Rise of the Guardians ~ A Must See Even if you don't have kids

    For years the Muppet's Christmas Carol has been my favorite Christmas Movie, that title is in serious jeopardy!   If you haven't guessed I absolutely love Dreamwork's Holiday Release:

 Rise of The Guardians

     Based on series The Guardians of Childhood by Academy, Emmy and many other award winning author William Joyce, this movie has something for children of all ages.  The premise is that The Man in the Moon has created Guardians (Santa and such) to protect the innocence of children.  Each of these Guardians are special in their own rite and come together to fight against any attempt to take away the hope and dreams of childhood. 

   We attended the movie on November 23, the first Friday after its release.  Making our viewing even more enjoyable was the very young children in the audience.  There were times when I believe I was watching the reaction of the toddler sitting next to us rather than the screen.  

     I'm always surprised with reviews of animated movies.  Very often they are trashed with complaints of the story line and character development.  While I do believe that all movies should be held to a certain standard I also believe it is important that reviewers remember who the target audience of a movie is.  With the sad quickness that children outgrow most of the childhood innocent fantasies so many of us embraced for years I absolutely love that this movie reinvented all of the main characters. Is this movie going to convert Santa non-believers? NO of course not, that is not the movie's purpose. This Santa is not the "bowl full of jelly" that is usually portrayed.  North, as Santa also called,  makes me think of a retired Marine or a viking gone soft; someone who seems rough and tough on the outside but will get down on the floor and play with a child.  You'll find Sandman, The Easter Bunny, The Tooth Fairy all reworked and just as endearing as Santa.  The Villain in this is Pitch, whose goal it is to make all the children of the world no longer believe in the Guardians.  I love how Joyce visually worked night-mares by actually having them be dark horses charging into children's dreams.  

     The cast for this movie was phenomenal : 

• Chris Pine ~ Jack Frost 
• Hugh Jackman ~ Bunnymund (E.B.)
• Isla Fisher  ~ Tooth Fairy
• Jude Law  ~ Pitch
• Alec Baldwin ~ North (Santa)

     My favorite throughout the movie was the Elves.  Like many "extra" characters before them The Elves absolutely make this movie.  It was actually the previews with them that made me even more excited to see Guardians.  They provide so many of the burst-out-loud laughs that the movie would be incomplete without them. 

     I am quite confident that this movie will be a Christmas tradition for years to come.  Actually we'll probably be playing it as Easter as well (like I need an excuse).

Mummy please tell Daddy I'm scared

Dear Parents of Terrified Child:
   What makes you think that just because something is educational means it is appropriate for all ages?  AND just because there is a cartoon version that your child loves doesn't mean they will embrace reality in the same way.
   We spent almost an hour with you this past July as my family and I toured the Mummies of the World Exhibit at MOSI in Tampa.  My family, which included our daughters aged 15 and 20, absolutely loved it.  Like you, we chose to upgrade our tickets to include this private exhibit at the bequest of our daughter and I am so glad we did.  In the short hour that it took us to walk through the hall it seemed that at every turn I was learning something new.  Before that morning I didn't know that mummies first appeared in South America before the Middle East, did you?   Who knew that the oldest mummy found to date was from Chile?  We absolutely loved the 3-D and interactive displays where we learned how today's forensic science is revealing long hidden secrets that mummies once  held.  How cool is it to know that they are able to diagnosis causes of death as well as create a nutritional study for a person's lifetime?   The best part for us, at least, was that in addition to videos, spinning globes, and wonderful docents there were over 50 REAL MUMMIES.   Not only were they real but they out for the world to see and not hidden away in a sarcophagus.  The had mummies of cats, rabbits men, women and children; some clothed some not.
     So dear parents what possessed you to bring your pre-school aged child to this exhibit??  The rules we were read before entering should have been enough of a warning:

• no cell phones allowed
• no photography
• no bathroom
• dim lighting
• and NO RE-ENTRY

