It was a mildly stressful weekend trying to get the little savages to conform for extended family gatherings. But things settled down by midday today, when we went to watch our kid march in the local Memorial Day parade. An hour long procession of brownies and cub scouts, seniors and vets sweated down the main street of town.
Some guy standing next to us reached over, shook our hands, and tried to convert us. We’re grouchy papists. Leave us alone.
It was fine until the Civil War reenactors blasted off their muskets sending Ian into hysterical screams. He had to be rushed home.
After he recovered, we all went to the theater to see Over the Hedge, which has excellent swipes at suburban sprawl. Ian made us stay until the final credit, so he could see the magic moving words and hear the butchered Clash song. He and Jonah danced around the front row of the theater as the staff swept up the fallen popcorn.
Apt. 11d 
We saw *OtH* ourselves this weekend, because there wasn’t anything else within a 20-minute drive (that we hadn’t seen and could bear, that is).
And while all of its moral lessons — and man was it full of moral lessons! — are ones I agree with (no suburban sprawl! no junk food! no deserting your friends for raccoony johnny-come-latelys!), the didacticism really stuck in my craw.
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yeah, and it just wasn’t that funny, which is a key thing in a kiddie movie.
My kids were all primed for it though, because this movie has been publicized to death for a year on breakfast cereal and on the cartoon network.
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My three-year-old and I went to Over the Hedge, too, as a potty-training reward. She liked the turtle. I found OtH relatively painless, but think that the didactic anti-suburban stuff may not have its desired effect on the target audience. I left wanting that house, that gleaming and spacious kitchen, that yard, etc.!
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We went to see OtH last Friday. My “bookends” aka “normals” are old enough at 15 and 12 to ignore the didatic, catch some of the sly adult references, and still appreciate the physical humor. It was a birthday party for one of #2-Son’s middle-school special-needs classmates, and man, you shoulda heard those kids LOL at the sight gags.
I’m dreading Cars, though. I understand it’s Doc Hollywood all over again…
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