Category Archives: Family Adventures

Disney, Family Adventures, Movie, Photo-A-Day

Family Night in Boston to See Onward

Onward and Onward

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00428

Tonight we went into Boston to see the movie Onward. It arrives in Theaters on Thursday. We adored this movie It was so heartfelt and genuine with great characters and complex family dynamics. It is an excellent family movie. We had advanced press screening passes to see the movie and I am very glad because this was a movie that Andy has been looking forward to seeing or a while. He’s been reading the books, mostly the one of puns and jokes, and mentioned it every time the commercial came on TV. I think he even convinced Allison to take him to McDonald’s because there was an Onward Happy Meal.

The movie stars Chris Pratt and Tom Holland as elven brothers Barley and Ian Lightfoot. They are on a quest to bring their father back for one day. As you can see from the commercials the spell does not go quite as planned so the go on this journey. There is so much more to the journey than what you see in the commercials. Here are a few videos that delve behind the scenes of the movie, but no spoilers.

The cast speaks about the movie.

Teaser Trailer

Oh and these guys are hilarious as they do a reaction video to their own movie trailer.

The movie was directed by Dan Scanlon who was the first Pixar director that I had ever met back on my very first Pixar trip with Disney. Back when I was a part of that crew. The trip was for Monsters University and I got to have a great conversation with Dan. The guy knows how to make emotionally touching movies from the heart. Or rather from his heart’s fire. This movie was inspired by livfe with his own brother. You can read the interview about the Monsters University Event and then please go and see Onward. It was very special. When the movie was over we all had our favorite part and it was the same for everyone. I bet it is for you as well. More about the movie below

ONWARD
DISNEY AND PIXAR

U.S. Theatrical Release Date: March 6, 2020
Voice Cast: Chris Pratt, Tom Holland, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Octavia Spencer, Mel Rodriguez, Lena Waithe, Ali Wong.
Director: Dan Scanlon
Producer: Kori Rae
Composers: Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna

When teenage elf brothers Ian and Barley Lightfoot (voices of Tom Holland and Chris Pratt) get an unexpected opportunity to spend one more day with their late dad, they embark on an extraordinary quest aboard Barley’s epic van Guinevere. Like any good quest, their journey is filled with magic spells, cryptic maps, impossible obstacles and unimaginable discoveries. But when the boys’ fearless mom Laurel (voice of Julia Louis-Dreyfus) realizes her sons are missing, she teams up with a part-lion, part-bat, part-scorpion, former warrior – aka The Manticore (voice of Octavia Spencer) – and heads off to find them. Perilous curses aside, this one magical day could mean more than any of them ever dreamed. Directed by Dan Scanlon and produced by Kori Rae, Disney and Pixar’s “Onward” opens in U.S. theaters on March 6, 2020.

Family Adventures, Photo-A-Day

The Kid’s First Day On the Slopes

A Day on the slopes

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00415

I took the kids on their first skiing/snowboarding trip ever. Our parish had a bus trip to Pat’s Peak. I went as a chaperone for the trip. I’ve been part of the Youth Group planning team and went to get my face in front of the kids in our churches. I’m not sure if I really accomplished that too much but I did have a fun time with the kids.

We had the kids enrolled in lessons and they both tried out snowboarding.

the day started out rather rough for Andrew. He got frustrated with snowboarding and was near giving up. I had stuck around to watch the kids in their lesson and try and get some photos. It was hard for me not to completely step in and give him an out. But I knew I couldn’t do that so quickly. An instructor got him going again and once he got up the hill on the Magic Carpet and then came back down the hill he was happy to keep trying. The thing that Andrew did not like was walking with the board. He kept falling and falling. Then he figured out his own way. Instead of taking one foot out of the board and walking he would crawl, shimmy and shake and get to the magic carpet while staying attached to the board. He’s nothing if not persistent in finding his own way to do things.

Eva got the hang of things a bit quicker. They both fell a lot but they both got back up. That is the most important thing.

I went off from time to time to take my own runs. I’m pretty sure that I haven’t been on skis in about 15 years and I was able to pick it right back up. I knew I’d be sore the next day, though and I had Krav class to go to where I’d have to do a lot of moving around. I had some nice runs and turned in once I had enough.

Andrew rode up and back with me in the bus. He had some things to entertain himself. Eva rode up on her own seat by herself but she was fine with that, she had a lot of stuff to keep er occupied. However, on the way home one of the other chaperones asked if he could switch seats with me so that his son could play Magic the Gathering. I told him that Eva wanted to learn how to play that game. We had played together before and we just don’t know that much about the game but this kid did and so I suggested that maybe he teach Eva. They had a great time together. They played until they got bored with that and then shared some earbuds to watch Captain Marvel. She’s still talking about playing Magic.