Sunday, December 23, 2012

There and back again

Yesterday our girls realized a long-awaited dream: to see The Hobbit.


It was Older Daughter's slightly belated birthday present, and we got together with neighbors to view it in a theater in Coeur d'Alene.


(That is, everyone else saw it. Me, I went Christmas shopping. Kick me if I ever think Christmas shopping on the Saturday before Christmas is even a remotely good idea. But I digress.)


So how was the movie? Older Daughter summed it up this way: "When it was good, it was very very good..." -- leaving the rest of the nursery rhyme unsaid. Despite all our warnings about not being too disappointed because it didn't follow the book, there was still an element of disappointment. Our girls have been Tolkien fans since they were old enough to read, so naturally the movie could never live up to their standards.

Nonetheless, they loved it. Hope that doesn't sound like too much of a contradiction.

Afterward we all went to pizza, a rare treat.


Some grocery shopping, and then the girls and I hit downtown Coeur d'Alene. It was a-twinkle with Christmas lights and looked beautiful, magical. (Sorry this photo is blurry.)


The Coeur d'Alene Resort Hotel, a monstrously huge edifice right on the waterfront, lights itself up in many festive ways.


And the high-rise apartment buildings were aglow with lights along every balcony level.


We weren't shopping, we were just enjoying the sights. We hit the girls' two favorite stores: All Things Irish, and Figpickel's Toy Emporium.

All Things Irish looks absolutely gorgeous, dressed up for Christmas.


It had some beautiful statuary.



Afterward, we stepped across the street to Figpickel's, a toy store you never outgrow. It has things ranging from the magical...


...to the outrageously silly...


...and everything in between. Three-dimensional Clue? Check.


Six-foot movable Ferris wheel made of plastic straw toys? Check.


Altogether a very fun day. We returned home tired and sated with the sights, ready for some rural peace and quiet.

1 comment:

  1. I went into the Hobbit expecting it to be different. Compared to the LOTR trilogy, the Hobbit is lacking on depth of plot and dialog, so changes needed to be made. The most notable change, the white orc Azog was an actual character, but during the dwarf war at the gates of Moria(which lasted 9 years, condensed into a couple of minutes), he was quite definitely killed, so he was resurrected for the film. I figure it was to give a more clear purpose for the warg attack at the end of this movie and to establish a villain that spanned all movies. For me, I was just glad to be back in MiddleEarth!

    Renee

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