On Stranger Tides

Here's a shot of Mommy and Daddy as pirates - along with some other members of the crew as we set sail for adventure tonight with the release of "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides." Madison spent the evening with Ye-Ye and Nana, going to the local mini-golf course for what I assume is Madison's first swing at golf. She had a great time, although Nana said the par for the last hole was apparently something like 84.

Madison did dress up like a pirate as well, so there were three pirates leaving the house tonight. We had a good time - and it was a pretty good movie too. I know critics aren't liking it so much, but pirate movies generally get a better review from me, and the character of Jack Sparrow is a favorite of Mommy and Daddy. So all in all, we liked the movie, saw some hidden things, and made note that they left it wide open for a sequel. Standard pirate movie stuff. What was fun about tonight was that we met several others from the church, and many of us decided to dress up as pirates for the big night. The last two "Pirates" movies, we've dressed up as well - but those were before Madison came along. We actually went to midnight showings of those, and that atmosphere is something else. Someday, Madison will come to a midnight showing with us - but that'll be a long time from now.

Speaking of premieres, today was the big opening of the new Star Tours ride down at Disney's Hollywood Studios. I was blessed to get to ride this during it's final year last time, but we just missed the grand opening this go around. Still, we got to watch the live webcast this morning, where George Lucas and many others showed up to kick things off with a big ceremony. Madison watched intently - I'm so proud of my little geek! She's 39" tall right now, and if the ride still has a requirement of 40" to get on when we return, I'm going to give her platform shoes! Seriously, she might grow an inch between now and then. You never know!

By the way, you can really see the sea monkeys swimming about now! Madison has been able to watch them moving around the aquarium. This was pretty cool, and after watching the movie tonight, considerably safer than having a mermaid!