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Review: The Kindergarten Musical

New Hope Solebury kindergarten, both morning and afternoon sessions, put on their year-end musical "This Old Gingerbread House" last night. Jack chose to have a speaking role, a narrator. He spoke clearly and loudly and didn't have any trouble with the microphone. His line, toward the end of the show was "Thank you friends. The house looks wonderful."

The kids learned five songs for the show, and each song had motions and dance steps to go along with it. Jack seemed to know all the words and was quite the little dancer.

Yesterday morning, before the show, Jack & I went to get him some new shoes, so he wouldn't have to wear his sneakers. He chose to get "big sandals" like Kevin's and was quite pleased with his choice. (When Jack was a tiny boy, about 18 months old, he got a pair of brown leather sandals, and he loved them. He called them his "big sandals" and always selected them to wear instead of sneakers or water shoes.)

Review: England v. Colombia

We took the boys and Fiona to the Meadowlands to see the English national soccer team play to Colombian team. England won 3-2. We sat on the English side, mostly Manchester United fans, from the look of their shirts. As it was 4 PM on a Tuesday afternoon, the traditional soccer-match bedlam traditional among Europeans was kept to a minimum.

Jack is such a big sports fan; he gets SO involved in the game. I was sitting next to him, and I could hear him muttering a play-by-play to himself, "a pass, maybe they're going to score, no, it was blocked, a good save by the goalie ..."  All he lacked was a loud "G OOOO AL" when England scored to sound like the TV commentators.

Owen, on the other hand, was more concerned about when he was going to get his snack, and what he might get for a souvenier. "Mr. Memory," Owen, recalled the last time we went to a professional soccer game (April 2004, when we saw the MetroStars and saw Freddy Adu score his first professional goal). He immediately remembered that on that occasion, he wanted to get a "trumpet" (the horns that fans traditionally blow during the game), but that they were sold out. So, that solved that problem. Jack and Owen got red plastic trumpets to cheer with.

There seems to be some hope for Owen as a soccer fan (after all, he's only four). He took interest in watching the scoreboard and was able to identify the "E" for England and the "C" for Colombia and read off the score -- repeatedly. He was also intrigued that the best player for England yesterday was a guy name Michael OWEN (#10 above), who scored all three England goals. (Today, I went online and got Owen an English national team jersey with Owen's name on it that he can wear to soccer camp; maybe it will inspire him.)

Jack decided that he would especially cheer for David Beckham (see below right, in photo with the Colombian player). Personally, I found Beckham underwhelming ... I thought he did a lot of standing around in his snazzy silver cleats. (Perhaps it's all the fancy living with Posh.) He did have an assist and did some "bends", but Owen (the player, not the boy) really was the star of the game. I was struck by  HOW MUCH BETTER the Europeans and South Americans are than the Americans ... there's just really no comparison. I was also struck by how much of the game takes place at knee level or higher. If Jack wants to be a soccer player as part of his "year-round Sports Guy" future, he's going to have to start working on  his headers.

Fiona just enjoyed being around people. She drew quite a lot of attention ... when the guy next to me sat down, he looked at her and said to her, "I can tell I'm going to have a hard time watching the game when I can look at you." He might have felt differently when she lunged at his chocolate chip cookie in an effort to shove it in her mouth.

Review: Spirit the Seventh Fire

Last week, when Jack and I were watching the morning news, we saw the TV advertisement for the show Spirit - the Seventh Fire. Out of the blue, Jack said "that looks really good Mommy, can we get tickets?" Well, of course we got right on the Internet and voila ... six tickets to the show. (Unfortunately, we had a babysitter screw-up and Grandmom volunteered to stay home with Fiona. I'm sorry she missed it; we'll have to make it up to her.)

We went yesterday, and it was SO AMAZING. We all just loved it. It's sort of like a new age, Native American (or Indigenous People or First Nations, take your choice) version of Riverdance, although somehow, maybe the music, it also reminded me of Cirque du Soleil.

There is a story to the show that gives it some structure (westward expansion & industrialism alienate man from his roots, modern-day man gets in touch with his ancestors). But the story is just an excuse to showcase the dancing and music. The music ranges from traditional drumming/chanting songs to New Age-ish full ensemble pieces ... they even use a didgeridoo in one song. (I was interested in reading that musicians use the didgeridoo because it imitates the sounds of nature. Whenever I've heard didgeridoo, I think it sounds kind of eerie and unnatural.)

The guy who play the main lead was from the Mohawk tribe, and he's going to be in the Steven Spielberg "Into the West" miniseries that is coming up in a few weeks as "Kicking Bear." We've been planning on watching that anyway, so it'll fun for Jack & Owen to see an actor that they recognize on TV. The female lead, from the the Saulteaux (Algonquin) tribe, had a beautiful voice, and has an album coming out this summer that I want to look for. It's called "Meegwetch," which means "thank you."

There's no dialogue in Spirit, it's more performance art than a play, so I was little bit worried how the boys and my dad would react. When we took Jack to The Nutcracker last year, he sat enthralled through the whole thing, mesmerized. Afterward, when I asked him how he liked it, he said, "It was very very good, but I would have liked it better if they talked more."

Along with the music and dancing and singing, there are three giant IMAX-like screens, on the sides and occasionally in front of, the stage. On those are projected images, mini movies and graphics during the show. I think the whole multimedia experience is something that kids are more used to nowadays, or maybe it's just so absorbing, that Jack & Owen followed right along.

Of course, I'm not too sure how Owen liked it ... he saw the first song and the last song and SLEPT through the rest!!

