Two Thumbs Up

Last Saturday, Wes and I decided to finally make good on a promise we made to Will.

For the past 3 or 4 weeks we’ve been promising him that since he had been accident free (with potty-training), that we would take him to see the new Cars movie in the BIG theater.

We somehow always managed to emphasise that it was a BIG theater.  So whenever he would ask us when we were going to see the movie, he’d make sure to remind us that it had to be at the BIG theater. 

Will had never been to a movie before, at least not at the BIG theater.  We’ve watched plenty on movies here at the house, but the BIG theater is kind of a BIG deal…at least to an almost 3 year old.

We set off mid morning for a quick-lunch and to see the motion picture.

Will got to choose the lunch spot, so  naturally, we set our course for Chic-a-lay. 

That is not a typo; Will has renamed Chic-fil-a.  It is now known in our house as, Chic-a-lay.  Don’t try to tell him otherwise, because he will assure you it is, Chic-a-lay.

After we finished lunch, our next stop was the BIG theater.  We arrived in just enough time and bought tickets for our 12:15 pm showing of Cars 2. 

Did you know that children under the age of 3 are free at the movies?  SCORE!

The nerd that I am, I made sure to take along my camera. 

I mean, it WAS his first movie experience.

Here’s my 2 dudes walking up to get tickets for Will’s first ever BIG theater movie.

What a face from that little stinker.

Before taking our seats, I took Will for a pre-movie potty break and Wes headed for the snack counter to get pop-corn and candy.

Aside from not letting us forget about out promise of taking him to see Cars 2 in the BIG theater, Will also reminded us frequently that we promised him pop-corn and candy to enjoy during our movie outing.

After dropping $275 on popcorn and candy at the refreshment stand, we headed in to find some seats.

I’m obviously exaggerating slightly on the cost of movie snacks, but can anyone believe what they charge for food at a movie theater!?  Seriously, $5 for a small bottle of water!  I could get a whole case of water bottles for that!

We found some good seats on the top row, and got comfy.  When the previews began Will’s eyes doubled in size and he got the biggest grin on his face.  Naturally, I was too busy stuffing my face with popcorn to remember to take a picture of his first reaction. 

Recreating that moment wasn’t going to happen…so I had to settle for a picture of him attentively watching previews.

Our movie experience was overall positive.  Will loved the movie.  We only had to take him out for 2 potty breaks, and there were only a couple of times when we had to tell him to pipe down.

The family sitting next to us definitely got a kick out of Will and his questions and comments.  The mother and father looked at us a few times to giggle at whatever just came out of his mouth.

Luckily, they were amused and not annoyed.

Before the movie even started his comments were, “I need some more pop-corn” and “Can I have some more M’s?”

When the movie finally began, and at the first site of Mater he said excitedly, “There’s Tow-Mater!”

He followed quickly behind with, “There’s McQueen!”

Then throughout the movie….

 “Where’d Mater go?”

 “that was funny!”

“why’d that car do that?”

But what really got to me, is when he looked up from the screen at Wes and I, gave us each a big kiss and hug and said, “I love you sooooo much.”

Suddenly, the $275 popcorn tasted better, my movie seat got more comfortable, and my heart melted like the M&M’s Will had been clenching in his hand for the past 10 minutes.

I would take him back to see another movie in a second!!  It was a great family outing, and was well deserved my our little accident free ‘Mater.

The only part of this outing that  Will didn’t seem to like was leaving.  This was due to 2 reasons.

1. Because there were games in the lobby area of the theater that he wanted to play, and

2. Because when we went outside it was so bright, and such a shock to his eyes that he could hardly see.

Naturally I had to snap a picture of the whining that took place on our way out.  Can someone say, NAP-TIME!!

Two thumbs up,

-EmJ