Year 3, April 28th, 2018: Shooting, American Ninja Warrior, and the "Star Factor"

Whoops, that's a misleading title.  Back up a second, Jared went shooting guns with some friends this morning.  American Ninja Warrior, a reality/game TV show on NBC, is filming in downtown Sunday and Monday nights, so we went down there in between other activities to see it!  Then Keturah's musical "Star Factor" performance was tonight.  So it's been a busy few days and that's why you can sometimes expect daily blog posts!  I just don't want to forget the fun stories in between!  So, here goes!

Yes, Jared got some much needed guy time with a friend and his buddies on his property shooting their long guns at clay "pigeons."  He certainly needs time away with other guys NOT talking about just ministry related stuff like I need time away to not talk about just one aspect of parenting or health or homeschooling.  They actually talked about marriage quite a bit, and well, let's just say that we are becoming one of the older couples on the block who can mentor the newlyweds and young marrieds like others mentored us.  And sometimes these couples are only a few years younger than us in age! But they are in a completely different season of life.  It's kind of weird, but cool, too.  Anyway, Jared had fun and we had fun at home catching up on other things.

Then, on a whim, I asked if we could go downtown to Monument Circle and check out the American Ninja Warrior course and Jared said yes!  I had to ask him because I wanted him to drive and help with Abishai.  He hates crowds and since ANW is just a TV show, I didn't think he would be up for it.  It wasn't crowded of course because they were just setting it up and it's a weekend day, so that definitely helped. We parked at the mall and then walked over to the circle and walked the whole way around!  We had to go around a lot of barriers, but they did have one lane of about half of the circle open so cars could get through in case they came down those streets.  A little background on ANW, first of all, we started watching this show a few years ago.  It's a ropes and obstacles course that takes a TON of upper body strength.  If you can't do a stunt or fall in the freezing cold water below, you are eliminated. The one that gets through the quickest wins.  One of my favorite actors Stephen Amell did it last year and got through the whole course PLUS a part of the extra back course in order to raise money for whatever charity he was into.  They often have fit, but not athletic celebrities try it for charity, like the IndyCar drivers did it two years ago here in Indy when ANW was here, but they don't make it very far.  Anyway, it's a very popular "sport" right now and there are adult gyms and places like SkyZone (remember the warpped wall pics?) that have courses similar to the real thing.  In the end, it's a reality TV game show.  But how cool that it gets to film in our city, not once, but twice!  Oh, I think last time they let police and firefighters try it.  Actually, the firefighters' convention was in town as well, so maybe they will get to do some tomorrow.  Who knows.  I just know I do not want to be standing for 8 hrs outside the course in the 40 degree weather and have only a glimpse of seeing it up close in the dark!  That's why we choose to go today!  They will film it in the evenings Sunday and Monday and then it will be edited and televised in the summer.  Check out the pictures below of the course!  We also let the kids got to the Rocket Fizz specialty soda pop store as an incentive for going because not everyone was on board with this outing.  Benaiah had to mow as well.  But, as Julius Caesar said, "Veni, Vedi, Vici." (Which the middles just learned in their Latin book). We came, we saw, we conquered (sort of, but it's always an accomplishment to have all 6 of us do something together, even a simple outing like this one).

