A Spring Fling

One of the things you come to realize as a parent is that you celebrate mediocrity on an almost continual basis from the day your children are born until, well. . . we're still doing it.

Take school plays, for instance.

Have you ever been to a 'good' elementary school play?  Think hard, now.  Not one you enjoyed, but a good one.  Good writing, decent production quality, solid acting and intuitive direction.  Probably not, I highly doubt it.  Nevertheless, you still enjoyed it, am I right?  Of course you did, because odds are you're a parent, and you - like me - celebrate mediocrity.

My kids aren't great stage actors, but that doesn't stop me from scouting out prime audience member real estate an hour before the beginning of their school plays, nor does it stop me from taking an obnoxious amount of pictures with three different SLR lenses throughout a half hour production.  I'm a sucker for just about everything my kids do, even if they suck at it (which, realistically, they usually do.)

Case in point:

Here come the bunnies (Alayna seems to be the only rabbit in character, to her credit.)  This springtime production, unlike the Christmas classic "Santa's New Look," was comprised of the entire second grade. . . not just one, simple classroom.  Consequently, the school's modest gym/cafeteria was filled to the brim with parents and relatives.  I grabbed the best possible seat I could:  the aisle seat in the second row (the first row being reserved for teachers and staff members.)

No idea what genius planned this out, but the school felt it was legit to bring in the entire Kindergarten and first grade classrooms to watch the play.  This wouldn't usually be all that big of a deal if the small, Hobbit-sized room wasn't already packed to capacity with the parents of the entire second grade.  Consequently, multiple classrooms were sat on the gym floor between the audience and the stage, as well as on the sides of the gym.  Packed in like African captives on a slave ship.

Abby spots us.

The bunnies assume their position.

Again:  only "bunny" in character.  Just sayin'.

In an ironic twist of fate, most of the front row remained empty throughout the duration of the production, with the lone exception of a woman who decided to sit directly in front of Yours Truly (I could also mention here that she probably outweighed me by about a solid hundred pounds.)

The singin' commences

Big Bad Squirrels.  This was the kids' obvious favorite jam, most of the second graders were really getting into this one.  I had to run up to the store and buy Alayna a special pair of sunglasses for this song (which she of course told me about as I was driving her to school in the morning. . . go figure.)

This whole play was weird.  For the life of me, I couldn't follow the plot line.  Something about life, and nuts, and squirrels, and the sun.  Maybe plants. . .?

Alayna's BFF, Maddie, hammin' it up for the masses (Brady, one of our many neighbor kids, is clearly bored.)

Interpretive dance?  Why not.

Little did any of us know that Alayna, as a rabbit, had the ability to summon rain clouds.  Like Storm, from the X-Men.  Only in rabbit-form (this is the sort of thing that occupies my train of thought during these plays.)

Taking a bow

Back to class. . .

. . . who needs a drink?

- Brian