Drive In

As part of my plan to make this the best summer ever (even though I think every summer is the best one ever, purely because it is summer and no longer winter), I made a long list of iconic summer things to do with the boys (or to have my sister or Hubster do with the boys while I am working.)

Things like get a Slip 'n Slide.  Play horse shoes and badminton in the back yard.  Go berry picking.  

On that list was go to a drive in movie theater.

The last time I went to a drive in movie theater was 1989.  I was an elementary-aged girl, all limbs and freckles. I saw The Little Mermaid from the roof of my aunt's van, eating pink and white Good & Plentys and wishing I could sing like Ariel.

Now that my boys are all limbs and freckles, I thought this would be the perfect time to see make another item from the list a reality.

Also, Brave just came out, and the latest Pixar movie is always one of two movies we see in the theater each year.

We let the boys buy over sized boxes of candy, made popcorn and packed it in individual small paper bags, packed up pillows, blankets, and camping chairs.

We drove through rolling farm land, passed small towns with their charming main streets and church steeples, and made our way to the drive in theater.

The weather was clear and heavy, the humidity clinging to our legs and hair the moment we were out of the truck.  We set up the camping chairs and made a pile of blankets in the back of the truck while the boys played tag and dared each other to touch the enormous screen.

We sipped lemonade, waiting for dusk to set in.

Once the sun set and the fireflies were flickering in corn fields that spread out in every direction, the movie began.  The boys were enthralled, not just by the Celtic heroine of Brave, but by the entire atmosphere. My elementary-aged boys, all limbs and freckles, ate Sour Patch Kids and Skittles, and wished they could shoot an arrow like Merida.

The iconic summer evening was made just more perfect by a shooting star flaming its way above the screen.

All sugared up and tired out at the end of the movie, we settles the boys back into their car seats and made out way back home through the now dark farm land.

Hubster and I looked at each other and said, "This is the best summer ever."