What a way to spend a rainy Friday night!

We went to the drive in yesterday. There is one in Perry NY, so about 90 minutes from us. It is a really nice one. First run movies. Double features. There is a big lawn and playground in front of the screen. Last year we usually sat on the lawn, with our camping chairs and blankets, and the pack n play for Lincoln. Well, yesterday it had been raining a lot of the day, so we told the kids that they couldn't play on the playground. Since we got there 45 minutes early, man did we hear about that. About 20 minutes before the movie was going to start, a guy walks over and introduces himself as the owner. He said he likes to "welcome" some people during his announcements before the movie starts and asked all our names. Haha, bet he didn't realize there were so many of us! Anyway, so we give him all our names, and he says he hopes we have fun, and that was that. Until he came back about 15 minutes later. He asked if Dennis and the boys could go with him to (and I quote..which is the reason I'm going to use quotation marks, also known as bunny ears) "start the movie". So, Dennis and the big boys go with him. A few minutes later we hear his announcements, all the normal "this is what we are showing tonight, this is what we are showing next week, don't forget to get your snacks, enjoy the show, etc etc" and he says "And a special welcome to Lincoln, Moira, Sebastian, Gideon, Spencer, Jessica and Dennis joining us tonight" and Moira looks at me with big eyes and says "He said Winkin! And Me! And you Mama!" So cute. Then the trailers start to roll and a few minutes later Dennis and the boys come walking back. The boys are each carrying a big bag of cotton candy, and Dennis has a gigundous tub of popcorn. Which struck me as odd, since we are cheap and we brought snacks. Turns out that they boys got "paid" for helping start the movie. And by "helping start the movie" I mean literally starting the movie! They got to go into the projection room and see the huge projector and Spencer got to push the button! He said it was (cue dramatic music) behind the actual film, and he had to be careful because if he (dum dum DUUMMMMM) touched the film it would ruin the whole thing. And possibly the projector would explode. Which would cause mass-hysteria, and rioting, and the collapse of Western Civilization. Or I may have just made that last part up. But, the gist of what I got from Spencer was "Push button = Good, Touch film = Bad". Luckily, Spencer has nerves of steel. And, the pushing of the button was good (DUM DUM duummmm).

Then we settled back to watch the movie. Normally since it had rained most the day, and there was a 60% chance of showers that evening, we would not have gone to the drive in. But, they were showing IRON MAN. So, do you really think there was a chance of us not seeing it? (by 'us' I really mostly mean Dennis and the geeks-in-training-formally-known-as-the-boys). So, we are all set, with our snacks and our blankets. Dennis had backed the van in, and the trunk door was open and we were sitting in front of it in our camping chairs. And it was wonderful....for 15 minutes. Then it started raining. Ok. Huh. Here's what we do: I climb into the back seats with the babies and Bastian. Spencer was with me for a bit. Dennis sits in the trunk with Gideon (after a bit Spencer climbs over the seat to sit with them). So, I'm trying to keep the babies happy, trying to keep Bastian from climbing into the front seat and playing with the steering wheel, and trying to fit my butt into the seat sideways, next to a carseat, so I can watch the kids and possible catch a minute or two of the movie. Honestly, in the end it worked out. The babies really were pretty good. The boys and Dennis loved the movie. I liked what parts I saw. I thought Robert Downey Jr did great. At one point Lincoln was happy feeding me popcorn. Which I've never let any of the other kids feed me things...I don't know where their grubby little hands have been haha. But, he was laughing every time he did it, so I let him. It was cute. I just hope I don't come down with a raging case of cooties from it.