Extreme Ironing

Madison doing some extreme ironing - this sort of activity combines the thrills of extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well pressed shirt.  In this case, it was a bit of top-of-the-car surfing, where she's ready to steam down the road, getting those wrinkles out in style!

Madison wants Mommy and Daddy to come to lunch with her tomorrow at school.  She announced to Mommy that here was the deal:  "You'll come to lunch tomorrow, and we'll sit on the stage at the table up there with the other parents, and we'll eat there together.  Deal?"

Then she grabbed Mommy's hand and firmly shook it.

"Deal."

It was such a funny moment that Daddy had to laugh.  At which point, she reminded us that this is not a joke!

It is Sunday, and the last one of our series Under Construction, which has been a great - but all-to-brief - series.  We'll have a message on Wednesday about earth movers ("moving the earth"), but that's pretty much a bonus message to the series.  It's been great to put on the hard hats again this series, and next month it'll be time to put on the army fatigues again.

Speaking of "fatigue," Daddy's a bit worn out - but that's standard fare for a Sunday, isn't it?  We did some piano, but not much.  A lot of the day, we returned to Gotham City, where we pretty much wrapped up the game.  FINALLY.  This is a pretty huge game, and it has taken Madison and Daddy a really long time to get through it.  Not that it has been a chore, of course.  We have fun playing games together.  But this was just about the right length - it's not that we're completely tired of it yet, but we are ready for something new.

Meanwhile, the reading continues.  Madison loves to read to us.  Lately, she's been reading Bible stories to us - very easy-to-read versions of classic Bible stories.  Next week, we'll have her read to Ba-Ba and Nana too.  Also, together we read comic books, at least the ones that Daddy shares with her.  Of course, they've all been pretty tame.  Sometimes the more goofy they are, the more entertaining they are to read with her.  For example, today, we read a "Earth Day" related comic from Wolverine called "Global Jeopardy."

This is more of a message comic, and one mainly for kids Madison's age, really.  Pretty harmless, and there's one fight scene in there with Namor vs. Wolverine that is amusingly referred to as an "obligatory" battle.  These are what you'd call a lower class comic, and yet they're perfect fun for Madison, because they are pretty harmless.

Speaking of which, we were thinking of showing Madison "Batman and Robin" later on this week if there's time.  Maybe later on if not.  She's loving Batman right now, and obviously we can't show her anything Arkham-related for the X-box, and definitely not the current movie trilogy.  For that matter, the original Tim Burton movies are probably out as well.  BUT... there is that horrendous Joel Schumaker movie "Batman and Robin."  We remember being so excited about seeing this, about Mr. Freeze, about another Batman movie.  Then we saw it.  There were so many plot holes and ridiculous moments and terrible one-liners, we all wondered if it was a bad joke.  Yes, it turns out it was a bad joke:  the movie was trying to be like the Adam West movies (similar to the one we saw last week).  We just weren't expecting that, and to be honest, we just weren't wanting that.  It was quite a turn from the Tim Burton movies!

BUT, that said, time has gone by.  The director apologized for it, and in the right context, this could be an enjoyable movie - for kids, one that's a safer version of Batman.  For adults, something to enjoy on an Ed Wood sort of level, where you groan at this or that.

So time has been good to this movie, in my humble opinion.  It does have a use after all, and no longer sits a top the pile of worst superhero movies ever made (currently, that throne is held by "X-Men 3:  Last Stand").

Tonight we went to bed early, but quite content with a remarkable weekend.  It's been fun here lately, and things are going to pick up a bit with the arrival of Ba-Ba and Nana tomorrow.  Maybe we all can go out and do some more extreme ironing!