When Brave opened a few weeks back, I was lamenting the fact that I would not be able to see it. With a toddler and a baby whose maternal grandparents live three thousand miles away, it can be hard to find a sitter. For a while we had been discussing whether or not the drive-in was a good option for us. We haven’t been since our son was born in 2009, but we used to go quite frequently. Having determined that the baby would most likely sleep in my arms, the only "x factor" was our toddler.
We discussed it for a while beforehand, asked the opinions of friends, consulted Facebook, and finally decided to take the plunge. The drive-in we usually frequent was showing Brave as its first movie, with The Avengers coming up second. Our hope was to watch Brave with our toddler, have him fall asleep in the car and then see The Avengers. About halfway through the day we realised that our feisty little man was not at all likely to fall asleep. As the day progressed we also determined that he would likely not be interested in a second movie, but in case he was, it should be age appropriate. We are lucky to live within easy driving distance of three such venues and so chose the Saco Drive-In. The second oldest operating drive-in in the country, it was showing Brave alongside Madagascar 3 which was much better.
The selling point for us with an extremely active two year old, was that he could run around in the field between cars and screen, thus wearing himself out before the movie started. Wonderful plan, huh? Except when it rains! Luckily we had the laptop with us and watched cartoons to stay calm; eventually the rain calmed down enough to put boots on and go splashing in puddles. Of course that didn't happen until after he had played with every button he could reach, thus blowing a fuse which resulted in a dead battery. My husband put his MacGuyver skills to good use that night, but we did have to leave the car running while we watched the movie (hangs head in shame).
One of the big advantages of taking a toddler to the drive-in as their first movie-going experience, is the flexibility-without-judgement. Because you are alone with your family in your car, truckbed, or in chairs just outside your car, your child can complain, whine and fill his/her diaper without you having to glance at the people around you. Even if such things don't bother you, it's nice to kind of have the place to yourselves.
Despite the rain, the long wait to get in, the blown fuse and two stinky diapers, we all had a lot of fun. Toby enjoyed the movie but was done with the whole thing about twenty minutes before it finished, and asked to leave. We stuck it out and he fell asleep on the ride home. I think that if we plan to do this again and it rains, it will have to be postponed. Being able to sit in camp chairs in the fresh air would have made it a lot more fun, and I think, would have made it easier on the boys.
I have a long list of things that went wrong that night, but the funny thing is that in this case the experience was far better than the sum of it's parts. I can say I got leg cramp from holding the baby in the car, but I loved having him sleep in my arms while I watched a movie with my family. My husband can complain about the blown fuse, but he had a ball running around in the mud with his son. We all drove away having spent a wonderful evening together, and created a great new family memory.
Movie tickets for four: $15. Buckets of unexpected rain: $0.
Our first family trip to the drive-in: priceless!
