Sunday, July 18, 2021

Song Parody

One of the other activities we had was a little performance for my parents to celebrate their 50th.  I'd had the idea to do a song parody of Gilbert & Sullivan's "Modern Major General" from The Pirates of Penzance.  If you aren't familiar with it, 1) why are we even friends? and 2) you can watch it here.  It's a lot of fun and you can get a lot of words in (and it turns out that it's super easy to rhyme with "family"!).  But it's also really fast, so while it would have been fun to have entire families singing, we finally decided to just have the sisters sing.  (Craig was extremely happy about that!)  Everyone came up with their own verses and contributed ideas to each others' and it turned out to be very fun.  I was glad everyone went along with it!

So here's what we ended up with:

ALL:
We are the very model of a modern Mormon Family
We eat when we’re together cause we love our hospitality
The only way we go to church is when we do it frantically
And when we show up places it’s like someone called the cavalry

We’re very good at making jokes that deal with immorality
We listen to the Stones and Beatles and of course Pucci-ini
We like to gab all day, but only standing in the kitchen-y,
And yes, we just might have a touch of the theatricality 

NATALIE:
We are the very model of the modern Richards Family
We wake at dawn, eat cereal, and sing very obnoxiously
The neighbors hear us all day long because we practice constantly.
We do school at home because we do not like conformity

Cam’ron, Caleb, Nicole, and Claire always seem to dress appropriately 
But Mom wears flip flops in the snow, and Sam wears coats unendingly
We're rule breakers who won't wear masks, because we act dishonestly.
And yet we haven't gotten sick, so we are feeling wonderf'lly

TRACY:
We are the very model of the modern Bentley Family
We married after forty and we have a small posterity
We drink a lot of soda and it better not be caffeine-free
We live on Bainbridge Island but we try not to be snobs, you see

Adam’s happy on his tractor when he’s killing lots of blackberries
Cora wants to talk about our neighbor’s mini don-on-keys
And Tracy does her best to never ever act too lawyerly
We know when Mom and Dad are old we’ll take care of them properly

RACHAEL:
We are the very model of the modern mixed-race Family.
Which should be pretty obvious because we tan so easily.
We have a house of little boys who’re filled with curiosity.
Superheroes, dinosaurs, and wrestling are our specialty.

Dirt and trucks and bikes and fights are part of our reality.
Rachael tries to keep them safe despite their physicality. 
Ian works long hours at the office of podiatry.
We’re proud to live in a swing state and always vote conserv’tively.

LEAH:
We are the very model of a modern Madden family. 
We cheer hard for the Seahawks ‘cause we like to live life dange-Russ-ly.
The M’s and Mets and Yanks all get a mixed review from us,
But we all feel the love for our cute mutt that we call Gri-iffy.

We live along a lake that keeps us busy with blue al-lgae.
Brian likes to use his drone for some of his photography.
Leah thrives on getting donors to give money very generously.
And El-liot and Theo try to live very cretaceous-ly.

ALANNA:
We are the very model of a modern Mormon family
We’ve got five kids which guarantees no one ever feels lo-onely 
We go to church all hours because Craig is very Bishop-y
Alanna drives a huge kidnapper van ev’rywhere rapidly

We keep busy doing piano, swim team, scouts, and primary
Plus school, and work, Stake callings, choir, FiA, and some charity
But all we really want to do now is go riding a jet ski
And eat ice cream the whole day long if we can get it from Goody’s

FOR MOM AND DAD:
They are the very model of a modern Northwest family
Our parents have stayed married fifty years in actuality 
We’re pretty sure the key to their success is eating out all day
With help from golf, TV, morphine, and daughters calling constantly

They’ve raised five girls (we think we’re great) with pretty awesome sons-in-law
But nothing beats the fifteen grandkids-- they’re the best you ever saw--
We’re grateful to be in Sunriver, here all simultaneously 
And know it’s thanks to Mom and Dad for all their generosity!!!
(Repeat ad nauseum:)
AND KNOW IT’S THANKS TO MOM AND DAD FOR ALL THEIR GENEROSITY!!! 😁😁😁😁


Sunriver Pictures, Part II

*Once again, these are completely out of order.  Google photos is giving me fits these days, and it would take WAY too long to put them in chronological order.  So I'm just not.  Sorry!!!

