Stuff that's been happening

Allyson's Girl Scout troop officially disbanded. Which means I don't have to lead the Juniors anymore. Go ahead, ask me if i'm sad about it. HAHA NOPE

Her old troop leader did find a new troop for her, though. This one is very well-run and the leader is a friend from our old church. Her name is Kristina too, spelled exactly like mine. They are going on a big area-wide campout today, and Allyson gets to go. She is SO EXCITED! I'm excited too, because I have the night off work and Ben and I are going to go out on a date. Not sure what we're doing yet - dinner for sure. If we can find a movie we want to see, that.

Speaking of movies, I saw like four of them over the summer. Which is usually more than I see in the theater in a year. Here's what I saw, and a brief review:

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul - I liked it. I loved Tom Everett Scott as Frank Heffley, because I had a huge crush on him back in the That Thing You Do! days. I could have totally done without Allyson sitting there and pointing out all the ways the movie was different from the book. Oh well.

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie - Ally and I both loved this one. Full of potty humor (which Ally and I both love, honestly).

The Emoji Movie - Uh. Allyson liked it. I had to be nice because it was her birthday when I took her to see it. It did have a couple of good messages about friendship and being true to yourself, but otherwise...ehh.

Spider-Man: Homecoming - Ben and I went to see this, and I LOVED IT. I loved that this movie totally skipped over Uncle Ben's death (because, let's be honest, everyone knows that he dies; do we really need to see it again?) It does what the other Spider-Man movies didn't: It shows Peter as an awkward teenager trying to balance school, and the girl he has a crush on, and being a superhero. Tom Holland could not have been a more perfect choice for Spider-Man/Peter. (Plus I think I have a bit of a crush on him but IT'S OKAY, HE'S 21).

Plus I really liked the diversity in the cast. Peter's best friend? Is a Filipino. The girl Peter has a crush on, and the girl that I think they might be setting up to be his new love interest? Both biracial. The school bully? Played by a Guatemalan actor.

Also: Any movie with a Tony Stark/Iron Man appearance is, like, 1000 times better.

It's still playing at one of the theaters in Peoria; this might be the movie we go to.

Oh, and Allyson is getting straight A's in school right now. Yay for her! She also ran for SCORE Council (which is like student council); she didn't get elected but, in typical Allyson fashion, she's not only not upset about it but excited for her friends that did make it on. And she has two more years, anyway.

She wants to be Harry Potter for Halloween, which is AWESOME.

That's about it. Now, to find lunch.