First Cinema Visit

 

*blush* Yes, that's my ^bump^ protruding into the pic... well I am 27 weeks pregnant! 

The last time The OH and I went to the movies was over 7 years ago, when Shmoo was still a tiny, portable, easy-going newborn. Then he grew into a toddler and we had another baby, and then another baby. Movie-going with 3 very young children... not exactly the most appealing of activities.

But the kids are older now and for some time we've been thinking that we should take them to the cinema so they can see their first big-screen movie. Preferably before the arrival of the next baby! So, this evening, we took the boys to see Madagascar 3. We have 1 and 2 on DVD which they all love so we were pretty confident that they'd like 3 as well. We deliberately chose a mid-week screening too, in the hope that it would be a quiet session and I also packed 3 sets of earmuffs and the CuddleLoop, just in case. I was tempted to take along the weighted blanket too but we only have a small one and I figured they probably would have ended up fighting over it.

It went really well. We bought a large bucket of popcorn for them to share and the woman who served us had the brilliant idea of giving us 3 smaller, empty cups so that we could give the kids their own little serves. We were also able to go into the cinema straight away, about 20 minutes before the movie was scheduled to start, which was great. We were first in so I was able to carefully select the row of seats and get the kids settled and comfortable. Turns out that mid-week is a great time to go as there was only one other small group of people in the cinema with us.

Madagascar 3 was a great movie to see on the big screen, even The OH and I enjoyed it. The only thing in it that I was really concerned about was the scene with the mounted animal heads on the animal control inspector's wall, I was worried it might me a bit alarming for the kids but it seemed to go over their heads (forgive the pun!). Shmoo and Loo sat amazingly still and just got really into the movie. Shmoo did wear his earmuffs for 3/4 of the movie though. Glad I brought them! Beanie did really well too, considering he's not yet 3 years old. He couldn't get over the fact that they'd turned off the lights and kept gazing up at the ceiling in awe and commenting on it.

Overall, a big success. We even let the boys have a go on one of those car-racing games after the movie. The boys will be talking about the whole experience non-stop now (and nagging us to go again... maybe we should make them pay for their own tickets?!?). Interesting to note also that my pregnancy hormones have well and truly kicked in... honestly, what mama gets all teary and emotional over her kids' first big-screen movie? :"> 8-|