A dad dressed like a banana, a baby in a lion cub costume and a fun music video starring a pair of rapping parents, two kids and three dogs.

That's what you get when you see the Schlegel family's latest, must-watch creative endeavor — which earned them top prize in a national Dole food's competition and could win them a five-day vacation to Oahu.

To do it, they need your help.

So let's start from the beginning.

Laura Schlegel is an active mom from Hermitage who lugs her two young kids everywhere she goes. That includes the grocery store, where this fruit-loving family always buys bananas.

Not too long ago, her 5-year-old girl, Annika, noticed the Lion King stickers stuck on the display. Well, of all the things this family could love more than bananas, it was Disney.

Laura Schlegel took note, figuring maybe they could get some free tickets to see the new movie. When she went to the DOLE website, what she found instead was a national contest asking families to share their family traditions (inspired by Lion King).

The grand prize was a trip to Hawaii.

"Well, that would be worth entering," she thought.

A six-hour, summer vacation drive to northwest Ohio can stretch on like the endless cornfields out the window. So, to pass the time, Laura and her husband, Hans, brainstormed. 

Hans is a former college glee club singer with musical talent, and Laura's a former college swimmer with the competitive spirit. Together, they were a dynamic duo.

"We went crazy coming up with ideas," Laura laughs.

By the time they reached Hans' family's farm — 1,300 acres of corn and soybeans in Wapakoneta — they had composed the lyrics for a "healthy" rap song.

Filming it, would be the perfect family vacation project.

Make a music video? We got this, no worries

After a quick trip to the Disney store (where the plan to simply buy T-shirts was thrown out the window when they saw an adorable lion cub costume that 1-year-old Stein could wear), they were ready.

All they needed was for Hans to don the banana suit he bought just for the occasion.

Armed with an iPhone and a DSLR camera they bought when their daughter was born to take video of the kids, they had all the equipment they needed.

They memorized the lyrics — lines like "circle of life, amazing thing, so from our pride to yours, we'd like to sing" — stocked the fridge with all things DOLE and started to sing.

The funniest part for the family was watching grandma (who has a staring roll) and grandpa (whose job was to try to wrangle the three dogs for their cameos). 

The final video, complete with a dancing gorilla and a lion-mane-wearing pup, won the family a chance at that final grand prize.

"Obviously, we're jumping for joy at that," Laura says.



Read or Share this story: