Elvis

We were off to see a movie today, and it was a different sort of movie than our usual destination.  We went to see "Elvis," the movie that was basically about Elvis, and his mortal enemy, the evil Colonel Tom Parker.  Well, that's how he's portrayed in the movie at least, and by all accounts he did seem extremely controlling and manipulative, whereas Elvis did seem trusting and deceived by voice that was not entirely looking out for Elvis' best interests.  That's putting it lightly.  We learned a good bit, and of course came home looking up details to verify this or that.  Maddie learned a whole lot of course, not really knowing much at all about this entertainment legend.  In the echoes of my mind, I remember hearing about the day Elvis died, but it was not a huge event for me at the time.  Later, of course, I grew to really appreciate Elvis.  We did an entire series called "Graceland" at KidPak some time ago, one where Maddie posed for some pictures with Elvis, and it was pretty awesome.  We had an Elvis impersonator doing songs and giving out nuggets of wisdom to our characters as the series went along.  It was really fun.  

It was al longer movie, so we went home right after this.  We had dinner tonight, and don't ask me why but I was craving Salisbury steak tonight.  It might because of this one random joke in a movie "Around the World in 80 Days," where Lord Salisbury impresses the leadership and gets a beaf entree named after him.  In honor of that momentous occasion, Nana and I had Salisbury steak.  Mom and Maddie weren't really into that, so there were other options.  We've been sort of trying a lot of new things at the grocery store lately, along with the staples.  The corn has been really good lately.  I've been out grilling burgers and hot dogs this summer, and Mom has been making chicken marsala that is just so good.  We've been finding some gluten-free options for Mom that have been fun to sample - she's discovered these really good crackers, and there are plenty of cookies.  The pancake mix has been around for a while, but we're doing that of course.  And gluten-free ice cream cones!  They make those!  We've had gluten free beef stroganoff, and gluten free spaghetti.  The ingredients are just good enough on these that you don't really know or mind the difference so much.  We've found some gluten-free English muffins that work well enough, and there have been some gluten-free bagels too.  There's a fairly healthy list of items, so I won't list them all - the point is that Mom has more than a few options, even things to snack on.

We finished the second book of "The Mysterious Benedict Society" tonight, racing through the last two chapters for an extended reading session, just because we were impatient to get to the end and see how it all wrapped up.  It was a great book, and we'll no doubt be starting book number three tonight.  Our favorite character is easily Constance, but all the characters are really fun, even the villains.

We saw "Lilo and Stitch" tonight, completing the Elvis theme for teh day, and Maddie forgot how much she enjoyed that movie.  Recently at the office, we've been looking back at the early 2000's, and all the Disney movies from that era.  There are some great gems in there, including "Treasure Planet," "Chicken Little," "Meet the Robinsons," and more.  I think we'll be watching "Treasure Planet" next.  Several of us were talking about how great that one really was.  I remember watching that again on the Disney Cruise ship, on our first cruise with them.  It was pretty amazing.

Today was Saturday, so you can tell we were all over with things we were doing.  I got in some exercise on the treadmill, walking through Saguaro National Monument, virtually of course.  I was there some time ago in person, and I love getting to revisit these places online to have a walk around.  We did some LEGO Star Wars after that, as Maddie is now on movie #7 of 9.  She's not looking forward to the next two movies as much, as they're not really that great.  It's been a fun game though, with a lot of humorous bits and features, including a code that changes a whole lot of characters walking around in every environment to a gonk droid.  One thing though:  Boba Fett's ship is called "Slave I."  Maybe the game programmers forgot or something.

Anyway, it was a decent day.  Going to the movies is fun, getting the big tub of popcorn and just heading out for a while.  The auditorium was still pretty packed - a lot of people going to see this movie that's been out for a few weeks.  We're missing some other movies, but it does cost a lot each time we go out.  And we wanted to go do a few other things anyway - for example, tomorrow we have a bigger destination in mind.

For that reason, we said our prayers tonight, and needed to get to bed early.  Got a big day tomorrow!