My only objection was that it seemed as if the show lumped all the tribes together as one, somewhat generic "Indian" (Native American, Indigenous People, First Nations) group. Although various dancers clearly were from different tribes, with a variety of costumes, dance styles, etc., none of that was differentiated in the story line. They were all presented as the male lead's ancestors.

It seems like the Native Americans have a strong connection to their heritage, but for each, that heritage is tribe-specific. I wonder how they feel about the way the show lumps them all the tribes together into some sort of uber-Ancestor.

Before the show, there were some little demonstrations, and there we learned a tiny bit about some of the various dances. For example, the guy above (the one in blue-ish, costume) is a Grass Dancer. Apparently, when there was a pow wow, or event that called for dancing, the grass dancers were the first ones. Their "stomping" steps actually mashed down the grass in the dancing circle to make a smooth place for the Fancy Dancers (like the guy above with the feather bustle) who came later. All the fringe on the Grass Dancer's costume is supposed to resemble the tall prairie grass. I would have like to learn more "fun facts" about the dancers -- like the Fancy Dancers, or the hoop dancer -- from the show but I guess if the show inspired to go find out on my own, it's done its job.

One of the highlights of the show was the little boy dancer (I think he was representing the "inner child" -- a bit heavy handed, but the little boy's so cute, they had to find a way to get him in the show). He's six-years-old and started dancing when he was three.

Review: Star Wars III

Well, we took the boys to see Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith. It was very good, and nice to have all the loose ends connected. However, I can't help but be disappointed in Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker). The little guy who played Anakin as a child was more believable. Christensen is so wooden, and am I the only one who noticed that his hair (bad, bad wig) looks a lot like a Wookie???

I loved Yoda. That little green guy can really kick some butt and he has the cutest eyes and ears (his ears look a lot like Molly's -- see scrapbook page, but that's another story.) I think there's a whole other movie to be made about Yoda's history and adventures in his approx. 900-year life span. I wonder if there was ever a Mrs. Yoda and any little Yodas? (Yeah, I know, it's against the Jedi code, but don't tell me it was never done.) (NOTE: the use of green in the paragraph is merely for my own amusement and to pay homage to Master Yoda.)

I wish there had been some Ewoks in this movie (known around here as "furry little freedom fighters"); it seemed like they were trying to pull in as many characters and story lines as possible, so it would have been fun to see them one more time. (I even wish that they had let Jar-Jar Binks talk for a just a minute or two.) I'm also suprised that other than Chewbacca, there wasn't any forshadowing of Han Solo.

But, Jack & Owen had none of those concerns and were enthralled (the light sabre scenes were amazing--I'm sure we'll be re-enacting some of them around here).

I'm afraid the movie might have seen the wrong message, at least to one little McKenna . . . I was a little bit concerned when we were talking about the movie on the way home and I said, "I'm going to call you 'Obi-Bean' and 'Owie-Wan' and you two will be my Jedi knights." That was OK with Jack, but Owen was a quiet for a few moments and then said, "Mommy, is it OK if I be someone on the dark side?"

Review: Oceans of Fun

After a "rain delay" on Friday, Jack's school field day was today.  I don't remember field days from when I was a kid, but apparently it's a big deal around here -- everyone gets a tshirt, they pick team names and so on.  The theme this year was "Oceans of Fun" so all the activities had a water theme.

The events were held at the new Upper Elementary School and it was nice to get a chance to look around the school where Jack will be going next year. (A big kerfuffle about that, the Lower Elementary was supposed to be remodeled this summer, but the school board screwed up the bidding process, so now all the elementary kids will be moved to the UES for next year and then K-2 will be back at LES the following year.)

I think they pretty much let the older kids loose on the activity field (over 30 different stations), but the kindergartners were assigned in groups of three to moms.  I had Jack and two girls from his class. Jack, of course, was completely gung-ho and wanted to power through each and EVERY activity and had to be convinced to come in even for a few minutes to have snack.  The girls were a bit more moderate.

They had practiced a couple of the activities in PE, so the kids were supposed to be comfortable with the events.  We started with cup stacking, and our day included: Beluga Bounce, Snorkeling Adventure, Hula-Hoop Marathon (Jack had to be cajoled into doing this activity and was the first one out), Catch of the Day, Bowl-a-Rama, Inflatable Whale & Home Run Derby (Jack insisted on taking about a zillion turns at this, which was basically a t-ball tee. He also demonstrated that he is a true switch hitter, blasting the ball to the fence from both the right and left sides. I haven't seen him bat right in about a year).

Somewhere in the middle of all that, we went inside our borrow classroom for a pretzel and juice box. After the activities were complete, everyone went inside to the gym to watch a volleyball game between the Upper and Lower Elementary School teachers. Back to the classroom again, and everyone got Popsicles, which was a big hit.

Some observations about Jack:

This will certainly become a recurring theme, but Jack seems so much more grown-up that the other kids I've interacted with who are his age.  That's not to say he can't be silly and obnoxious, but he's very independent and resourceful in a wide variety of settings. 

This is the end of the school year, so these kids have been around each other for eight months, and are all at least six, if not almost seven.  I was surprised that there were a number of them who were afraid to try the activities, who needed hand holding and for whatever reason seemed emotionally unable to participate.

Then there's Jack's competitive side. I think that if you told Jack that he could bet on breathing, he would. If you told him there was a tiddly winks competition, he would spent the next week practicing. I will give him credit for being both a gracious winner and a (pretty) good loser. He seems to be mostly self-driven and to purely enjoy competition. So for him, the day was couldn't be better -- games and sports -- he was in his element at field day.  But, he was also a little disappointed and surprised that some of the other kids weren't participating fully out of fear.