For our family The Secret Life of Pets was one of the most surprisingly fun times at the movies in recent memory. It took a simple premise, blew it into the absurd and still managed to bring it all together for an incredibly entertaining movie. The Secret Life of Pets 2 hits theaters on June 7, but if you live in Atlanta you can get a family 4-pack of tickets to the sneak preview on June 4. I know, summer, free movie and an all but guaranteed fun time for the family-count us in.
This is the tenth animated feature from Illumination. They have a signature brand of slight irreverence and subversive humor. Max has life changes because his owner has a baby now. Queue in a family trip to a farm,intolerant cows, hostile foxes; a veteran farm dog Rooster (Harrison Ford, making his animated-film debut) and you’ve got the makings for a fun, well-rounded time at the movies for ages 7 and up. Oh, of course Snowball is back, except this time he has a superhero complex.
This Atlanta sneak preview of The Secret Life of Pets 2 is Tuesday, June 4 at 7PM. To enter to win just RT this or leave a comment below. There are 8 four-packs of tickets to give away. Winners will have the complete details sent to them on Friday, May 31.
A con to a kid can be a fabulous and our kid’s favorite one is MomoCon. They’ve been attending MomoCon since they were 4 and 6 years old. As each year has passed they’ve been more eloquently able to say, “When is the next MomoCon?” True to previous years, MomoCon 2019 is right near the end of their school year. I’m not sure if they’re more excited about the end of school or going to MomoCon.
MomoCon is held in Atlanta and is utterly family friendly. There
is a massive amount of cosplay and unlike some other cons that you might have
attended; these costumes are mostly family friendly. You won’t see any creepy
clowns or costumes that don’t leave much to the imagination. Instead you’ll see
cosplay that’s inspired from manga, video games and some classic anime characters.
From its parent’s guide, “MomoCon is intended to be an all-ages event”. The art dealers and vendors on the floor don’t sell adult material and the panels that might have language you don’t want kids to hear will be clearly labeled with a warning. Of course, kids won’t even notice these things. I mention them to you because you might have hesitation about taking a kid to a con, much less a huge con that will attract tens of thousands of people on a given day.
For our kids it’s all about the games and MomoCon has over
180,000 sq ft of open gaming. That amount of video game space is among the
largest of any convention in the United States. When we go, it’s an area that
we could easily spend hours in that space alone. This includes classic video
games (hello Robotron!!!), pinball and the latest full size arcade games from
Japan. It’s worth noting that all of these games are also OK for the kids, our
boys, now 7 and 9 loved going from game to game and trying them out. Yes, all
of these games were free, no quarters needed, just a little patience for those
more popular games that might have a line.
We also enjoy the gaming area. There is a massive board game area where you can check out almost any board game you want to play. When we sat down I was unsure how to play the game that our boys had requested. I fumbled around for a moment when a MomoCon volunteer sat down beside us, set up the board game for us and played along so that we’d get the hang of it. There are also plenty of LARP events, D&D and other RPGS happening, plus any card game that people are collecting.
And those are just the games. For kids under 10 those things, plus simply walking around and enjoying the costumes will be their entertainment. If you’re a fan of things anime, nerdcore, cosplay, Japan, Disney, cartoons or more then there is a panel for you! These panels will vary as to when they are and younger audiences won’t have the patience to sit through them, but those middle school audiences who want a deeper dive into what interests them will love going to some of them. Obviously, that age will need to have an adult present with them, but those moms and dads can simply sit a couple rows back.
Factor in some cosplay, a photo shoot around every corner,
cool people everywhere and you’ve got an amazing time out with the family. This
is a con done right for the family. It does have some older elements, but they’re
scheduled late at night, so the kids will be home long before then.
Ages 9 and younger are free to MomoCon and prices increase on May 9, so get your badges before that happens. Entrance will vary from $35-$80, depending upon when you order your tickets, how many days you want to go and so forth. It happens May 23-26 in Atlanta at Georgia World Congress Center.
