No Camp Week

Its day one of Camp Mommy and I am already out of ideas thanks to the rain. Chloe has no camp, no doctor's appointments, no nothing this week so it is up to me to keep her entertained. Several weeks ago I made a list of each day's activities. Today I had planned that we would go to the U-Pick farm for berries. Well, we managed to squeeze that in last week. So, I thought we could spend the day doing one of Chloe's favorite activities, swimming. Unfortunately mother nature was against swimming.

After tackling the piles of laundry this morning (and stalling for time) I suggested Chloe and I spend our rainy day at the movies. Because Matt wants to see K*ung F*u P*anda with us, Chloe and I chose to see W*all*E.

Now, before we went, I did my homework, read reviews, went to the movie site, showed it to Chloe told her the synopsis of the movie and some of the trailers on line. I wasn't dissapointed in the movie, the movie was great. It was sweet, entertaining, funny, etc. Unfortunately, I learned some valuable lessons today from my movie-going experience-

• Going to the movies now rivals the cost of a child-themed amusement park once you factor in snacks. Lesson learned: never go to the movies at lunch time.


• Taking a four-year old to the movies can be hit or miss. I thought Chloe could handle an hour and a half long movie but failed to factor in the 30 minute child-show created by the theatre at the opening, the 15 minutes of movie trailers and the 5 minute animation prior to the movie starting. Lesson learned: Chloe was ready to go as soon as the movie started. We hadn't even met the main character when she asked, "When is this movie over?"


• The majority of animated movies made nowadays are made for adults with humor in them that has nothing to do with the content of the movie. Children can follow along well-enough and get site gags, but the majority of the humor is aimed at adults as it is over kids heads. Lesson learned: Be prepared to explain to your child why you are laughing at the movie.

Chloe says she liked the movie (even though she told me she wanted to go home and play 15 minutes into it) and that she wants to go to the movies again this weekend as she really wants to see K*ung F*u P*anda. We'll see how that one goes.