Our family is still on a bit of a high after last night’s fun at the drive-in. I went ahead and requested to be added to their email list so I can get updates on what movies are showing each weekend. I can see this getting to be more popular in the fall and the spring, but as soon as the sun goes down, it will get much cooler at night. We will have to be better prepared.

Which is why the Cabin Cuddler is kind of appealing.

Have you seen these blankets? They were designed by an airline pilot who saw a problem in his airplane cabins- the airline blankets were dirty, too small, and kept the feet exposed to the cool air. And now, you have to buy blankets on the airplanes, which makes me just want to bring my own.

The cabin cuddler gives you a perfect blanket cocoon to sit in. Starting by tucking your cold feet into a patented pocket, then wrapping the blanket around you, and finally placing your head on the attached pillow. And even though it was created to answer a problem in the airline industry, I see it being useful in so many other areas.

It is an excellent travel blanket, useful in camping (when you sit around a fire, just one side of you gets warm!), car rides, and even sitting around the house in the winter. I would love to have two of these to take to the drive-in (one for me, one for Damon), or just to use when sitting around the fire pit in the fall. And, as the football season progresses into the fall/ winter, I can see using it at Jordon-Hare Stadium for night games.

I just realized I’m talking about fall kinds of things. I can’t believe summer is almost over. I can see us roasting marshmallows right now.

Technorati Tags: cabin cuddler, travel blanket

When Damon came home last evening, I turned Fuller and dinner making responsibilities over to him so I could just go lay down for a little bit. Damon’s response was to plan a spur of the moment, totally easy on me, outing. We went to the drive-in!

About twenty minutes away from our house is the Wilderness Outdoor Movie Theater. It is located in Trenton, Georgia and when we thought about it, it was about equidistant to us going to the Regal Cinemas “Dollar” Theater. (Not really a dollar anymore, but the name has stuck.)

The cost is $5 a person, free for three and under. And all movies are double features. So, it looks like our family gets a better deal going to the drive-in, since we have the opportunity to see two movies, if we so please.

Gates open at 7, with the movies (there are two screens) starting around 9 p.m. They have a light meter that tells them when the optimum time is to start the movie, so 9 p.m. is a guesstimate. And I guess as the days get shorter and darkness falls earlier, these times will probably change. Last night they announced the drive-in will be going year round, 52 weeks a year, so I’m thinking we will get to go back several times.

The theater doesn’t allow outside food, so we ate before heading over around 7:30. Once we got there, we explained to Fuller the movie wouldn’t start until it was dark and wouldn’t it be cool to head over to the big green space to run around like a wild animal?

After last night, I am convinced heading to the drive-in an hour and half before the movie is not really so you can get a “good spot.” It is really so you can run around and play with your kids to get their energy level so low they will be thrilled to sit and stare at a screen for four to five hours. The theater sells glow in the dark frisbees for $3, so we procured one of those (I’m sure you can bring your own, we just didn’t think about it), and we had fun watching Fuller attempt to throw a frisbee.

We were both very impressed with the theater as a whole. The grass was well maintained, the gravel was thick, the bathrooms were awesome (I should have made a picture of the bathrooms! I only went like five times), and the concession stand was stocked with all kinds of food, not just popcorn and soft drinks.

We gathered at the car about 8:30 and started to settle in for the movie. We brought chairs, but I opted to sit in the car, reclining with my feet up. Fuller sat still for a good while, but he eventually announced he was tired and moved into his car seat. I had to move from my comfortable seat so he could see, and he decided being in the car was an acceptable place to start a conversation. We thought he would fall asleep, but he didn’t until the drive home.

The movie we saw was Star Wars: The Clone Wars. This is an animated movie, rated PG. Damon thought it would be safe for Fuller, who is familiar with crashes and machinery falling apart. I guess it comes with having seen plenty of Speed Racer cartoons and cultivating a love of robots. Fuller is totally unfamiliar with the idea of Star Wars (he is only 3), but I don’t think you have to have a knowledge of Jedi ways in order to enjoy this movie (I haven’t even seen episodes 2 and 3). There are plenty of battles and lots and lots of robots droids die, but nothing is bloody or gory. The story line involved a concept Fuller could understand- a baby, a sick baby, and getting home to his daddy.

