Night at the Movies

For a change of pace, we headed over the bridge after dinner for a night at the movies in Sea Isle City. Like in Ocean City, Sea Isle has a family movie night. Ocean City's movie night is in the Cornerstone Auditorium on the 2nd floor of Stainton's Square at 810 Asbury Avenue on Tuesdays at 7:15. For $4 per person, or $15 per family, not only do you watch a family-friendly movie, but they serve pizza, popcorn and sodas. We went last year for a viewing of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and will definitely be going back next Tuesday for Charlotte's Web, as well as some of the other movies planned for the each, all from the 1970s--perfect for Will, who is growing wary of "babyish" cartoons, and for me, who gets to relive my youth in cinema.

Across the bridge in Sea Isle, family movie night is twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays at dusk, outside in a field next to the promenade. A huge movie screen and projector sit at one end of the field. Blankets and beach chairs scatter across the field as daytime beach goers became nighttime movie watchers. Each child was given a "Sea Isle" beach ball and a small container of bubbles, keeping them all entertained before the movie started. A local restaurant, Shoobie's, handed out free bags of popcorn, much to my boys' delight. And, save for the $1.50 bridge toll, the night was absolutely free!

Tonight's feature film was Flipper. The night was definitely more about the venue than the movie itself. If you haven't seen it, but have seen other tween favorites like Firehouse Dog, Hotel for Dogs, Free Willy, you know the story all ready. Misfit boy meets misfit animal, hijinks ensue, followed by drama and tragedy, culminating in a poignant ending. Will and Carter ended up in the two beach chairs we brought. Will loved the movie--it is right up a 7-year-old's alley. The plot twists were exciting to him, even though he had seen them previously in the other aforementioned movies. Carter enjoyed it, but once his popcorn was done, he propped his Crocs on top of his new beach ball and fell sound asleep. I had expected Charlotte to sleep in her stroller, but she stayed awake and happy for the whole movie, spending most of it chatting to the woman sitting next to me.

I've been gun shy about taking Charlotte to a movie again, since our last outing to see Up on the boardwalk a few weeks ago. We had to leave Craig and the boy to see the movie on their own before the opening credits were even over. However, seeing a movie outside is perfect for kids--they can make a little noise, they can get up--it's all a little more relaxed.

Next time, we'll put our blanket and chairs down to save our spots and then run onto the promenade for a slice of pizza or a snack, maybe a scoop of ice cream. Although the beach balls kept the boys entertained, we did spent a lot of time just waiting for that sun to go down so the movie could start. Everyone else seemed to think ahead and bring bug spray. However, the constant mists of DEET seemed to have a group effect and we escaped the buggy field without a bite. Sweatshirts were a must and I'm glad that Will also threw sweatpants into my bag. The ocean breeze cooled down our open air theater considerably.

The downside? There's only one, really. The movie doesn't start until dusk, so we didn't really start watching until 8:30. Carter stayed asleep through Charlotte's shrieks of protest over being put back in the stroller, me picking him up and putting him in the grass as I folded up the beach chair, and then picking him up and carrying him halfway to the car. When my arms gave out, he quietly stumbled to the car, his eyes only half open. Although it made it difficult to get my 3 zombie-eyed kids to the car, I'm glad that they were too sleepy to notice the nightly Sea Isle bar crowd was out in force as we walked down 40th Street.

By the time we found ourselves back in Ocean City again, all three kids were zonked in the backseat, which left me with a real dilemma--how do I get them all inside? The boys were so sound asleep, heads tilted to the sides, mouthes wide open. I finally decided to wake them up, but found the only way to do so was to unbuckle their seat belts and stand them up in the driveway. As I was helping Will, and then picking up Charlotte, Carter kept leaning over and resting his sleepy head onto the side of my car, and then curling up and falling back asleep right on the concrete. It was quite a challenge to get them all awake enough to trek into the house.

Will moaned as I shepherded them up the stairs, "Can I please go right to bed?" What music to any mother's ears!