Colonial Williamsburg

We took a long weekend jaunt to Colonial Williamsburg last weekend. It was a badly needed break and loads of fun. The bonus was that my mother- and sister-in-law came with us (although they stayed at a hotel while we stayed at a timeshare resort).

We drove down Friday afternoon and basically checked into our respective domiciles before getting some dinner and calling it a night.

Saturday we spent exploring Colonial Williamsburg itself. We had a leisurely day that was for the most part enjoyable. The only real negative was the intense crankies at lunch time. I and my male spawn were the culprits - both of us were hangry (hungry and angry). Food helps, though, so our afternoon went better.

Let me say this, I love CW and think it's a great place for kids. But the kids need to be school-age and learning about colonial America to have a true appreciate for the place. My kids, ages 5 and 3, were more than a little bored with all the walking and waiting.

Sunday was our Busch Gardens day.

My hope for Jesse was that he was tall enough to ride one of the bigger rides. He's tall, but not quite tall enough for the super thrilling rides. He was disappointed not to ride any of the big roller coasters that he saw meandering above the park as we walked from place to place. But he did ride enough stuff to be satisfied and considered the day a very fun day.

I love this picture. The expressions on their faces say it all. She's totally into the ride and telling the horsies to giddy-yup. It took some coaxing to get him on a horse because he thought he was too big for this little kid ride. By the time it was over, he was smiling and having fun, though.

I love the above picture. This was her first time riding the log flume (she rode it again with me later). She LOVED it and I am grateful that the camera caught her excited expression as they went down the big hill into the water.

Jesse also loved the log flume and rode it again with Beau later. That's my mother-in-law behind us. She is an amazing lady. She and Beau also rode the Alpengeist roller coaster later in the afternoon.

Some random dude gave this stuffed chili to my sis-in-law. I love that it's in the stroller instead of the tired girl.

Our last full day in Williamsburg was a chill out day. We had brunch with Beau's Mom and sister before they headed to SIL's home so that MIL could spend time with the other grandchildren before heading home to California on Tuesday. Molly and I napped after lunch while Beau and Jesse went to swim in the pool. They returned, changed into clothes, went back out to play mini-golf, and returned before Molly or I woke up.

We came back home on Tuesday afternoon after another chill day. We played more mini-golf and spent some time playing video games in the resort game room. I got the above picture of Molly snoozing in the chair when I took some of our packed stuff into the living room. She slept there while Beau and Jesse loaded the car. She slept while I carried her out to the car. She awakened long enough to get her arms in the straps of her car seat, but then konked back out and slept the entire 2.5 hours drive home. She's a trooper and did very well on our very busy weekend. Jesse, too, did really well. It was a fun family vacation.

Up next: California pre-Christmas in December and then Disney World in February 2013.

Reading Room: Muirwood Trilogy, Phantom

I've managed to finish a few more books this week. I'm not getting the sleep I need as a result, but it is what it is. As I posted last time, I had started The Wretched of Muirwood by Jeff Wheeler on my Kindle.

Imagine a world where words are so precious they are only etched in gold, and only the privileged are allowed to learn how to read. Muirwood Abbey is one of the few places where learners are taught to read and engrave, and thirteen year-old Lia wants nothing more than to learn both of these skills—yet she is a wretched, an orphan, and doomed to remain in the Aldermaston’s kitchen, forbidden to read and subject to his authority. Her future is destined for preparing recipes in a privileged household until, unexpectedly, a mysterious knight-maston abandons the wounded squire Colvin at the Aldermaston’s kitchen in the middle of the night. Soon after, Sheriff Almaguer comes hunting for Colvin, and Lia is thrust into the greatest adventure of her life as she and the squire are forced into a partnership that brings her closer to her dream—and Colvin closer to his fear of dying on the battlefield. The Wretched of Muirwood is the first book of the Muirwood Trilogy.

I enjoyed this book more than I expected and immediately started book two, The Blight of Muirwood. I thought the second book to be better than the first. I've started the third, The Scourge of Muirwood, and it's great so far, too. I highly recommend this trilogy. I'm guessing the trilogy as a whole will be at about 4 stars out of 5 unless the last books ends up disappointing hugely.

I also just finished listening to Phantom by Ted Bell this morning. This is the 7th (!) in the Hawke series and as is the norm for the Hawke novels, I found it ridiculous but fun. I don't know why I stick with these books, but I like them. Only 3 stars out of 5.

