Summer Belongs to You

This is going to be a no-brainer for many of my readers, but the Phineas and Ferb extra-long episode, "Summer Belongs to You," is a must-watch. Those of you with kids probably knew/assumed this, based on the rest of the series. Those of you without kids should rent some (or volunteer to babysit some) so you have an excuse to watch this series--you'll be glad you did (this is probably not the episode to start with, tho).

The episode opens with Phineas looking for a more difficult daily activity (than something simple like building a self-aware robot who decides that jumping rope is his raison d'être).

"Our vacation is more than halfway over. And what have we accomplished? (Looking through Ferb's Log) Okay, so we built a roller coaster, traveled through time twice, found Atlantis, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. See, we've hardly done anything. We need a real challenge. We need to make the biggest, longest, funnest Summer day of all time."

He and Ferb build an airplaneish thingy (The Sun-Beater 3000) to fly around the world on the summer solstice keeping up with the sun as it travels, to make what's already the longest day even longer (yeah, I don't understand that sentence either, let the little pointy-headed kid explain it when you watch).

So Phineas, Ferb and their friends (and sister) take off on a quick 'round the world trip--with scheduled refueling stops in Tokyo and Paris (and an unscheduled stop in Nepal and one somewhere in the Atlantic). These stops allow other supporting characters to join (and leave) the voyage and some hilarious musical moments.

There's action, laughs, music galore (and even a couple of odd choices in the way of guest singers), a little romance, intrigue, good advice, and a silly "you can do anything you believe in" after-school special lesson that doesn't detract too much from the overall quality of the episode.

I don't remember the last time my kids and I were able to sit down and laugh at something together (mostly, but not entirely, at the same things) so consistently and frequently since early Veggie Tales. Wish we hadn't watched it while TLomL was at work so it could've been a whole-fam thing, but we'd been too busy over the weekend to watch it, and none of us were in the mood to wait any longer. Honestly, can't wait to watch it again--and figure I'll laugh almost as much, and probably find a joke or two I missed.