The Charcoal Corral and Drive In

About half an hour away from where we live is the Charcoal Corral and Silver Lake Twin Drive In. Pete and I try to get there at least once or even twice every summer for a movie, mini golfing, and ice cream. We usually go with our friends Stephen and Vanessa and pile pillows, bean bag chairs and blankets in the back of our van for the movie, along with tons and tons of food (which we rarely eat half of!). Sometimes we'll go with Pete's brother, but this summer was the first time we took our kids.

Paige and Nate had an awesome school year and their report cards were excellent, so we wanted to celebrate. When we heard that Despicable Me 2 and Monsters University were playing on the same screen on the same night, we knew we'd have to take the kids that week. The only challenge was that the first movie wasn't going to start until after 9...and our kids go to bed by 7. Eek!

Thankfully the kids took later rests/naps, and we were able to go :)

First stop? Picking up our extra cheese pizza at the Charcoal Corral for dinner!

Yummy pizza!!!

Then the kids got to play on the playground; in front of the screen are play areas with swings and slides for kids, and they had a blast. Paige found one of the girls from her class who moved away halfway through the year, so she was so excited about that! We had to pry them away from playing to get ice cream.

Amazingly enough, the kids were still going strong and bouncing off the walls by the time Despicable Me 2 started. We liked the movie, but think the first one was better. The kids were a little scared by the villain in the movie and the purple minions, but we're not sure if it was the characters that scared them or the fact that it was their first time seeing a movie on the big screen. Everything was bigger and louder than they're used to, plus there were fireworks going on at the lake nearby, so they weren't too sure about those, either.

The kids made it through Despicable Me 2, and Pete and I weren't sure if we were definitely going to stay for the second movie. We thought at least one of the kids would have fallen asleep, but they were all excited and begging to stay for the next movie...so we did! Monsters University was awesome, we all really enjoyed it. I thought it was as good as, if not better, than the first one.

All snuggled in the back enjoying their movie

All three kids stayed awake for the movie, and only Ryan fell asleep on the way home. We didn't arrive home until almost 1:30! We expected the kids to wake up early and be super cranky the following day, but two of them got up at 8:30 and the other didn't wake up until 9:30! They were actually in really good moods that day...

...and they're begging to go back again :)

Have you ever been to a drive in before?