Up

Henry and I slept in. Miss R and Jeff started their day at a normal hour. The big event today was taking the kids to see Up. It was playing at a second-run theater near the Tucson Mall. This was our first adventure taking the kids to see a movie on the "big screen."

We got there a little after it had started but given the number of previews, I don't think that we missed much. Cost: $2 for all four of us. We've wondered how they make money. We bought $11.20 worth of refreshments (1 large lemonade, 1 medium popcorn, and a soft pretzel). Still don't know how they make money.

We started off in a row about 1/3 back from the screen. Eventually, Henry wanted to explore, so he got past Jeff and walked down the aisle. I managed to follow him, and he and I sat in the front row for several minutes. Jeff and Miss R eventually joined us. All in all, the kids were quite good, but they did pace up and down the front and tried out several seats. I had to stop Henry from making one seat squeak as he tried to fold himself into it, which he enjoyed.

We were surprised that the kids made it through the entire movie...especially one that they hadn't seen before. We find that they pay attention more to things with which they are already familiar. I think that Henry enjoyed it a bit more than Miss R, but both did good jobs.

We had planned to take the kids to see "The Princess and the Frog," which opens next week. I've been particularly excited by that one b/c the heroine is black. Finally, a Disney movie with a black princess! Having Miss R in our lives makes me a bit sensitive to things. I think that I've mentioned this before, but I feel awkward buying Disney products with all white characters (e.g., her princess underware has Snow White, Cinderella, and Ariel on it). Not that I'm claiming that she needs all black or mostly black characters, but some major characters should be black. A mix is needed.

I'm not sure if we are going to take them next weekend to see the movie next week or if we are going to wait until it hits the second-run theaters. They do like to walk around a lot, and we would expect a first-run theater to be much more crowded than what we experienced today.

As we got in the car, Henry announced that he "want to go to Sweet Potatoes!" He meant "Sweet Tomatoes." We've take the kids there maybe two or three times, so I'm surprised that he remembered its name. Moreover, I was surprised that he mentioned it b/c it wasn't far from where we were but not visible from our location. Henry has an amazing sense of geography. It's like he has an internal GPS or something. Where he got it is a mystery! He didn't get it from me, that's for sure.

We went to "Sweet Tomatoes." The kids didn't eat as much as usual. The big item was that Henry and Miss R got their very own ice cream cones. I don't think that they've had their own ones before. Henry made a HUGE mess but had a lot of fun eating it. As we left, Henry and I had the following conversation:

KATE: Let's go home and take a nap.
HENRY: No!
KATE: Let's go home and close our eyes for three hours.
HENRY: OK.

We headed home. Now the kids are asleep.