War of the Apes

Random facts about our family include that while the kids were growing up we avoided activities that but them in competition with each other.  They went bike rides together or played board games together or played putt putt golf together, etc. But they never raced or played to determine a winner. The primary reason was Jon and knew there would be a time when Caleb and Abigail's skills would surpass Frankie's abilities and we wanted them to interact as a team not competitor.

With that being said, some of things we replaced family interaction with less competitive activities like putting together puzzles, gardening and watching movies.  So when Caleb arrived home yesterday from Baytown, Texas we began to put together a plan for our time together.  One of the first things on the list was the latest Planet of the Apes movie.

When I was growing up I did not like the original movies, they scare the daylights out of me, but my brother loved them and we watched everyone of them.  In about 3rd grade one of Caleb's favorite movies was Ben Hur!  He loved Charlton Heston, who didn't!  With that, we showed him the original Planet of the Apes series of movies made between 1968-1975.  

When the series rebooted in 2011, our family eager jumped into the fun!  The movies are still just as scary, and War of the Planet of the Apes was especially violent but the girls and I screamed and covered our eyes as Caleb took in the action.  Today was a good day to just decompress from the boys busy summer and to just enjoy being together.