Family movie time!

I forgot to tell you all that we took our first family trip to the movies last weekend! There's a $1.50 theater near us, so we thought for that price we could actually test out whether going to a movie is feasible with kids at this age. As a bonus, the kids were both free, so a movie for four for $3.00? Sweet! We saw Over the Hedge. I have not gotten that much exercise during a movie in my life!

For starters, the theater was not up to code. I knew it was an old theater, so no fancy stadium seating or anything, but I at least expected a few safety features like lighting on the floors... If you've seen the movie, you may recall that the first 10 minutes of the movie is at night, so it's a fairly dark picture. We arrived a couple minutes late, and there was not a single light on within the theater, so we had to stand at the back for several minutes till it got bright enough that we could see where open seats were available. We waited and the girls were patient, I think in part because they were so blown away by how big it was and scared by the pitch darkness of the theater (it made me a little nervous, too!).

When we did finally sneak into some seats, it took about 45 seconds before Ruth starting squirming around and then crying because she didn't want to be held or sit in a seat. So I scooped her up and headed to the back of the theater. Thankfully there was a little open space in the back that I could stand in and still see the screen, because I spent the rest of the movie there, holding Ruth. Occasionally she'd get a little noisy or energetic and I'd walk the back hallway with her for a few minutes. I could still hear the movie anytime that I couldn't see it, so I managed to take most of it in. Ruth is just a little young for that. I'm not surprised since she won't settle down to watch a movie at home yet, but I thought the theater experience might subdue her... Wishful thinking.

Marianne, on the other hand, did a great job! She was a little upset at not being able to see Ruth and me, and once made Nathaniel bring her to the back so she could ensure we were still there. Otherwise, with the assistance of a couple packs of fruitsnacks, she sat still throughout the movie with only occasional commentary (that's according to Nathaniel - it was nothing I was able to hear from the back of the theater, which is a good sign).

*****

On an unrelated topic, this is my 200th post on my blog (Renee finally taught me how to tell, because I'm lame and couldn't figure it out for myself). Hooray for me! I hope you're all enjoying the look into my daily life. I know I'm enjoying the chance to share it with you. Thanks for reading!