The Imagi-Nation

I know I've hinted a lot at all the little games my little cousins play with me (actually, they really aren't that little anymore. Three are taller than me and the others are quickly catching up) but I've never really let you in on some of them. So, buckle your seatbelts, secure your safety-helmets, keep a sword--and a sense of humor--handy, and open your mind folks. We're going in!

The thing that prompted this post was what we did yesterday. Only this one included stuffed animals. So I brought one of the only ones I still had after cleaning out my room: Trapeze the monkey with more inside jokes to him than fuzzies.
"Great!" my cousin exclaimed, "Okay, that tree is my house," she directed to a tree full of colorful critters, which didn't surprise me. In every game, without fail, she's literally everyone and their dog. "And that tree is my house," said my neighbor. It only had two inhabitants, but looked no less charming. They gave my baby brother the grapevine, but he soon U-Hauled to a little twig of a tree.
 That left me with the hammock--I liked this so far.
"Oh, and the lawn mower over there is the church."
"Alright," I shrugged, figuring that would probably never come into play. But one yell and I stood corrected.
"Okay everyone, its Sunday!"

So we all gathered around the John-Deere chapel where they insisted Trapeze be Bishop. Smiling uneasily, I moved my little monkey onto the seat of the mower and tried to think of a half-decent way to do this. But this wasn't some little 'close the doors and hear them pray, open the doors and they all go away' deal. No, they wanted a real meeting.

"Ahem...ok, um we have some...ward business...We, uh, would like to welcome Mr. Camel there who--"

"He has an egyptian religion that he usually goes to," his owner butted in.

"...rright. And, um...well..."

"We should sing!" announced the pink kitten.

And so they all broke into humming "What Child is This?" It's June, mind you.

Once that was over, I began stuttering again when the fox, Blacksocks, volunteered to give a talk. I probably should've just ended it here, but I didn't.

The talk really only lasted about two seconds with an undefined topic and then Easter-Cute-Bunny (my baby brother's rabbit. He named it himself) volunteered. It went as follows:

"Zowy! Zowyzowzow! Zzzowyzowy Zow--"

"Alright, yes. Thank you, Sir."

"Why did I come here?!" the camel suddenly arose from his pew and shouted, "Back at my religion we sacrifice sheep to bring the dead back to life!!"

Let it suffice to say that I really felt for the real bishops by the end of that thing.

But not all of our games are like that. In fact, very few are. Usually they're more like this:

Princess Eilenna storms into the ballroom and approaches evil advisor, "I know who you really are!"

"Yeah!" Agrees Sir Eragon and her sister Princess Alice. Ryu, the half-dragon, suddenly pushes through them and draws his sword, "You will give us the potion to heal the king, or else."

Evil advisor pulls out a pistol--

"Wait, wait, wait. This is medieval times. They didn't invent pistols then!"

"But flowers have pistals."

Or sometimes like this:

Agent James chucks a metal bar into the wheel of speeding car, jamming it. The car explodes and Agent Eliza barely makes it out alive before both agents find their vehicles and speed off.

Back at Head Quaters:

Boss: "Where are the others?"

Agent Eliza: "Have you checked the kitchen?"

Or...

The mysterious Ranger, Eragon, approaches Prince Thomas and grabs his wrist, "Come dance with me!"

"Wait. Who are you?"

"Elizabeth. Remember?"

"Oh. Right."

Elizabeth approaches Princes Thomas and grabs his wrist, "Come dance with me!"

"Okay."

While dancing, Eragon's pet horse, Black, comes trotting into the ballroom, "The princess has gone missing!"

"Ok, wait. Who are you now?"

"Eragon."

"Oh. Right."

Or:

"So, where did you say you came from?" the Nephite asked the ancient egpytian.

"Egpyt," she nodded and turned to the samuri, "And you?"

And sometimes even:

"Mwahahaha! Yes, I have finally captured every Disney prince in the film entertainment universe! Those helpless princesses will never know where to find me!"

Back at the castle:

Jasmin:"We will never know where to find him!"

Aurora:"We need a guide."

Pirate-looking character walks in, "I can help."

But almost all of them have this scene:

The table is piling with food as the brave heroes emerge from their bedrooms.

"Food!!"

"Hey!" shouts the Daisy, the giant, walking flower, "That's my orange juice!"

"Not anymore," smirks Quench, the ghost-like shade, as he gulps it down.

Meanwhile Pippy, the leprachaun, smuggles some eggs and french toast underneath the table.

"BACON!!

Ranger Keira and the flying, fire-sword-breathing snake break into a wrestling match on top of the table. Violet, the fairy, salvages all the food she can between flailing limbs and tails and Cassie, the wizard, simply blends up an enchanted milkshake in her bedroom.

It must be Grandma's icecream. That or all of us just trying to clear our heads out after a long week. The funny part is, it all makes sense while I'm in the middle of it.  It isn't until I look back that I realize why some of my peers, who have caught me more than once in the middle of rolling around on the grass or warning some invisible villiage of an oncoming attack of element-tribe-rebels, have funny looks on their faces.

But its so worth it! I love these kids more than they even know! I'm just glad they let a seventeen-year-old-and-soon-to-be-senior in on their epic adventures! Never have I seen one backyard transform into so many different locations.

It's kind of like the Backyardigans. In fact, there are two of these adventurers who are known to put song and lyrics to what's going on. The only difference is we usually aren't miscolored members of the animal kingdom. That only happens 'at church'.