Checking Drive-In Off the Summer List: FOREVER

We’ve been steadily working our way through my Summer From A-Z List.  Letter D this summer was for Drive-In Movie, and since we never made it to the drive-in last summer, I wanted to make it a priority to get there this summer.

Unfortunately, the evening will not go down in history as our favorite one ever.  In fact, it may go down in history as the worst evening spent together (other evenings in the running: playing at the playground near bedtime when Maddie tripped and fell into a piece of playground equipment and almost bit through her tongue, the night we all shared a hotel room and baby Jack had an ear infection and cried the whole night, and the Christmas Eve that four out of five of us threw up in the van on the way to my Aunt Betty’s Christmas party).

There is only one drive-in theatre near us and it’s about a 45 minute drive away.  Because there’s only one, it’s a popular spot, and we know from experience that you need to get there at least an hour early to claim your spot.  We loaded up the minivan with beanbag chairs, pillows, snacks, our old boombox so we wouldn’t need to drain the car’s battery, and three very excited, jammy-clad kids (Ben said, “This is going to be the best night ever!” when we told them about it at dinner), and then we headed to the drive-in. 

We arrived at least an hour early…and the place was already almost filled up.  I was driving, and this was a HUGE mistake, because I had to carefully maneuver all of the aisles of cars, and people camped out near their cars on lawn chairs, and kids throwing frisbees, etc. looking for an open spot.  Which I eventually found.  Unfortunately, I had to back up the car to get into this spot (because I was afraid if I drove around to pull in, I’d lose the spot to someone else) and backing in meant pulling the nose of my van right up to the people in the row behind us sitting on their chairs.  They scowled at me (which made me want to give up right then) and grudgingly picked up their chairs to give me more space, but because the space was tight, I had to back up three feet, and then move forward three feet, and then back up three feet, and pull forward three feet, etc.  The owners of the cars on either side of my spot were all standing up and glaring at me too.  We were the entertainment for a radius of at least twenty yards, and a small crowd gathered to watch me inch into my spot.  I became sweaty did a lot of swearing in my head and it was easily the worst four minutes of the year to date.

But we made it.  Once we were in, the small crowd dispersed, and I tried not to make eye contact with the people behind me whose toes/car hoods came too uncomfortably close to my car, because they were all still frowning and making mad motions with their hands.  We pulled open the back of the van, flattened the seats, set out our lawn chairs, and got the kids set up.  And then we looked at our view and the complaints started flying.

        “I can’t see the screen!”  “We won’t be able to see the movie!”  “We need to find a new spot!”

We tried putting things under their beanbags to lift them up higher and we stuck a chair in the van for Maddie who was the grumpiest of all three but THERE WAS NO WAY IN HECK I WAS GETTING IN THE CAR AND MOVING IT TO A NEW SPOT SO JUST PUT THAT OUT OF YOUR MINDS RIGHT NOW YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE...munchkins.

Now we had about an hour to kill before the movie started.

Everyone had brought ipods, but there was still a lot of jostling going on.  You can see it was tight quarters back there, and somebody was always touching somebody and THAT IS NOT GOOD so eventually Jack had to spend time with Dave and me on the chairs.  To make matters worse, the family next to us had very quiet, perfectly behaved children and a mother who was a Sourpuss Extreme.  Earlier she had given me a lot of mean looks when I backed within inches of their car and now she kept looking over with her Sourpuss Face making me wish we could just close the minivan lid and hide away until the movie started. 

I asked Dave to “pose” for me so I could sneak a picture of her:

                                     Don’t you just want to smack her?  Also, nice forearm, honey.

Luckily the car on the other side of her had a crying baby and a mother who kept screeching at her children, so most of her withering looks were aimed their way.  We still got enough to put me on edge though.

Then the movie started late.  Like twenty minutes late.  I really should have brought along Uno or sidewalk chalk or Headbanz or something, but I hadn’t and by the time the movie actually started, Dave and I were giving each other “we are never doing this again” looks.

So the movie was Brave and I hate to be a downer yet again, but it wasn’t a good movie for a drive-in.  I really loved the movie and hope you see it, but a lot of it takes place at night, which makes it hard to see on the (already partially blocked) screen.  Jack lost patience with this movie early on and spent a lot of the movie whining that he couldn’t see and that he was tired and wanted to go home and could we turn down the sound on the boombox so he could go to sleep and he kept opening the car doors which turned the inside lights on and what can he eat and can he have a drink from the concession stand and he’s tired and Ben’s foot is on his arm and…

Let’s just say, it was hard to concentrate and keep Mr. Whiny Pants from annoying all of us and Ms. Sourpuss too much.  Really, Dave and I should have just brought Grown-Up Drinks with us, but we hadn’t, so when the movie finally ended we breathed a sigh of relief and left before the next movie started.

