Pandas, Pandas, Pandas, Pandas

Any book about pandas gets a high five, in my opinion.  Jack and Annie do it again in Mary Pope Osborne's MAGIC TREE HOUSE #48:  A PERFECT TIME FOR PANDAS.  Annie is me in this book as she squeals over the pandas.  I'm so jealous that she not only gets to pet a panda, but she gets to hold one!!!  I know it's fiction, but still!

Several years ago, it might even have been 2008, my friend Teresa and I went to Washington, DC.  She to see some friends of hers and me to see the pandas at the National Zoo.  I was so excited that even though it was a very hot day and I almost passed out on the walk from the subway to the zoo, as we got inside the zoo, I couldn't wait for Teresa and her friend--I started RUNNING to the Panda paddock.  When I got there, I proceeded to squeal (yes, like a stuffed pig) over the beautiful pandas.  Every time one of them would move, I'd squeal again!!!!  Mei Xiang and Tian Tian and their cub Tai Shan are SOOO beautiful!  It was so wonderful to see them!  I stayed as long as I could, but I knew Teresa and her friend were waiting for me in the hot sun, so I cut my visit a little shorter than I would have otherwise.  Regardless, it was SOOOO wonderful seeing my pandas!!!

Then, last year, James and Samuel took me to Zoo Atlanta where we saw the pandas there, Lun Lun and Xi Lan and their baby Po (named after the panda in KUNG FU PANDA).  I think both James and Samuel thought I would come out of my skin as we drove the long way down.  Once we got to the zoo, I danced and jumped around like a two-year old on her first trip to Disney World!  Again, as we got closer to the panda paddock, I couldn't wait; I ran to them!  I started squealing (yeah, like a stuffed pig again) even before I saw them fully.  I gazed and gazed and gazed and gazed and gazed and took pictures and took pictures and laughed and cried and squealed and had the time of my life.  It was so very wonderful!!!  What a GREAT birthday present!!!!

I have so much panda paraphernalia, it's not even funny.  I have stuffed pandas, panda blankets, panda bed-spread, panda mousepads, panda nail files, squeaky pandas, robot pandas, panda calendars, copies of every magazine (as far as I know) that's been published with articles about pandas, panda towels, a panda scarf, a sign on my office door that says "Warning:  Panda in Human Body," and so many other panda items it's WONDERFUL!!!  I even cross-stitched cuddly pandas--it's hanging on the wall in my spare bedroom in my house!  I also have THE AMAZING PANDA ADVENTURE movie which is soooo much better than that ridiculous movie about a pig!!!  (How could a movie about an ugly, dirty, stinky PIG do better in the theaters than a movie about an adorable, cuddly PANDA????)

I truly LOVE pandas so very much.  If I had been interested at all in Biology, I would have become some sort of animal worker so I could get a job working with pandas all the time!!!

What makes this book even more amazing is the fact that Jack and Annie go to China to the Wolong Reserve when the terrible earthquake happened on May 28, 2008.  They helped save some pandas and helped at the reserve.  So awesome.

I read the whole book in less than an hour.  Kid's book or not, I enjoyed it simply because it's about Pandas!!!!

More Pandas, Yeah!

I got Samuel out of school early again this past Friday so we could go see Kung Fu Panda 2.  It was really good!  We both enjoyed it a lot.  I didn't eat any popcorn during the movie, by the way.  The week before when we went to see Pirates 4, I had somehow or other held my popcorn bag on my leg and the butter bled through, staining my pants.  I couldn't get the butter stain out, so now a favorite pair of pants is ruined.  I'll still wear them around the house, probably to work out in, but they're ruined otherwise.

Anyway, I got off subject.  Kung Fu Panda 2 is a lot of fun and definitely a great movie worthy of going to see.  Both it and the first one are better than any of the Shrek movies, by far.....(don't hate me).  But NOT better than How to Train Your Dragon!!!  The story, as usual, has an obvious lesson/moral for the audience (there's more than one, but the two most obvious):  1.  when we find inner peace, we can accomplish anything and 2.  we have to let the past be the past; learn from the past, but we can't let the past hold us back from doing and being who and what we ARE in the present.

The lessons are almost TOO overt and obvious, but they don't take away from enjoying the movie.  It's kind of refreshing to see modern-day fables shared via a fun medium to watch and enjoy visually.

The Furious Five get more speaking parts this time, so that makes the story more enjoyable.  Where the first one focused pretty much on Po and the Furious Five don't really have much to do with the overall story, this time, they're very active within the story.  We get to see and hear them a lot more.  My personal favorite parts of the movie are when the Furious Five work together with Po to defeat their enemies!  They work extemely well as a team (yes, that includes Po) and it's fun to watch!  Those scenes in particualar are over much too quickly.

One final thought:  Samuel enjoyed it enough that he didn't leave the movie even once to go to the bathroom!  (He usually has to go at least once, if not more than that, during a movie!)