Michael & Liz are Bloggable

Almost exactly 2 weeks ago, I posted a video of Cole beginning to show the first signs of crawling. Today Liz caught him for the first time actually making progress. He does this bounce and then lunge routine that helps him get closer to the objects he desires. It just so happened that the object he wanted was Liz's cup, and it's hard to catch something that rolls away from you so easily!

This video is just far too precious to not share with everyone. Not only is Cole adorable, but I love Gryffin just sitting in the background waiting for someone to play ball with him. Enjoy!

In a couple weeks I'll be participating in this event: http://www.hinsonlake24hour.com/

The rough overview is that it's a 24 hour running race. You run/walk as many times around that 1.5 mile lake as possible during the span of 24 hours. You can be out there the entire time or you can do 1 lap and quit. It's a  "run at your leisure" type event.

I have 2 goals for this race:

• I want to be one of the people who stays out there the whole time. There is no way I'm going to run 24 hours, I think 5 or 6 would be a challenge, but with the exception of eating and using the bathroom, I think I can handle being on the trail and walking for that amount of time. 
• I would consider anything under 50 miles to be a total failure, so that is my minimum. What am I aiming for? I would be elated with 80 miles total. I have secret dreams of eclipsing 100, but that is far fetched and unrealistic in my opinion. 

I'm thankful after 5 years, I can still make Liz laugh. 

Liz: "Can you remember that?"
Me: "Yes, I'm very rememberful."
Liz: "Nice use of language there."
Me: "It was good Englishness."
Liz: "Even better."
Me: "I try my bestest."
Liz: "Hillary would be proud."
Me: "Probablies."

Cole is growing so fast!! He is now regularly getting up on all fours. He can wobble there for anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds and then fall back down. He can also get up and fall forward in order to get to toys that are out of reach. I'd say crawling should be coming any time now!!

This week he turned 5 months, and I cannot believe it has gone that quickly. Here are a couple pictures from his 5 month birthday:

Liz told me that this is the most boring of all my blog posts. The 1 or 2 people who read this blog would probably agree with that, or at least that's what I'd guess. I enjoy watching movies and writing about them, but waiting 4 months and typing them all out was way too much. I need to find a better way to do it. Maybe pick my 2 or 3 favorites from each month? Either way, hope you can find one or two in here that may interest you.

May:

• The Big Year (2011) - 4 stars - We really enjoyed this movie. I thought it may be boring since it's about birds, but the cast did a really great job getting you to enjoy the bird watching aspect. I especially enjoyed Jack Black and Owen Wilson, really funny in this movie. 
• Forks Over Knives (2011) - 5 stars - Nothing has ever appeared more true to me than what is presented in this documentary. You need to see this documentary.
• Food, Inc (2008) - 5 stars - This was a little less riveting than the Forks Over Knives documentary, but still made you think.
• Limitless (2011) - 4 stars - LOVED the concept of this movie! It may sound ridiculous to take a pill that makes you as smart as anyone in the world, but it was executed really well. Bradley Cooper did a good job too. 
• Hugo (2011) - 3 stars - Why is this movie so popular and accomplished? It was cute, but not groundbreaking. There's no need for it to win so many awards. I'd actually go so far as to say it was borderline boring.
• Battle: Los Angeles (2011) - 4 stars - Give in to the concept, and forget the fact that it's far-fetched and unlikely, and this movie is really well done. I thought they did a great job in the action sequences and allowing the viewer to follow the plot. Aaron Eckhart was awesome too.
• Game of Thrones - Season 1 (2011) - 5 stars - OK, this show is not for everyone, mainly because of the amount of nudity, gore, and violence. But get past those obstacles, and this show is absolutely BRILLIANT. I cannot wait for the other seasons to be released on DVDs!!
• Little Fockers (2010) - 3 stars - We watched this movie in May, and I honestly cannot remember anything about it. Probably why we gave it 3 stars, it's a shrug your shoulders type movie. 
• Midnight in Paris (2011) - 2 stars - I was expecting to LOVE this movie. Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams are awesome. But the plot was absolutely ridiculous and moved along very slowly. You could also see the end coming from a mile away. Snooze.
• Dolphin Tale (2011) - 3 stars - Not much to dislike about this movie. I can't recall why we only gave it 3 stars, but it was definitely a feel good story and we enjoyed it.
• Tower Heist (2011) - 2 stars - This was not a bad movie until you got to the meat and potatoes of it. It was the ridiculousness of the ending completely ruined the movie. They could have come up with something better. 
• Fighting (2008) - 3 stars - It's exactly the kind of role you want Channing Tatum in. Don't give him a lot of lines and make him beat up a lot of people. You get what you expect to get out of it. 
• The Adjustment Bureau (2011) - 5 stars - I think Liz in particular LOVED this movie. It was complicated and action packed and starred Matt Damon. Not a lot to dislike there! 
• Crank (2006) - 2 stars - Netflix says I'd hate it, and they were close. I can't really put my finger on why not though. Maybe because it was just action sequences with very little purpose. 
• Win Win (2011) - 5 stars - Paul Giamatti is absolutely brilliant. We LOVED this movie. Actually so much so that when it started skipping in the middle, we stopped the movie, sent it back and waited for a replacement. It had great acting, intriguing plot lines, and threw in humor in unexpected spots. This wasn't a popular movie, but I highly recommend seeing it.

