Sand and Snow and Places To Go

The snow and ice has virtually gone now.   I can not believe how long it has remained and that is actually laid on the sand.

 

 

 

 

I can not remember this happening in my lifetime.

Anyway enough of the snow, me and my boys have been to see The Wiggles at the cinema this morning.  MiniMad is an avid fan, who was introduced to them by my MIL.

We have booked to see them live in June on his birthday.  We took the boys last year and they had a whale of a time.  After watching him sing and dance this morning, I am so excited.  Both boys were lovely.

In fact we have had a really lovely relaxing day, we have made home made mayonnaise, pizzas and garlic dough balls.  We have done colouring and drawing and them we all sat and watched The Three Musketeers snuggled under a blanket.  A perfect lazy Sunday afternoon.

I hope you have had a good weekend too.

The Fantastic Mr Fox

I took MaxiMad and my niece to see The Fantastic Mr Fox and we all really enjoyed it.  I was worried that it might be a bit gruesome for them, but was totally wrong on that count.  They both took the killing of the chickens in their stride and positively loved the fact that Mr Fox got his tail shot off!!  Now I expected that from the grandson of a farmer, which is what MaxiMad is, but not of my lovely neice.

What can I say about the film, it has fantastic animation, which is kind of like a cartoon background with the characters as puppets.  Jarvis Cocker does the soundtrack and had me and the little ones jigging along, in fact MaxiMad and Niece danced out of the cinema.

Now I agree it might not be suitable for every child, especially those of a somewhat sensitive nature (which is partly why I didn't take minimad with us), but we loved it and it has inspired me to start reading Dahl to the mini's, once we have finished our Beatrix Potter books.

It doesn't follow the book, but then what American movies do and the other thing was all the baddies were voiced in English, whilst the goodies were American.

But it is definitely worth a visit.

UP

The Family Mad raided the boys piggy banks and went to see Up yesterday at the local independent cinema.  Both boys have been looking forward to this, Disney have been showing "up"isodes on Playhouse Disney, so they both knew about it.

MaxiMad really enjoyed all of Up, he especially liked when they were exploring and the balloons on the house.  It held his attention throughout the film and he really liked Kevin the bird.  MiniMad started off well, but soon got fidgety.  We knew if was a risk taking both, but he really wanted to go.  He managed most of the film, but I think that it will be DVD for us in the future.    I am glad that we only saw it in 2D, as I am not sure either of the children would have managed the specs.

I thought it was a lovely film, with great animation as I have come to expect from Disney Pixar.  It is basically the story of 78 year old Carl Fredricksen who after his wife dies decides to follow the dream they had as children. 

I found this very moving, but what it said to me is that although you have to have aims and dreams, you have to live your life as though it is one big adventure.  I guess I am just in a reflective mood at the moment and this seemed to emphasise this.

Both me and MadDad enjoyed the film and have decided it will be on our christmas list!!

Now about the cinema......

I do love going to The Regent, it reminds me of when I was young and I used to go to the Saturday club at 10am.  The cinema is very much the same now as it was then, which is wonderful.  It is by the Sea and is just a great cinema.  It is large, open and airy inside, with big seats that dont spring back up on the children easily.

We go here as it is half the price of the big multiplex, it is closer and if we dont support it then it might close. 

For anyone interested Redcar is where the beach scenes for Atonement were filmed and The Regent held the premiere of the film.