After American Ninja Warrior, we took Keturah to her dress rehearsal for the performance of "The Star Factor" put on by the SonShine Kids' Choir tonight.  We picked up a mower someone gave us from church and Benaiah went to go mow the grandparents' yard.  Meanwhile, I went to the store for cookies after the performance and dog food.  Then rushed back to get everyone else before heading to the play.  The musical was very well done tonight.  Everyone sang mostly on key and spoke up well, unlike some musicals in the past here at church and at Southside.  It all depends on the kids who are playing the parts, really.  They all work hard and some have more talent than others.  But they were able to utilize the new strobing light fixtures on stage and it made a huge difference!  It was a beautiful message about how we should keep memorizing Scripture so we can share it with others, especially when technology fails.  The "Deletor" played by Benaiah's friend Nathan was the villain who deleted verses from the digital Bible.  Than the kids had to recite verses to put them back in.  Eventually, Deletor's heart softened and he wanted to learn more about Jesus in exchange for restoring the digital Bible.  About a dozen kids memorized enough Scriptures for points that they are going to get the prize, which is watching a movie with Mrs. Christy on a week.  Keturah was one of them!  One boy memorized all the verses that were given, but only a portion had to be done to get the amount of points for the prize.  I bet those kids are not going to forget any of those verses they memorized or sang in their songs for their whole life!  Or when they come across that verse again, they will sing the tune that they learned as a kid.  And it being the spring play, some of the kids will be "graduating" to middle school (6-8th grades), so the baton will be passed on to kids in Keturah's grade and maybe even herself again.  She enjoys it thoroughly, and Abishai can't wait to join it!  Justin loves to dance, but hates to sing, so he was in only one musical.  And that was our day!  Now I'm off to put captions on the last there posts' pictures so I can post them all!  Wish me luck!

On our way to downtown, and Abishai noticed the big buildings! Yeah!

The Arts Garden from the outside!  We were heading west and the pictures we took a couple of weeks ago when we were in the Arts Garden were facing down this street the opposite direction, so east.  And then a lightbulb went off in my head that Gary, Leah, and Jared usually come down Southeastern to Washington St, to the mall parking garage that is right off to the left down a ramp.  That way they are just a block away from Monument Circle.  Ding, ding, ding! Genius!  It's called the "Moon" garage, so I'll have to remember this for next time.  I feel like I'm really getting used to down town now.  I think because I have older kids, I just feel more comfortable making the effort. I've been downtown more times in the last 2 years than I was in the first 15 years of our marriage.  I can do it!

Woot! Woot! We made it!  See those blocks back there? That's the first obstacle!  Many people can't even do that!  I saw a video of an 82 yr old man doing them and getting through the rest of the course including the warpped all at the end!  He had to take a few breaks, but he did it!  A lot of times, it's not about speed, especially if it's for charity, but about finishing the obstacles.

And here's the end, the warpped walls(s).  The ladies run the exact same course as the men,but they have a shorter wall I think.  Or, maybe one is for preliminaries and one is for the finals.  I'm not sure on the timing of this taping because they usually do a bracket/heat system with eliminations like most TV shows.  I'm pretty sure it's not the finals though.

Looking back at the course.  Most people are unfortunately going to have this view based on where we saw the barriers.  There just isn't a lot of room on the other side and I don't even know where the bleachers were.  I'm guessing they are behind between the elements and the monument because we usually see them in the camera shots which you'll see below.

Because it's filmed at night so you can see the elements better, there's a ton of lighting!!  Check out this electric panel!

Sweet!  That's our city!

You jump from one block to the other zig zag style.

That car needs to be in a garage, said Abishai (or something like that).  He knew it didn't belong there.

I think you grab the ring on the left and ride this down.  You have to jump up to the ring and grab it, and then be careful not be flung off or let go to early onto the next platform.  Below most or all of these elements, there are tanks of water to soften the landing.  So imagine, it's 40 degrees outside, and you're in workout clothes, you miss the ring, and you land straight into that water which isn't heated.  Yikes!  I think these are on truck beds so they can pull into and out of a city easily.  It looks to be the same length and height.  I could be wrong though.

I think you hop your hands across this one.  See why they film it at night?  I can't even make out what it is!  And see how it kind of looks like a truck bed underneath?  Maybe it's not.

Warpped walls!  You have to run up these and grab the ledge and pull yourself up and they are like 14 ft tall!!!  You have 3 tries!

Super tall even next to the Monument!

These are some of the camera towers! I love seeing how things work behind the scenes!

Ok, take our picture, but let's move on.

