The One with Odyssey in IMAX

 

 

 

One of this year's summer blockbusters is The Odyssey. Although we saw it the day it first came out, Kiff had been longing to see the 70 mm cut on IMAX at Apple Cinema in Providence at Providence Place

 While the idea of taking an hour car ride to get to a theater wasn't fully tempting, we decided to make a go of it. Of course, getting tickets proved to be almost as arduous as Odysseus's voyage. They were sold out for weeks.

However, we found a date and time that would work - YAY - and made the trip down earlier today. It was worth the wait. A few things I noted about the film...

1. Figuring out concessions took a little longer than we realized - they have a self service set up - but it made sense.

2. It is clear that the popcorn is loaded and has been in there for a while. It was decent movie popcorn, but not warm. I would recommend the butter next time to warm it up.

3. The theater was amazing. The seats were comfier than normal for IMAX. However, like every IMAX I have been to, you could not see the seat numbers quite well.

4. The movie going experience was phenomenal. The trailer for DUNE prior to the movie - the only one they showed - echoed through you. And the scale of the screen made you feel like you were in the movie.

5. A fly did land on the projector which is something you don't usually see with the standard digital movies. That was a throwback moment.

Bonus - as we left and quickly got some food from the food court, Emmie and I were amazed that the DQ there served Orange Julius!!! Of course, we had to indulge...and it mostly like the old times.

 

 

The One With the Umass Move In Year Two

 

 

Today was Bri's move in day at UMass. Having gone through it once before, we felt much better prepared for this year's sojourn (the best way to describe it) to UMass.

This year, was going to be a bit different for two reasons. First, Bri is a sophomore, so the crowds were not as large as when she was a freshmen. Also, she was moving into one of the towers, so it would involve her transcending 15 flights. 

 As we got closer, we realized, like last year, the signs were confusing. But Bri figured out if we went down Massachusetts Ave (just a little past the street we normally go down to get to the SW region), we would be fine. And, it turned out the wait was much better than last year doing it.

We checked in and quickly got to the tower. The crew that helped move in was AMAZING. They got everything unloaded in five minutes (I wish they could have helped us pack). I went to park, Emmie and Kiff were getting ready to meet us, and Bri went up with her stuff. She had to walk and literally texted us from the 9th floor saying we should not make the trip up. She - who goes to the gym regularly - was out of breath.

 So, we waited while she put together her room. We hear it looks great. And she came down and went to Hampshire to eat - the stir fry is delicious. Year 2 move in proved much smoother than Year 1.

The One With Apple Picking

 

 

 

Today, we went to Cider Hill Farm in Amesbury to go apple picking. We were looking for a place that was open before Bri went back to college...which was a little tricky because we are at the start of apple-picking season.

However, found that Cider Hill was open, which was great. I zipped home after school and we headed up, getting there about 90 minutes before closing. They had four variety of apples available - we were fortunate. But, even more fortuitous is that we were THE ONLY people picking apples at the time. That had never happened.

We got a bushel of apples ($42, but it was worth it) and took some great pix. And, we kept our apple-picking tradition alive.