Because I’m a huge fan, Dana and I made time to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Neither of us were disappointed. Despite some bad critical reviews, I found the movie to be well worth the 2 hours and 48 minutes I spent in the theater. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t have minded sitting through another 5-10 minutes for some of the cut scenes described in the Wikipedia entry, as there is some crucial information in those supposed scenes that adds a new dimension to the film.

I’ve heard here and there that most of the cast doesn’t want to return for a sequel, but Depp is more than willing to reprise the role of Captain Jack Sparrow. I do hope they continue the franchise, as it’s one that I would continue to see. The could most definitely go the way of the Bond franchise, with a single character as the basis for the movies. I do believe that the complexity of the Jack Sparrow character would lend itself well to several movies.

In any case, I’m not going to explain or review the movie here, I only suggest that you make time to see it on the big screen. The action and adventure are something to be seen on the big screen.

A few months ago, Dana and I learned about “A Day Out with Thomas.” At various railways around the country, they take a steam locomotive that looks like Thomas and let you “ride the rails” with Thomas. Given that Deuce is very much a fan of Thomas and his friends, we knew we had to go.

So we bought tickets online for the event at the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway, which is right of the Ohio Turnpike. Grandma and Grandpa G had to work at Nationality Days in Ambridge, so it was Dana, Deuce, and I along with Grandma and Grandpa A and Uncle D. It was about a two hour drive from Monroeville to the railway, but as soon as we pulled in we saw the huge Thomas engine, and Deuce’s face just lit up.

There were various tents with different activities to try, although Deuce’s favorite was a toy train setup with some battery powered trains running around the plastic track. He like it so much that he threw a fit whenever we took him away from it. When it was finally our turn to ride the train, Deuce was a little hesitant at first. He didn’t want to get on the train. However, once he got on the train and we started moving, he loved just looking out the window. It was a short ride (only about 25 minutes), but he seemed to enjoy it tremendously.

We got some pretty good photos, but I haven’t had time to get them off of the camera and onto the website.

I’m foregoing the “Memorial Day” and “Father’s Day” countdowns in favor of everyone’s favorite: The Beach!

And what a nice Mother’s Day weekend it turned out to be. The weather was great here, which is unusual. It wasn’t too hot, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky… All in all, atypical Pittsburgh weather.

To start things off, Friday was a bit of a milestone day on the my side of the family. My cousin Lisa and her husband Corey had a little baby boy. And if that weren’t enough, Uncle Shawn took a step closer to confirming the “Uncle” title when he and Aunt Emily got engaged. So congratulations to everyone on such milestone occasions.

We headed to Grandma G’s on Saturday to celebrate Mother’s Day with her. With a short stop at Economy Park for my first 5K, we got to Grandma G’s around 10:30 which gave us a little time to visit with Grandpa G before he went golfing. We had a very nice time just relaxing around Grandma’s house.

Sunday we headed over to Grandma A’s to complete the holiday shuffle. Dana and I ran in the morning, then Dana and Grandma went tanning while Deuce took a nap. I went to the driving range for a little bit, and then, finally, we were ready to cook. Grandpa was in the mood for some beer can chicken, which has become a new favorite around our house. Before we started running, we began brining a few (see 6) small chickens in a simple salt/sugar water. While Dana was making and applying rubs, I lit the grills (one Weber kettle, one gas grill) and made some smoke packets.

It was some of the best chicken we’ve made to date. Between Dana’s spice rubs and some new “techniques” for smoking, the chicken was exceptionally moist and very tasty. If it weren’t an insane amount of work, we’d open a roadside stand.

Deuce’s latest fascination is Ice Age. I guess it’s one of the movies they watch at school on movie days, and he loves it. So much so, in fact, that the “watch Thomas?” request has been replaced with “watch Ice Age?” I won’t complain too much, as it’s a cute movie with some comedy aimed at adults. For example, as Sid the Sloth was detailing some of his “mating” escapades to Manny the Mammoth, here’s his quote:

So she picks this hair off my shoulder, and says, “If you’re gonna have a second mating dance, at least pick a sloth with the same color pelt.” And I go, “Whoa! She’s gonna go praying mantis on me.”

Now, I’m not sure at what age I learned that the female praying mantis will bite the head off of the male after mating, but it’s one of those references that kid’s may miss but most married couples get (and hopefully laugh at).

In any case, my 5K is this Saturday, and then we’re going to head over to Grandma G’s to celebrate Mother’s Day. I hope everyone got Mom something nice!