Yes, you use your hands to hop up from one rung to the other, sometimes with a handbar looking thing and sometimes not.  It's all about upper bottom strength and grip!

Loads of cables!

This is the backside main course.  Then they can continue to use the backcourse if they wish like Stephen Amell did (he's an actor) when he was raising money for charity.

I bet some of the crowds will be here as well.  Lots of merchandise sitting there.  I'm glad it was a clear and warmer weekend for them to set up during!

SALMON LADDER!!!!!!!  Ok, ok, a little backstory.  Stephen Amell is known for doing this element (with his shirt off) for the Arrow TV show.  It's very hard to do.  You hold onto a bar and lift yourself and the bar up to the next "rung" of the ladder at least 4 times.  It's like a chin up on steroids.  Google it if you need to.  Anyway, this is the reason he decided to keep going on the back half of the course, although it wasn't required.  Everyone wanted to see him do this one stunt.  And he nailed it.  I watched it a few days after it went live.  It was incredible that a celebrity can do his own stunts AND nail it in front of a live audience for fun! Anyway, I thought it was awesome to see it in person.

Again, I can't tell what this is, but it is the last element of this course.  The course does vary from time to time.  The whole course takes up at least 1/3 of our circle.

Keturah was the one who knew what this was.  She was the most excited of the kids to see it all, despite Benaiah being the one who watched it regularly in years' past.  It's a gigantic climbing tower.  I think they climb on either side.  Or, actually, it might be the announcer's platform.  I'm sure not everything was perfectly set up when we were there.  But it's huge!

Keturah also told me that the lady that is pictured here has kids and they all train in her gym.  Interesting.

One street was completely blocked off and this street was partially blocked off with equipment down it's middle to the next block.  It was very quiet when we went although I know it will be buzzing later on Sunday night!

Huge cables! I also think about how these things have to withstand all kinds of weather elements.  I pointed them out to Benaiah as well since we would appreciate all the work it takes to lay cables.

"Up head!" instead of in the stroller.

Overpriced merchandise as expected.  But not much more than the t-shirts at concerts.  Justin's favorite neon green!

There ya go.  7 cities, and we are one of them.  Saw it, took a picture, but didn't buy it.

Big boy rode the escalator!

Moving on to Keturah's musical.  Grandpa got to open and close the evening.  Of course he made a mini speech about the younger generation and investing in them and a longer prayer than others do.  But that's good!

Star Quest!  A cringe worthy but fun mix of Star Wars, Star Trek, and every other sci fi show you can think of.  So, they started with the Star Wars screen crawl intro.

There she is on the first riser all the way to the left.  After the first couple of songs it was hard to see her because other actors had joined the scene and were standing in front of her.  The video camera was more centered and got the whole play.  I went with our old camera although I knew it was going to be a bit grainy because it was easiest.  I also took clips of songs and scenes, because to be honest, no one usually watches the full length program again.  I still want a regular new video camera though.  It's on my "to purchase" list.

The play itself I think I described above, but they had to memorize a lot of Scripture for the songs and the scenes.  I loved how they made the point that we still need to memorize Scripture despite having Bibles at our fingertips on our phones and tablets.  Those in the persecuted church still do a lot of memorizing because they never know when their Bibles will be seized and burned.  Or they only have a portion of Scripture that gets passed around.  Yes, it still happens this way today.

Even the uniforms reminded us about Star Trek.  And the little guy on the right was a robot/android so they painted his face silver.

See the guy/gal in the yellow shirt on the right?  It was a called a "boggiebot" aka a Wookie wanna be that communicated through the beatbox on his/her shirt.  So whenever it talked, it would beat it's chest and the sound guy would play some drum noise.  The best line was the longest line that translated just meant "Yes."

