Lea's Movie Review: Mary Poppins Returns

Adventures at Providence Town Center

Hi! You guessed it! another trip to Movie Tavern. It's really a fun place. Pricey, but fun. It's Lady Webby's favorite place to see movies so when Xyra, Webby and Vanyer get together that is the place to go. It's fun to hang out with them and they don't mind when one of us tags along. the Collegeville, Providence Town Center one is a good center point for everyone, but there are other locations.

The weather was super crazy so I dressed in layers and packed extra gear in the backpack. Man, it holds a lot!

Xyra was super shocked to find a parking spot so close to the theater. It's the closest we've ever been. Third space to the right! Wow! And a super short walk inside.

I started looking at the menu while we waited for Webby and Vanyer. It wasn't a long wait and I still hadn't made up my mind when we went to get our seats. 

So much to choose from. Of course, we're getting popcorn.

Then they gave us the brunch menu when we showed our tickets! It was easier to choose off this menu. I got the fried egg sandwich. It was GINORMOUS!

Oh my goodness the previews. There were definitely a couple to add to our watch list. Shh! Shh! The movie's starting. Everyone got quiet and watched.

Sorry, this is from the end credits. 

You know we don't take photos during the film. It's not legal and too often they end up looking like this. (giggles) If you look closely you can see it was the screen noting "Special Appearance by Angela Lansbury."

We gathered our gear and asked for plastic wrap so we could take our popcorn home. We usually eat it for a day or two after the movie.

Then headed to the ladies room before heading home.

I am so glad I packed my backpack. By the time the movie ended the wind had started and the temp dropped from the mid 40s to 20s and was still going down. At home everyone asked about the movie.

My Review

Mary Poppins Returns is a very good movie. It has great themes, fun characters, music, action, adventure, imagination, generosity, and greed. I think Emily Blunt did a fine job as Mary Poppins. Lin-Manuel Miranda was fun as Jack; but his accent could be distressing. Colin Firth's character made me mad. Ellen was great and it took a few minutes to realize the actress playing her had played Molly Weasley. Jane and Michael as adults were very interesting. I read that the original Jane makes a brief cameo - she was great. The Admiral was a crack up! Willoughby was adorable, but miss named. He should have been Darcy or Brandon. Meryl Streep was priceless; sooo NOT Amanda Priestly. Dick Van Dyke and Angela Lansbury were fabulous! The animation was smart. I really enjoyed this movie. There is a dark side to it, though, and I saw Xyra and Webby wipe a few tears in a couple spots.

[Xyra side note: I completely agree with Lea's review. Yes, parts will tug at your heartstrings.]

Have you had a chance to see Mary Poppins Returns? What did you think? If you haven't seen it, is it on your watch list?

Tchau! Até mais tarde!

Note: Tea Time with Melody Q is not affiliated with American Girl, Disney, or Movie Tavern. Tickets were purchased for this movie and the review completely unsolicited. The review is comprised of our own experiences, opinions, thoughts, and words. Links are provided for educational and informative purposes only; we do not receive any compensation for links clicked. No purchase is required or suggested to enjoy the post above.

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Birthday 2019 Part 4

Finale

Hi! Just a few more photos to share from last Monday! I can't believe it's been 8 days since my birthday already! Wow! As a side note today is great Grammy's birthday. She'd be 109 if she were still of this earthly realm.

After finishing the Vikings Beyond the Legend exhibit and tour of the Franklin Institute we talked about lunch and decided to go back to King of Prussia. Yes, there are a ton of options in Philly, but we also wanted to stay out of westbound rush hour traffic. Believe it or not that starts around 3 PM. So off we went! Westbound on the Schuylkill Expressway back to the King of Prussia Town Center. We drove the side area and noticed a restaurant called Founding Farmers.

When you go inside the first thing you notice is the fabulous aroma of the First Bake Cafe and Creamery downstairs. You can eat there too, but we went upstairs to the main restaurant. At the top of the stairs we saw this cool sculpture with pink goats!

And this great shadow box!

They took us to a lovely booth in the "living room" but we had to go through the "barn" to get there. (giggles)

Nonna ordered the turkey avocado sandwich with tomato soup. It was huge! Lots of green! Xyra and I got the New England clam chowder and split the skillet corn bread. Yummy!

Before going back downstairs we toured the rest of the rooms and saw the meeting room was open. The wall was covered in blue and white bunny murals. They depicted scenes from Revolutionary Era Valley Forge, but with bunnies instead of humans! 

Downstairs, we picked out half dozen donuts. Let me see, we chose lemon meringue, creme brulee, rum glazed, maple glazed, and chocolate iced and ordered a white Earl Grey tea to go.

After dropping Nonna at her car we sped off to the mall and the LEGO store. Last time Xyra was there she picked up two Harry Potter blind bags and they turned out to be duplicates of ones we already had. Well, one was a triple! So we asked the associate if he could help choose anyone but Queenie and Flitwick. 

Without opening the blind bags he was able to find Dean, Neville, Professor Trelawney, Tina, Jacob, and NEWT! Sorry no photos of them yet. BUT (giggles) I have a feeling they will pop up in a calendar build this year. 😉

It was getting really close to the start of rush hour so we took off. We got home and decided to pop the Twilight movie in the DVD player. Hey, it's Jacob's birthday too. (giggles) We watched until Franz got home then went out to Red Lobster for dinner. 

Yes, we finished the movie when we got home. Overall, it was a lovely birthday! 

Do you have any special birthday memories? How do you like to celebrate?

Best wishes,

Note: Tea Time with Melody Q is not affiliated with American Girl, The Franklin Institute, Founding Farmers restaurant, LEGO, Summit Entertainment, or Red Lobster. All links are provided for educational and informative reasons. No purchase is required or suggested to enjoy the post. We receive no compensation from any links.

