Then again, maybe not...

Star Trek review for Parents:

First, WRT Star Trek - I received a few questions from friends here, on email, and on Facebook asking me would or did I take my kids?

Answers: No and No.

The movie is rated PG-13 for intense action and brief sexual content. The sexual content is a very short scene of a man and a woman in bed, still wearing underwear but kissing and breathing heavily, but they get interrupted. You could easily cover your child's eyes for this brief scene.

The action is really intense though. In particular, there's a scene where Kirk is getting chased across the surface of some sort of snowy ice planet by an enormous and terrifying monster that keeps trying to eat him. I'm sure I'm NOT spoiling the movie for you by telling you Kirk does NOT get eaten (what would be the point of the movie if he died half way through, right?), but I won't spoil for you the surprise of how he gets away. While that scene was playing out, I said to myself, "Self, this would scare the holy crap out of ES and YB. Cross this one off the list for them to see."

For a more detailed list of the content you might not consider safe for your children, please see the IMDB parent's guide. (Don't worry, they cover up spoiler info with red "spoiler" signs you have to click on if you REALLY want to read it all.)

Air Show

I was trying to make a plan of attack for going to the air show at Andrews AFB on Saturday. In order to prevent the boys from being absolutely miserable, I was planning what I was going to pack in the cooler for snacks and drinks to keep them cool and hydrated. I thought we would bring our Camelbaks with some coloring books and games to play during periods in between air demonstrations.

Then I read the security portion of the website.

No coolers allowed.

No backpacks allowed.

No camelbaks allowed.

No food allowed.

No drinks allowed.

Basically, all the things I would have needed to make the trip enjoyable for the boys aren't allowed.

To sum it up, my choices would be:

a) Sitting on the hot tarmac watching the airshow in the heat and sun from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (of course the Thunderbirds are the LAST on the agenda for 4 p.m.) with bored, hot, cranky, whining, miserable, dehydrated kids.

b) Taking out a home equity loan to shell out the cash for however much they're charging for bottles of water and refreshments, pumping our body full of preservatives and monosodium glutamate in disgusting food huts and later suffering from indigestion because we couldn't bring our own healthy snacks that we know are safe to eat.

I don't think so.

I did get a good laugh from one of the responses I got from a friend on Facebook: "Only terrorists would bring refreshments to an airshow."

We might go on the Loudoun County Farm Tour instead.

Decisions, Decisions...

First, let me just say the new Star Trek movie was AWESOME. I went to see it on the IMAX screen at the Udvar-Hazy Center tonight. It was very cool to see it up on that big IMAX screen and the sound system was amazing. I'm not convinced it was worth the extra expense in ticket price, and they don't allow food or drinks in the IMAX theater. Even so, the movie itself was SO cool. Totally unpredictable and shocking and action-packed.

Aside: If you're in NoVA and inclined to go see the IMAX show, be sure to order your tickets in advance online. They have been selling out days in advance. The show we went to tonight was sold out, too, and a few people walked up to the counter in front of us, asked to buy tickets, and were turned away. I bought our tickets on Saturday.

They also showed a preview for the Transformers sequel, and that looks awesome, too.

Looking ahead to this coming weekend, we've got a tough call to make.

Should we go to the Thunderbirds air show at Andrews AFB? Or should we go on the Loudoun County Spring Farm Tour? (This is the decision we face for Saturday. Sunday we'll be busy at church and then a church picnic and then getting our HOA pool passes for the season).

For me, I will always have fond memories of air shows. My parents started sending me off in the summer to spend some time with my Grandma and Grandpa in Grand Junction, Colorado when I was 9 years old. Every summer, the Blue Angels would come to Grand Junction and put on an airshow, and my Grandpa and I loved to go every summer. I was really into WWII history, and I especially loved seeing the B-17 that usually came to the Grand Junction air show.

However, I can picture my boys being miserable at the air show - complaining about the heat on the tarmac, complaining about the jets being too loud, complaining about how long the drive is, complaining about not being at home playing video games... When we stopped to visit my Aunt Ruth in Missouri and went to Wightman AFB for a B-2 tour, the boys didn't last through that visit and complained of being bored and hot on the tarmac - and that was just like an hour.

I was tentatively planning on taking the boys to the air show until I found out the farm tour is the same weekend. We've been on the farm tour a few times before and always enjoyed it. At least with the Farm Tour we would still be here in the same county and when the boys get tired and cranky we can just come home. Plus, on the Farm Tour we're driving from farm to farm and the boys are comfortable in their car seats in the air conditioning in the car.

I've mentioned the air show a few times over the past few days to put the topic on their minds and see if they want to go to the air show. Still to be determined...