Drive In Movies

I have great memories from my childhood of going to the drive in movie. There was a playground at the front of the parking lot, under the big screen. We would get there early to get a choice spot and after setting up our chairs, laying out our blankets and claiming a rocky area as our own, the kids would go play and run around till movie time.

If you've ever been to a drive in movie you know the parking area for cars goes up and down, up and down, like an ocean of gravely waves. We would run back and forth over those waves, shouting "oooohhhh aaaahhhhh oooohhhhh", our voices going up and down with the waves. Such fun.

Last night I was home alone with the kids since Bill has gone to take his dad fishing for a few days. We are fortunate to live close to one of only about 400 drive in movies left in America. So last night I decided to surprise the kids and take them to a movie.

Jacob had passed the computer earlier in the afternoon when I was searching to see what movie was on and as I clicked it off, he of course had his nosiness gene kick in and told me he saw the word, "Holiday."

I knew we weren't going to church this morning and risk passing around 5th's disease. Andi is bringing Sosie over, also, just in case she is infected and we don't know it yet. So a normal bedtime didn't matter this morning -- which is a good thing since it's 9:00 and they are all still asleep. Except Wes, who for some unknown reason (too many Twizzlers perhaps) decided to spend part of the night puking.

Anyway, I had the kids gather all the necessities, blanket, cooler, snacks (they LOVED that part) and bug spray. I wouldn't tell them where we were going but told them they might be able to guess from the expression on my face. So the guessing began and with every guess, I just made a silly face. They quickly determined that was no help at all.

Jacob was convinced we were going to a Holiday Inn and soon everyone was convinced along with him. It took a few minutes for them to realize we weren't packing clothes or swimsuits. Sometimes in their excitement their brains don't seem to engage fully.

We loaded up and the guessing continued. Since the Holiday Inn had been ruled out, they were sure we were going to Heidi's for a cookout. I slowed and put on my blinker at their driveway. The cheering broke out........and then I went past the driveway. The booing was loud and long. We drove out through countryside and into places they could never remember being in.

Then I pulled into my destination -- a gas station with a Wendy's. We got gas, and I tried to convince them that Wendy's was out ultimate destination and the drinks and chips were brought along so I didn't have to buy fries and they didn't have to drink water. Three of them were sorta maybe alright with this plan.

Jacob finally said out loud that THIS couldn't be where we were going because why would we need a blanket and bug spray? Ahh, sometimes that kid is too smart for my plot. So we got our sandwich and mosied on down the road a bit to the Holiday Drive In.

The cheering was loud and long. We found a choice spot, tuned in our radio to the right station - a vast improvement over those speakers that used to hang over your window and settled in to wait for Underdog and Ratatouille. The movie doesn't start till 7:45 and bedtime is usually 8, so I wondered how long they would make it.

They made it all the way. They sat on that blanket with large chunks of gravel digging into their behinds for 3 hours. Three bucks for kids to get in, a huge tub of popcorn for under 3 bucks and 3 hours of movies. Everyone stayed awake all the way home and we sang at the top of our lungs.

A good time was had by all. By midnight everyone was sound asleep, another childhood memory in the bank.