Tuesday, October 23, 2012

The Hunger What?


Finish the Sentence Friday

The last time I went on vacation, I...gave my daughter the best day of her life without even planning it.

On our big girls' trip to Atlanta, we spent Monday morning at the Atlanta Historical Museum.  Oh, yeah.  We Coop girls know how to par-tay!

I won't go into the details about why we went there.  It's not important.  What is important is that we decided to go on the two home tours that came with the admission to the museum.  We first went to the old farmhouse tour, which was the usual old farmhouse tour.  We then went to the grand mansion, where we expected to go on the usual grand mansion tour.



How wrong we were.

The group going on the tour was a diverse group.  Buttercup and I were the only folks there under the age of 60, and of the 20 people, only four others were even from the U.S.  The tour guide told us that we weren't going to get to see the rooms as they normally were, as the furniture was removed for the shooting of a movie.  Everyone was real nonchalant about the movie reference, until he asked if anyone had any questions.  Someone asked which movie it was, and that's when the tour got real interesting real quick.

In an off-handed way, the guide said, "The Hunger Games".

I must tell you that Buttercup is a HUGE fan of both the books and the movie.  She has read the books at least 5 times and, thanks to her friend, has seen the movie at least 4 times.  She has photos of the main characters in her school locker.  She knows that the new movie is to hit theaters on November 22, 2013.  She is on the verge of becoming obsessed.

When that guide so carelessly threw out the name of the movie, Buttercup choked.  Then perked up and squeaked, "Did you just say that the next Hunger Games movie was shot right here two weeks ago?"

"Yes.  They shot some dancing scenes I think."

"Jennifer Lawrence was in this house two weeks ago?"

"Yes."

"And Josh Hutcherson.  He was here, too?"

"Who is Josh?"

That's when Buttercup came within a breath of passing out.

She just learned the biggest news of her short life, and not one person on that porch with us had any idea how big this news was.  She was surrounded by middle-aged Europeans who had never even heard of the books, let alone the movie.  No one was there to share in this momentous occasion except me.  While I know from where she comes (I about lost my gourd on our summer vacation when we stumbled upon the actual green curtains from "Gone With the Wind") I'm not exactly the fan of "The Hunger Games" that she is.  Poor girl.

The rest of the tour was just a whole lot of blah, blah, blah as far as Buttercup was concerned.  She kept whispering to me, "I am walking on the same floor that Jennifer Lawrence walked,"  or, "Josh Hutcherson danced right where I am standing."

And Buttercup came face to face with her own morality.

Before we learned the big news of the movie shoot, the guide had told us that no photos were to be taken inside the house.  We could take all the photos we wanted outside, but none inside.   While we toured, I could see it in her eyes.  I'd give her a look, and she'd say, "Do you know how easy it would be to just push this button and "accidentally" take a photo right now?"  It was killing her.  How was she supposed to show photos of the set to people back home without photos?  I was very proud of her for resisting temptation and following directions while we were in the house.

I was so proud, in fact, that I helped her get around the rules when we went outside. 

They said we could take all the photos we wanted outside, so we took photos through the windows.  Unfortunately, the sun was shining right on the side of the house that we needed, so we had to get right up close to create some shade in order to even get something besides our own reflections.  But it worked.  If you are a fan, sit down.  I'm about to show you the set of the party scene in President Snow's residence.

 

Blows your mind, doesn't it?

As soon as we got those photos out of the way, Buttercup had to immediately phone a friend.  The news was just too big to keep to herself for a whole day until we got back to Indy.


When we look back at this trip, Buttercup will remember that she got to go up the biggest freestanding escalator in the world to get to the CNN studios.


She may remember that while in Atlanta, she did as the Atlantians do, and drank as much Coca-Cola as she wanted, being that we were in the city where Coke was created. 


She'll remember but may not be impressed with the fact that we went to the top of the world's second largest solid mountain of granite


and had fun taking silly pictures while up there.


She probably won't remember that she learned how to make little bubbles inside of humongous bubbles.


She will remember that we went on some seriously fun roller coasters at Six Flags.


But those memories won't come close to the excitement of stumbling upon one of the sets of her favorite movie of all time. 

It was a seriously big deal, y'all.

I so enjoy taking our kids on their individual trips.  For a few days, Buttercup got to choose what she wanted to do without having to take her brothers' interests into account.  Her personality got to shine without being tempered by her brothers' overwhelming presence.

Throughout the trip, Buttercup kept saying how much Turken would enjoy this, or Phoenix would enjoy that.  The boys were never far from our minds, but thankfully they were far from our location.

We got to have some really serious girl fun without them.

Have a lovely day!

32 comments:

  1. How exciting! I'm glad your daughter (and you, too) had a nice weekend together.

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  2. that is pretty awesome! the first hunger games was shot in WNC where i live.

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    1. If my daughter were to know this information, she would hound you until you told her every little bit that you know. We thought about going to North Carolina to go inside the arena, until we found out it was $400 per person. Thanks for stopping by!

