A Book and a Movie

Once upon a time I used to blog about books and movies. I just checked, the last post I did about a book was Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt in  August 2011. The last movie was when The Help came out the same month. I have actually seen quite a few movies and read a lot of books since then. I can't say any that I loved quite as much as The Help but I am going to try and blog some favorites more often because I like having an ongoing list of books and movies I like on this old blog. So in that spirit this is a post about a book and a movie.  I have lunch with some dear friends every Wednesday. We discuss and attempt to solve all the world's problems. Let me tell you, it hasn't been easy lately. I have been reading this book, Safe Passage lately. It is the story of two sisters, unmarried due to the small numbers of men who came back from World War II, who are able to use their resulting independence as single women to acheive amazing things. First they discover opera in the 1920's which sounds like an amazing, beautiful world. They don't have a lot of money so they wait in line for long periods of time to get cheap galley seats. As they do this they meet some of the opera stars, eventually getting to know them well and become friends with some. These friendships eventually morph into a huge refugee project to save people before the outbreak of World War II. They would have their opera friends plan performances in Austria and Germany to give them an excuse to go over so often. They would wear people's jewelry out so that when they got out they would have some money to live on. They also arranged sponsers so people could get out of Germany to England. They saved 29 people. It was an inspiring book, a little heavy on the opera in the first hundred pages for someone who knows very little about it but still really enjoyable.

While reading Safe Passage and during those conversations with my friends I found myself wondering if people are still like that. How many will risk their lives, use their personal funds to save someone they don't know just because it is the right thing to do. Would I? Then I went with my mother to see the movie The Impossible. Amazing movie. Exhausting movie. Just in case you aren't familiar it is the story of a family vacationing in Thailand when the Tsunami hit. The kind of story that has to be true to work because no one would believe it otherwise. Fair warning though, during the tsunami scene I kept wondering why I was putting myself through this. Hard to watch, you feel like you are drowning yourself. But there were some answers to my question as to whether people are still good like they were during World War II. There is a scene where the mother and one boy are trying to get to a safer spot in case there are more waves. Severely injured, she and her son hear a child crying. Her son tries to talk her into continuing on arguing that she doesn't even have the energy to move herself let alone save another person. But even though she may be dying she tells her son they have to, even if it is the very last thing they do. There are several instances like this throughout the movie, I guess that is part of what made it so good!

Homemade Luge!

Yesterday the storm was finally over and the sun came out along with its good friend blue sky. The kids suited up and went out into all that fluffy white stuff. The dad was out there digging out and joined in with kids creating our very own luge. yep, we no longer have to leave home to go sledding!

 So you climb up the steps carved right there where Josh is climbing up and then slide along and down.

 If you are lucky Matt will give you a big push.

 Matthew making like a penguin!

 Josh had a blast!  This was the kind of day I in the winter! Blue sky and lots of snowy fun with the kids miraculously enjoying each other! Thanks Dad!

Clark Planetarium

I'm not sure what came over William this year but he did an unprecedented amount of the Christmas shopping. It was awesome. Especially because he thinks of stuff I don't. One of the things he got the family was a membership to the Clark Planetarium. I think it was a Groupon deal or something like that but we now can go as a family and see any of their Imax films or light shows for free. It includes popcorn for everyone and parking! So Saturday, since it was frigidly cold, we decided to try it out.We had such a good time. We saw an Imax movie in 3D about the Arctic. They also had one about dinosaurs and flying monsters but I thought we should start slow, didn't want to scare the little guy on our first visit. So fun, especially when it snowed!

Half the fun of the Clark Planetarium is the gift shop and other exhibits so of course we checked them out after the movie. Josh was pretty impressed.

We all had a good time with it really.

Yes, you can electrify your own nose.

They had a cloud making area too. Doesn't he look like he is feeling the "force"? It was a fun afternoon, I already have plans for the kids next day off of school!

Snow Day!

The day after Christmas we got a great big snow storm. It isn't too often that one of these big ones hits that we have the luxury of just staying home and playing in it. But this time we did and boy did the kids have fun!

We have some awesome neighbors who have fantastic toys they share generously. Derrick came over and asked Matthew if he wanted to come out and spin around in their Razor. If you click on the picture you can see how big his smile is. 

Then the kids proceeded to spend a whole lot of time digging in the snow. They made caves.

Climbed mountains.

Dug tunnels and holes. It was so much fun. The kind of day that makes you realize just how blessed you are!