And that was when I mentally checked Drive-In off any List of Things To Do, FOREVER.

For It’s Root, Root, Root For the Home Team

Back in May, Maddie’s middle school band was invited to play the National Anthem at a Senator’s Game.  We all went and sat in the Ollie’s Cheap Seats section to watch her play.  I didn’t actually choose to buy the Cheap Seats, it’s just where they put most of the middle schooler’s families, although my friend Mindy was in the main stands in the shade, which leads me to wonder wonder what special favors (washing his car, baking him brownies, etc.) Mindy promised the dude handing out the tickets upon arrival, but whatever.

We had fun.  In the Cheap Seats.

Ten points if you can find Ben, Dave, and Jack (sitting in that order).

Ten extra points for spotting Mindy and her family in the main section.  Mindy has a pretty thick growth of hair on her face and a tattoo of John Denver on her upper arm, if it helps.

Ben was very excited that kids were allowed on the field prior to the game to play catch with their dads (or moms, but I was busy taking photos that would help this memory last forever, so that was the more important job than actually being part of the memory, you see.)  He even wore his baseball pants.  At the last minute, he almost chickened out, and Dave had to talk him into going out on the field.  Jack (grudgingly) went too, but he was also feeling very shy and he just stood to the side most of the time, though Ben ended up having a great time!

Ten more points for finding Jack standing nonchalantly alone trying to pretend he’s too cool for baseball.

Finally, it was time for the highlight of the day, the National Anthem!

Twenty points for finding the Cutist Flutist ever.

Then we watched the game.  Well.  Most people watched the game.  Jack, however, ate his way through the bag of peanuts I snuck in, and eventually started a collection of weird peanuts!

My favorite is the one with the giant wart.  Kind of like the one on Mindy’s nose.

Maddie found a weird peanut too! Golly, my children are so talented with their keen eyes and large, capable, peanut-holding hands!

Ben ate a hot dog.  It did not require keen eyes, but he didn’t drop it so he is talented too!

Jack entertained us between innings when they played music.  His earlier shyness seems to have worn off.

Then the game was over (I don’t know who won, sorry), and guess what!  The Cheap Seats paid off!  We were the first out of the ballpark and in our cars and on the highway speeding our way toward Home Sweet Home, while Mindy was probably still trying to squeeze her 350 pound self through the exit turnstile. 

An excellent day was had by all.

Dear Photograph

Have you seen this website yet?  I stumbled across it recently and immediately bookmarked it.  Each day the site is updated with one photo; submitters must take an old photo and hold it in front of the same location, lining it up as best as the can.  Go check it out, there are some really cool ones!

I decided to try it too…

See what I mean?  I love this!

The tree has grown and so has he.  Jack didn’t want me to show you this picture, he was embarrassed that the baby Jack had been eating dirt.

Jake’s been Ben’s best friend since forever.  They were born two days apart and we lived down the street from Jake until they both turned 3 (and then we only moved 5 minutes away). 

I cheated with this one a little bit, because we’ve moved the sofa since the original photo was taken.  But look at the two of them on the left, about 5 yrs old, watching t.v., and on the right playing a video game.  So cute!

How about one more?

Go check out Dear Photograph.  And maybe try to create some of your own!

Stuff We’re Doing

Howdy!  I’m sure you’ve been asking yourself lately, “I wonder how things are going at Beth’s house…I know she wasn’t crazy about summer vacation arriving.  Maybe I should bake her some brownies and bring them over or possibly arrange to take her children for the afternoon?”  

Well, I have to say that now that the kids have been out of school two weeks to the day, I think things are going pretty well!  I’ve been keeping them busy, though not too busy, as I think they need their summer downtime, and I also like them to be responsible for figuring out how to fill in the gaps of free time.  We’ve had a few things going on, though, so let me share…

That awesome pool floaty already has a hole in it.  Seriously! I tell myself every year, don’t spend big bucks on the pool floaties, they are just going to get holes in them, and every year I ignore my advice.  This was a very awesome floaty though for the 12 hours we used it.

