If you follow me on social media (like Instagram or Facebook), you might have seen some recent behind-the-scenes photos of the kids dressed up like various safari animals. Why? Because this past weekend my kids were part of The Lion King Jr. at the Hi-Desert Cultural Center in Joshua Tree! They all worked so hard this entire summer, attending camp every single day (even with my multiple hospital visits, my parents drove them an hour each way to make sure they were at rehearsals – I seriously have the best parents in the world). Originally, I signed them up so that they would simply have something to do over the summer, so they wouldn’t spend all-day-every-day in front of their Nooks, the Wii or Netflix. I wanted them to be part of something bigger, to have a new experience and honestly, the Lion King is probably one of my favorite Disney movies of all time. I remember going to performance art camp as a kid (I was in the Wizard of Oz), and it was one of my favorite summers as a kid … and I wanted the kids to just have a really great experience.

iPhone shot of the first day of camp. Daniel just looks thrilled.

And that’s exactly what they had.

Over the last 5 weeks, I’ve watched the kids just blossom into little performers. I think it was more of a social thing for Daniel, he met some great new friends (which makes me happy, all of the moves and school changes over the last year has been weighing heavily on my heart for him) … but for Katelyn, Sierra and Noah – they really just got into the performing art of being on stage. In fact, Noah wasn’t even on stage – he decided he wanted to be a drummer, and he spent all summer pounding on anything and everything, making a beat (hello, 6-year-old mini Travis Barker!). Both of the girls ended up in the cheetah line, and they got to be on stage singing a couple of numbers (“Circle of Life” and “I Just Can’t Wait to be King”). Daniel got cast as part of the Hyena pack with his friends, which was just great (I mean, really – a group of 10-14 year old boys as a pack of hyenas, perfect casting! Haha!).

This past weekend was their big show, and I was invited by the Hi-Desert Cultural Center to photograph it on opening night, and then again on Saturday for the final show and cast party. It was definitely an interesting experience, working with all the crazy stage lighting (multicolored hot lights – SO glad weddings only have whacko lighting during receptions) and not being able to use flash at all (yes, these were all shot with natural ambient light and stage lighting … our Nikon D800’s really impressed me, shot most of these at 4000 ISO, with either the Nikon 35mm f/1.4G or the Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8!).

ALL of the shows completely sold out! I couldn’t believe all the seats filled so fast, days before even the first show!

I got my very own VIP seat.

We could always tell which Hyena was Daniel, because his blonde hair would pop out of the top of his wig!! 

After the last show on Saturday, there was a huge cast party, complete with delicious cake.

I’m so grateful that the kids got to participate in this amazing show – I know they’ve created memories that will last a lifetime! Plus, I think it saved everyone’s sanity just a bit, with all the craziness of the last month! The kids are already talking about going back NEXT summer!