Happy Halloween - Annual family JibJab video

I guess doing it two years in a row kind of makes it a tradition.

Enjoy this cheesy Halloween video from JibJab with my family having some Halloween fun.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

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Weekend Getaway - A Trip to Eden

Last weekend was "UEA" which basically means the kids get a 4 day weekend from school. A month or two ago, we bought a groupon-style weekend getaway to Snowberry Inn Bed & Breakfast up in Eden. We figured it would make a fun little last-hoorah mini-vacation before winter hit.

It ended up being wonderfully timed as well because Lynette has just been scheduled for hip surgery this coming week, so it was awesome to be able to get away and have some relaxing, traveling, out of doors fun before she's bed-ridden for lengthy recovery.

On the way up, we went along Trappers Loop and around the East side of Pineview Reservoir. It's been a long time since I'd driven Trappers and it was fun to see the rolling hills as we skirted through the mountains.

The kids made it nearly all the way to Eden before asking "are we there yet?". As we followed the directions to Snowberry, I thought maybe the magical Interwebs had come up with a bad address.

Coming from the southeast, we were directed along the southern edge of Eden from the East side of town across to what I figured was the road out of town and started driving southwest along the Highway towards Ogden.

A mile or so down the road, we spotted the sign and a few hundred yards off the highway, we spotted our Inn.

Snowberry is a nice, well kept 3-level cabin with probably 8 or 9 guest rooms. Since it was my wife and the kids, we had booked the Sundance suite.

As we carried our luggage to the room, the kids were excited to find an entertainment room with videos, a pool table and a foosball table on our basement level.

The room was quite nice…it was set up studio style with a kitchen joining onto a living room furnished with a futon and two fold out chairs. Off the living room area was a separate bedroom.

The entire cabin was furnished with a sort of ski theme. We had some fun rustic styled decorations that made the place feel homey and cozy.

We explored the rest of the cabin for a few minutes. The main level had the dining area with 3 or 4 tables for us all to catch breakfast in the morning. The top level had a piano and chess table set up on the landing. Winding around there was a common room with TVs, an exercise machine, checkers and other general entertainment. There were shelves and shelves of books, videos and a few board games. Outside the huge windows was a great view of the valley.

We drove into Eden for dinner. Using Yelp, I'd found Harley & Buck's which sounded like fun. It was a little (ok, a lot) pricier than we had planned, but it made for a fun night. Jason had been wanting to try sushi, so I ordered a roll for us to share…sadly I think the thing barely touched his tongue before it was spewed back onto his plate. He's not a fan. Otherwise, everybody enjoyed the food…very tasty. Once again we had a great view overlooking the valley with a golf course stretching out beneath us.

Back at Snowberry, the kids plopped down with some Disney Channel fun while Lynette and I relaxed in the hot tub while twilight rolled in. As it started getting dark, they lit up strings of lights along the eaves of the cabin for a very pretty sight. Back in the room, we pulled out the board games we had packed. First we played a little UNO and then broke into groups. The boys and I played some Settlers of Catan while the girls played Cartagena for a while before we all hit the sack.

In the morning, we headed upstairs to join the other guests for breakfast. Based on what I saw, I'd say the Inn was at probably ~75% capacity. Luckily, the groups were staggered enough that there was always seating at the tables, but there was a point where all of the chairs were occupied such that if any other guests had come in, they would've had to wait.

 The food was decent, but nothing spectacular. The kids weren't big fans of the Egg casserole dish (almost a crustless quiche, but not quite). Unfortunately, they were running low on french toast sticks, which would likely have been the most popular item for the kids. Fortunately, they had cereal, fruit, hash browns, sausage, bacon and other staples that the kids gobbled down.

After breakfast, we went for a little mini-hike. We had fences around us but we were able to keep walking up the road the Inn was on for a nice little hike up into the mountain. The uneven road quickly became a dirt road, then mud and grass covered and finally turned into a pair of lines worn by tires but mostly overgrown with grass and weeds.

We hiked past a run down house and garage that looked tied to the Inn property. A bit further we came across some other homes that looked maintained, though we didn't see any occupants. As we got higher, we could see the valley stretch out below us.