• Middle Men (2009) - 3 stars - Was definitely not worth the time. I like Luke Wilson, but this was an average and uninteresting movie. 
• Real Steel (2011) -  5 stars - I cannot express how much I enjoyed this movie. It's like Rocky with robots. What isn't awesome about that?!?! You can see the ending coming from a mile away, but when can't you in a sports movie? It had everything you'd want. I highly recommend it.
• Unstoppable (2010) - 5 stars - Once again, the ending was going to be obvious. But it is advertised as a "nail-biting race against time", and that's exactly what it was. It was full of action and suspense. Very good movie. 
• We Bought A Zoo (2011) - 4 stars - They bought a zoo, what else do you need to know? Very cute movie and when is Matt Damon not awesome?
• The Lincoln Lawyer  (2011) - 5 stars - What a complicated movie! I think this movie is based on a book, and it showed it. The plot twisted and turned the entire time and continued to surprise the whole time. Matthew McConaughey did great as always. 
• Skyline (2010) - 1 star - When it ended we said "you have GOT to be kidding me". This movie started great. The concept was cool, but all of a sudden at one point, the director must have quit and was finished up by a 2nd grader. 
• Fair Game (2010) - 4 stars - I did not know this movie was about the Scooter Libby case. That alone made it interesting. 

• Unknown (2011) - 4 stars - I love Liam Neeson. He alone can get a movie to 3 or 4 stars. But the plot was interesting, unexpected, and action-packed.
• Source Code (2011) - 3 stars - Another movie that somewhat lost me at the end. I was with you until a certain point, then it just got dumb.
• GasLand (2010) - 5 stars - If you don't know what "fracking" is or how TERRIBLE it is for the environment, you need to see this movie. It's SHOCKING that anyone thinks this is a good idea. 
• Away We Go (2009) - 3 stars - I had much higher expectations for this movie. I thought John Krasinski would make it funny, but unfortunately his character watered him down. 
• Love and Other Drugs (2010) - 3 stars - 2 people in interesting jobs get into a relationship and crazy things happen. The idea is ground-breaking. 
• Hereafter (2010) - 4 stars - This movie was unexpectedly good. I would love to meet someone like the character that Matt Damon plays. I would love to know more about the after life. Maybe the reason I liked this movie is because it gave me hope and faith, even if it was fake. 
• Big Miracle (2012) - 4 stars - The plot: there are 3 whales trapped in the ice. You get one guess as to what happens, GO! With that said, I still enjoyed John Krasinski in this. 
• Stand By Me (1986) - 3 stars - I've said it before and I'll say it again, there are very few movies before 1990 that can compare to movies nowadays. They have to rely too much on the power on acting, which is over rated to me. This is one of those movies.
• Monte Carlo (2011) - 3 stars - I don't discriminate in my enjoyment of movies. Even the girliest of chick flicks can be good to me. This one though was average at best.

• Blue Valentine (2010) - 3 stars - I did not enjoy this movie at all. Despite it starring Ryan Gosling, it was pretty boring and awful.
• Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010) - 2 stars - I really hope this isn't the standard for future Narnia movies. The quality is declining. Maybe it's because the reality and relatae-ability of the story is getting more difficult. 
• Gulliver's Travels (2010) - 3 stars - Don't expect any Oscar's with this movie, but it was cute and decent. Jason Segel could have been a little funnier, but oh well. 
• Horrible Bosses (2011) - 4 stars - I really like the cast with Jason Batemen and Jason Sudeikis. Sudeikis needs to be in more comedies, he's really awesome. This movie could have been less raunchy, but other than that it was hilarious. 
• Gnomeo and Juliet (2011) - 3 stars - This was a cute kids movie, not much more than that. 
• Wanderlust (2012) - 3 stars - Paul Rudd is freaking hilarious. He alone can carry a movie. The only reason it got 3 stars is because I don't think hippies or drugs are funny. 
• Machete (2010) - 1 star - I watched this because it was the first movie Lindsay Lohan was in after her troubles. She started with a bad one, this was AWFUL. 
• Another Year (2010) - 1 star - We tried twice, and couldn't get through it. We never ended up finishing it, just didn't care enough to.
• Apollo 18 (2011) - 2 stars - I would love to know more about the secrets NASA may or may not have about space and aliens. This was a decent movie, but was incredibly short and too overly straight-forward. 
• Jeff, Who Lives at Home (2011) - 2 stars - You have Ed Helms and Jason Segel in your movie, how could it possibly be bad? They did their best, and almost did it. Not a good movie. 
• Biography: Harry Potter Kids (2009) - 2 stars - This was just a 1 hour TV documentary about the Harry Potter kids. The most interesting part was about the casting they went through. Other than that it wasn't very revealing. 
• Birds of America (2008) - 3 stars - This was pretty boring most of the time, but the ending was fulfilling. Netflix thought I'd give it 1 star though, so I guess it exceeded expectations?

In July Cole mastered rolling from front to back and back to front. Recently we've been seeing him show the early signs of trying to crawl. While I was upstairs, Liz pulled out the camera and caught Cole trying again. The first part of the video is his efforts with Liz trying to encourage him.