Hipster Panda

So here's our mascot for this weekend's upcoming series, "Get Wild."  He's a hipster Panda, but hip in kind of an odd way, really.  He is growing on me, though.  For one, he's a panda.  Hard to go against a panda, right?

One other thing that Daddy likes about the panda are the shutter shades.  I am now officially convinced that all the kids at KidPak will be getting these some time in July.  I must make this happen!  One way or another, Madison will at least have some shutter shades, where there will be a blog entry actually called "Shutter Shades."  Daddy had a pair back, back, back in the day.  I remember picking some up at Six Flags - they were silver.  I wore them around a bit, actually kind of proud of wearing them.  They'll be perfect for the kids, really.

Madison read ten books today.  Ten books.  She wants to finish her reading program, and is really goal-oriented.  We had breakfast together, all of us, but with the work day as it was, Daddy didn't get home until later on this evening.  Mommy cooked a spectacular dinner though, with salmon and potatoes and salads - it was absolutely perfect.

We watched the last of "The Little Mermaid" trilogy today, the sequel about Ariel's daughter, Melody.  Ugh.  To have all the talent back with voice acting, and yet rush this through with the animation department?  This should have been something they spent more time and energy on - didn't they know we'd be looking at this movie fourteen years later?  It doesn't feel like that.  It feels like something they wanted to put on television in a hurry, and it not be seen again.  Diehard fans could go out and buy it, but don't expect that much.  It has a few moments, but they are all nowhere even close to the incredible first movie.  Fortunately, the third movie , "Ariel's Beginning," was a huge improvement.  It is really a prequel, so we watched that one first together.  The animation in that one is far superior, and everything about it seems to be somewhat of an apology for "The Little Mermaid II."

Madison still enjoyed the movie, of course.  She also enjoys "Cinderella II" and the other direct-to-DVD movies that Disney put out during that brief, but brutal time.  There were so many unnecessary sequels.  It wasn't that we weren't interested in the idea of a sequel, it's just that all of these were so incredibly cheaply made.  Only a few of these stand out as worthy:  "The Little Mermaid III," "Cinderella III," "Mulan 2," and "Kronk's New Groove" are among those we grown-ups don't mind watching again.  But Madison likes the others too, so I suppose they serve their purpose.

We'll continue our ocean-themed movie watching with "Finding Nemo" next, followed by "Ponyo," and maybe even "Atlantis."  Daddy is going to go out and buy some documentaries - we're watching all these as "research" for our upcoming series dedicated to life "under the sea."  This is the fun stage of work, the research.  And yes, we might even be going to a sea-themed place pretty soon.  One that even has the word "sea" in it...