 Sunlight was reflecting off the water in the reservoir making it shimmer. We could see a few horses in the fields and the kids had fun looking for deer and other animal tracks in the soft dirt along the road.

After our hike, we went back to our room and relaxed for a little bit before packing up. Before heading out of town, we decided to grab some lunch at Eats of Eden.


It was still a little early for lunch, so first we went down to the Eden City Park and let the kids play for a bit. Lynette and Andrew walked across the park to take a look at a gravestone in the corner that turned out to be a WWII memorial.

Andrew was very excited about the old bell they had next to the gravestone…which he rang and hurried back to ask the rest of us if we'd heard it all the way across the park.

Lunch at Eats of Eden was nothing terribly spectacular, but it was decently priced standard fair and got our bellies full for the trip home.

For the drive home, we went through Ogden canyon to surround ourselves by the high mountain walls and the gorgeous changing colors of the trees.

After the multiple walks, Lynette's legs weren't feeling great (she's looking forward to this surgery) but otherwise, we'd all had a great time and it was a fabulous end to our vacationing season.

After all, how can you go wrong when you take a trip to a place called Eden, right? :)

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Review - The Ruins of Gorlan (The Ranger's Apprentice: Book One)

The Ruins of Gorlanis the first book in the Ranger's Apprentice series and it has left me wanting more. The book is geared towards younger, presumably middle-grade readers. There are now 10 books in the series and from what I hear, the adventures just continue to be a lot of fun.

The concept of the books is a somewhat standard trope for the ~medieval-fantasy-adventure genre. Our main character is Will, a young boy orphaned after a great battle and taken in by the local Lord. Over the years, he makes plenty of friends and enemies. Not knowing for sure who his parents were, he's created his own fantasy idea of what his father did in the great war of the past and the type of soldier and martyr he was. Will's big dream is to become a great soldier in the manner of his father.

As the book begins, the time has come for Will, and his friends, to be apprenticed to a trade. Even though Will hopes to become a knight but he's not a "physical presence" and so is passed over. He's unsure what, if any trade, he might be suited for and is ready to accept inevitable disappointment when he suddenly finds himself apprenticed into the shady trade of Ranger. His new master Halt seems aloof and harsh. Throughout the kingdom, there is a lot of respect for rangers, but also a huge feeling of suspicion, distrust and fear.

The book serves as a good jumping off point for the series. While there are a lot of stereotypical plot points and characterizations, the book surprisingly works to present us with vivid characters who grow and evolve. The book is centered primarily on Will and his training and development, but we also see interactions with other apprentices and rangers in the kingdom that help flesh out the world.

This is the first book in the series and so it serves largely as a vehicle for character development and plot setup, there is an ominous adventure brewing in the background. Towards the end of the book, these background events come to the forefront and present our characters with a tense adventure. The setup throughout the novel has given us the information that makes this adventure more suspenseful and climactic. As might be expected, the adventure leads to confrontations in which Will must stretch himself to be more than an apprentice and prove to himself and others that he has the potential to become a great apprentice.

This is definitely a book geared towards a younger audience but I still found it to be a lot of fun. It's well written and well constructed. The content is adventurous enough to keep readers engaged while not being so intense as to turn off or frighten younger readers. I acknowledge that the overall adventure of this particular book is somewhat thin, but I can set that aside as I acknowledge that this book has a lot of setup for what looks to be a rather engaging series. Even with all of the setup work going on in this book, it still has a significant enough "stand alone" adventure to make this book a fun and fulfilling read. I look forward to continuing on through the series to see what else Will and his friends encounter.


3.5 out of 5 stars

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Review - Stranger in a Strange Land

I've often heard Stranger in a Strange Land referred to as THE quintessential science fiction novel. I purchased a copy two decades ago and only barely got around to reading it. The edition I have is apparently the "original uncut" version and I'm not sure what exactly was originally cut out or what has now been returned. I can see some places where editors may have decided to trim or streamline various scenes as well as some areas that may have been "edited" in an attempt to stem censorship.

