One evening after a long day at school for Jack and Julia, just before bedtime, they watched one of their favorite movies---Mary Poppins.

When they had watched the movie again and climbed in their beds Jack said, “Momma, I have an idea. Why don’t you and Dada go out to dinner some evening and get us a baby sitter.”

“A babysitter like Mary Poppins?”  their momma laughed.

Then from Julia’s bed they heard her say, “Yes, like Mary Poppins, but I believe that she’s a nanny and stays all the time.  We’d just like maybe, every once in a while, to have a babysitter who has an umbrella full of magic.”

Then Liz heard Jack laugh from his room, “Ha,” he said. “Yes, that would be fun, a NANNY FOR A NIGHT with an umbrella full of magic.”

“Yes, she’s like our pilot dada, she can fly” Julia laughed from her bed.

That night after both Jack and Julia thought about the idea of having a Mary Poppins babysitter they finally fell fast asleep.

And what do you think happened?

Well, they both drifted off to dreamland and pretty soon they thought they heard their front doorbell ring. Both kids bounded out of their beds and quietly slipped down the steps. They didn’t want to wake their parents. And when Jack opened the front door, what do you think he saw?

A pretty lady in a funny dress holding an umbrella.

“Are you Mary Poppins?”  Julia asked.

The nice lady with the umbrella just laughed and said, “Oh, you two must be dreaming!”

But before Jack could say Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious the Mary Poppins lady had snapped her fingers and the two kids flew back upstairs. And with Mary looking on, they hurriedly cleaned their rooms.  Then back downstairs and out the front door they went. The lady snapped her fingers, and her umbrella opened. And taking them by their hands they were suddenly magically flying. Off they went into what had become a blue sky with beautiful white clouds. 

They met an old friend of Mary’s named Bert and Julia said, “Hey, this is just like the movie!”

Mary and Bert liked to sing and dance together and Jack said, “I like her singing and dancing but I think Bert could cut back on the dancing a little bit!”

The magical lady with the umbrella laughed. So did Bert.

They saw a beautiful painting of a circus carousel and suddenly this South Georgia Mary Poppins had dropped the kids right into the painting. Then she snapped her fingers again and the horses---with Jack and Julia riding---magically came to life, and they chased and saved a fox.

And oh, what a ride they had. They met the bird seed lady who sold seed to feed the birds. And while they were out there this magical movie-like Nanny flew them to some of their favorite places.

They visited the Serenbe hiking and rock slide, Line Creek where they hiked and danced and sang. Then it was off to Brown Lake for a kayak ride and a little fishing.  Then, just for fun they flew through the drive-in window at Chick-Fil-A. The lady in the window who handed out the food was so shocked seeing the kids with this flying nanny that she almost dropped their sandwiches and fries.

To work off their big meal the kids enjoyed the songs and sang along with Mary. And they even danced a little bit with Bert who had been a painter and was now a chimney sweep. They sang songs like Jolly Holiday, Step in Time, and Chim Chim Cher-ee

Finally they landed back on their front door step. Mary Poppins hugged them both. “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” Jack said, then Julia hugged her dream-like Mary Poppins and said, “Yes, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!”

Mary laughed, snapped her fingers, and then up she flew into the beautiful blue sky.

What a wonderful time they had. But before they knew it they heard their momma’s voice, “Wake up, you sleepyheads, time for breakfast and then off to school.”  Liz said.

“I just had the most wonderful dream,” Jack said from his room. Then Julia said, “Me too, mine was about Mary Poppins!”

“Mine was too,” Jack laughed. “But it wasn’t real, it was just a dream.”

Then they heard their dada downstairs by the front door talking to their momma, “Hey Liz,” he said, “Who in the world left this umbrella on our front porch?”