Motion Picture

SEEING RED: Well lookie here - what did we find in our alley side planter box today? A strawberry! It's small and it's hard, but it's RED! Yes, it's almost July, and yes, we have only one ripe berry.

"Can we split it?" Annabelle asked.

Of course we can. :)

LIFE IS A HIGHWAY: We were out the door at 10 a.m. and headed to the movie theater to see "Cars 2" - the long ( years) awaited sequel to "Cars."

While I am no NASCAR fan, "Cars" will always hold a special place in my heart because it's the first movie that CJ was over the moon for. He love Love LOVED it and amassed a respectable little Cars action figure collection.

Today was the movie's opening day, and since it's such a popular franchise, I expected the theater to be full. Boy was I wrong. There were less than 20 of us there - and upon reflection I can see why. First, my adult ticket's face value was EIGHTEEN FREAKIN' DOLLAR$. For a computer generated cartoon!!! Geezus, seriously, what gives?! (Can you tell I don't go to the movies very often?) Thank GOD I had purchased a Fandango special ($9 for two tickets) through LivingSocial a couple weeks back. Of course, that special didn't cover the super duper extra exorbitant cost of IMAX movies, but it did give me a $30 credit toward tickets for CeeJ, Bee and me. Warning- bad cell phone photo below ...With that financial hit, I did something I've never done before - I brought bottled water into the theater. That's right, I'm a smuggler. But good gravy, with ticket prices $18 for adults and $12 for kids for a matinee, they had $42 from us before we even walked in. I did spring $8 for a large popcorn the size of a pony keg. It kept the three of us in food for two hours, so that was a good "investment."

We watched lots of previews, most notably one for the upcoming new Muppets movie - hooray! Can't wait for that - it will be out at Thanksgiving.

Finally "Cars 2" came on and right from the start, I was a bit put off. It started with a BUNCH of new characters. Where was Lightning McQueen? Why are we with a bunch of unfamiliar characters on a crabbing boat named the Northwestern (yes, after the boat on the "Deadliest Catch," character voiced by captain Sig Hansen)?

After a protracted period involving oil rigs and espionage, we FINALLY saw our hero at home, in Radiator Springs. But let me warn you, if the racing scenes and Lightning McQueen are what you loved about the first movie, you're going to be disappointed this go round. This movie was dominated by new-to-us characters (all I could think was "guess the want to sell more merch!) and Tow Mater, the goofy, doofus tow truck from the first movie.

I was disappointed, but the kids enjoyed it, so who cares what I thought? (Though I will admit, when I got home, I felt somewhat vindicated to read several early reviews which shared my disdain for the sequel compared to the original.)

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Despite threatening clouds and light rain, we struck out this afternoon on a short ride/run to the Lawton school playground. Check out the photo below. Notice anything missing? ...

Not until we got to Lawton did CJ realize he'd forgotten his helmet. DOH! First time we've ever done that. So, we walked his bike home. :(

At Lawton, the kids were playing Troll on the Bridge. I asked them to look at said bridge and tell me what kind it is. I was rather disappointed that neither one of them immediately responded, "Suspension!" Bee's first guess was "beam" and CJ was mum. :(
Eventually, they each noticed the chains SUSPENDING the bridge.

TECH TALK: Late last night and this a.m. I'd exchanged several messages with the gentleman who sold us the defective Famicom Disk System. My pointed, well-researched emails paid off - he'd issued me a rather generous partial refund by 9 this a.m., and now I'm actually looking forward to getting the replacement belt, cracking the unit open and performing the repair. In the big picture, CJ and Annabelle will derive a lot more satisfaction and knowledge doing that than just a plug-and-play approach.