When thinking of the sci-fi genre, I think a lot of us may envision star wars / star trek or other expeditions in space, interacting with alien creatures, dealing with amazing futuristic technology. In that vein of thinking, this particular book actually feels a little "light" in terms of stereotypical sci-fi. At the same time, it really is a landmark in science fiction for the subtle weaving of futuristic technology and thinking into a thoughtful and often philosophical narrative showing the interaction of humans one with another. There are plenty of futuristic sci-fi elements. But they are there as backdrop elements to create an intricate stage for the characters.

In many ways I preferred this more "subtle" approach to sci-fi. Rather than being blatantly "in your face" about the science fiction elements, Heinlein integrates them calmly and gently into the story in a way that makes them feel all the more realistic. Some of the futuristic technology is very compelling…others (as would be expected) feel somewhat dated now that we are 50 years past the original publication date and have seen countless technological advances.

I find myself reacting to this book on a number of different levels. Mostly, I found this book as a thought provoking work filled with philosophical wanderings. More than its science fiction elements, this book is heavily filled with discussions and commentary on human nature, political/corporate nature, the ideas of freedom and responsibility and other overarching concepts. It serves as an exploration of humanity from an "external" perspective…attempting to shed human bias and look at the nature of "being" in a new light.

The general "plot" of the story is actually pretty interesting and rather compelling…a human born on Mars and raised by Martians. He not only learns their culture but is able to learn to use their extraordinary abilities (forms of telekinesis, telepathy, and other "mind over matter"/psychic abilities). He returns to Earth very naive as to our ways and free from our prejudices and earthy concepts. He tries to learn how to be a good human but eventually decides he should also try to teach humanity the great things that Martians comprehend.

While the plot is intriguing, the heart of the book is in the learning of the Human-Martian Valentine Michael Smith. He is obviously full of questions and soaks up knowledge like a sponge. He engages in many, many question and answer sessions with various characters and draws numerous conclusions about humanity.

While I definitely don't agree with all of the conclusions posed by Heinlein in this book, I will grant that he poses many interesting questions and creates some very intriguing discussions between his characters. The book is filled with vibrant characters that each serve as a different Foil for Smith in his search for truth and knowledge.

Generally speaking, I enjoyed this book. I found the characters and the plot vivid and intriguing. I liked the depth and breadth of the futuristic world that Heinlein created. I sometimes felt a little bit bogged down in the philosophy and lengthy discourses, but also found them interesting and thought provoking. In addition to the general philosophical discussions, I found myself thinking about the 'nature vs nurture' debates and seeing these philosophical arguments through the question of "what is natural". I was a little put off by the seemingly 1960s-esque jump to free-love that Smith and his follower took. It seemed a little bit of a stretch but by the same token was believable given Smith's nature and perception.

I don't think I would fall in with those who praise this as the "greatest science fiction novel ever" but I can appreciate it and recognize it as a well written and very thoughtful novel that I'm glad to have finally read. As a science-fiction novel, I feel like it falls a little short. As a literary and philosophical work, I think it excels and puts forth some well constructed ideas. An intriguing book worth reading at least once.


3.5 out of 5 stars

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Review - The Orphan of Awkward Falls

I read about The Orphan of Awkward Falls over at librarything.com and subsequently entered to get an early copy. To my delighted surprise, I received a copy.

This book sounded like a lot of fun for my kids and I just in time for Halloween. It touts a whimsically grotesque villain, an eccentric mad scientist (who just happens to be a young orphan boy), a robot butler, a talking cat and a lot of adventure. The illustrations looked creepy and the premise sounded fun.

The publishers indicate that this book is aimed at 8-12 year old kids. From the first pages of the book, I must adamantly say that age range is WRONG! There is no way I'd want my nearly 8 year old daughter reading this. Even with my 10 and 11 year old sons, I'd be worried that there are segments that are too gruesome, too violent, too graphic.

Am I being an overly protective and highly sensitive parent? Maybe a little, but I don't think I'm overreacting too much when I say this book should have a distinct PG-13 rating for violence and grotesque scenes of horror. I'm open to the idea of gross elements of horror or just creepy scenes or descriptions. But for kids not yet in their teens, let's keep that horror at the level of R.L. Stine's Goosebumps books. This book goes a bit too far.

