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I've been working hard these past several years to instill in my son a firm love of movies and especially going to the theater. I've taken him to basically every single kids movie that's been released in the last 6 years, plying him with candy and popcorn. You know, just basically associating positive things with the theater going experience. I've also been exposing him to some of the family movie classics from when I was growing up, like 'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids', and 'Flight of the Navigator' (both of which he loved, by the way). As he is growing older I am trying to navigate when to show him some of the 'bigger kid' movies. Recently the theater forced my hand by rereleasing 'Jurassic Park' on the big screen for it's 30th anniversary (gah, I'm old...). Well, I guess that means it's time for Ledger to be welcomed to the Park!

Jurassic Park was a very important movie for me growing up, I was already obsessed with movies by that age, but this one was such a big cultural event that everyone seemed to be excited for it in a way that hadn't happened since 'Batman' in 1989. In preparation I read the novel by Michael Crichton, so my little 13 year old self was ready and eager! It came out the summer between middle school and high school, so I was exactly the right age to be sucked in and love it! On the Friday it was released, my friends and I made sure to get tickets to the first showing of the day so we could be the first ones to see it. We loved it, of course, and when we were leaving the theater, there was actually a local news station there to interview those who saw it first. My friends and I gushed about how amazing it was and actually ended up on the 5 o'clock news because of it! Over that summer we went on to see it six more times in the theater. It was kind of like one last hurrah of my childhood before we became high schoolers, so needless to say, the movie holds a very special place in my heart. And now, I am able to pass some of that joy down to my son as he watches it in the theater for the first time! Oh- and it's in 3D!

We made a special father/son day of it and had a good time chatting and being silly on the way there. We loaded up on snacks, and experienced the magic in the theater together! Did he like it? yeah, but not as much as me. I'm ok with that; he doesn't have to love the same things as me, but I want to at least provide the opportunity for him to. In the end, even if it didn't blow his mind the way it did for me and my friends at his age, at least we had a great afternoon together doing something fun!