We've got just the cutest video of Kaitlyn Being Bad. Plus a video of a beautiful pacing tiger that will make you smile.
Plus....Kaitlyn and I saw the movie Ratatouille and of course we've got a review.
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The Cape May Zoo
So what would a trip to the zoo be without some pics? Thus, above, we so provide.
Cape May is a little town a bit outside of Atlantic City, New Jersey. The town is known for its picturesque houses with gingerbread trim. In an attempt to capture Atlantic city visitors, the town built a little zoo only, to my surprise, it's not so little.
The Cape May zoo did indeed have lions, tigers and bears, oh my. Even more surprising, the animals in the zoo roamed handsome habitats created perfectly to allow visitor view while keeping the animals within content in an environment with which they are familiar.
Handsome and sturdy "boardwalks" snaked and slithered around the various exhibits. In one field we see a bevy of zebras, in another tall giraffes munch on trees, in yet another a lion roars.
Before we visited the zoo, however, Kaitlyn and I took a trip on the famous Lewes Delaware ferry. I love that ferry. I'd been on the ferry a few times before I moved to this area and now that it's but a few miles from my house I love it even more. In fact, I always choose a trip on the Cape May ferry as the first of this area's many tourist attractions to escort my guests.
Shuttle buses on the New Jersey side of the Delaware Bay take ferry riders to any one of a number of locales including Atlantic City, Cape May proper and, as with Kaitlyn and I, the Cape May Zoo.
Kaitlyn and I had a great time on our daylong adventure. A local charter school had a group of children signed up for a trip to the zoo and though Kaitlyn was only three compared to their ages from seven and up, Kaitlyn eagerly joined in with the group as they played on the ship's jungle gym or explored the ship's deck as it plowed through the waters. The Lewes ferry allows cars on for the trip and I've done that a time or two as well.
As one might imagine with a three year old and a long day, there was a time or two when Kaitlyn got a bit testy. The walk around the zoo was a bit of a challenge. Myself has gotten used to long walks as I walk a brisk mile every morning as part of my mid-life exercise routine. Kaitlyn would tire once in a while, however, and we had to sit down for the child to recoup.
Below are two videos that I made my own fine self. I not only recorded the action, I also "remixed" the clips and now there are two fine movie compilations guaranteed to bring a smile.
One remixed video is titled "Kaitlyn Being Bad". This video came about because Kaitlyn resorted to throwing a little tantrum a few times in the zoo, mostly when she didn't get her way. It rained all day while we were at the zoo although mostly the air was just very wet. I did have an umbrella but as these things go, Kaitlyn was way below the protection of the umbrella when I held it. A few rain drops would hit her head and Kaitlyn would throw a little hissy fit because she was getting wet, not that she wasn't already soaked through. So I gave her the umbrella to carry but that left grandmother, which would be me, with no protection at all from the raindrops. The child would sashay about with the umbrella over her little head while this old lady got all wet. At one point I noticed that Kaitlyn, now "protected" from the elements with my umbrella, was deliberately walking through the rain puddles. What was that all about? She didn't want the water falling on her head but she had no problem submerging her feet up to her ankles in water?
I got it all on tape.
The video below is a remix of a beautiful tiger taking a walk. Check it out.
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Kaitlyn Mae is what it's all about. No, not MY Kaitlyn Mae but her generation. For they are the children who we are charged with leaving a society and environment at least as moral and pristine as we inherited; ideally even better than we inherited.
So I document her life as one little American baby is born, grows and learns about life and the world around here.
Some examples below:
Kaitlyn's birth. Her mother amazed the medicos but unborn Kaitlyn's two grandmothers were not fooled.
Kaitlyn's first birthday party was a huge success. Although there was the mystery of Kaitlyn's rather unusual way of expressing her joy.
It was Kaitlyn's second Easter. She was but a little over a year old and such as giant rabbits did tend to scare the child.
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Ratatouille
He was a rat. Yet he wanted to be a chef.
Heh.
It’s an animated movie and when I first read the details in terms of starting times and film length, I noted the movie’s running time was 110. Understand that The Wise I had not been to a movie in over ten years but since I’ve stopped smoking and since Kaitlyn Mae was coming for a visit, I thought this cartoon film would be a great fit. Only I thought that 110 meant an hour and ten minutes. An hour and ten minutes is 70 minutes. That 110 meant 110 minutes, a good 40 minutes beyond my original mistaken estimate.
Kaitlyn is three years old but she’s generally well-behaved and if one keeps her busy brain occupied she can sit still for 70 minutes. It was after the movie had been playing for 70 minutes and seemed nowhere near the end that I realized what that 110 meant.
Kaitlyn had devoured a bucket of popcorn and still remained absorbed by the funny tale of a rat that would be a chef. She got antsy after another ten minutes. I took the child for a jaunt to the rest room and when we came back she settled back into the movie but that 110 minutes was about all the three year old could handle.
I consider it a tribute to the beauty of the animation and the fluidity of the plot that a three year old could sit through the movie’s entirety so well. For it was no easy feat to get the film’s protagonist away from his rat family feasting in the garbage dumps of Paris and into a world class Michelin four star restaurant.
I’m not convinced that Kaitlyn followed all the nuances of the film, and there were many, but she easily understood that this was a tale of a cartoon rat and something to do with a kitchen, knives and the possibly illegitimate son of a now deceased chef. That bit about illegitimacy is handled in a very subtle manner but enough was understood by even a young viewer that the plot kept flowing. The rat that would be a chef managed to surreptitiously help the son of a chef become a chef.
Oh, yes, and there’s a love angle. Heh.
It wasn’t easy building a plot that would have a rat controlling a would-be human chef but think tall chef’s hats that would effectively hide a culinary rat beneath. Think tufts of cartoon red hair that can be pulled right or can be pulled left by a rat hidden under the hat. Right means sauté; left means parboil.
This is a great movie for children and adults. It’s funny, colorful and impossibly cute. There are good guys and bad guys and did I tell you about the rat that wanted to be a chef?
This movie would be a great selection for a Friday night movie session for those younger than five. Pop some popcorn, get out some soda pop, lay a blanket on the floor, couple of pillows and pop in the “Ratatouille” DVD.
It’s clean family-oriented entertainment and even has a moral or two.
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Focus on....Movie Reviews
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"Brokeback Mountain" was heavily hyped as a homosexual film. Which it was. I found the relationship with one of the film's protagonists and his daughter to be more revealing about the character than any same-sex relationship depicted.
Tom Cruise's love is featured in "First Daughter", a film about, well, a first daughter. Only totally not believable.
"Chicken Little" is an animated film about, well something about a sky falling. Kaitlyn Mae watched this movie six times in one weekend. Read why this movie appeals to children so.
This post features reviews of BOTH "Poseidon" movies. The best one chosen might surprise.
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