Epiphany Pageant

The first Sunday in January, the children at church put on their Epiphany pageant. Rudy was one of the kings. He requested a speaking part, and had one line that he had memorized within about 5 minutes.
Here are the pre-pageant preparations.

 

The Three Kings

 

Everyone ready to go.

 

The kings' big moment.

Kneeling before Baby Jesus.

Everyone at the end. The pageant was a big success- having the first and last practice the day before seems to ensure the kids know what they are doing!

SMAS Camping

This weekend our church had our annual camping trip.(SMAS stands for Saint Mark and All Saints) We stay somewhere local and then those that don't want to camp can come and hang out.This year there weren't very many kids. We arrived Saturday afternoon and set up our tent. I had to run home (the best part of camping locally when you need something!), and while I was gone there was some excitement. Our priest was trying to fix a fishing pole and while using a knife to cut something, sliced her finger tip. Paul was left in charge of her two girls and Rudy while our priest and her partner headed to urgent care.
Rudy and her girls have fun together - although they act very much like siblings- one minute they are playing together nicely and the next they are tattling on each other.

The pond was a big draw for the kids. You could hear bullfrogs all day and all night around the pond, but it was much harder to see them.

Our priest made it back with a big bandage on her finger and the evening mass and potluck proceeded. After dinner the kids were still itching to go fishing, so some of the young adults (I am trying not to say bigger kids, since they are late teens/early twenties!) took the kids down to the pond. I don't think they caught anything other than plants, but they had fun trying.

So sad this picture is blurry, because I think it would have been great.

After fishing, it was s'mores time.

And there was some music around the fire played by Paul. (There's dad sitting there enjoying the time - and the fact that he doesn't have to sleep in a tent!)

Our priest tried to get Rudy to sing the Mother's Day song he and Paul wrote for me, but he wouldn't. When he was bribed with some quarters for the arcade, he grudgingly agreed to sing Froggy Went A'Courtin...

...but he hid behind Paul the whole time.

The next morning we started packing up. Rudy got some lessons on all the cords RVs use from Harry. Rudy told Harry he wished we had an RV so he could watch TV. He doesn't yet realize that is the purpose of camping - no TV!

Happy Birthday, U.S.A.

We started early this morning with our traditional Independence Day breakfast out before the parade. We go to Smithville for breakfast and then walk to find our spot along the parade route. A hungry boy waiting for pancakes.



We seemed to finish breakfast earlier than usual, so we walked around and encountered all sorts of wildlife. There are always roosters walking around the shops. We saw this turtle crossing the road, so we walked with him to protect him from cars for a while. He just kept zigzagging back and forth across the road.

Then as we followed the turtle, we met this family of geese walking toward the pond.

At this point a maintenance worker came by and saw the turtle and said he would take him back to the pond. So we continued on.
As we got our chairs and headed to the parade route, Rudy stopped to work and sing "I've been working on the railroad."

As we picked a spot to put down our chairs, Rudy spotted these babies through the trees. I think they are hens/roosters since they were with a few roosters.

Our last wildlife encounter before the parade was this dragonfly that landed on Paul's leg and stayed there for about 5 minutes.

Rudy posed us for a picture -and it actually turned out really well!

Sitting in the shade with some grapes waiting for the parade to start.

Finally the parade started with the town crier. This parade is one of the largest in the state - the line up had over 100 entries.

Watching the parade.

Trying to do tricks with the yo-yo that was given out (a nice break from the constant candy).

There were some long breaks during the parade, so Rudy amused himself by taking a picture of his 'friend' Rudolph.

About halfway through the parade, Rudy was hot and tired and ready to leave, but we knew it would b impossible to get our car and leave, so he had to stick it out. Here he rested (AKA pouted, whined, complained) on the grass.

Some members of our church rode on this firetruck.

And a group of pirates walking by got Rudy's attention again.

And the fire engines ended the parade with their sirens going. He isn't as upset as he looks here. He was plugging his ears but also making a screeching sound similar to the sirens.

A friend, Anthony, on the fire engine.

Rudy's self-portrait.

After the parade, our plan was to go home, have lunch and then head to the beach late afternoon.

We were all hot and tired from the parade. Rudy chilled out with his Leapster and hanging out with Lou, while Paul and I did a few things around the house.

We eventually decided we didn't feel like going to the beach, so we just relaxed at home. Then Paul, Batman and I took a walk to get some ice cream.

It had been a few years since we went to watch fireworks, so we gave Rudy the option and he wanted to go this year. Of course they didn't start until after 9pm, so we left our house just before 9 to walk down to the water to watch them.

Here Rudy AKA Harry Potter walks with his wand.

Waiting for the fireworks to begin.

I attempted to take some pictures, but we were just too far away to get any good shots. Rudy lasted about 10 minutes and then started asking to go home. We stayed about 10 more minutes and headed home as the first set ended. We might skip the fireworks next year.

It was a long, great day, spent all together as a family.