I love it when our kids get pumped about the same film that we are. I heard our 9 year-old laughing as he was watching a trailer on the tablet the other week. “Daddy, when does Missing Link come out”?, he said from the other room. Missing Link, rated PG, comes out on April 12 and it’s from Laika, a studio that can do no wrong in our book. The technical precision that started in Coraline is continuing with Missing Link and we’re giving away family four-packs of tickets to the sneak preview in Atlanta on Saturday, April 6.
Sir Lionel Frost (left) voiced by Hugh Jackman and Mr. Link (right) voiced by Zach Galifianakis in director Chris Butler’s MISSING LINK, a Laika Studios Production and Annapurna Pictures release. Credit : Laika Studios / Annapurna Pictures
I’m a fan of stop-animation. I admire the precision and
passion that go into each movement, as well as, the uniqueness that it displays
on film. Granted some standard animated films get close to that feeling, but
something is just not quite the same. I’ll also submit that a bad script can’t
overcome the beauty of the how it’s created.
To that end Missing Link look s like it’s set up Laika for a solid,
entertaining film.
The trailer has some nice physical gags to entertain younger viewers and the dialogue appears to be sharply written with just enough dry humor to touch older audiences. Of course, all of this is mute until audiences can see the film and render a verdict for themselves. The sneak preview of Missing Link in Atlanta is Saturday, April 6. It’s in the morning and we’ll let winners know exactly when and where the showing will be. Hint: It’ll be around midtown…., so it’s centrally located to wherever you are around the ATL.
To enter, just leave a comment in this post or RT the tweet. We’ve got a handful of 4-packs to give away.
For the past two weekends we’ve been attending events put on by Atlanta Science Festival. We learned about this event when the boys and I went to Dragon Con last year and each event that we’ve been to has been incrementally better-with each event being great fun. Atlanta Science Festival ends on March 23 with Exploration Expo. As part of Exploration Expo, Google’s Digital Village is happening to allow kids a hands-on coding workshop.
Exploration Expo is Saturday, March 23 from 11-4 at Piedmont
Park. It features hundreds of STEM-focused activities, all which are family
friendly. There will be interactive booths from local organizations,
universities, clubs, companies and more. You’ll see a 3D printer, touch a
python (the animal, not the computer….) and do most anything to help minds of
all ages question, grow and appreciate science.
Our 9 year-old has loved all of the events that he’s been to this year. After the first event, appropriately called Mathapalooza, he asked, “Daddy, can I skip school tomorrow to do more with the science festival”? Alas the answer to that question was no, but I’m certain that he’ll have a blast at Exploration Expo and Google’s Digital Village.
You do need to RSVP to attend Google’s Digital Village, but like almost all of the events at Atlanta Science Festival, it’s free! So, RSVP quickly because admittance is limited to 30 people per session and there are only three sessions that day, at 11, 12:30 and 3:00 p.m. Parents and guardians do need to be present. Google’s Digital Village is recommended for middle school students. However, if you have a computer curious or even savvy, middle to upper elementary school student it’s worth checking out.
Also at the workshop is Google’s gravity-powered race car. A
gravity powered race car, as Marty McFly would say, “That’s heavy”, closely
followed by Doc Brown questioning the problem with Earth’s gravitational pull
in the future.
For our family one thing that indicates the final days of
winter is Monster Jam. It’s not set in stone, but for the past couple of years
Monster Jam has been in Atlanta in late February. And since our children are
nine and seven-and can only remember a couple of years back, they associate
Monster Jam with that, as well as giant trucks smashing stuff, doing flips,
endoes, wheelies, pogoing, dropping the hammer and more. Monster Jam has become
one of our go-to family friendly events that we look forward to every year.
This year Monster Jam is coming to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on February 23 and 24th.
We’re giving away a family 4- pack of tickets to Monster Jam for opening night
in Atlanta on February 23. To enter just RT this or leave a comment on this
post. This giveaway ends on February 6.
