Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Okay, I just got home from watching HP and the OOTP at the IMAX theater. Firstly, I will say that there is just nothing like watching a movie on the IMAX theater. Truly, it's incredible. And, to make it more amazing there was a 3-D scene in the show that was unbelievable.

Now, I'm going to do my first ever (I think) movie review on this blog. And I'm going to skip all of the parts about how books are absolutely the best entertainment meduim ever and no movie anywhere will beat the book.

That said, and this is coming from a die hard Potter fan, the movie was okay. For me, it was the beginning that really ruined the whole thing. Mrs. Figg's character was poorly done...she had no dramatic flair that was truly needed and the entire beginning of the movie lacked the Ministry/Harry/Dumbledore interaction that made this particular book hook me in the first place. I mean, Harry gets booted out of Hogwarts, made to go to a judicial hearing and is threatened to have his wand broken and all he does is hit the bookcase once and then apologizes for it! Are you kidding me?

Yeats could have at least added some of the drama that the book so beautifully extended just to bring the audience into the story. THERE WAS NO HEART-RENDING DRAMA!!!!! He really blew it and if someone who knows nothing of the books sees it then I could imaine how lost and confused they'd be. Hmmmm, let's drop our audience in the middle of a story and then leave them there without any background information.

After the horrendous beginning, the rest of the movie was wonderful albeit still quite fragmented. The movie left out so many of the amazing details of magical imagination that Rowling created and that made the first movie fabulous...couldn't we have seen at least a little bit of Mrs. Black? What about the doxies? Or some of the Weasley twins fabulous creations during their hayday?

A few minor details were changed (Cho is the snitch but she was given Veritaserum) but nothing that really mattered.

This movie was fun and delightful but it just didn't have the flair; I hope the next one far exceeds this one.

AND THE LAST BOOK COMES OUT IN 10 DAYS...YIPPEEE!

The Fun with Jon is Over

Sadly, Jon has left our humble abode and Bug is as depressed about it as he can be (thankfully, he has his mother's personality). Jon was counting down the hours until he got to leave. I'd like to think it was because he gets to spend the next 3 weeks detasseling corn with his bestfriends. However, I think maybe his workload was a bit much and the pay a bit little! While here he mastered the following tasks:

• mopping the floors--at the Bakery and here at home,
• vaccuuming the house,
• washing the cars,
• doing the dishes on a commercial dishwasher,
• trimming the hedges,
• sweeping the patio,
• pulling weeds,
• laying weed barrier,
• climbing 14ers (really big mountains!)
• fishing,
• rough housing with my children,
• loving on Kiki, and,
• beating me at computer Risk.

I might've forgotten a few things in my list but more would just make me look more like the tyrant I am! Unfortunately, neither Steve nor I have any problem telling other people what to do. We'd love to have your children for a time of slave labor, I mean character-building fun. Honestly! We will miss him but I think his mother is happy to see him, if it is only for a few hours in the car.

I do want to say, however, that he well-represented his parent's hard years of raising him. He was polite, ate what was given him, hard-working, and easy to live with. He never complained when I asked him to do a chore and jumped up right away and did it. Then he would say, "Do you want me to do anything else?"

When my kiddos are older I do hope they are as well respected elsewhere as Jon is in our home. Maybe it's in part due to that Dutch stock!

Kiki Loves Cousin Jon

She LOVES her cousin. He holds her and she doesn't cry. He sits on the floor with her and entertains her for quite a while. And she just smiles and laughs at his antics. And, he likes her because she doesn't jump on him or try to play with him when he wants to be on the computer killing zomies. It's a symbiotic relationship.

Piratitude---Who doesn't love a bit of swashbuckling?

Peanut and Kiki were playing pirate in my bedroom. My comforter was the boat and little Kiki was the unwilling pirate baby. My favorite part was the bandanas. Of course, if she was going to play pirate, Peanut just had to have a hat and then so did Kiki. They are so cute!