birthday saturday #1: cars 2

we were able to get free tickets to see cars 2 for a private showing. we were really excited because madelyn and mason love, love the original movie! and none of the kids had ever been to a movie theater before.  i wasn't worried about the other two because they can sit and watch a feature length film no problem (especially one they haven't seen before).  maddux was a different story.  i didn't want to bring in the carrier because it great limits our seating options and he doesn't really like being in it, so i wore him in the moby wrap and hoped for the best.

we didn't tell the kids where we were taking them and once we got there, they still didn't know. even when mason saw the "car" posters and we were checking them out, they still didn't know.  once we explained where we were and what it meant, madelyn was pretty excited (mason was already excited by all the cars signs, posters and cutouts).

we were given vouchers for free drink, popcorn and fruit snack after we picked up our tickets and took a family picture in the lobby that will be sent to us later (i will update the post when we get it).

we found seats and watched the coming attractions.  madelyn kept asking when it was going to start - there were a lot of previews.  even a man sitting behind us groaned when yet another one started.  it has been so long since i have seen a movie that i forgot how loud they are!  it was hurting my ears but it didn't seem to phase the kids and maddux was even able to fall asleep for most of it.

now, any of you who follow me on facebook know that we weren't pleased with the movie and had to leave.  i had read several reviews and watched the trailers before we went.  i was warned that there were guns and violence.  i knew that a car was tortured and killed (off screen).  and i knew that matter gets into trouble where he might die.  but i figured how bad could it be if it was only rated 'G'.  i was wrong.  i thought that the violence was bad.  madelyn asked to leave three times and we finally did.  several families, with older kids, had already walked out.  i would have enjoyed it if the kids weren't with us, but instead i was worried about how scared madelyn was.  it wasn't so much that the movie was bad, it just should not have been rated 'G' and it was a far departure from the tone of the first movie.  there was no way we could have expected it to be the way it was.  oh well.

i think it will be a while before we go to the movie theater with the kids again.  love.