Is Monster Jam a family friendly experience? Yes. It’s loud
(wear ear protection-or come early enough to where you can purchase some at the
stadium), so come prepared. Be sure to come early so that the kids can enjoy
the benefits of the Pit Pass. That’s when you can walk the course, get close to
the monster trucks, meet the drivers, do some crafts or purchase any number of
cool Monster Jam toys. There is absolutely nothing to worry about for kids
(content wise) at a Monster Jam event.
This is 100% adrenaline and you don’t need to know anything
about how the sport works. Essentially, a Monster Jam event is divided into two
portions. The first half is a race where two trucks to head to head in a timed
event. The second half is where the winners of that first heat move on to free
style action. Monster Jam never disappoints us and I can guarantee that it’ll
be one of the family highlights in 2019.
This Monster Jam giveaway is for 4-tickets to the Atlanta show, February 23 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The winner will be chosen at 10:00 PM on 2/6. To enter just leave a comment in the post or RT the tweet:
Marvel fans of any age get ready to assemble to see a live, in-person show of The Avengers, The Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. Where The Avengers go, Loki isn’t far behind and this time he’s the heel as he’s in search of the Wand of Watoomb. Joining Loki on the villain side are Green Goblin, Yondu and more as they battle it out in a stunt spectacular that our kids have been pining to see for the past two years. Marvel Universe LIVE! is appearing at State Farm Arena February 17-18 and at Infinite Energy Arena from February 23-24.
This year, Star-Lord, Gamora, Rocket, Drax and Groot make their debut to Marvel Universe LIVE! From the get-go of their most recent comic book incarnation Guardians of the Galaxy have captivated us. They’re irreverent, but still family friendly, and add a nice (and needed) imperfect, rag tag exclamation to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
To register to win a family 4-pack of passes to the show on 2/23 at Infinite Energy Arena just leave a comment in the post or RT this:
Marvel Universe LIVE! is full on adrenaline with martial arts, motorcycle stunts, 3D video projections, special effects, aerial maneuvers and explosions to make it a family friendly, night out that kids will be OK with-and want to witness. Tickets for this extravaganza start at only $25-and for a two-hour show that is something young kids will remember for a number of years that’s a bargain.
Our 9-year-old hasn’t warmed up to much of the Marvel films yet, mainly because he thinks they’ll be scary. His 7-year-old brother is chomping at the bit to see them. They’ve both seen Ant-Man and the Wasp and loved it. This has baited their hook for all things Marvel and Marvel Universe LIVE! is the next stop on this train.
We’re giving away a family 4-pack of tickets to Marvel Universe LIVE! when it stops in Duluth at Infinite Energy Arena on February 23. This is great, family friendly fun-good luck! To register, just leave a comment below or RT this.
I don’t really want to spend time in a garden, thank you very much. I was thinking that too in regards to our visit to Callaway Gardens. One of the key reasons we were going there was so that the kids could see their world famous, Fantasy In Lights festival that happens every year from the middle of November through early January. Our time at Callaway Gardens was amazing and ironically the main reason for going turned out to be one of the least enjoyable things there, but that was not the fault of the facility-more on that in a moment.
Located about an hour south of the Atlanta airport, Callaway Gardens is a massive series of lakes, golf courses, nature and forests in Pine Mountain, Georgia. If you like to do something outside you’ll find it here. When you visit during the warm season any and all water activities are at Robin Lake, which is the world’s largest man-made lake. During the Christmas season you’ve got Fantasy In Lights, spring has everything blooming and fall has more tree color than the north Georgia mountains-really.
It also immediately reminded me of Meatballs. Did you ever see that movie? It’s an early Bill Murray comedy where he plays a summer camp counselor. It was released in 1979, a year before Little Darlings, another classic summer camp movie. Think that movie, but without Christy McNichol, no teen virginity contest and a whole lot funnier and you’ve got Meatballs.
We stayed in one of these cottages and it was country
luxury. Each place has two separate bedrooms, each with two queen beds and its
own bath. The bedrooms are on opposite ends of the cottage also which allows
for a little bit of privacy between family members. They have a working
fireplace and a screened in porch on the back also. The cottages are within eyesight
of other cottages, but seem like they’re a world away due to the sheer number
of trees.
