Movie Madness

We took the girls to see their first movie in a movie theater over the weekend, and it went much better than expected. They rarely sit still at home more than 10 min. when watching a movie, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

A couple weeks ago the IMAX theater announced that they would be showing The Polar Express this Christmas season. I thought this might be the perfect first viewing experience because:

• The Polar Express is their most favorite book of the past year
• As far as I know, they hadn't seen the movie yet.
• The aisles are wide
• They have a 10 am showing - perfect fit for naptimes.

Of course - there are reasons why this could have gone terribly awry:

• IMAX is huge and more intimidating than a regular theater
• 3D glasses required
• Has a chance of selling out unless we plan ahead
• $50 for a family of 4 to attend

I bought the tickets online Saturday morning just as Eric said we were going, and we made the mad dash to the car. We got there just as the show was starting. Luckily there were some seats right as we came in because it was VERY dark in there.

Lily sat with me, and Madeleine sat with Eric. Lily refused to wear the 3D glasses, so she saw the whole thing blurry but didn't mention it. She only got scared a couple of times, but sat there very attentive until the end. She wore her reindeer antlers the entire time and held on to her baby polar bear.

Madeleine's comfort object-of-choice was a bag of paper she had cut up earlier in the morning.

Afterwards we had lunch at Roly Poly as the girls demanded a snack immediately following the movie. So we sat there and talked about the movie and their favorite parts. It was really nice.