A night at the drive in

Friday we planned on taking the all six children to the drive in that is at least an hour drive from hour house. That planned quickly failed when the tahoe would not start. So we unloaded and unpacked six kids from the car. Plan B was to fix the tahoe and go saturday night. Tahoe fixed, we hoped. Saturday came and again we started the process of packing the car with blankets pillows and concealed outside food. Our hopes soon faded with the first turn of the key. They didn't get any higher with the other thirty turns that followed. Plan C was to borrow a car from a family member. The children and I unloaded the tahoe and transferred everything into the trunk of my car while we waited for car number 2 to arrive. With the arrival of car number 2 we quickly buckeled all six kids into the two cars and headed out to the drive in. After what seemed like forever we arrived at the drive in. The entire ride I was worried we would get there last and miss the start of the movie. Not to mention would there even be two spaces next to one another. The weather forecast of isolated thunderstorms was not one of my worries what were the odds. As soon as we turned into the lot I was relieved to see that we were not the only ones just getting there. There was about five cars in front of us. You would think that paying was a quick process. Not when it is an 80 year old woman. While waiting I had imagined all the conversations she was having with the cars in front of us. "How is your mom?" "Tell her I said hi." "Oh wow are your kiddos getting big! How old are they now?" After all we live in a small tight knit area where everyone knows everyone. Any other day this would not have bothered me but after putting forth such effort to get here and enjoy the night, the thought of her stopping to talk was irritating. Finally it was our turn. She walked up to my window and asked how many and the ages of my kids so as that she could slowly do the mental math in her head. Then she asked me if we had any outside food or drink. I had a flash of my children tellin her "Yes we have chips and the huggies we take to camp." Thankfully they were to focused on getting inside. I quickly responded with NO. There was no way I was paying $3.00 for a box of skittles! Once inside the fence we drove to a spot that allowed us to park next to eachother. The movie had just started. We unloaded and set up the chairs and blankets and pillows and began passing around our outside food and drink. There was a truck of four adults to our left and a couple on a car on our right. The first movie was eclipse. The movie plot gave and array of mixed emotions among my kids. While a few were excited to see werewolves and vampires a few were scared. This made for alot of reassuring that there would be no vampires or werewolves coming to eat anyone anytime soon. To top off the event the isolated thunderstorms had isolated themselves not far from us. It was quite the light show. Although for some reason it didn't seem to alarm the children in the least. At one point I was certain it would pour down rain but it held off. The first movie ended without any real melt downs from any of the kids including the baby. Intermission made for and eventful half hour which seemed like three hours. The baby was over sitting in the car so we set her on the blanket. She has a weird fear of grass. She isn't fond of touching it with her hands. This helped with keeping her on the blanket. The rest of the kids were dancing and releasing all the pent up energy they had accquired during the last movie. I laid on the blanket with my boyfriend and our baby. The children were getting louder and louder. My first instinct was to rally them all and have the inside voice talk. Instead I left them go and hoped that the nieghboring cars would not get mad. The second movie started just in time. I was close to putting them all in the car to go home. I wish I could tell you what the second movie was like but I am way to old for the drive in. I fell asleep. Not sure if the kids made it thru the movie either. The drive home was dark and long. My eyes were still a little fuzzy from my nap. We made it home by 2:30am. The drive in was not as fun as it once was when I was younger. It used to be fun to go and hang out and see friends and act up. I guess it still is fun just in a different way. It was fun to see the kids reclined in the driver seat and working the wipers. Watching them use there blankets as capes and running in circles. This almost seemed to happen in slow motion like in the movies during a flash back. None the less I did enjoy every minute of it. Especially the nap!