So, last night was the Great Limo and Movie Night. To back up a bit, I should explain that crafty daughter is a 12-year-old reading whiz. She literally reads books in one sitting, often reading several books at once. She has been known to read her 5 year old brother’s library books…she will read books just about anything, except possibly math. Over the summer she participated in a reading program for teens at our local library. For every hour she read, she got a “book buck.” She also received book bucks for doing research at the library. By the end of the summer, she had accumulated over 1,000 book bucks.
All teens with book bocks entered an online auction for gift cards, movie passes, mall gift cards, and other items teens love. My daughter had her sights set on winning the limo ride with movie passes. Nothing would deter her from her goal. I, being a pessimist by nature, prepared her for the fact that she might not win. She would not listen to my protestations. In her mind she was going to be the winner. On auction day she entered her book bucks for the limo ride with movie passes. With great anticipation, she watched the computer screen waiting for the bids to be tallied. I made myself busy in the kitchen, so that I would be available should she not win. You see crafty daughter is an emotional person. She is either ecstatically happy or downright unhappy. You never know what you are going to get with her, so it is good to be prepared.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I heard her scream from the dining room. She was so excited to be the winner of the limo ride and movie passes. Almost without missing a beat, she was discussing what movie she would see and who she would take to the movie. You see crafty daughter is a kid who is interested in the next best thing. When she was little and we would ask her at the dinner table what her favorite part of the day was — she would always say something that was going to happen later in the evening. Yep, the next best thing was the limo ride with movie passes.
Twilight was her only movie of choice. To her there were no other movies worthy of the limo ride with movie passes. I told her not to talk to her friends until I had seen the movie review. I knew the film was PG-13 and well, readers (reader?) of this blog may recall that I have issues with 12-year-0ld’s watching PG-13 movies. But, the reviews only mentioned some violence and a single scene of sensuality, so she got my permission to tell her friends in October. I called her friend’s parents to ask them if they were able to come. I also mentioned the film’s rating to see if anyone had a problem…apparently, I was worrying for nothing.
The limo ride with movie passes could not have gone any smoother. So, crafty daughter, 4 of her friends, sporty daughter, myself, and the mom of one of her friends set off in the limo. Dad and adventure boy followed in dad’s car. Crafty daughter was insistent that little brothers were not welcome in the limo…given his current passion for annoying her, I heartily agree with her. Due to the rating of the film, my husband took sporty daughter (10) and adventure boy (5) to see Bold 3-D. All three loved it.
As the limo cruised to the movie theater the girls busied themselves with pouring soft drinks in fluted champagne glasses, blasting 99.5, calling the 99.5 DJ to request a tune, and writing their names in the steam on the windows. There is no way I would want to be a limo driver with a group of screaming 12-year-olds. Rick — you have my undying respect for putting up with this group!
The movie was, well it was definitely a teen flick. I can’t remember the last time I was in a movie theater and audience members screamed when the lead male character (Edward) came on the screen. That doesn’t happen at my movies. The characters were all unknown actors except for Peter Facinelli, who played the Dr. Cullen, the foster father of the 5 vampire kids. According to the girls who had read the book the story was reasonably true to the book…a change in sequence here and there, but that is all. The story kept my interest. The high school scenes could have come from any other school drama, but the vampire backstory held my attention. I wanted to know who these vampire people were and what their story was. I would give the movie 4 out of 5.
The kids all had a good time…really, who wouldn’t! Three girls spent the night and one had to go home as she had school the next day. The kids that stayed watched some TV, had ice cream, and put themselves to bed at 11:58 p.m. I’m telling you this is a first in our household. We have had sleepovers where some of the girls stayed up all night. Try explaining why a girl is a walking zombie to a parent at pickup time…AWK WARD.
2 comments for “Twilight and a Limo: A 12-Year-Old’s Dream Night Out”