Friday, June 15, 2007

The film Hollywood forgot

For all of you who have tween girls (or maybe even boys if you can force them into going) in the house, I have great news! Hollywood finally made a movie that doesn't involve scantily clad teens, anything close to sexual innuendo and *gasp* only a few curse words. Yup, you guessed it:

Nancy Drew

I could hardly contain my delight as we watched the movie. Princess didn't move. She was completely lost in the story. It was edge of your seat suspense and I even caught her grabbing my arm a few times as Nancy ventured into dark passageways and was chased by bad guys. There was no blood, no violence (some violence was implied, like a bad guy getting whacked over the head with a shovel) but none of it was shown. Nancy's boyfriend came for a visit and they didn't even hold hands. (Ned did give Nancy a little kiss at the end of the movie, but it was a sweet little kiss).

I really cannot get over how wonderful this movie was. I was disappointed that there weren't more people in the theater. Granted we did see a 4:30 showing, but I'd be surprised if there were 20 people in the theater. Hollywood isn't going to make more movies like this if we don't pay to see 'em people!

Tomorrow I'm going to see Fantastic Four, but I'm sure it won't be anywhere near as family friendly.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

The last time I enjoyed summer

The worst part about being back in school (or more the part of wanting to graduate sometime before Princess graduates - LOL) is that my summers are not my own. Friday is a half day of school for my little 3rd grader and then school's out for the summer.

For her.

Bring on another summer where I barely get to enjoy being a kid with my daughter. Once you take out the time I'm in school and the time I need to be at work (which is as little as possible in the summer) I'm barely going to see her again this summer.

Today was the end of the year field trip. Each grade has their own tradition and for 3rd grade it's a day at the beach. Somehow I got suckered into going. The thought of spending all day outside with almost 80 3rd graders. Tell me that doesn't sound like fun. It's almost a 40 minute ride to the beach and we were pulling in by 9. Yup, that's right, me stuck in a van with 5 nine year olds all before 9 am. Go me!! The day ended up being much better than I anticipated. We went to a park I had never been to before and it was incredible. A nice picnic area on this side of the sand dune with a play ground and lots of grass and trees and grills. The beach was huge and very well kept. I will certainly be taking a trip back in the middle of the summer when it's warm enough to swim.

I got to spend the day talking to some parents that I haven't seen all year. I've been so busy with my classes that I haven't done much in the way of school parties or field trips.

The kids all seemed to have fun. The weather was perfect. After an hour or so it warmed up enough that everybody stripped down to shorts and t-shirts and played their little hearts out. We had planned some "organized" games as a back-up just in case kids weren't having a good time. But they had no trouble amusing themselves all day. After fueling up on hot dogs for lunch most of them headed over to the beach side to dig in the sand and build sand castles. Because Wed afternoon is when the 3rd graders all have gym the gym teacher decided to show up and surprise them. He brought a couple footballs and had them all tackling him before he could even get all the way down to the beach.

Hard to believe that another school year has gone. It feels like a blink of an eye. As with any milestone I look back and wonder if I did the best I could. Are there things I could have done to make this year better for Princess? What should I do differently next year? What should I do the same? All I know for sure is we have grown another year together. Just the two of us. With the help of ever present Grandma and PaPa of course.

So, here's to summer. May yours be filled with lemonade and sunshine - and lots of butterfly kisses.