G-Force Movie Review

The kids and I had a free day yesterday, nothing really planned, so we loaded in the car and went off to find a movie. What did we choose? G-Force. The matinee was half price, so we all agreed, even if it was bad, at least it wouldn't break the bank.

We were all rolling during the movie. This included a too cool 14-year old boy. :) The movie is cute and you don't have to be afraid to take your kids to see it. They use a lot of bathroom humor. The mice urge one of the guinea pigs to "poop in his hand" as a way to escape and they lit the farts of another guinea pig to try and blow a hole in their cage. Yeah, silly, but kids love it!



If you haven't seen it and were putting it off because it looked too silly, go ahead and go. It's something everyone can laugh at. With the way life is these days, we all need to laugh and just forget real life for a couple hours. Right?

Camera Critters #68

My daughter took this photo when we were in Salem a couple weeks ago. We were on our way to the dungeon and she noticed this little critter on a car window and had to snap away. Wonder where she gets that from? :)

To see more of the wonderful animal shots from around the globe, stop over at Camera Critters and check them out.

Skywatch Friday #54

This photo was taken at Kinzua Bridge State Park in Mt. Jewett, PA. The bridge was 301 feet (92 m) tall and 2,052 feet (625 m) long prior to its collapse.

The bridge was originally built from iron in 1882 and was billed as the "Eighth Wonder of the World", holding the record as the tallest railroad bridge in the world for two years. In 1900 the bridge was dismantled and simultaneously rebuilt out of steel to allow it to accommodate heavier trains. It stayed in commercial service until 1959 and was sold to the state government of Pennsylvania in 1963, becoming the centerpiece of a state park. Restoration of the bridge began in 2002, but before it was finished, a tornado struck the bridge in 2003 causing a large portion of the bridge to collapse. Contributing to the collapse was the failure, caused by corrosion, of the anchor bolts holding the bridge towers to their foundations.




If you want to see more sky shots from around the world, stop over at Skywatch Friday.

House of Night Series (Review)

As everyone who knows me knows, I'm a complete vampire freak. Totally addicted to all the movies, TV shows, clothes and books about the children of the night. I was looking for new books a couple weeks ago and found the House of Night Series.

The books center around 16-year old Zoey Redbird who is marked to become a vampyre. In this world, you don't get bitten to become one, it's a physical change that can happen to anyone. All those who are marked have to go to a school called "The House of Night" where they learn about being a vampyre. Fledglings have to be around adult vampyres or they die.

The books are quick reads. I finished the first four in about a week and just picked up the fifth one called "Hunted" after work today. Can't wait to see what happens! My son is now reading the first one and it won't take him long to go through them. We share that love of reading.




The books are young adult and deal with all sort of adolescent issues as well as the whole vampire issues. It's not bad enough to learn you're not human, but you still have to deal with boyfriends, snarky friends, fitting into a new school, having your parents turn against you and frizzy hair!

I highly recommend the books to anyone who likes a good paranormal story.

Movie Night! AKA Harry Potter!!!

We haven't been to the drive in for over two years, but last night, we loaded up the truck and off we went! What kept me out way past my bedtime? Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, of course! I've read all the books and we have all the movies on DVD so far and this will be another one we'll add.

I won't spoil the movie for those who haven't seen it yet, but it stayed pretty true to the book. The most crutial scenes were practically word-for-word from the book. Always a good thing! Why mess with perfection?



The movie is quite DARK and some of the scenes would probably scare younger kids, but my two are 14 and 17 and thought nothing of it. There is the death of a beloved character and lots of snogging (making out), so make sure your kids and you are ready for that.

Hubby wasn't as thrilled with this one because it didn't settle anything. It just left many questions unanswered. That's because the final book is being made into two ... yes TWO ... movies!!

The second feature was The Proposal. We really didn't expect much from it. Romantic comedies are not our thing at all, but we were truly surprised and enjoyed it! We laughed and laughed. Betty White truly stole the show and made the movie. You have to see her in the woods. I still laugh when I picture the scene. :)

Happy Birthday, Randy!!!

