John Silver is His Name

The "Miracle Play", as Jared called it, came together beautifully tonight.  Officially the play was an adaptation of "Treasure Island" and thusly named.  The ACTT Theater group Jared joined to participate in the play met for 10 days, 6 hours a day to get ready for tonight's play.  The first day I dropped him off he was thrilled to see a friend and the friend was equally thrilled; so I knew things would go well from there.  He told me over and over again this was the best theater group he had ever been apart of,  just a wonderful group of kids working hard and having so much fun.  Jared grew in his acting skills and made new friends; what a perfect experience.

Jared called it a "miracle" tonight since they had only had the script for 7 of those 10 days and only gotten through the whole play for the first time earlier in the day.  However, no one in the audience would have guessed the students hadn't been though the play many, many times.  Jared was Long John Silver, so thrilled he finally had a lead part in a play.  He rose to the opportunity as never before dazzling the entire audience.  We were so thankful to have so many friends come to the "barn" support him and confirm to a bias mother's eye that he had really improved dramatically in his theatrical prowess.  Considering the heat and they all stayed to the 2 hour conclusion the play, I wasn't the only one impressed.   

Titus recorded the play and I have posted it on a private Youtube channel for your enjoyment:

Part 1: https://youtu.be/ltEYZ1WuAL4

Part 2: https://youtu.be/ZdiKvHIVdQo 

 

Aloha Friends

Chris took the day off today to go with us to the "Aloha Safari Zoo".  We hadn't been there in quite a few years. We hoped it hadn't changed in a negative way.  We were so pleased to find out it had actually improved and expanded!

First we were greeted by very friendly Chinese Geese.  We then worked our way back to the Safari Train, through a new petting zoo area full of various types of antelopes.  

I've never been someplace where you could pet the antelopes.  Also in the barn were some local baby ducks that had moved in to apparently keep the fly population in check, much appreciated.

The safari ride went well, lots of neat animals to see, though we learned we'll sit on the other side next time to see some of the animals easier.  That ride dumped us out at the giraffe feeding area, ironically the giraffe was named "Titus".  As we ambled along past the brown bear, Amber and Titus hid under the umbrella of one of the many peacocks on property.  Then there were, tigers, lemurs and snakes, oh my!

Next the kids got to hold a snake, wash a tortoise, pet a lizard and Titus caught a rooster, of course!  For a family that likes to touch this is a field trip we will schedule again.