So, in my family's awesome tradition of having really creative names for everything, most of our activities happened at what we called The Big House.  Dinner was there each night, and Tracy was really great about organizing nightly activities that kept everyone involved without being too complicated. So one night we each told about a favorite thing (limit one minute per person!); another night, she'd made a slideshow of all the other family vacations we'd taken. Stuff like that. And it all went so nicely and was such a fun way to spend time with everyone all together!

So some of the kids in the middle got messed up, but you can still get the idea...!  All gathered at the Big House!

Bike riding after the kids are in bed (and it's cooled off a little!)

Sunriver has a lovely little nature center, and we loved this owl!

Craig got it in his head that we should go back to Lake Cultus but this time, rent a jet ski.  And he was right!  I LOVED riding the jet ski!!!


We even let the big kids take turns driving!

Grown up time at Goody's!

Natalie had the idea to have our own little 4th of July bike parade, and the kids had a blast!  It was so fun!

There were also pony rides for the little kids...  (I think Camille was as interested in talking to the guy leading the ride as she was in the pony...)


Possibly my favorite picture from the whole week!

Cousin bumper cars!

And the big kids (and lots of the grown ups) went on a trail ride, too!


Tracy and Adam set up a pickle ball court in the driveway for everyone to enjoy

Saying a very huggy good-bye to Theo when it was time for the Maddens to head home...

A Swainson's hawk

"Trying on" the antlers!

Colton looks very serious about this...


Clayton and Cora matching!

We even got my mom to ride!

Impromptu kitchen dance party!

Gotta love it when you're the only one who notices your picture is being taken!

This was another evening activity-- basically we had a sing-a-long with songs that are our parents' favorites.  We weren't sure how well this would go, but everyone loved it so much we went longer than planned, so that was awesome!


More from the 4th of July Bike Parade...



Family portrait, courtesy of Brian!

And a gorgeous shot of Sunriver and Mt. Bachelor, also courtesy of Brian!

The whole gang!
Cousins in matching pajamas!

Claire fell asleep during this bike ride...

Leah taught a boxing class for the sisters one morning


With all this stuff going on, the week just flew by.  Before I knew it, it was time to pack everything into our rental van and head to my parents' house on Bainbridge!  But with all the hassle it had been to get there, I was glad we weren't heading home just yet...

Sunriver Pictures, Part I

 Here, in absolutely NO order, are a bunch of pictures of stuff we did while in Sunriver!

Ryder and my Dad playing pool

Leah playing chess with Nicole while various other cousins observe

Hot tub time!

Tracy organized a scavenger hunt for everyone, so we have a lot of pictures of random groups of people pointing at things and smiling!
In this case, they had found the Sunriver logo!

Ryder writes his name with dominoes

A stair full of cousins!

There were daily trips to Goody's for ice cream!

The kids weren't always actually playing chess...

TV time for kids while the grown ups make dinner...

I guess this is pretty...

... If you're in to this sort of thing!

Theo and Colton continue to be buddies and sometimes maybe even twins!

I just like this picture of Craig! 😍

Another scavenger hunt picture

A whole bunch of us went whitewater rafting (more pictures of this will be on another post)

If you look very closely, you can see that Ryder is doing a flip off his raft!


Just the Smiths here.  I totally look like my Mom!

Riding the bus to the Deschutes River

Excuse the weird soft focus here (Craig was experimenting with taking pictures through a plastic bag to protect his phone from getting wet), but the point is: Bentley has to wear an adult life jacket!!!

Splashing in Lake Cultus to cool off...

I guess this is also kinda pretty...

Ryder and Bentley rock climbing (Kendra and Samuel also did this)!

Leah, Tracy, me, and Mom!
A whole bunch of us at the Lake!
Tracy (and also Natalie!) very kindly stayed home and played with the little kids while we were whitewater rafting!

Another scavenger hunt pic-- this time, finding kayaks!

And finally, here's a quick video of Ryder doing a flip: