Kid-Friendly

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to spend the day with my favorite 6 year old in the whole world. Because he is a dynamo and constantly on the move, I had to be creative about keeping him busy and entertained for the afternoon. Our first stop was to IHOP - he loves pancakes for lunch. We played Tic Tac Toe while we wait for our food...

After lunch it was on to the movies...we opted for the 3D version of Escape from Planet Earth. The best thing that I can say about a kid's movie is that it kept his attention for the entire movie. Cute characters, a fun story line and good animation. It's not Pixar, but it's ok. I will have to say that I think the whole 3D gimmick is such a rip-off. Viliamu loves wearing the 3D glasses and in the beginning of the movie there are a few things that come toward you, but after that, you forget about it. 3D is just an excuse for the theater to charge more for the movie ticket and it's just not worth it - especially when you have to pay $6 for a small popcorn and $4.25 for a small water...RIDICULOUS!

After the movie, we decided to go to the bookstore. Thank goodness that our Barnes and Noble is still open! I told Viliamu about how Buddy and I used to take our girls to Borders and let them look through all the books until they decided on one book that they could take home. He liked this idea a lot and went about the business of deciding what book he really wanted to take home. I decided that I would pick one as well. He chose Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Cabin Fever  by Jeff Kinney. He loves the books especially since they've started making movies of them.

For myself, I chose The Fantastic Flying Books if Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce. Mr. Joyce is absolutely one of my favorite children's authors and this is another beautiful book. The story inspired an Academy Award winning short film (I have to try to find it!). As usual, the illustrations are stunning and the story is very sweet. The theme of this book is that "Everyone's story matters." It's written for children ages 4 to 8 and Viliamu loved the story. This is a good book to purchase as a gift for a friend's child - and remember it makes all the difference to hold the book in your hands to really appreciate the illustrations. This is not something to buy to read as an e-book. Trust me.

Finally, to end our afternoon date, we decided to go to the park for a bit. I am thrilled by how easily Viliamu makes friends. He made friends at the bookstore and at the park. Unfortunately, our time there was cut short because it was so cold. All in all, it was a great day and a lot of fun spending the day with  this bundle of energy...