The weekend and Prince Caspian

Heidi and I had a great Memorial Day weekend by camping at St. Croix State Park with family and friends. We spent Friday night by ourselves and the Lundholms (my sister, Sally and her family) and the Watsons (friends from church) joined us from Saturday afternoon until Monday afternoon. The kids from both families played together and even let me play some Freeze Tag with them. The only bummer was the mosquitoes, which considered us a buffet all weekend. I have never seen bugs that bad. I am still scratching the bites two days later. We will post the pictures from the weekend soon.

I have been meaning to post a review of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, but have not had the chance. So, here is my official review: as a movie, it was awesome, but as a book adaption, it was terrible. The directing, photography, effects, and acting were all top notch. The pacing was solid and, overall, I enjoyed it a whole lot. However, they changed some things and added others that I found both unnecessary and irritating. As good as it was, the movie only partially captured the spirit of the book, which is a bummer. I hope the Dawn Treader is better. I love that book. Please leave comments with your thoughts on the movie.

Just for fun, here is a link to the Will Smith superhero movie, Hancock, due out in July: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809801452/video/7633208

I love my Heidi an awful lot.

Girls weekend up north

At the end of April/start of May, I skipped out on Tim a bit and went to Seattle and then right away up North with the girls. Poor guy, it was in that weekend that he broke the tip off his finger. Don't worry, he's ok and the finger is looking pretty good.

We had some great time of fellowship up at Candace's grandparents "cabin."A little hiking.

A little shooting! My first time. Check me out.

Here's the "cabin." HUGE! Good times. Lots of food, laughter, and fun.

Visit to Seattle

Here are some pictures from my visit to Seattle to see the Leberts.We went to Pike's Place Market about everyday!

After church at Mars Hill on Sunday. A very interesting church service....

The Fremont Troll! As seen in the movie Ten Things I Hate About You. Great flick.

We got dolled up in Amanda's clothes and went window shopping downtown. It's good to get in some girly time. This is at dinner that night with Ed. It was a great trip, lots of girl bonding. Plus, we're in Seattle! I love Seattle.

Prayer ministry and family time

Our church, Bethel Christian Fellowship (www.bcfnations.org) has a cool prayer ministry that I think has been mentioned before in this blog. Heidi got involved with it soon after we started attending BCF, but I always had an excuse why the Lord had not called me to that particular ministry. About a month or two ago I felt like it was time to get involved. There was no dramatic change in my heart, I guess I finally ran out of excuses and decided to obey. I am glad that I did. Over the past month I have been used by God to encourage several people and I feel that I received a blessing as well. I have been on the receiving end of these prayer appointments three times and was always blessed by the experience. If you feel that something like this would benefit you, then let Heidi and I know. It is not just for people from BCF. In fact, many appointments are for people from other churches. It is always confidential and encouraging.

Heidi and I had a lot of family time this past weekend. On Saturday we spent the day with some of my family. My former brother in law, Walter, drove up from Nashville with my niece, Christi, and picked up my nephew, Tim, and his wife, Amanda in Warsaw, IN on the way. We all met up in Dresser, WI, where my sister Sally and her family live. The visit was over way too fast, but we had a good time. My family is scattered pretty far, so it is great to see them. Then on Sunday, after breakfast with everyone and church, we spent the rest of the day with Heidi’s parents. They always spoil us with good food and Sunday was no different. We took a walk by the Mississippi River and mostly just hung out. The weather was not all that great on either day, but we had a good weekend.

Movie Review: Iron Man

Movies that are based on comic books are hit and miss. Some are terrible (Daredevil, Electra, Batman & Robin), some are mediocre (the Fantastic Four films and X-Men 3), and only a few are terrific (Spider-Man 2 and X-Men 2). Iron Man is outstanding, equal with Batman Begins in sheer awesomeness. Taking a second tier superhero and making one of the best comic book films of all time is an amazing feat. All the important factors are in place: good acting, a well paced, character driven story, and stuff blowing up. Unlike many super hero origin stories, (yes, Fantastic Four I mean you) where the heroes complain about how cursed they are, Tony Stark embraces his new power in a way that most people in the audience would. He also blows stuff up. I don’t ask for much with action movies and Iron Man more than delivers. Oh yeah, stick around for a great bonus scene after the end credits.

Best scenes: his escape from captivity, the first time he takes the armor into combat, and the final battle. (Pretty much the scenes where he blows up stuff.)

Best quote:
Soldier: Is it cool if I get a picture with you?
Tony Stark: Yes. Yes it's very cool. I don't wanna see this on your myspace page. Please, no gang signs. No, throw it up. I'm kidding.