Movies, Morning Sickness, and More!

Let’s do a quick run-through of all the things going on in our lives lately, even though you probably already know most of this:

HOJO Anaheim Contest
We won the contest! Here’s their “Announcement Video” :


We showed the video to the kids to get their reaction, and as usual, they were excited, but not screaming wild excited kids (which is probably a good thing, right?) So even though I filmed their reaction, it’s not really worth showing you all. However, for the rest of the night, it was funny to see Joel walking around the house going, “I can’t believe we won the contest! I can’t believe we won!”
So the plan is to go in October (8th through 10th) so that we can see the Halloween Decorations they put up in the parks, go to the Mickey’s Trick-or-Treat Party, and celebrate Amanda and Abe’s Birthday there. If you didn’t already know, this year they’re doing a promotion where you get in FREE on your birthday—and who can pass up TWO free passes to Disneyland?!!
Of course, going in October is dependent upon me having a steady enough job to let us pay for the other expenses of the trip (gas, food, etc).

Chico
Speaking of a job, I’m still working on the “Chico” video. It’s coming along really well, and is finally starting to take shape and look cool. Here’s a behind-the-scenes video of the production so far:

CHICO - Behind the Scenes -Animation EP1 from Toby and Cody McClure on Vimeo.

Pregnancy
Amanda’s pregnancy is going about as well as can be expected, which means she’s nauseated all day and night, is throwing up several times a day, and cannot swallow her spit. We’ll probably be taking her in to get “rehydrated” in the next day or so, since she currently throws up everything she eats/drinks (mostly drinks). We’re really hoping this phase doesn’t last much longer. Yesterday, Abe said “In 2 weeks, mom will be feeling better.” So we’ll go with that.
Of course everyone’s favorite part of this is that Amanda can’t swallow her spit, which means she lets it collect in her mouth for a while before spitting into a tissue-filled garbage can. That means if she needs to say something, it’s a closed-mouthed “Mrmmmfmrmrrrrmr.” We wisely decided to give her the kids’ Magnadoodle to write us messages on instead of subjecting us to the mumbling…
…Just 30 more weeks to go…

End of school
The kids are out of school now, and couldn’t be happier about it. I have to say, for me it’s a toss-up. Although it’s nice not to have to get the kids up and ready for school every morning, they’re already driving me nuts with the “I’m bored. I don’t have anything to do” stuff.
Movie Nights
We’ve started having movie nights, with the intention of going through all our DVD’s/Blu-Rays this summer (well, the ones the kids would like, at least). For instance, we watched “Napoleon Dynamite” a few nights ago, and they all loved it. Abe STILL goes around saying, “Hey Napoleon Dynamite, give me some of your tots!!” (OK, so he doesn’t quote it quite right, but his version sounds funnier!) In addition, I’ve added a bunch of family movies to our Netflix queue. So far, it’s been hit-or-miss. The kids have been loving “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse,” and Maddy’s started watching the old “Addams Family” TV show on Netflix Instant, but we ALL found “Pete’s Dragon” to be REALLY, REALLY BORING.

Summer movies
Of course we’ve also been waiting for the Summer Movie Season, and are glad it’s finally arrived.
Joel and I went to see “Star Trek” (I’d seen it a few days before taking Joel to see it to make sure it was OK for him). We really liked it, and frankly, I’m ready to see it again, although I’ve never been a “Star Trek” fan.
I saw “Angels and Demons” which was really lame. I enjoyed “Da Vinci Code,” but this was really bland. They kept trying to make me think I should be excited (using action-packed music and editing) but I just wasn’t. Then when Ewan MacGregor (as a Catholic priest guy of some sort) parachuted out of the helicopter down to the Vatican, I lost all respect for the film.
I took the kids to see “Night at the Museum 2,” which was also not as good as the original, though the kids enjoyed it. Amy Adams did a great job in the movie, however, giving the movie enough energy to keep it from boring me to tears.
This past weekend we saw “Up” in 3-D. It was really good, and I’ll have to go see it again, though this time I’ll probably see it in 2-D. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the 3-D, especially in some of the action sequences, but my impression was that the 3-D didn’t really ADD to the film very much. I also want to see it without Abe whining about wanting to go home for the whole movie, and without Joel whining about wanting to get candy at the movie…But seriously, the movie was funny, exciting, and emotional (yes, I got choked up a couple times during the film).
I’m still planning on seeing “Terminator: Salvation,” despite the bad reviews. And I may go see “Land of the Lost next weekend. Then of course Joel and I have got “Transformers 2” coming the end of this month and we’re ALL counting down the days until “Harry Potter 6” comes out (July 15th)!

Boom Blox Bash Party
One other way we’ve been bonding as a family is by playing our newest Wii game: “Boom Blox Bash Party.” This is a sequel to the original “Boom Blox” game, which we also love. It’s a great game for the whole family, and satisfies our intense need to throw stuff and knock things down (but without the mess!). Here’s a commercial for it, featuring Steven Spielberg (who helped create the game, and also wears a funny hat):



Well, that about sums up our lives right now. Have a great summer!