     In addition to a docent informing you of these rules we watched a 5 minute video about the exhibit.  This video informed us that while this is an exhibition the ultimate goal is to respect these individuals on display and to remember that they once had families and friends. After that video was over we entered the exhibit through dark curtains and came face to face with the first mummy.  We watched as your sweet little girl ran up to the case and peered in.  "What's that Daddy?"  "That's a mummy," you replied.  "Is it Real?" "Yes that is a real mummy?"  "Is it Dead?" "Yes, it is dead."
     At that point your daughter climbed your leg into your arm then buried her head so deep into your neck an ostrich would have been proud.  I truly need to know, what possessed you to continue with the exhibit?  Did you think things were going to get better?  Maybe you thought they would be prettier as if you were viewing the riches of Tutankhamen's tomb?  I really need to know.
     Throughout the entire exhibit we could hear your daughter squealing with fear, crying and asking you to please take her home.  More than once we witnessed you telling her that she wanted to come here and see the mummies so you were staying.  I know that we were really impressed that they had an actual page from  The Book Of The Dead on display but somehow I don't think your daughter felt the same.
     While we were learning from the docent how Egyptians would paint their bodies different colors so they could find them in the afterlife we also got to hear your daughter crying to your wife "Mommy tell Daddy I'm scared".  ~On a personal note:  I absolutely love this idea of painting your body so much that I am going to include in my will/funeral directions bottles of the exact color of nail polish to be used.  In addition there will be a can of spray paint for my cousin Nancy and her husband Gordon who also totally love this idea and have permission to spray my feet. (OK maybe you had to be there but I laughed over this for about a week and again just now)
   

  

After this last outburst my family could no longer bear to hear it any more and actually hung back a bit in hopes we wouldn't encounter y'all anymore.  How you handled seeing the nude mummies or the last exhibit of an entire family I do not know.  What I do know is this:    YOU sir are the parent.  And as such you have theright to say no when a child asks to do something which is above their true understanding, know this is different for every child..  Also as the parent it is your responsibility to research an exhibit such as this if you are taking your young child.  Oh look the museum has a link for families which was easy to find and called: Information for families.  Finally your response of "I paid for these tickets we are going to see the entire show"  truly has no meaning whatsoever to your child. My advice for the future is to show your daughter pictures on the computer or in a book.  Possibly do a side by side comparison between the TV character and reality. See if videos (like the one above) are available and then give it a few days to see how or even if she truly understand what the exhibit is about.
     Somehow though I think your daughter got the last laugh as I am pretty confident she didn't sleep very well that night ~ bless her heart.

~Sincerely,
Lady Bren

I must admit my kids and I loved this show

    

The Phone Call we all dread

     Wednesday night 9:45 my phone rings with my crying daughter on the other end they’ve just been in a car accident. 

     Rushing to the scene felt like the longest 2 miles I have ever had to drive.  Unfortunately I have been in 3 car accidents, however pulling over and seeing three of your children (though 2 are only biologically the third is a dear friend who is my blonde daughter)  standing next to a crashed car truly takes your breath away.  Though the two cars are in pretty bad shape all involved survived.  No one was at fault as the car the teenagers were in hydroplaned on a blind corner.  The girls were pretty much a wreck and my son held it all together making the necessary calls.  I don’t think I have ever felt so helpless.  The police and workers didn’t want Mom answering questions they wanted the 3 kids, two are 19 one 17, to explain.  Hearing another person point at your kids accusingly and without any charity wanted me to behave like the native New Yorker I am, though in fairness she was just involved in an accident.

   One hour later we had my son who was sat where the impact occurred at the Emergency Room.  He had pretty much taken control of the situation and the girls until I arrived.  Within minutes the reality of it all hit him and we went into shock.  Deciding to err on the side of caution we wanted him checked out as he was unresponsive for a bit.  He was given a clean bill of health and advised to take it easy for a few days.

     Today was rough on all, I’m pretty confident no one slept well last night. The girls just wanted to spend time together so we went to see Winnie the Pooh was a great distraction and a chance for us all to laugh.  My son slept most of the day away.

     No matter what we do, and all the safety precautions we take things are going to happen to our children that we have no control over.  We all know that no matter how much we want to encase our children in bubble wrap they’re going to get hurt.  From their first real boo-boo to their broken hearts we want to heal every pain that enters our children’s lives.  We can’t they grow through these experiences.....being an observer simply sucks.