The butterfly exhibit was stunning. Yeah, you’ve seen butterfly exhibits at your nature center, so have I. However, the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center blew them all away, with their hundreds, upon hundreds of multi-colored, delicate winged insects. The difference is that the Day Butterfly Center gets in new chrysalis every single day. They import them from out of the country so that the circle of life is always turning. They even have a live hatching station where you can watch the chrysalis hang upside down, waiting for the butterflies to hatch.
When you enter the main area you won’t be assaulted by
butterflies, but they are there. Here the butterflies have more space to fly
and they take full advantage of it. Once you walk around the sealed area you’ll
discover hundreds of butterflies, many of which have colors that you’ve never
seen. I saw a bright blue, forest green and one butterfly that was a big as a
small bird. These were colors that I’d previously never seen in nature, yet
here this delicate week old creatures were, blissfully celebrating their
mid-life crisis. Even if you’re not a
nature person, this is one butterfly center that will delight you in unexpected
ways.
It’s important to point out that even the kids enjoyed the butterflies, but they were also eager to get to the next thing, TreeTop Adventure. As they are 9 and 7 they hooked into the Sapling Course. It’s a ropes course that was perfect for both of them, to an extent. The younger one was howling with laughter while the older one was playing it cool and realized that he could’ve done Discovery Course, the bigger, taller and longer course. The ropes course is an additional fee to the park’s admission, but is great fun.
The Birds of Prey show was also amazing. It was too windy
for the show to be outside so they held it inside-and it was still amazing. They
had several live raptors and explained why and how the birds came to be with
them. It turns out that most of the bird had been ‘helped’ by humans when they
were babies. Unfortunately, the birds lost their ability to care for themselves
and now reside there in a safe area. Bottom line: if you see a bird on the
ground who is struggling to fly- do not help them.
There are also bike paths that meander all over the property. You can rent a bike for the full or half day, better yet, stay there for a couple of days and bring your own bike. Callaway Gardens has festivals for every month and you’ll find yourself wondering what it’s like to visit it in March, April, June, August or any other time.
Ironically, the only aspect of our trip to Callaway Gardens that didn’t measure up was Festival In Lights and that was due to 4 teenagers being seated near us. The light show and narration is very cute and lots of fun. However, those who don’t enjoy light shows or are 11 through 18 will probably find it boring and result to annoying those around you instead. Factor in that Fantasy In Lights cost $35 for same day admission, that’s a lot of cash to dole out on a tween audience that won’t appreciate it. Hint: buy your tickets in advance and you’ll save about 50%.
Our younger children loved the light show and couldn’t get
enough of the narration and well timed millions of lights. Regardless of when
you go to Festival In Lights you will want to take a blanket. The trolley is
slow moving and the breeze coming off of the lake will be very cold.
Our one night stay at Callaway Gardens was too short. In totality it was two days, but even that amount of time didn’t allow us to rent bikes, explore the trails or see all of what the facility has offer. We’ll go back again, in a different season and most likely have a fabulous time for an entirely different reason.
Vice is the story of Dick Cheney and it’s from the director
of The Big Short, Adam McKay. It’s being released on December 25 and has
already been nominated for 6 Golden Globe Awards, as well as, 23 other awards.
The cast reads like an actors and actress fantasy lineup, Christen Bale at Dick
Cheney, Amy Adams ad Lynne Cheney, Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld, Sam
Rockwell and George W. Bush, Tyler Perry as Colin Powell and many others. The
film is rated R for language and adult situations.
This is a film that adult will crave and most people under
18 would avoid. The exception to this would be those high school students that
want to see the story of Dick Cheney’s background and how he reshaped the Vice
Presidency.
The Atlanta sneak preview of Vice is Tuesday, December 18 at
7:00. We’re giving away 25 pairs of tickets to the show. If you want to be one
of the first people, outside of the award circuit, to see Vice just RT this:
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