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Birthday 2019 Part 3

On to the Second Section of the Exhibit

Hello! Did you know hi and hello come from Old Norse? Don't go berserk if your google search doesn't say the same thing; I googled "hello in old Norse" and saw the drop down "how do Vikings say hello." Then I found the site omniglot that had audio files. It's all pretty cool. Let's look at the rest of my field trip!

Picking Up Where we Left Off

Yesterday I took a break when we headed down the ramp to the next section of the Vikings Beyond the Legend exhibit.

The first thing we came across was the second ship. This is the biggest of the three. The metal frame was constructed as an outline of the ship would have been in size and shape. Inside were a few original timbers.

Behind the screen showed a similar ship on a stormy sea. I don't know how they made it to the places they did in these little boats! At least the S.S. Minnow had a below deck area. Nonna got this great shot. You can see it is a big boat, but still not a ship like the the US Navy has or even the cruise lines.

This ship had an interactive screen that acted like a small holo deck. As you moved it you could get a glimpse of section of the boat filled with Viking rowing or with the sail raised. The sail made me laugh because it blocked the view. I mean, all you saw was sail. (giggles) When you finished learning about this ship, you could try rowing yourself. I took the middle bench.

This also had an interactive pad. The screen showed me standing next to a Viking commander. Here's a look at the things you could do with the pad. 

If you touched action he would turn toward me and speak. If you touched "take a screenshot" it would email you a photo of you and the Viking. If you touched language you'd get a lesson in Old Norse. Here's my screenshot keepsake.

Speaking of language, (giggles) another interactive area let you type in words and see what they would look like in runes. The runes appeared from bottom to top. Nonna did my name!

So then I started with Tea Time with Melody Q. You might have to zoom in on the photo to really see the runes.

Then Kirsten.

Can you guess whose mane this is? (giggles)

Vikings like miniatures too. check out these tools and dress pins.

This is really cool. It's a reproduction of the Jelling Stone. This three sided stone marked the birth of Denmark, the move to Christianity, and more. Check out this link to learn more and see photos of the original.

At the very end was a quiz to see how much you learned. That was fun. 

Outside we saw the third ship hanging over main entry.

Of course we toured a few more spots throughout the Franklin Institute. The pendulum staircase is amazing. I could watch it for hours!

Looking up...

Across from the staircase is Benjamin Franklin Hall. Ben is pretty cool.

There are three levels of cool sites. 

Should we go up or down?

We went down to the space section. Check out this telescope!

Then we went to the train factory section. Did you know that if you visit a tourist train or train museum in your state and the locomotive is a Baldwin that it came from Philadelphia.

Of course, we hit the gift shop! This looks like an interesting book. And the astronaut is pretty cool!

DRAGON! His name is Torbjorn and he went home with us.

Such a wonderful morning!

Thank you for coming to visit! As the Vikings say, "Takk."

I'll tell you about lunch later.

Best wishes!

Note: Tea Time with Melody Q is not affiliated with American Girl or the Franklin Institute. All links are provided for educational and informative purposes. No purchase is suggested or required to enjoy the post. 

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Birthday 2019 Part 2

After the Introduction Video

Hello! I'm so glad you came back to see more about my birthday field trip! Grab a nice steaming cup of gløgg (giggles) or your favorite beverage, pull up a chair, and let's go!

Oh, hey! I was looking at the Franklin Institute exhibit links and they are really neat. So I hope you get a chance to click over and see the videos and photos there too.

[Xyra side note: The Viking Beyond the Legend links will probably only work while the exhibit is in Philadelphia, so click before March 3, 2019.]

Time to Explore Artifacts

As we turned the corner from the movie to the next room we saw the first ship. 

The ships are full-size replicas. This one is a smaller sailing vessel. It's big, but then you know how tall I am so you can also see this is not a large ship.

This little horse is part of a weathervane. It's gilt copper. Can you see the neat designs on it?

These are spearheads.

These are double-edged sword.

Warriors would wear chain mail shirts like this and carry a sword.

In this shot you can see the helmet better. 

These are textile tools.The round things are loom weights, and in the bottom right are two needles.

This is a bone comb.

These are clay pots.

Throughout the exhibit were paragraphs like this one providing information on different topics. This one on arts and crafts discusses the importance of artisans in Viking culture.

The exhibit offered great interactive activities. In the dressing room you could dress up like a Viking, the didn't have anything in my size, or try a computer version. I helped Nonna dress Sigrid. 

The goal was to get all the layers on in the proper order. Xyra dressed a guy and for some reason he put his hat on before his shoes; wouldn't have it any other way. we figured he had to keep his head warm while bending over to pull on his shoes. (giggles)

Check out this shield! It was one of the dressing props.

Viking kings would give his people arm rings to wear to show their loyalty or allegiance. These are a few of the ones they had on display.

Can you guess what these are?

Everyone sing with me...Five gold rings! (giggles)

I'm still trying to figure out what this key fit. It's a unique shape.

Check it out jingle bells!

I love these weathervane terminals. The description says they are swans, but I think they look more like the Loch Ness Monster.

Hello, Nessie or Nessies. (giggles)

As we left the first part of the exhibit we found cut outs. How do I look as a Viking?

Then we were off to the second section.

You know...this is a great stopping place. Tomorrow I can show you the second half. Hope you come back again to see more.

Please feel free to ask questions or tell me your favorite photo. 

Oh, yesterday in the outfit details section we forgot to mention my backpack. It's from AG GOTY 2018 Luciana's Accessories. We got it for Christmas and this is the first time it's been out and about.

Note: Tea Time with Melody Q is not affiliated with American Girl or the Franklin Institute. All links are provided for educational and informative purposes. No purchase is suggested or required to enjoy the post.

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