I've Joined the Ranks of the Whovians

I was a young child, living in England, the first time I was introduced to The Doctor. My first Doctor was The Fourth Doctor, as he is called. I remember a silly TV show with weird robot things called Daleks who yelled, "Exterminate!" a lot and a long multi-colored scarf on the curly-haired traveler. Beyond that, much of what was the popular TV show, Doctor Who, escaped me. And then came the reboot a few years ago. My sister got sucked into it, and a few friends, too. And my Dad. After listening to an in-depth conversation about this new Doctor Who, my curiosity was piqued. I added it to the Netflix queue and time passed. A few weeks ago, after watching several other things in the Netflix and Amazon streaming queues (Lark Rise to Candleford, MI-5, BBC's Robin Hood), I was ready to embark on the Doctor Who voyage. The Ninth Doctor was OK. I liked him by the end of that season, but he died and regenerated into The Tenth Doctor. The Tenth Doctor is the BEST Doctor. Love him. I just finished watching his last adventure and regeneration into The Eleventh Doctor and I'm very sad. I did see The Eleventh Doctor's first full episode, too, and I like him. I know it will take time to adjust to him. The thing is that I didn't actively watch any of the episodes. I was always working on something while it was playing. As a result, I think I missed some very important things. But I'm not sure I want to re-watch 5 seasons again any time soon. Anyway, I'm a huge DW fan now. Huge.

Frivolous Quiz Time: Jane Austen Edition

I agree 100% with this. I think it is why Sense and Sensibility may actually be my favorite of the Austen novels, even over Pride and Prejudice. As much as I love Elizabeth and Darcy, I most relate to Elinor Dashwood.

Take the Jane Austen Character Quiz here!

The Reading Room

I'm in read mode these days. I'm reading every chance I get.

I finished listening to another book on Friday - Divergent by Veronica Roth.

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue - Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is - she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are - and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves.... or it might destroy her.

I love it so much I have already pre-ordered the sequel, Insurgent, for my Kindle and which comes out on May 1.

I mentioned in my last book-centric post that I had started The Power Behind the Throne by Sally Nicoll on my Kindle. I admit that it never really grabbed me and since I got it for free, I stopped and removed it from my Kindle. It was kind of liberating to not complete a crappy book. Ah.

Instead, I decided to start The Wretched of Muirwood by Jeff Wheeler. This one is only $.99 for the Kindle. I'm about 25% into the story and I'm hooked. It's so not my normal thing, but I really like it so far. This the first in a trilogy, too, so I'm sure I'll read the other books.

Happy Easter!

Lots of Completed Books

In the past week I have completed several books. It's a miracle, but I must confess that I neglected a lot of other things in order to get in the time to devote to the reading.

First, I listened to A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens in the car. Narrated by Frank Muller, it was such a different listen than what I have done recently. The old, lyrical prose that we just do not get in modern writing. Well, we do, but it's rare. At least it's rare in the stuff I tend to read. I found myself almost in tears at the beauty of certain scenes because of the way they were written.

I had never read AToTC before. When I was a young teenager I saw this miniseries. As such, I knew how the story ended. How it got there, I didn't remember as much. While I sometimes found the journey a little plodding at times, despite the pretty prose and the excellent narration, it was well worth the effort of the listen.

By the time I got to the last 10 minutes I was fully invested in the characters. And the last inner monologue of Sydney Carton broke my heart.

4 stars out of 5.

Next, I managed to re-read the entire Hunger Games trilogy in a week. This time I got them for my Kindle and actually read the words. My first "read" was a listen. I'm glad I did it - there were large portions that I did not remember at all. Given that I listened to them when I was sick for a week last year, it's likely that I dozed off for a lot of them. They are just as good with the second reading and I'm even more convinced that they are not about the love triangle between Katniss/Peeta/Gale. That said, I was able to garner new insights into the triangle, Katniss' relationship with each boy and how things ended up. I'm still happy with the ending. And I cannot wait for the next movie. I'm so curious how it will be done and who will be cast in the new roles.

The entire trilogy gets 5 stars out of 5. The first book is still my favorite of the three, but I really think they needs to be taken as one work at this point. Much like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, it is one story broken into 3 smaller parts.

Finally, I have started two new books: Divergent by Veronica Roth came recommended as one that Hunger Games fans will enjoy. After reading a lot of positive reviews, I got the audio book. I'm on chapter 9 as of this moment and I am enjoying it a lot. The narrator is excellent, too.

On my Kindle is The Power Behind the Throne by Sally Nicoll. I'm not that far in, but it's started out pretty well.

The Hunt Begins

Remember a few years ago when we started a house hunt? It was the height of the foreclosure boom in our area and there were a lot of houses available for cheap. It was depressing. And then I got pregnant with Molly and the house hunt stopped because I was ill, ill, ill and the thought of the hunt made me cry.

We are restarting the hunt.

Our goal is to find The House in which I can die when I'm old. This because in my 40+ years of life on this earth, I have moved a grand total of 5,432 times. Actually, that is a slight exaggeration, but not by much. I'm done with moving. Thinking about this pending move makes me want to sit down with a good book and escape from reality. I hate moving.

But ... I'm excited that we are actually able to buy our own home. I'm excited about having a yard for our kids to play and run in. I'm excited about being able to paint and decorate the way that I really want to and can't as a renter.

We have a lot on our plates in the next few months, that adding a house hunt is stressing us both out. So we're open to a short sale knowing that they take several months to get approved. We're happy to move later in the year than in the next few months. We're just praying that God will make it all clear and smooth and within our budget.