Putting the erroneous age rating aside, this was a pretty fun book. The illustrations were great. Although the placement of the illustrations felt a bit odd…rather than being on the facing page for the scene they described, they were usually a page prior or after and sometimes the illustrations were all at the beginning or end of a chapter and felt disconnected from the scene they were trying to illustrate.

The mysterious plot was intriguing and had me anxiously searching for answers along with the characters. While there were a lot of stereotypical tropes in this northern Canadian town, it served as a vivid backdrop for the adventure. The scenes were tight and fast paced. Even when largely unbelievable, I felt my heart race as the characters struggled to solve the mystery and survive.

There was a disconnect for me in the cheesy and juvenile humor as compared with the gruesome horror and violence in other scenes. It was as though this book couldn't decide whether to be an adult horror book or a creepy kids book. Instead, it tried to straddle the fence by mixing together whimsically funny characters, names and actions alongside violently disturbing attacks and violence. The result felt somewhat schizophrenic.

While I had fun with this story and enjoyed the writing, I can't recommend it to my kids. Due to its very youthful tone, it would be a hard sell for my adult friends who read horror and thrillers. I guess that leaves it as a "teen" book, but I worry that teens might think this book is "too young" for them and prefer to jump up to weightier horror.

Still, if this book finds the right audience, it could be a success. It's got a creative story, solid writing and fun illustrations. I'm just worried that parents (or others) will see the silly images on the cover and pick this up for young readers only to be traumatized and offended. If it were more accurately aimed at an older audience, I could easily recommend this book for its creativity and writing. As it is, I'll have to wait a couple of years and see what my kids think once they're teenagers.


3 out of 5 stars

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Mini-Movie Review Roundup - Adjustment Bureau, Cowboys and Aliens, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Harry Potter, Limitless, Rango

In addition to the many adventures we had over this past summer, the family and I saw a number of movies both in the theater and on DVD. I diligently posted a review on one of them (Cars 2), but never found time to add thoughts on the others. To try and catch up, here are some mini-reviews on the various movies we saw over the summer (listed in Alphabetical order).

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The Adjustment Bureau is one of those conspiracy style films I was interested in from the time I saw the first trailer. Even in the trailer, I could see potential plot holes and other problems but it looked like a lot of fun. I'm interested in going back and reading the short story by Philip Dick on which this movie was based.

The story was pretty fun with some strange chase sequences and other action elements. It posed some thoughtful questions about the nature of free will versus destiny and on the nature of personal agency. Some of the themes were a bit heavy handed but the acting was pretty solid and the concept was intriguing enough that I had fun with this movie.


3.5 out of 5 stars

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When I first heard about the premise forCowboys & Aliens, I just had to laugh. It sounded absolutely ridiculous and I had no idea how it was going to work. When I first saw the preview, it still seemed crazy, but giving a piece of alien technology to one of the cowboys seemed like a reasonable step to making this seem plausible….or at least as plausible as this scenario could be.

The movie started out very promising and reminded me of what I've loved from Westerns in the past….great, gritty character and plot development with the rebel cowboy standing up for the oppressed citizen, but only so far as he sees fit. Sadly, I felt like some of that strong plot and character development fell by the wayside once the aliens appeared. Instead we were filled with a lot of flash in the pan action sequences which were fun but not as compelling as I would've liked.

I really enjoyed both Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford in their roles. I especially loved the "slow" sequences with Harrison Ford as he interacted with some of his hired help or other cowboys searching for the aliens…one of my favorite scenes was when Harrison was talking with the young boy.

Overall, this movie didn't set me up to expect too much out of it…and sadly, that's all it delivered. It was fun, but not outstanding.


3 out of 5 stars

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I didn't ever see the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie, but when my kids pickedRodrick Rules from the Redbox, they insisted that I watch with them. I must admit that I found this to be more entertaining than I expected.

While it was filled with plenty of juvenile humor (which is alright…and I can enjoy it…hey, don't judge me), it also had some pretty witty writing and good acting to carry off both the verbal and physical jokes. As might be expected, the general plot was somewhat thin but still put forth an alright message to kids who were watching. While the family situation shown was somewhat dysfunctional, we have to acknowledge that every family is dysfunctional in some way. Thus, even through the slapstick and over-the-top story we can learn things about family values and loyalty and have a lot of fun laughing at the ridiculous situations.