Today is my love bug's birthday. I've spent my entire adult life with him and it's hard to remember a time when he wasn't there. Even when we were on different continents for our birthdays, we try to make it special. (Hazards of being married to a US Marine. He got discharged after the first Iraq war and now we're always together.)

We celebrated early when we went to Pittsburgh on Friday. We stopped at Joe's Crab Shack and had a blast. They got him up and put on a grass skirt and pink lei. He wouldn't hula, but it was still a lot of fun. At least he has a sense of humor! He knew I had blabbed to the waitress that it was his birthday party and was just waiting to see what we were going to do. Couldn't just let the day go by unnoticed!



If it doesn't rain, we're planning to go to the drive in tonight and see the new Harry Potter movie. Yes, we all love the boy wizard!

Camera Critters #67

Sports' mascots are always fun to photograph. This critter is called Ike. He's the State College Spikes' mascot. They are a single A minor league basebaseball team.

If you want to check out more fun animal memes, stop by Camera Critters and check out the links.

Photo Hunt 170: Rocks

Today's theme is ROCKS.

The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before local magistrates followed by county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in Essex, Suffolk and Middlesex counties of colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693 Over 150 people were arrested and imprisoned, with even more accused but not formally pursued by the authorities. The two courts convicted 29 people of the capital felony of witchcraft. Nineteen of the accused, fourteen women and five men, were hanged. One man (Giles Corey) refused to enter a plea was crushed to death under heavy stones in an attempt to force him to do so.

To see more photo hunt participants, check out TN Chick.

Skywatch Friday #53

State College photos from the Fourth of July. There were so many good shots that weekend, it's hard to pick just a couple.



To see more sky photos from around the world, check out Sky Watch Friday.

Wordless Wednesday

Camera Critters #66

I took this photo at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. You need to go on the train ride to see the old bone village and this was one of the more interesting exhibits. :) Thought it would be perfect for my submission for this week.



To check out more animals from around the world, stop over at Camera Critters for more links.

Back from vacation

We're home from our vacation and I'm fighting a bug I picked up in Boston. The non-stop rain and being on the road for two weeks took a lot out of me. We enjoyed our time away from real life and I'm having trouble getting back into the swing of things around here.

We took well over 1,000 photos on our journey through eight States on the East Coast. My favorite had to be our time in Salem. It was so commericalized, but it was a dream come true for me to finally get there. The best part of the trip was seeing Cry Innocence. It was the recreation of a trial. The audience got to vote on the woman's guilt or innocence. I'm proud to say, we set her free! History wasn't so kind and she was convicted of being a witch. My daughter was chosen to play the part of the baliff and kept the keys to her chains. She also walked the accused witch down the aisle to the court. We also enjoyed the Salem Witch Museum. Seeing more of the history is what I always enjoy. It just boggles the mind that people were so insane and murdered all those innocent people.

Boston was a lot of fun. Hard Rock Cafe and their awesome market that was like nothing we had experienced before set the tone there. I ate clam chowder with every meal in New England. The lobster was beyond delicious! We all love seafood, so we ate a lot of that. We'd like to go back and do a whale watching tour some day.

Fall River, MA, was another good stop. A friend of mine lives there and she took us to Lizzie Bordon's house and grave. I would love to spend the night at that house. Maybe someday.

Cedar Point, OH, was ok, but I'm not a rider. I had my iPod and just watched a lot of TV shows while the rest did the coasters. I did ride the train, sky gondolas and boat ride. They are just my speed. :) It was cold the entire time we were there. I had to buy a sweatshirt to wear.

State College, PA, was a blast. We spent the Fourth there at a baseball game. My brother is the booster club's photographer and our cousin is the club president, so we were invited to a picnic with the entire team. Now that was an experience! There was sooo much food! The guys were very friendly and I got a lot of cute photos of them. Of course, we went to Hot Topic while we were there. Needed a new pair of earrings. There was a great fireworks display. My brother had VIP viewing tickets. They were set to music and really great. They gave out these special masks that separated the lights. Unbelievable! I'll never watch fireworks without them.

Once I get everything downloaded and converted I'll be posting more.