I love how homeschooled older kids get involved!  Ok, not just homeschoolers, but these guys are precious.  "Deletor" was played by Benaiah's friend Nathan who spends almost as much time as Benaiah does hanging around the tech booth.  He's the oldest son of a large family of homeschoolers.  The last play he had a role in was the Angel Alert one when Benaiah was in 2nd/3rd grade.  He was one of the goofball angels Harpo or Halo.  All the kids in his family volunteer with the kids' choir or are in kids' choir.  It's so sweet!  And the lady in the pink is Justin's friend from Bible Bowl, Jordan, youngest of another large family of homeschoolers.  Her older brother who is now in college has also played in some of the kids' choir performances.  It was cool how they utilized the tech room behind the stage as a secondary spaceship/lair for the bad guy.  This is where Benaiah has spent many a Sunday morning in the last two years.

Another homeschooler (sorry, most of my friends' are homeschoolers and I tend to only know their children. Plenty of kids do extremely well at church things.), Brianna, had a role as well.  This is her last play.  I love how her costume and the other kids in her group looked like Jedi's.  She spoke up well and sang well, too.  She comes from a lovely family, too.

I had a hard time getting my phone camera (I forgot my big one, boo!) to correct it's aperature (which allows light in so it's not blown out or too dark).  But anyway, this is Jordan, the robot/android whose circuits were being controlled by the Deletor, and was being made to be a rockstar.  It was a very funny song with him running up and down and being like "Sting" or whatever those other bands are (KISS?)  This was Jordan's last play with the kids' choir as well.  He gets to move onto the show choir and such at the middle and high schools' next like his big sisters.

Tada!  The whole crew!  Oh yeah, I know what I was going to say.  The sound and light guys took full advantage of our new lighting system this time around!  Yes, I know it makes our church services feel more like a concert, but you know what?  A lot of concerts are really worship services when the artists/bands are world known worship bands like Bethel and Hillsong.  I love it all, lights or no lights, but I know it means a lot to our worship and creative arts teams to put out a great service and stay on top of the "game."  You do lose a part of your congregation if you don't stay relevant and with the times. Anyways, the lights were awesome for this production!  Well done tech crew!

Deletor and his sidekick learning that what they did was wrong deleting the Sciripture from the database, then putting it back, and now learning about what it all means.  Yeah!

Here are the kids that got all the points needed for the memory Scripture challenge!  There were about 15 of them!  We did as part of our schoolwork.  One boy even memorized every verse, not just enough to get 30 points!  That's a ton!  Like 15 1-3 verse Scriptures and a 10 verse passage in Psalm 103.  They get a special movie night with Mrs. Christy next week.  Keturah is all the way on the left.  Her friend Jordan is just to the right of her.  (Yes, that makes 3 Jordans we know!)

Keturah's last minute "well done" gift.  I was shopping for cookies for after the musical and she had just mentioned today that she wanted both the soundtrack that she can play on her own boombox and the movie "The Greatest Showman" so on a whim, I picked up the soundtrack!  The DVD I want is out of stock, so that will have to wait until her birthday.  She was super happy about my choice!  And now we'll have those songs stuck in our heads as much as we get Skillet's songs stuck in our heads when Justin plays it on his iPod over and over.  I've been wanting the soundtrack for awhile anyway.  Just a mother/daughter bonding moment because the boys aren't very fond of this movie/soundtrack as we girls are.  I will have them watch it once though.  Anyway, Keturah knows to not play it too loud because I really don't want it to be the only songs floating around in my head.

Even the spaceship looked like Star Trek!  My parents would have LOVED this!  We were Trekkies to the max!

Keturah's Recitation

Oh, apparently I don't have a picture of Keturah's "solo" aka she didn't sing but recited a Scripture at the end of the song.  I got a picture of her I think when she sang it in church last week.  I did get a decent video though.  I'll try to link it later. (Link is now above this picture.  Her part is at :40.)

Cast and crew.

These are ALL Kindgarten to 5th graders!  Yikes!  That's a lot of kids to manage, but Mrs. Christy has a lot of helpers!  She also teaches Kindergarten every day and has been for 20 years.  She's awesome!  This was one of the best productions yet!