We have been having lots of pool time though.

                                                                                                                                                         I think there’s room for one more kid in that front left corner.

My kids get tired of the pool somewhere around the third week of summer vacation, so please put me on your church’s Prayer Chain.

~We celebrated Father’s Day for the best dad in the world by making him grill us steaks for dinner and then making him throw us (them) in the pool and then helping us make (and eat) these and then setting off some of these…

No wonder he’s so darn pooped.

~It’s usually just Ben and me in the early mornings, since Maddie and Jack like to sleep in.

Ben’s never been much of a sleeper, though you would think all the energy he puts into jumping over houses would tire him out some…

                                                                            And look!  He got a major haircut!!!

~We went to the St. Paul’s Bazaar where Jack did this and this…

Spin art!  Oh, yes, and also.  He won another fish.  This one (briefly named Fishy Wishy) didn’t make it ‘til the morning, and then he cried so much that I agreed to get the aquarium down out of the attic and fill it up with tropical fish again.  I am such a sucker.

Also at the bazaar the kids did that running bungee cord thing.  I don’t know what the heck it’s called but I would like one for my backyard.  You’ve got a bungee cord attached to you and you’ve got to run as hard as you can and stick a velcro beanbag onto the center thingy further than your opponent. 

Ha!  Ben’s bungee cord didn’t let him go far!  This game is hours of fun for all observers, let me tell you!

~We had a cookout at Grandma Wolfe’s house, and Uncle Mike and Aunt Nicole brought Ozzie, one of our favorite dogs in the world.

              For the record, Dave did not share one bite of that sausage sandwich with poor old Ozzie.

~Look, Tara, just for you, a picture of me!  (And also of Maddie, whatevs.)

                                                           Thanks Sue C. for suggesting this pose!

~The other day, while I was sitting at the computer minding my own business, I felt something hit me in the head.  It was a paper airplane.  With a message on it…

So I’d just like to say, brownies would be lovely, and my children are available at any time if you’d like to entertain them.

P.S. For the record, I have never, ever farted.  I just don’t even know where he’d get such an idea.

Cake Batter Cookies

I found this one on Pinterest.  It was easy and total hit with the kids at a recent pool party.

Cake Batter Cookies

18.25 oz box white cake mix

1 t. baking powder

2 eggs

1/2 c. oil

1/2 t. vanilla

1 c. colorful sprinkles (jimmies)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together dry ingredients, add wet ingredients and mix well.  Add sprinkles last.  Place by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Cool on cookie sheet for two minutes then remove to a cooling rack. 

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

*Note-I bought a box mix that already had sprinkles in it, and when I got home I realized it was only a 15 oz box!  I had to open another box mix and add 3 more ounces of yellow cake mix to make sure the quantities were correct.  And my cookies didn’t look nearly as sprinkly and colorful as the people who made theirs with a plain cake mix and a cup of  jimmies.   (I did add some mini coated chocolate chips, which tasted good, but didn’t look nearly as pretty and colorful.)

Buy Me Some Peanuts and Cracker Jacks*

Ben decided to join the local baseball league this year.  He was thrilled when they handed out the uniforms back in April and he was given #8, since 8 is his lucky number!

Unfortunately, that number eight let him down a little bit.  Yesterday was the last game of the season, and his team lost every single game. They showed definite improvement from the beginning of the season (the first game the score was something like 15-1, and the last game the score was 9-8), but still, it’s hard not to win even once.  Ben was a complete rookie back in April.  He struck out every time at bat, he missed balls that were hit to him, he didn’t always know where to throw balls when he was fielding.  But he worked hard with Dave at his catching, throwing, and batting, and I think he ended the season looking pretty good!

It’s outta there!

Trying to steal a base.

He made it! (photo source, my friend Jodi)

Crossing home plate!  (photo source, my friend Jodi)

He got to pitch one inning.  He loved the glory!

Pep Talk

They needed lots of pep talks.  Coach Chad treated the team to ice cream after their last game too.

                                                                            They look pretty cheerful, don’tcha think?

Now the season is over, and hopefully the bats and gloves won’t be traded in for Wii contollers.  Ben is still asking Dave to go out and throw and catch with him, and plans to join the team again next year (which is a big deal for Ben, who would usually rather hang out at home than play a sport). 

*By the way, the snack of choice nowadays is Big League Chew Bubblegum and Walking Tacos.  But that’s hard to fit into a song lyric.