Are you ready to meditate with Kari?
To lay down and be still and quiet and cozy in your bed?
Let your body relax and let go of your day.
Take a nice big deep breath in all the way down to your tummy and then blow it out.
Let your shoulders relax.
Let your legs get heavy and your arms get heavy.
Try and be still and quiet.
Stella and Roxy had just gone to meet with their brother.
They were going to play a board game.
Merrick,
Their brother,
Was watering his houseplants.
He got quite a collection these days.
When Stella walked in and saw him watering his plants she said,
It's going to be like a jungle soon.
There's so many plants.
They're going to take over the house.
Roxy said,
That would be fun.
The jungle would be fun.
I'd like to go and be in the jungle.
Still did the kids know that there was something strange going on in their house that day.
They sat down and they were playing the board game very,
Very happily.
Everyone was getting along,
Which is kind of difficult sometimes when you're brothers and sisters,
But on this particular occasion they were having a lot of fun playing the game.
While they were engrossed in their game,
Not really looking around the rest of the room,
Just looking at each other and what they were doing with their game,
They didn't see that something very magical was happening.
The plants were taking over.
They'd started to grow very fast,
Very fast.
They were climbing up the walls.
They were spreading across the ceiling.
They were wrapping around the door handles,
The windows until Merrick happened to look up.
He gasped,
What is happening?
This is nuts.
Look at my plants.
Actually,
This is awesome.
Look at my plants.
Stella said,
It actually turned into a jungle.
Roxy said,
Yay,
I love jungles.
This is going to be awesome.
The kids stood up.
There were plants growing underneath their feet.
There were plants that had grown all over the furniture.
You couldn't recognize any of the house anymore.
It was like they were somewhere else,
Somewhere in the middle of a jungle.
They started to hear noises like they were in the jungle.
There were strange bird noises and animals cooing and making strange noises.
They heard monkey noises.
They heard a lion roar.
They heard an elephant do its thing.
They were definitely somewhere very hot in the jungle.
Merrick said,
This is awesome.
Adventure time.
I'm going to do this.
First of all,
I'm going to climb some trees and then I'm going to see if there's any amazing waterfalls and I'm going to see if there's some really extravagant,
Strange looking giant plants.
And then Stella said,
Oh,
This is so pretty.
Can you imagine drawing this?
There's so many things you could draw here in the jungle.
Stella liked to draw.
She was very creative.
She could see in her mind all the different pictures she would paint and draw.
There were so many different colors,
Greens,
Pinks,
Reds,
Exotic bright oranges and yellows.
They could see parrots in the trees,
Gorgeous,
Strange looking jungle like flowers.
It was a perfect place to be artistic and creative.
Roxy was ready for any kind of adventure.
She was just looking forward to finding whatever they find and doing whatever you do in the jungle.
They stuck together because of course they'd never been here before.
There were so many trees,
So many animals,
So much to see.
The sounds alone were crazy.
Waterfalls,
Birds,
All these different sounds.
And it was very,
Very hot.
Hotter than they'd expected.
You would think the jungle would be hot,
But it was very hot.
Like they were really wet and sweaty hot.
Like the t-shirts were sticking to them hot.
Which was okay for a while,
But then you start to crave a nice cold waterfall or something jumping into a big pool of ice cold water.
That sounds so nice,
Said Roxy.
Merrick said it would be awesome because we could like dive off the top of a waterfall and jump into a big pool and swim.
It didn't take too long before they were absolutely obsessed with trying to find something to cool them down.
Stella started to talk about ice cold water with ice cubes.
The glass was all wet and everything was cold.
Lollipops,
Cold ice cream.
They were dreaming about anything cold.
They were walking and walking and walking.
They could hear the waterfall in the distance,
But it seemed like they'd been walking for so long they couldn't find it anywhere.
It was very frustrating.
Merrick said,
You know,
If we were home,
We'd just be able to get a glass of water.
Roxy said,
If we were home,
We could play in the sprinkler.
We could play with the cats,
Luca and Blue.
And we could play with the Chihuahua,
Tamale,
Running through the sprinklers.
All nice and cold,
Stella said.
I'd do anything for a nice cold drink.
Merrick said,
I think it's time we start to look for home.
How do we get home?
I have an idea,
He said.
I'll swing through the trees like Tarzan.
It shouldn't take too long and if I can swing through the trees I'd probably get a better view of exactly where we were.
I'd be able to see the house and everything.
That's all it's going to take.
You watch.
Merrick climbed up one of the trees that was really close to them,
Got so high up,
Found a vine and started swinging from tree to tree like Tarzan.
It was very funny,
But unfortunately it was very unproductive.
After six or seven trees he slid down one of the vines that was right there in front of the girls and said,
I can't see anything.
Definitely can't see the house.
Roxy said,
I have an idea.
If only we could find a soccer ball,
A big giant soccer ball.
I could bounce the ball,
Climb on top of the ball and then maybe I could bounce it higher than the trees and then I'd be able to see over the trees and then I'd be able to see the house.
Stella said,
That's a really good idea Roxy but we don't have a soccer ball.
Oh yeah,
Said Roxy.
Hmm,
In that case I don't know what to do.
Stella said,
I have an idea.
You know how sometimes when bats make noises they listen to the vibration in the noise and it kind of reflects and vibrates off objects around.
Maybe if I started to sing a song I could imagine that the words to the song are reaching all the way to our house and then we would hear it echoing back to us.
Stella said,
We want to go home.
It's time for home.
She started singing.
Unfortunately the sound of her voice just reflected back off the trees all around them.
Didn't have a chance to get to the house,
Wherever that was.
The jungle was getting hotter.
The animals were getting noisier.
They were all so thirsty.
They were also now really hungry.
Stella said,
What I wouldn't do for a piece of cake.
I could be home baking a cake,
Decorating the cake.
We could be eating the cake.
Both Roxy and Merrick said,
How do we get home?
They seemed to be just walking and pulling down big vines and smashing through trees and they just weren't getting anywhere until they finally,
Through some trees in front of them,
Saw a glimmer of light shining down through the tops of the trees onto what looked like crystal clear,
Cool,
Refreshing water.
All three of them started to walk really,
Really fast and then they started to run really,
Really fast until they broke through the clearing.
There it was,
The prettiest waterfall with clear blue water down below.
All three of them tickled their toes in the edge of the water.
It was cold and refreshing.
All three of them rushed into the pool of water below the waterfall and started to swim and dive.
The water tasted clean and fresh.
It was like the best drink of water that they'd ever,
Ever,
Ever,
Ever had.
They were in heaven.
After swimming and laughing and playing,
Spotting different fish in the water,
Feeling very,
Very happy and content with themselves,
And at last cool,
All three of them laid on their backs,
Closed their eyes,
Just floated.
It was so relaxing and peaceful and quiet.
They felt safe and protected by the cool waterfall,
The sounds,
The smells.
Everything was so nice,
So relaxing.
They didn't feel like they had anything to worry about.
The world was just fine.
They didn't get stressed out.
They weren't arguing with each other.
They were just floating in the crystal clean,
Refreshing water in the middle of the jungle somewhere.
It seemed like they'd been floating there with their eyes closed for the longest time.
Until one by one,
They opened their eyes and one by one,
Realized they were back in their house,
Sat looking at each other,
Playing the board game.
The plants,
Merrick's house plant collection,
Looked very normal,
Not jungle-like at all.
Yet each one of them had been in the jungle.
They loved each other.
Stella said,
That was crazy.
Roxy said,
Now that was an adventure.
The Merrick said,
I told you my house plants were cool.
The endsoldier.
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