The One With the Holdovers

 

 

This weekend, we saw a sneak preview of the holiday movie, The Holdovers.  

I wasn't too sure what to expect. It was definitely set in the late 60s and looked like it could go either Dead Poet's Society route or Mona Lisa Smile - both exquisite movies, but one more to my liking.

Surprisingly enough, the movie was its own unique creature. It tells the story of four kids who have to stay at a New England boarding school over the course of a Christmas Break - two of which did not intend to stay. Eventually the parent of one picks up three of the kids, leaving one who did not intend to stay behind left at a school with staff he doesn't particularly enjoy. We start to see their stories unwind and realize they have their own sadness, backstories, and secrets they are hiding. The end is a powerful moment on movie drama.

We all loved the movie. The only thing I would have liked is almost an epilogue about what happened to the characters ten years later, or so, to know that things worked out okay. But, other than that, it was a great take.

The One With Tri-M

 

 

Earlier tonight, Bri was inducted into the Tri-M honor society at DHS.

 The honor society is dedicated to students who excel in the music realm and hope to share their love of music with others. Bri got in for her grades, but also her ability in concert and marching band.

As part of the induction, students have to perform. Bri performed a color guard routine I Aint Worried by One Republic. It was an amazing performance. 

What was just as neat was seeing other people that Bri has known and grown up with over the years get inducted as well. It is amazing to see how far they come.

After, we went to Cherry Hill to celebrate. Though there were not too many people there, Bri and Kiff knew all of the people ordering at the three other windows...which was wild!

Congrats to Bri on being inducted into her first High School Honor Society. 

The One With 30 Years of Hocus Pocus

 

 

 

 Who would have thought that 30 years ago, this movie came to theaters and would be a Halloween cult classic. I know I didn't. In fact, I never saw the movie in the theater (though my Dad took Patrick to see it - and although he had fun with Patrick, he severely disliked the movie).

 

However, it was fun to go together as a family to see the movie in the theater. It was phenomenal. Getting to see it on the big screen made me aware of some of the dialogue that I had not noticed before, such as when Bette Midler says to Sarah Jessica Parker, "you were dancing behind me, like an idiot." More amazingly, we never realized the Binx the cat - when he was a boy - was played by Sean Murray, better know as McGee on NCIS (as show we have come to love in the past year). That was awesome to see...though he did not provide the voice. 

 

Overall, the experience was great...though hiccupped a little by a group of teens looking for the phone by the climactic ending....clearly they didn't know they could wait ten minutes and the light would come one.

The One With the Rain Out

 

 

Tonight was the second marching band performance of the year. It started off great, with the annual potluck dinner. That is always a fun time. However, the band performance was cut a lot short. Periods of rain in the area made the half time show literally cut in half.

Emmie and I help run things out on the field....but we cut back what we did so know parents had to be on the field. Instead, we were able to watch a pseudo-show...which was awesome! We got to hear Bri get called out, which was cool.

The One With The First Home Game

 

 

The first Danvers home game happened and it was definitely an event for us as we helped the marching band with their show. First of all, we had to arrive earlier than we ever did last year - which was made a little trickier because it was definitely a packed house.

 

Once we arrived, we realized it was the start of the second quarter, so we had some time, but not a ton, before getting to the field to help out. In the meantime, the Falcons started off strong, which at least made the game interesting, too.

When it was time to go to the field, of course, both teams took several time outs to stop the clock. That was an experience. But, 00:00 hit the clock and it was show time. Everyone sprinted. Emmie put out her field numbers. I put on the platform and microphone for drum majors. Everything was in motion.

It was quite a show. We did get a chance to hear Bri's name get called as a co captain of the guard, which was awesome...though we did not get to see her serious walk to the front (we saw that later on TV - it was phenomenally in sync). Kiff and Bri put on quite a show and we had a ton of fun.

 

Overall, a great first game!

The One With the Salem Game

 

 

Last night, the Danvers Marching Band combined forces with the Salem Marching Band for an amazing pre-game show performance at Salem's opening football game. We had never done something like this before, but it was a great idea. And, because it was right before Hurricane Lee passed off the coast of Cape Cod, the night was actually a true beautiful calm before the storm night with an amazing sunset.

The night started off a little weird. It turned out that one of the buses from Danvers was late (the bus Kiff was on), so they had to get a police escort to the stadium. That makes for quite a memory!!! Then, they quickly assembled and put on a nice show.

Once the game started, the Danvers planned played sporadically in the stands throughouth. The game itself started off well for Danvers, which took a 7-0 lead in the second quarter. But, they were eventually outscored 15-0 the rest of the way, and lost the game.

But all and all, it was quite a night.

The One With My Big Fat Greek Wedding Three

 

 

 

Earlier today, we watched the third installment of the My Big Fat Greek Wedding series. We have been fans of this series as a family - especially Emmie and I - and we were looking forward to this sequel.

 

Overall, it was a cute and sentimental movie about some of the family reconnecting with family members in Greece for a reunion. Although the plot was a little quirky at the beginning, and the story definitely had some contrived moments for sentiment's sake, overall it was fun watch. Several of the cast members from the original two movies were not in this for one reason or another - some of which was sad because both father figures have since passed away. This added to the poignance of the movie. Emmie and I realized that, when each movie came out - the wedding one, the kids growing up and parents growing older, and now loss of parents one - we were able to relate to the movie because we were going through similar things.

What is nice about this series is it tries to be light and jovial, but remind you about the ups and downs, trials and tribulations of life. As a result, it is not a true escape, but a movie that makes you realize that life is something we all go through together.