Lincoln's first Drive In

So, Friday night, I was debating what we were going to do, when I remember that there was a drive in movie here. I thought, hmmm, Lincoln's never been to a drive in move, we should give that a whirl. To say he was super excited was a bit of an understatement. He was thrilled. In hindsight, the next time I spring a drive in movie on him, I'm not going to tell him about it until we're ready to walk out the door. I kept trying to explain to him that we couldn't go until it got dark, but he wasn't really getting it. I told him that he could go in his pajamas, so he went off to change. We also brought "My Buddy" with us -- he wore his pjs too.
One other thing that I would do in hindsight is to make sure Lincoln has a nap before we go next time. It's about a 20 minute drive from our house and he fell asleep on the way there. He nodded off a little bit during the movie. He also fell asleep on the way home, but since it was nearly midnight when we left, that was expected. He didn't even wake up when I carried him into the house, which did shock me a little bit.

On the way up there, Lincoln informed me that 'My Buddy' should wear a seatbelt too. "My Buddy" is a hand me down toy from Uncle Lorne. I bought it for him when he was about 6 or 7 years old. He's gone through a couple of grandkids and now lives with us. The dolls name is actully called "My Buddy." I always call it "My Buddy." I will say, "Pick up my Buddy." or "Go get My Buddy." Lincoln will always call him "Your Buddy." We were getting ready to go and Lincoln said, "Okay, Your Buddy has his jammies on." I just think it's pretty cute that he calls him 'Yours' instead of the simply, "My Buddy." or even just Buddy.
Anyway, we went to see Brave. They always play two movies so we could have stayed for 'The Avengers or Marvel' or something, but by then it was already midnight and staying meant we wouldn't get home until about 3am, I'm sure.

So, we put on his jammies, and My Buddy's jammies, and off we went to the movies. He slept all the way up there and when we parked, I let him keep napping for a bit. I woke him up to go and get some popcorn and a chocolate milk, then after a quick trip to the bathroom, we were heading back to the car to get settled.

The screen they play the movie on... and the crack in my window.

Once it got dark and the movie started, you didn't really notice the crack.

They tell you in the rules that if you are going to start your car during the movie, to make sure you don't turn on your headlights. My lights come on no matter what, and I was a bit worried that my battery might die so I had planned to start my car at least once or twice during the movie. I've never had my radio running without my car running as well, so I had no idea how it was going to go. Luck enough, they announce that if you have a car that as daytime lights that don't shut off, if you go to the concession they will give you free headlight covers. I thought, okay, sounds good and we wandered back to the concession to get out free covers. I wondered what the heck free covers were going to be. They are very high tech let me tell you, paper bags and masking tape. So, we once again returned to our car, I taped up the lights and ta-da we were set.

I told him he could watch from the front seat, but that only worked if he sat on his knees. Lucky for us, I had a small kids desk and chair in the back of the car that a friend gave me and I hadn't brought them into the house yet, so I thought, hmmm, let see if that works. We brought the chair up to the front and put it on the passenger seat and he sat up on it. It worked just right, except that part way through the movie, he started to nod off and kept tilting almost falling off the little chair, so he moved over to my lap for the rest of the movie.

Lincoln and My Buddy sharing some popcorn.

I have no idea why, but he wanted me to take his picture while he was posing his hands.

Who am I to not comply! If it involves a picture of my little guy, you know I'm going to take it!

A lot of people were in vans and they just backed their vehicles into the parking spaces and watched like that. Some also watched from the back of their pick up trucks. But there were a ton of bugs! So, I am definitely glad that we opted to watch from inside the car. During the first half hour of the movie, I started the car  couple of times just to run the air conditioning but after that it cooled down a bit so I think it worked out quite well.

When the movie was over and we were driving home, before he fell asleep, I asked him if he had fun. He told me it was very fun. I asked him what his favorite part was. He said it was when the bears were all over the movie. Then he said he should have brought Mr. Bear (his favorite teddy) with us because Mr. Bear would like to see a movie with bears.

I told him my favorite part was cuddling with him while we watched. He told me I was silly because cuddling with him wasn't part of a movie!! I don't care, I said, it was still my favorite part. Then he fell asleep, we got home, I carried him and my buddy into the house and tucked them into bed. The next morning he asked if we could ever go to see a movie like that again because he had a lot of fun and he even had a dream about it!

I told him that the next time there is kid movie there, we will go again. Maybe the next time his cousins come for a visit, we'll have to take them too!