Up and (fortunately) Away

Watched this one on Thanksgiving night in the Caspari theater ...

Up (3.7/5)

I know I'm going to catch flak from some of my family because I'm giving this the same rating as Nick and Nora's Ultimate Playlist, but that's life! Overall, I was very disappointed in the movie. A large part of that is because it was a Pixar flick, and as a result, I expected greatness. In that regard, I'd have to (sadly) say that this was the worst Pixar movie that they have made. However, following on that theme, it was also a decent movie. It was no Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull!.

Don't read this next paragraph if you don't want to be exposed to a few spoilers ...

I thought the movie started extremely strongly. It started by hinting of some very mature themes (death of a child, death of a spouse, old age). However, from there it dipped to a grumpy main character, a supporting cast of an annoying child, a talking labrador, and a bird that completely lost me. The whole middle of the movie was the boy and the old man dragging this floating house around by a garden hose while trying to help this bizare bird. On top of that, the villian was no good, and his henchment were totally cliche.

I think I'm being a bit harsher than the movie actually deserves. And as the rating I gave it shows, it's not actually a poor film. However, it was certainly a come down from the standard that Pixar has established.

The overall summary: A average to good cartoon, poor by Pixar standards, but good for anyone else.

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Lars and the Real Girl - 4.1/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Star Trek - 3.9/5
TransSiberian - 3.9/5
Wolverine - 3.8/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Definitely, Maybe - 3.7/5
Up - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Inglorious Bastards - 2.9/5
Push - 2.8/5
Meet Bill - 2.1/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

The (long) weekend that was ...

Had a "different" weekend for our extended Thanksgiving time. Different in many ways. My sister Jane was in town, so it was nice to have all of my direct sibs/family around. Different because almost everyone was sick in one fashion or another for at least a bit. Different because my brother-in-law Gow's brother (Caleb) was around for the weekend, but also sick almost the entire time. Strange things.

We did the big meal down at Dave and Amy's. Everyone brought one of their favorites and it was a great meal. By that time, Timmy was not feeling well, so that was the start of things. Cyndie ended up spending a lot of that time up with him in Sarah's bedroom. We ended up staying the night there (we weren't sure we were going to at first because of Tim), but since Laura and Gow and the fam left (they had been planning on staying, but Caleb was pretty darn sick), there was extra space to allow the sickies to stay away from the well ones.

Friday, everyone was feeling quite a bit better, so we did somethings around the house like putting up some Christmas stuff, moving the boat to it's final resting spot, at least for the winter), etc. Saturday was another extended family day with sourdoughs at my folks, then a big meal at our house for dinner. Then Sunday was brunch and Gowans followed by making snip candy, a DeVries family Christmas tradition, at our friends the Holtes and watching the Vikes crush the Bears. We only watched the first half, but given they were up 24-7 at halftime, and the Bears only had 2 yards of offense in the second half, I think we got the gist.

I think everyone in our family is now back to at least 90% functional. The kids are fine, and Cyndie is pretty much there. I was dragging still last night, but feel pretty much better today. So hopefully we're fully charged for the Christmas charge that I'm sure we'll be hit with before we head to CA for a Christmas vacation!

The long weekend has started!

It's Wednesday. I'm sitting here in bed browsing around on the web for a few minutes before bedtime. Cyndie and I just returned in from the fully functioning jacuzzi! It was nice out there ... nice and wet! The first snow of the year is descending upon us. Emma and I went out for a date tonight around 6 (went to Caribou Coffee ... Emma got a hot chocolate with whip cream and Andes Candies sprinkled on top and we played card games and did a puzzle ... it was a really fun date) and it was raining. On the way back home around 7 it was starting to turn to snow. By the time the kids were going to bed around 7:30 it was BIG, white flakes. I don't think it will last through the day tomorrow, it's really wet snow, but it's nice. Poor Pepper didn't know what to think about it. He just went out on the deck and kind of stood there until I went out with him and brought him out to the yard.

Tomorrow we're off to my sister Amy's for the big meal. We'll stay overnight and then come back Friday morning to work on Christmas decorations and such!

Short week Monday morning

Yeah baby! Here at Wildwood DeVries blog headquarters, we are celebrating a short work week which means ... a long weekend! I'm in the office today, then two days at home for work, then a four day weekend filled with family and relaxation. I'm looking forward to it!

Last weekend went quickly for us. After the cousins left on Saturday, we had Coffee Shop (our church small group) at our place. That was a good time of connection and building relationships. Sunday we got a few projects done around the house in the morning, then Gowans came over and Cyndie took some family pictures of them (with help from her number one assistant, Ms. Emma DeVries). We all enjoyed a light lunch together before quiet time. Then there was church and the weekend was effectively over!

We're hoping that we have the jacuzzi leak fixed. I found what I think caused the problem on Friday, got the replacement pipe/patch stuff on Saturday, fixed part 1 on Sunday, and the second part this morning before work. Now it has to cure for a day, then we'll try it! The leak was right at a pressure/stress point in some flexible tubing, so I think over the years it just got stressed more and more until the point that it just broke. That also made it difficult to patch. I guess we'll see! We're hoping to test it tomorrow, and then fill it so that when the family crew is around over the weekend, we'll have the jacuzzi as a useful thing!

Random Pix

Here's some pictures from recently ...

This weekend (Friday/Saturday) the Caspari cousins stayed over. We had a bonfire and cooked hotdogs and made S'mores!
We also played at the Williams Bay park ... I thought this was a really cute picture of Kristi

On Thursday was Fancy Day for the Woods School Spirit Week ... so here are our fancy kids striking a pose.

Last week the kids had a couple of half days of school, so one day Cyndie took them for a picnic at the nearby nature preserve.

Here's Tim and I reading a book while we wait for his bus to arrive.

Boating Pictures

Here's some pictures from that last (first, and only as well!) outing on the boat last Sunday!

The kids spent a lot of the time in the cockpit on the floor because it was a lot warmer there (hidden down behind the windshield and the little gate thing that blocks the wind)

We picked up my folks and Gowans at the Lake Geneva Pier.
Daisy looked like the kids from "A Christmas Story".

It was plenty cold ... hot drinks were a must!

Friday in southern Wisconsin

Friday is here ... yea! Recent and coming things in bullet form:

• We went to the Pilgrim meal for lunch at Woods School yesterday ... my dad and I went with Timmy and his class, and Cyndie and my mom went with Emma. Good stuff.
• We're working to get the boat all ready in all ways ... some things that we're still working on: boat registration (we needed an affidavit of repossession from the bank we bought the boat from ... that's now in the mail), trailer registration, winterization of the engine/outdrive (done now), prep the interior for winter (we'll likely take the cushions out, and put some mothballs in the boat to help keep mice away), plus all the prep for next summer (lines, buoys, toys, etc).
• We're ready for a "cousin weekend". The cousins from Crystal Lake are coming up to spend the night tonight ... should be fun!
• Helped a bit with setting up for the art show for our art class that will be this weekend. We continue to have a really fun time with that!