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  3. Oh my gosh, I would have been with Buttercup! Those books consumed my life for...a week, because I could not put them down! Then I had to get the movie. I'm gonna have to bookmark this particular post, so when I see the next movie I can come back and look at the pictures again. Make sure you repost this post when the movie comes out. That would be cool. Love how you do a girls trip with your daughter. We do a date night with each of our sons 1x/month. It's nice to give my full attention to just them for three hours a month.

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    1. I lost a week of my life as well. I told teh kids that they couldn't read them until after I did, so they were on my heels until I finished them. I'll be sure to repost it. It is fun doing dates with each child, isn't it? These trips are a big deal around here, considering each child gets to go once every four years.

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    2. I just re-read my comment and I see that I gave you advice - like I'm your mom - or rather MY mom. LOL! Sorry about that. I love this post and I love those books. So glad you linked it up today!

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    3. No worries. I'm good at ignoring my mom's advice, so yours wasn't a problem. :)
      Thanks for hosting such a fun link-up!

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  4. Do you take each kid on an individual trip every single year, or do they switch off years? I think that is such a great idea. I love it! How fun for your daughter, and for you!

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    1. Each year one child gets to take a trip, so it's been four years since she has been on one. We're going to have to bump it up, though, now that the youngest two are getting to be old enough to get in on the rotation. We'll probably do two trips next year. We do love doing this with them. I am so grateful that we can.

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  5. This was truly awesome and your daughter is too cute. I remember being that age and would have been just as excited if it were a movie that I had been obsessed with back in the day. Thank you so very much for linking up with us today and hope to see you back next week, too :)

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    1. Thank you. She can be rather adorable.
      Thanks for hosting such a fun link-up!

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  6. Wow. What a great experience. I found you through the FTSF link up and coming over to say hello! I too love the hunger games and movies- and I'm 32!

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    1. While they were a bit disturbing, I did enjoy the books a lot.

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  7. What a wonderful experience! I bet your daughter will remember that trip for the rest of her life. Great post! :)

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    1. Thank you. I have no doubt that it will go on her list of best things that happened in her childhood.
      Thanks for stopping by!

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  8. Indiana, I would have flipped if i got to see those green curtains! I thought they'd been made into a dress though. I can just imagine your daughter's excitement. And I'm chuffed you got the sneaky indoor 'outdoor' pics for her;)

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    1. Ha! We were on a family vacation and toured an old mansion in Galena, Illinois. We walked into a room, and I said, those curtains look just like Gone with the Wind. The tour guide said, "Well, because they are!" then showed us the photos. I did flip.
      I love good Brit lingo. I'm going to assume that "chuffed" is a good thing. :)

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  9. OMG, my niece loves the Hunger Games too--she would have been over the moon! What an awesome vacation!

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  10. What a cool story! Thanks for sharing. Just imagine when she watches the movie and see the room she was standing in. What a great moment for her!

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    1. It has actually gotten me excited for the movie to come out so I can see how they did it.
      I'm not excited enough to stand in line to go to a crowded midnight showing the day it is released, but at least within a week we'll be in the theater with our eyes peeled.

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  11. I LOVE the Hunger Games books and I know I would have been just as excited as Buttercup! I'm sure that will be a trip she never forgets! The rest of it sounded so great too!

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    1. Not a chance she'll forget this one.
      I really liked the books, too, despite the disturbing nature of them.

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  12. So much fun! This makes me want to go on a vacation. And isn't it funny the things that kids remember most from vacations- definitely never what you would expect! I'm so jealous reading this! It makes me want to go travel so much! I haven't been to Ireland but we visited Scotland a few years ago and it was BEAUTIFUL! Just found your blog and have enjoyed getting to know you better. Hope you don't mind if I follow along!

    new follower :)
    bonnie
    thelifeofbon.com

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    1. With all the cold we are having, I'm ready to travel, too!

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  13. I love the idea of going on individual trips with each kid! Such as wonderful way to connect!!! Great post!

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    1. Thank you. The trips have been so much better than we anticipated when we started doing them. Thanks for stopping by!

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  14. This is so awesome!! Wow! What a wonderful surprise (I would have helped her bend the rules too :)).

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    1. It was so unexpected, we were both in shock for a while. After we bent the rules, I realized that they probably had postcards of the rooms. They did, so she also has real "photos" to show her friends.

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  15. This. Is. The best. ! I know just how she feels - while in France on a chateau tour, I kept having those moments of "Leonardo da Vinci walked RIGHT HERE. Napoleon Bonaparte is buried RIGHT HERE." Nothing compares to the visit to the castle where Ever After was filmed though. "Dougray Scott walks through THIS GARDEN with Drew Barrymore!" :)

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    1. A chateoau tour? How awesome is that? Did you get lots and lots of pictures?
      Thanks for stopping by?

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