We left after the first movie, opting to not see Journey to the Center of the Earth because Fuller was still not asleep and my legs were hurting. And while the movie wasn’t the best thing we had ever seen, we decided the over all experience of going to the drive-in was the absolute best. And watching the moon rise while seeing the young Skywalker guide his Padawan, made it even better.

Technorati Tags: drive-in, Georgia, The Clone Wars

Technorati Tags: Wordless Wednesday, Auburn Football, Auburn Tickets

If we go a day without laughing at something Fuller did, then he must not be here. If a day passes and we haven’t said, “Wow, Fuller, that’s amazing!” then he must have been off running our errands while we sat at home eating bon bons. Then again, that would be amazing.

He is constantly taking everyday objects and making them into something they are not. For days he would bring a cardboard tube in the car with us, saying it was his “driving thing” (aka the steering wheel). If he is running some imaginary scenario in his head while you are in his vicinity, don’t be surprised if he stops suddenly to press some imaginary button or make you wait until the doors of some imaginary lair have opened.

The other day Fuller told me how to spell his name. No prompting or stuttering, he just told me “F-U-L-L-E-R, Fuller!” He keeps wanting me to spell words, or he reads the letters to words and I tell him what word they are. We have been working on sight words, his most recent triumph being the word “Stop.”

Fuller’s imagination grows exponentially everyday, making him not just a cool kid but a fun child development project to watch. It makes getting ready for another kid even more fun, because we get to watch it all unfold again, only from the perspective of a second child. Can’t wait!

About two weeks ago, Fuller accidentally turned on the alarm function on his clock radio. We were kinda worried the incident had traumatized him and made him unreasonably afraid of alarms.

It did.

Since then, he’s woken-up several nights, crying and rambling (half-asleep) about being scared of the alarm. Then this weekend, Alli bought him a happy meal which made the situation worse. The current toy theme in happy meals is Spy Gear. He’d already gotten one of the secret message cars, and really liked it. This time, unfortunately, he got one of the Motion Alarms. The motion alarm is a small device that once turned on, waits 5 seconds, beeps once (to tell you it’s armed), then sounds a 10 second alarm if it’s moved. After the alarm ends, it waits another 5 seconds and re-arms itself. Needless to say, once Fuller found out what it did, he wanted nothing to do with it. He refused to go in his room until Alli finally threw it in the trash.

When I heard about this, I decided enough was enough and that Fuller was going to face his fears. So, I dug the alarm out of the trash and taped it to his arm, making him wear it. So, for the next 5 minutes, he wore the constantly beeping toy, slowly becoming less afraid, and more annoyed. Finally, I told him that I’d take it off if he wasn’t scared of it anymore. It didn’t take long for him to say he wasn’t, so, true to my word, I removed the alarm and placed it on his dresser. I ended the episode by telling him if he got scared of it, I’d make him wear it again.

Now, I realize that this was kinda ‘iffy’ as parenting lessons go. In fact, I’ll admit that it might not have reduced his fear, as much as it increased his annoyance with alarms. But, it’s an imperfect world, and in this case, I’ll settle for practicality – he hasn’t woken up crying since.

This evening we were watching the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics, and Fuller was digging on the drums in the first section. I tried to educate him by telling Fuller the Olympics are in China this year. And Fuller replied with, “Like Ni Hao Kai Lan?”

My jaw dropped because Fuller hasn’t seen Ni Hao Kai Lan in weeks, especially since we no longer have the expanded cable and his television options are limited to PBS Kids. But he remembered “Ni Hao” means “Hello” (in Mandarin) and Kai Lan is from China.

Four years ago, when the Parade of Nations was marching in Athens, Damon and I were painting Fuller’s room while Fuller was cooking in my belly. Kind of neat to share these opening ceremonies with Fuller (until he went to bed at 8:45) with his brother or sister resting up inside of me.

Are you watching the opening ceremonies? Any sporting events you plan on watching? (We like swimming and gymnastics.)