A Spider, Queen, and Dragon Rider

We told the kids that we would take them to a movie every day this week. It's a tall order to find enough movies that all of our kids (ages 6, 9, 12 and 13) will enjoy, or at least endure. Here's how it turned out...

• Charlotte's Web (Monday) -- a good movie for all of us. I kept whispering to the kids, "This is a true story" -- to which they told me to stop talking.
• We Are Marshall (Tuesday) -- Our 6-year old was quite bored, but this was a great movie for everyone else. I think that Matthew Fox is an unbelievably-good actor, and his part in this flick was no exception. I think all of us had tears in our eyes throughout the movie.
• One Night With The King (Wednesday) -- This is the biblical story of Esther. It was a little difficult to follow in parts and the acting was marginal. But, amazingly, all 4 kids stayed interested to the end and I'm always glad to help increase their Bible knowledge.
• Eragon (Thursday) -- A great Lord-of-the-Rings-type of movie with dragons, mythical creatures, and a classic battle between good and evil. I just learned that the boy who wrote the book was 15-years old when he began writing. That's just not normal.
• Night at the Museum (Friday) -- the best movie of the week for our entire family. It's fun, clean, appropriately scary, full of adventure and very funny. And, a bonus for those who like romance--there's a very special moment between Theodore Roosevelt and Sacajawea. Yes, this is also a true story.

For some of the movies, we drove up to the Wonderland Cinema in Niles, Michigan. It's about 20-minutes away, but a very cool theater. They show first-run movies for $2.50 during the day (only $3.50 at night), and have decent screens and great sound. It's fairly new and has comfortable seating. The drinks and snacks are also very reasonable (free popcorn on Thursdays). I'm guessing that the owner has intentionally decided to provide a service to the community rather than make a ton of money. So to the owner, our family says a big "thanks."