Friends And Favorite Places

This morning we left the house early to meet up with Miss Myra at the M.ilton Ke.ynes Mall:

 Miss Myra is only in the UK for a trip. McColley, Brayton and I used to go to her music class every week in Dover. She knows we live near Milt.on Keyn.es and contacted me via Facebook to get together. It was great to get to see her again!

On top of the chance to see an old friend, today was a federal holiday for both B and McColley. Since it's not a holiday in the UK we decided to head back to Legol.and.

Upon entry Brayton decided to entertain Pearson by playing hide-and-seek with the lockers:

We then headed towards Brayton's favorite ride - the helicopters. McColley shocked us by asking to do it too.

McColley piloted Daddy (halfway) off the ground:

Brayton was unsure about his big brother's piloting abilities, so he shouted instructions to him from the sidelines:

Once McColley and Daddy were done it was Brayton's turn to take me (all the way up) into the sky:

From the sky we had seen that there was no line at the fairytale ride, so that was our next stop:

And, since he's now so big, McColley had to drive his own car again:

Brayton didn't want to drive a car but he did enjoy driving me around in a boat:

The real surprise of the day was that the diggers were up and running:

On our way out I saw that there was no line for the themed ferris wheel. I wanted all of us to go on it but McColley and Brayton refused.

So, Pearson, the Lego Explorer and I went without them:

Then we fed them to the W.ampa Monster:

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!

Good-Bye Earl, We Hardly Knew Ye

As most everyone knows, the E.ast Co.ast was supposed to be pounded by H.urricane Ea.rl today.

In anticipation of this, we decided to spend all day inside the house and watch the storm progress via the internet and television.

At 3pm the storm was supposedly over us so we gave up on satellite watching and instead:

Watched the boys perform a puppet show

Had Mommy perform a puppet show after it became apparent that the boys didn't quite understand how one performs a puppet show

Watched McColley perform a second puppet show titled

"The Lion Makes A Friend"

Watched McColley and GreatGrandma perform an olio titled

"My Honorable Sword and My Honorable Shield and My Honorable Sword"

featuring Scurvy Dog fighting Ringworm Cat

Had a musketeer visit

After all that action, we looked outside the window and noticed that NOTHING was going on outside.  Earl had decided to only send some interesting clouds our way.

So, the musketeer went on a mail run:

Hey, How About Visiting A Fort?

It seems to have become a theme for us to do boat-related things on birthdays.  Today is GreatGrandma's birthday so we decided to take a ferry trip:

And head out to Fort Del.aware on Pea Pa.tch Island:

The fort was built to protect Ph.iladelphia but it's most active period was during the C.ivil War when it was used as a prison for Confed.erate soldiers.

Because of that history, there is now a reconstructed prison barrack (during the Civi.l War this building would have held 220 men):

After learning about life for Co.nfederate prisoners we took a short hydration break:

Which coincided with a rifle demonstration:

We then headed inside the fort.  The mess hall was decorated quite patriotically:

One of the interpreters let the boys pump water in the officers' kitchen - in 1864 the fort had a more modern water system than the Wh.ite House!

We wandered upstairs to take a peak at the officers' quarters... all two rooms (per officer/family):

Once back downstairs we found the blacksmith demonstration:

And McColley got to keep a nail:

Our last demonstration was a mortar firing back outside the fort:

The boys were interested in the mortar... once it was done firing:

We then caught the ferry back to land:

Once home the boys helped me make a birthday cake for GreatGrandma:

It turned out rather well:

The boys then helped GreatGrandma blow out all the candles (which was harder than expected due to uneven/unlevel candle placement):