Movies: The Hunger Games

(This post has been edited to add new thoughts after a second viewing. Scroll to the bottom of the post for new stuff.) I was one of the millions who went to see The Hunger Games on Friday. I am one of the millions who adore the books and was hoping that the movie would at least be a faithful adaptation of the book. From all that I had read early on in the process of the movie being made, I had high expectations that it was going to be OK. It looked to be well cast (although Woody Harrelson made me really nervous because I am not a huge fan of his), the locations used for District 12 were awesome (I spent my college years in that part of North Carolina and knew that it was perfect), and from the things said by director Gary Ross it sounded like he "got" the story. And then the buzz started about a month ago when the advance tickets started selling. Then it continued to swell because the ticket sales were going through the roof. The March 12 premiere was crazy and the critics seemed to like the movie a lot. I started to lower my expectations out of fear of disappointment. I wasn't very successful. By the time I got to the theater on Friday afternoon I was beside myself with excitement.

I've had the weekend to think about the movie so here's my review. Generally, I liked the movie a lot. I think I want to go see it again in the theater. It's 2 hours, 22 minutes long, but it didn't feel that long to me (or my butt). It is violent, but well done. That said, parents of kids younger than the PG-13 rating should seriously consider whether or not to take those kids to see it. It is one thing for their young minds to try to imagine that violence. It is quite another for them to see how adults enacted it. I give it a solid 4 stars out of 5 - for faithfulness to the original story, a good cast and acting, excellent visuals.

Consider this a ***SPOILER WARNING. What follows will discuss plot points from the book and movie.***

I'll start with what I didn't love:

1. Some of the camera work was too choppy for my older eyes. I found that the first 20 minutes or so were hard for me to watch, especially with my bifocals. That said, what I liked is that by using that technique they were able to convey a lot of information in a very short amount of film. So I liked it on that level, but it caused eye strain. I was grateful that it was short.

2. I wished the scene with Peeta and the bread had been fleshed out more, including the whole thing about his mother.

3. I wished Haymitch would have been a little drunker, dirtier. Sounds weird, but he was cruder in the book. That said, I think that Woody Harrelson was excellent in that role. He far exceeded by overall expectations.

3. I wished there was more Effie, more of the stylists with Cinna, and the Avox. About the Avox, I read why Gary Ross did what he did. I wish he hadn't. I think she could have been part of it easily. The stylists were such a huge part of Katniss' time in the Capitol before the Games that I really missed them in the movie. I wanted to see them, hear them, their interaction with Katniss as they grew to love her.

4. There was not enough of Katniss'/Peeta's time in the cave. I feel that this was one thing seriously lacking, although I understand that to keep the movie to the length of a movie and not a mini-series, it needed a lot of paring. I did expect more of this, though, since it is the genesis of Katniss' conflict Peeta in the later story (Catching Fire and Mockingjay).

5. Can I admit that the first flaming outfits kind of disappointed me? I expected something a bit bigger and more spectacular. My memory of the book description was that the flames were larger. The red flaming dress was cool, though.

Now to what I loved:

1. District 12 was exactly how I pictured it when I read the book. The Capitol was a little too CGI, but still a good portrayal. I loved how the Capitol population were so over the top visually - exactly as written.

2. The overall casting was nearly perfect. I was also nervous about Josh Hutcherson as Peeta, but he was actually very good. I heart Stanley Tucci, who was perfect as Caesar Flickerman.

3. I liked the use of silence. Where a lot of action and drama movies use music to build tension, this movie uses silence to good effect. I was also glad that Gary Ross opted not to use voice-overs to fill in Katniss' thoughts.

4. I liked that it didn't focus on the romance. I never felt that the books were about the Team Gale/Team Peeta conflict. Katniss' main conflict was always about survival, providing for her family, and the revolt against the Capitol. The romance was always secondary and unimportant. My hope for the sequel movies is that they continue to keep this in the background.

Additional Thoughts (Added 3/28) ***Seriously Spoilerish***

1. The dude playing Cato was very good. His last scene was very well acted. Really, everyone was good. But I was struck with the second viewing just how good Cato was in that one scene.

2. Something I missed the first time: Peeta tapping the hand on his cheek. The first time I was watching Cato. The second time I made sure to watch Peeta because I realized later that I had missed some interaction between Peeta and Katniss in that moment.

3. I love the little details that are in the movie that only the readers of the books would know to look for. And you have to have read all three books to catch the significance of them. First, President Snow and the roses. Second, before the gamemakers send the fire down, they note that Katniss is skirting the outer range of the arena. That isn't in the first book, but it foreshadows the next movie.

4. The movie is way more faithful to the book than I remembered. I'm reading it again and I'm pleasantly surprised to see that most of it is in there. The tough part for the filmmakers was getting into Katniss' head space, especially since the book is told in first person. I am more convinced that they did a good job of showing it than I initially thought with the first viewing.

5. I'm also more excited to see Catching Fire next fall when it comes out. They did a good job of setting up the next part of the story.

Happy St. Paddy's Day