It's Hall.oween! (In De.laware)

Due to an arcane law it is illegal to trick-or-treat on a Sunday in Delaw.are.  So, in effect, today was Hallow.een.

Our first goal of the day - carve our pumpkins!

The boys helped clean out the guts:

Brayton approved my pumpkin design:

McColley helped Daddy design his pumpkin:

Brayton was excited to see his finished pumpkin:

McColley got a lesson in the art of passive management:

The pumpkins turned out pretty good (given our crude carving tool):

With the pumpkins out of the way, it was time to put on costumes and walk the Fant.asy Trail:

Brayton was excited to run into Blue:

McColley was excited to see Go.ofy:

And then even more excited to see Spo.ngeBob:

Everyone was excited for the final characters along the trail:

We then got to take a hay ride back to our car:

After a little neighborhood party, it was time to trick-or-treat... but first we had to light our pumpkins:

We're pretty proud of them:

Our first stop for trick-or-treating was actually the Har.vest Fest.ival at the You.th Center.

There was a pony ride:

The General was napoleonic on his trusty steed:

Then it was time to fill up our bags with candy:

Happy Hallow.een to everyone!

It's HalloWeek!

McColley doesn't just get Hal.loween this year - he gets HalloWeek.

It started on Tuesday with trick-or-treating through the YMCA:

The kids got a round of applause and lots of "so cute!" as they went through the lobby:

McColley got to lead the parade back to the classroom where the kids enjoyed a Harvest Party:

Tonight McColley got to become The Dancing General:

All the parents were invited in to see a costume "parade":

The kids actually did some basic ballet moves for us and then McColley bowed:

Now he just has to wear his costume for the actual holiday!

The Great Pumpkin Search

We were in search of gourds... too bad these were just for display:

The first thing we actually found was the cornbox:

We only managed to get Brayton out of the cornbox by getting him excited about the tractor pulling the hayride:

The rest of us were just excited about the hayride:

Brayton got more excited about the hayride when he discovered he could play with the hay:

The hayride took us through a beautiful forest full of changing leaves...

and then dropped us off at the pumpkin field. The search for our perfect pumpkins began:

McColley had to decide between two choices but Brayton quickly narrowed down his selection:

McColley ended up resorting to the 'tap and listen' test to make a decision:

And then because we love Daddy so much... we made him carry the pumpkins to the car all by himself:

Now we just have to get them carved before the weekend!

Garden March

18:30 - Colonial General Maguire reports for duty at L.ongwood Gardens' Fr.agrant Friday:

18:43 - Assisted by Aide-de-Camp Maguire, Colonial General Maguire learns about carnivorous plants:

18:58 - Colonial Private Maguire plays with pumpkins:

19:01 - Colonial General Maguire colors a pumpkin and receives pumpkin seeds:

19:23 - Subaltern Maguire discovers a patch of carnivorous plants for the general and private to inspect:

19:37 - The moon shines brightly on the chrysanthemums:

19:42 - Colonial General, Colonial Private and Subaltern Maguire pose for an official portrait:

19:52 - Subaltern Maguire discovers a flower that matches her purse.  Colonial soldiers are unimpressed:

20:00 - Private Maguire learns to stand at attention:

20:05 - Colonial General Maguire orders a return to home quarters.

On The Road To History

Thursday October 14th

We left De.laware after McColley's dance class and drove north.  It was raining.

We had a four hour drive that, much to B's delight, led us through N.ew Yor.k Ci.ty.

It never stopped raining.  We were driving on the same track as a nor'easter.

N.ew Yor.k looked like this:

Thankfully, when we finally reached our destination in C.onnecticut, we had lovely fluffy four-poster beds waiting for us:

Friday October 15th

Unfortunately we only spent one night in C.onnecticut because it was not our final destination.

Fortunately we got to drive through the lovely countryside on a bright Autumn morning:

As we drove, B kept seeing exit signs and muttering, "And they can't pronounce Pu.yallup?"

Around 11am we arrived in N.ewport, Rh.ode Islan.d.  It was time to tour some mansions!

We started with The B.reakers:

We toured the mansion while listening to an audio tour.  McColley loved this tour because there was a version especially for him:

Next up was Ro.secliff.  McColley hunted the lions out front:

And the roses out back (R.osecliff is where the Am.erican Beaut.y was created):

Our last mansion was M.arble H.ouse:

From Mar.ble Hou.se's back garden you could view the whole coastline of mansions:

When we got back to the front side, it was too Autumnsome to not take a picture:

Saturday October 16th

The next day we headed up to Sale.m, Mas.sachusetts a.k.a. Wit.ch (and Ha.lloween) Central:

S.alem was so crowded that we decided to skip all the witch museums and just enjoy the city's sights.  We hunted down the W.itch's Memorial and then found my Great*8 Grandmother's memorial stone:

Sar.ah Wild.es is my paternal great-grandmother, but thanks to a little genealogical research, we found out I am related to more than one S.alem Wit.ch.  Rebec.ca Nur.se and Mary E.astey are my maternal great (many, many times) aunts.

Because Sar.ah Wil.des and Re.becca Nur.se were hung together their stones are next to each other in the Memorial:

We continued our walk through Sal.em and ended up down on the S.alem waterfront where we toured the merchant ship Fr.iendship:

The Friend.ship is just a few blocks over from the H.ouse of the Se.ven Gab.les (we didn't actually tour the house because it was busy... and we've never read the book... gotta fix that):

We wandered back through downtown Sa.lem and enjoyed the street fair atmosphere as Oc.tober is Sale.m's busiest month (it's all about Ha.lloween).  McColley's favorite thing was the Br.onze Wit.ch (even if he was a bit dubious at first):

Sunday October 17th

We had spent Friday and Saturday night in a hotel on C.ape Cod.  When we woke up Sun.day morning we decided to actually go out to the water:

Then it was off to Pl.imoth Pl.antation:

Brayton's very favorite thing (of probably the whole trip) was finding and following the baby chicks around the Pilgri.m Vil.lage:

I apparently have the boys trained very well, because when they saw this bench on one of the paths they both climbed up and started shouting 'cheese!':

After a few hours at the Pl.antation we headed into Plym.outh and found the Rock:

And then we finished off all things Pil.grim with a tour of the M.ayflower II:

Monday October 18th

After another lovely night in a different lovely hotel in C.onnecticut it was time to drive home.

This time without rain.

We were all excited to go through N.ew Yor.k Cit.y with the possibility of actually seeing something.

All we saw was trucks:

Brayton decided to be very helpful all the way home by screaming 'TRUCK!' every time he saw a semi-truck.

Half-way through N.ew Jer.sey I lost my mind and handed him the camera just to distract him.

Mostly we got pictures of shoes and fingertips, but he did snap a few 'good' photos:

And now we're home!  And probably done with road trips for a while.