Definitely not for everybody, but if you're willing to put up with middle-school humor and attitudes, you don't need to run away if your kids ask you to watch this with them.


3 out of 5 stars

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I've enjoyed the Harry Potter series of books and movies but haven't been a rabid fan. I still haven't finished the books and hadn't been overly impressed with Half-Blood Prince, so when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 came out last year, I didn't really care to go see it. Instead, over this past summer, we rented Part 1 and watched it and then went to the theater to see Part 2 a few days later.

I can say I preferred Deathly Hallows to Half-Blood Prince but I still don't buy the need to stretch it into a two part movie. As a movie production, there were a lot of elements that were spectacular…a lot of great effects, good acting, solid writing. I really liked following the wrap-up of the intrigue between Harry and Voldemort and I loved the idea of the Deathly Hallows (when I first heard the title, I thought the word was "Hollows" and was referring to a valley or a glade or something…these "Hallows" were much cooler).

I felt like this was a decent wrap up to the series and was a pretty fun movie. The various intriguing elements of this movie were way fun and probably my favorite part of the series as a whole, but this movie (or rather these 2 movies) are still probably behind Azkaban and Order of the Phoenix as my favorite movies in the series. Still, I have to agree that these films were well made and are enjoyable (though I'd still recommend together rather than separate…maybe fast-forwarding through the lame bits).


4 out of 5 stars

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I'm not sure what to make of the fact that my search on Amazon only returns the Unrated Extended Cut of Limitless. I watched the "rated" version, so I'm not sure what was different.

Anyway, this is another movie that drew me in with its intriguing premise…a pill which facilitates/compels you to use 100% of your brain rather than just the small fraction that we normally use. It's intriguing to this about what to do with that unlocked potential ability.

I felt like Bradley Cooper's character was well developed in such a way as to give us a good juxtaposition of just how far this pill could take you. I was glad it didn't take on a "superhero" aspect a la 'Matrix' or something like that, but it was cool to see his interactions and reactions to difficult situations. I also loved that the movie drilled down on the consequences. As the adage goes: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility. It was cool to see everything fall apart due to his lack of respect/planning for the power he held.

I felt like the movie really expanded on the idea of how much each of us could truly be capable of if we would just stretch ourselves to try and use our full potential (even without a magic pill). Taken back down to us "normal brain users", there are good messages there…we should stretch ourselves, we should live up to our own potential, we should set high expectations and try to achieve them, we should set goals, we should plan, we should get off our butts and do something worthwhile. This was a fun and thoughtful movie with a subtle underlying message.


3.5 out of 5 stars

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When I first saw the trailer for Rango, it seemed like a whimsically funny kids movie that I'd enjoy with my kids. I was partly right.

This movie had some whimsy. It had some funny. And to an extent, my kids enjoyed it. In many senses, I felt like this movie was straddling the fence between "adult" and "child" and had a hard time planting itself adequately for either audience.

Johnny Depp's caricature gecko character of Rango is rather humorous. But a lot of his humor is drawn from Depp's personality or from jokes and allusions that would go over the heads of younger kids.

While I definitely applaud kid's movies for having "inside jokes" geared to make the adults laugh, I feel like they should be subtle enough to not bother or bore the kids. Portions of this movie included sort of existential moments where Rango is searching for the purpose of life or some definition of who he truly is. In some of these moments, the writing and plot are definitely over the head of younger kids.

We watched this with a dozen kids ranging from 2 to 12 and each of them wandered in and out of the room bored with the movie. There were some stretches where no kids were interested anymore and we had to call them back in when some cartoony action reappeared. Some of the kids were also taken back by the swearing in the film. There wasn't a ton, but there was enough that it was noticeable and off-putting for a kids cartoon.

I laughed at a number of segments in this movie and I found it generally pretty fun, but as an overall package, it didn't seem to deliver. I blame most of that on the fact that it was unable to find its true audience because it didn't know who its audience was.


2.5 out of 5 stars

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And that, as they say, is that.

What about you? Have you seen any movies in the past few months that you can recommend? Did you see any of these movies…do you agree or disagree with my thoughts?

Let me know. :-)

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