night at the smithsonian

They're filming the sequel to "Night at the Museum" in D.C. this week, and for some reason this makes me inexplicably happy. I never saw the first movie, but I'm always excited about seeing something filmed in a place where we spend so much of our time. (When we lived in Cambridge, Mass., my husband and I rented every movie about Harvard that we could find, including "How High," which didn't even attempt to make it look as if it were taking place in the Northeast.)

Anyway, we spent Sunday buzzing in and out of museums with our friends Tom and Cece and I passed a display at Natural History that could be a horror movie unto itself. This particular display has fascinated me ever since my kids and I first ran into it a couple of years ago during a mad race to the bathroom. My son stopped dead in his tracks, his bodily needs temporarily frozen.
"What's THAT?
"What are they DOING?
"What is WRONG WITH THAT MAN?"
The exhibit was a little dusty when we first saw it, and I seem to remember red lights, but maybe I made that part up. Anyway, I was glad to be able to share it with Tom and Cece, if not our children, whose eyes were covered. And I snapped a couple of pictures so I could share it with you. At the very least, this helped me grasp why the theory of evolution is a little scary for some people...

holiday movies, first snow

The fact that I don't celebrate Christmas doesn't keep me from enjoying Christmas movies -- the sappier the better. Does it star John Denver as an architect trying to find a new life for his daughter and his bad, widowed self? Does it star Dolly Parton as a platinum snow white with a bunch of orphans? Tori Spelling as self-absorbed TV star visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future? With William Shatner? And Gary Coleman? I am SO THERE. And even though I know they're bad (really bad) I cry every darn time.

Some better holiday movies:
The Bishop's Wife (the original -- with Loretta, not Whitney)
Elf (I might even let my kids watch it this year. Extra points because the grumpy dad is in children's publishing)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original -- Jim Carrey isn't fit to wipe Dr. Seuss's shoes)
Groundhog Day (It's not Christmas but ever since Rushmore I can watch Bill Murray in anything)
PeeWee's Christmas Special (extra points because the dinosaur family celebrates Chanukah)

Today was the first snow of the season. It was white and fluffy and beautiful and made me forget -- just for a bit -- about the threat of global warming.

We always make it a point to go out and play as soon as the snow's deep enough, even if it's dark, so that if it melts in the morning we won't hate ourselves. We were out there until 9.

Accomplishments:
1 successful snowball fight (no one got hurt)
1 shoveled driveway (more on that later or tomorrow)
1 ride on a sled (okay, it was a boogie board, but it worked)
3 bowls of snowcream (add a half a teaspoon of vanilla and a few teaspoons of sugar to milk. Stir into fresh snow. )