I’ve always loved drive-in movies, but sadly, the closest one to Ottawa is about a 45 minute drive. When the movie doesn’t start until my, erm, I mean, the kids’ bedtime, that’s a long drive home after the movie in the dark. So when I heard that a local radio station was sponsoring a free (free!) “movies on the beach” night I thought it would make for a fun family outing. And when I heard that the final movie of the summer would be the boys’ favourite, Pixar’s Cars, I knew it would be a great way to end a memorable summer of family adventures. Turned out to be a clear, dry and warm night — absolutely perfect movie-on-the-beach weather.
They set up a big inflatable screen on Westboro beach and the first 200 families got a free beach blanket.
Unexpectedly and to my delight, we ran into Andrea and her daughters there.
I wasn’t sure if her girls and my noisy (and slightly younger) boys would find any common ground, but once a frisbee made an appearance, friendships quickly formed.
(I loved watching them run around together. It was just the kind of evening I remembered as a kid, running around freely and playing tag and hide-and-go seek in the gloaming with kids I didn’t really know but were my best friend for that night. The glee on their faces as they chased each other over the sand and through the crowd was better than any movie could have generated.)
When the movie started, they even had those old-style trailers advertising the snack bar. (I have fond teenage memories of my friends doing a Brad-and-Janet, acting out the weiner and bun dance Rocky Horror Picture Show style in front of the drive-in screen.)
We didn’t make it through the entire movie. By 10pm, around two hours past the boys’ bedtime, Simon asked to go home and Tristan offered no resistance to the idea. Truth be told, I’d had about enough by then, too. Since we’ve all seen Cars about 300 times, it all worked out for the best.
Props and thanks to Bob FM 93.9 and the Ottawa Citizen for sponsoring a great family outing. We’re already looking forward to next year!
Looks like it was fun! We were going to go, but with houseguests arriving some time Friday evening, it was out of the question. They do drive-in movies on the blow-up screen in Carp in August. Last year’s movies were the very family-friendly Shrek the Third and Night at the Museum. This year’s choices were geared a little bit older, with Dreamer a couple of weeks ago, and coming up this week — Jaws. I think we’ll be giving that a miss.
Glad you all had a good time.
DO YOU KNOW…there is a drive in not far from me? and one sceen is in English.
Miranda has been but I haven’t. I should see what’s playing this weekend and Take the family!
Glad you had fun and ran into Andrea…it’s always fun to run into people you know.
Heeey! I’m so glad you took photos, especially since my camera pooped out after taking two (pretty much useless) beauty shots of the beach itself and one of a chainsmoker who sat directly in front of me… 😉
Movies on the beach has made it to my “must do” list. It was so much fun, and it was great seeing you all. We should make it a proper bloggy playdate next time!