader. I did what any rational mother would do, and went out that same week to buy the entire set on Blu Ray so that we could watch them together. I probably spent more time watching him. Oh, how his eyes lit up. Oh how they danced. Before the summer was out our home was filled with light sabers, tiny Playschool action figures meant for small ones, (because Bash needed to be able to play too, and was too young for tiny, removable parts) and the Millennium Falcon. We dressed as Star Wars characters for Halloween that year, my three year old insisted on growing his hair out "like Anakin", and I had my first taste of what it was like to share a passion with my child. 

It happened again with Harry Potter. I watched as my boys reached for their letters with Harry, as they boarded the Hogwarts Express for the first time, and as they got their first wands. They were handmade pieces of wood from Mommy, covered in hot glue and paint, but for a moment I felt like Ollivander himself. I'm only slightly disappointed that they saw these things in movie form before hearing them read, but I look forward to starting the first book with them this year. They are ready, and so am I!

One of my daughters first ten words was "doll", and I have walked the American Girl store with her many times delighting over her every "Oooohhhhh!" She pushes about strollers, and covers babies with blankets, and every so often she will stop with her mouth open in a big, round "O" and just take everything in. I poured over those catalogs as a little girl, dreaming of one day saving up enough money for my own. The first time I stepped into a store I was 30, pregnant, and it is rumored that I cried. I was able to give my daughter her first baby doll for her birthday, and watch as her little face lit up and she earned the name "Little Mama". 

The same thing happened the first time she came face to face with a Care Bear. There was no way that my tiny girl could have possibly known about her mama's Care Bear collection. She has no idea about the years worth of Care Bear cakes my amazing Grandmama made for me as I grew up. But she threw her arms around Funshine Bear and covered her heart shaped nose with open mouthed baby kisses. I can't tell you exactly how fast Funshing made her way into our cart to come home for Christmas, but I'm pretty sure that I would have broken a world record had an official from Guinness been there to time it. 

We've started watching The Hobbit movies with the boys last week. We debated some of the more frightening parts, but finally decided that it was something they could handle. I'm glad we did. I listened today as my boys danced around the house with their wooden swords, battling orcs as Galdalf and "Bildoh", and bemoaning the fact that they didn't have a magic ring and were too young to grown a proper wizard beard. I think I need to re-read the book again now after rediscovering it through the eyes of my children. They allow for so much magic to come back into my life when I can be open to it. I love when old magic becomes new to me again, and I hope that I can thank them for that properly one day.

**I know that this post is coming well after midnight, but it still counts for my January 7th post, because I haven't been to bed yet. :) **