And there's a feeling in my heart I can't explain. I'm going home.

It's the last day of the first leg of this year's tour, and we're careening through Arkansas after getting held up for 30 minutes in traffic.

We spent the weekend in Rogers with my dad, and filled it with the usual: coffee, beer, and massive amounts of pork. Matt performed in Eureka Springs for the third year in a row, before we headed to Tulsa. You remember Eureka Springs, right? Remember those youngsters? They were so innocent, untainted by the fame and the inevitable hard rock lifestyle that comes with puppet notoriety.

We’ve been to Tulsa a few times, but I don’t know that I’ve really captured its essence in previous blogs. If great libraries make great cities, then Tulsa is bleeping Emerald City. If great libraries make great cities, then Tulsa is the metropolitan version of Chuck Norris, and it will kick your ass with its giant grid system. The Tulsa library system has 24 branches, and many of them are quite large, and equipped with their own glorious theaters. Matt performed last night on a pirate-themed stage that has its very own green room (no joke). It’s not long before the WGC contract will read, “Mr. Sandbank will require a bowl of yellow M&Ms upon arrival.”

Unfortunately, Tulsa doesn’t have all of the things that one might expect a great city to offer. When I searched for Tulsan food options on yelp, the Quik Mart was the first recommendation with 5 whole stars (again, I’m not joking). Perhaps great libraries make cities that are very large. Or cities that have the resources to hire an abnormal amount of children’s performers. Still, we were able to find a few gems in Tulsa. It is home to the nation’s first and only seed to cup coffee shop, as well as the most riff raff hipster bohemian bar I’ve ever seen, the Soundpony.

The Soundpony describes itself as a bar that serves magic by the pint and shields beer lovers from drinking among doucherie. They also offer a weekly game of trivia. Now, let’s be clear about this, Team Sandbank is a pretty competitive bunch, and we play a lot of trivia (read: Matt plays trivia, Paige pretends to know answers and shouts at other teams). So naturally, after reading about the trivia game at the Soundpony, we showed up expecting to dominate. This was, however, unlike any trivia we had played. Let’s start with the prizes: 4^th place- a can of mace, 3^rdplace – an AK-47 decorative pin, 2 ^nd place – a 30 ft ninja grappling hook, and 1^st place – a giant Oklahoma flag. Seriously, these guys just dig around the bar and pull this crap out. Winners must conquer several rounds of questions, lists, song/artist identification, and a physical challenge. That’s right, to demonstrate our superiority, we had to construct and fly not one, but TWO paper airplanes, one for hang time, and one for distance.

I am sad to report to you that we are not the brand new owners of a ninja grappling hook. We are, however, on our way home, after a quick show in Forrest City. You remember Forrest City, don’t you? Yeah. It’s still like that.

We’ll be home for 11 days and making the most of it before we go on the road again!

Today's song.

Ride in to the danger zone!

Guess what happened this week.
BABY'S FIRST MALL SHOW!


When I first heard that Matt would be performing at the Jonesboro mall, terrifying images of food court flashmobs danced through my head. Fortunately, the venue far exceeded my expectations. The mall was fancy and new, and it featured tiny train rides for anyone that would pay a dollar. Matt performed for 150 kids in a beautiful empty store front and the show went great!

Still, the mall show paled in comparison to this week's other first time venue: A MILITARY BASE! Do you want to feel like a bad ass puppeteer? Take your puppet show somewhere that requires a background check, picture id, and full searches upon request. It took us about 30 minutes to get into McConnell Air Force Base, and the security hassle only made the experience more awesome!Once we were finally in, we realized the that a military base is like a glorious mall, complete with a bowling alley, a movie theater, and numerous restaurants. There's even a clothing store, though window shopping looks a little different on base.

In other news, Wichita was awesome, but we're going back so I'll tell you about all of its wonders when we return. For now, I'll leave you with a puppet video. So Matt is performing his new show as well as his old one on this summer's tour. This skit is a new addition to last year's show, never before seen by blog readers. Lucky you!




Here is today's song!

Did you know that the wind, when it blows, it is older than Rome and all of this sorrow.

I know that I promised puppets this time around, but I forgot where we were headed.

A month ago, I shouted to Matt from the next room, “Did you hear about the tornado in Joplin?” Standing in the doorway, Matt replied, “We’re going there this summer.”

“I don’t know if there’s a library for you to go to anymore.”

There is still a library, right on Main Street. And they still wanted Matt to come perform. Joplin is larger than we expected it to be, with a university and a bustling historic downtown. But travel south a little ways and you will see the part of Joplin that is barely there anymore. Of the 45 people that work at the Joplin Library, 10 have lost their houses. The only school is gone. Entire neighborhoods have been leveled.

The video below is the footage of our drive.

You can go to rebuildjoplin.com to donate money and needed goods. And here is today's song.

partyin' partyin' YEAH! fun. fun. fun. fun.

When I say that it's hot here, what I mean is that it feels like we're in Satan's pressure cooker. As soon as we got here, Matt and I regretted ever calling anything hot. That's not hot. This is hot. You wouldn't believe what parts of me are sweating. Sweverything.

*Picture was taken by my sister, Taylor Gmaz, cause none of my pictures of the twins came out.
So we dealt with it like any true Louisiana native: with copious amounts of beer, food, and swimming. Anouche and Per turned 4 and Taylor and Carlos threw them the most crunk birthday party any young child has ever had. It was like a frat party for 4 year olds. Afterwards the lawn was covered in the post-party wreckage of used water balloons and inflatable toys. Children had to be hauled away screaming. I literally saw a girl dig her claws into a bedside as her dad tried to pull her away.
Of course there were kick-ass cakes, tailored to each child's wishes. Presents were also numerous. Per got his life-long wish: a million trucks.
Some of you puppet blog super fans (read: Mary Ellen Sandbank) may have noticed that every blog title is a song lyric. I've taken the liberty of linking today's song, and I'll go back and link the others so that you can compile your very own puppet tour soundtrack. We're heading on to Arkansas now. Puppet videos to come soon!

we so, we so excited.

Heaven is a place on Earth where you tell me all the things you want to do

Did you forgot about this year’s puppet tour?

We almost did. Somewhere between graduating and going on the road, I realized I had zero responsibilities for one whole month, which of course meant that I was obligated to do everything I’ve ever wanted to do.

We go to all these places in the summer. Places we wouldn’t necessarily choose to go. Still, we scour the internet and interrogate the locals and find a way to vacation no matter what our location. So it occurred to me: why couldn’t Nashville be our ultimate summer destination?

In an effort to grab summer by it’s sweaty nether regions, we did something delicious every day. We watched movies in the park, chased down food trucks we had never tried, played Rock Band all day, and saw art shows at the public library. I even swam under a waterfall. We were so captivated by our Nashvillian summer that we became reluctant to leave.

Until the night before the tour. Lying awake in bed, I began to ponder the many treasures this summer would offer. A birthday party for the twins, a National Puppetry Festival, hours and hours of the Food Network. I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep.

And now we’re off. We’re in hot and sticky Slidell, LA on the second day of the tour and I love it. Quote of the day below:

Matt: Does anyone have any questions?

Small child: I have a question. I can do the worm.

Tomorrow: more sweat in the bayou.

title song.