Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a quiet, relaxed, snowy day at our house this year. Only Scott's parents were joining us for dinner. We enjoyed watching it snow while we prepared the food, though of course that meant Scott had to run out to pick up his parents while I finished off the preparations.Everything was tasty, as usual, if I do say so myself. But who let these grown-up looking kids come to the party? What is with this getting bigger every year schtick?
Happy Thanksgiving, all! We are thankful for much in our lives. God has truly blessed our family.

Drama on a Shoestring

My drama kids have been working on the sets for Night at the Wax Museum, our next production. Considering we have no budget and a bunch of sixth graders working on the sets (all the upperclassmen got parts in the play this time) they're coming together slowly, but surely. Because the museum is full of various historical characters, we get to build backdrops from many eras.

We have these rustic saloon doors (scrap wood and foam core):

A 6' panel from an ancient Egyptian tomb (paper and paint):


Another 6' backdrop of Independence Hall (more paper and paint - still needs a lot of work):


And this rotating stone wall, very much in progress (Old equipment cart, cardboard, newspaper, and lots and lots of masking tape):


Sometimes I wonder what we could do with more than one adult, an actual budget, and a stage. But then I say, "Eh. Who needs 'em?"

(Except the stage. Can't WAIT until I get my stage. Less than 200 days until the new building!)

Go. Go U. Go U Mass. Go UMass!

Must have heard that chant six hundred times this weekend if I heard it once. The marching band went to UMass for their annual band day. Over 3000 marching band kids. One stadium. Can you say LOUD?



You can play "Where's Waldo?" with the above picture to find Nick if you like. He got to play his actual trombone because they did not use honor guards in the display. Just look for the youngest one in the group - he is only ten, after all! He kept not knowing he was supposed to sit when they would say "High Schoolers, sit down!" They meant high schoolers as opposed to the UMass college kids. But he's not even out of elementary school, so how was he supposed to react to that?



And somewhere in this shot is Kai.

It was a pretty crazy trip. We got up at 2AM, showered, and headed over to the school. We then boarded buses headed for Amherst. We stopped at a Burger King for breakfast and then arrived at UMass around 10. The kids hustled over to the stadium where they spent three hours practicing. They did practice the songs a few times, but mostly they practiced the logistics of getting 3000 kids on and off the field in a 15 minute half-time.

After lunch at the university cafeteria, we headed back for the actual game. I had been playing with the panorama feature on my camera during practice, but as you can see from the shot at the top of this post, I was having trouble lining up the shots. Finally got it - but they put the band parents BEHIND the band for the show. *sigh*



Of course, I have to admit, it was probably easier to seat this many marching band members on the visitor side:



The whole day was in honor of George Parks, the UMass band director who unexpectedly passed away during the season. I have to admit, even though I had never met him, I teared up every time the UMass Minutemen played "I'll Be There" and marching into the formation of his initials. Their band was awesome, and the football team won. After we watched their set at the end of the game, we headed for the hotel. It was really cold, so we were glad to get inside. So what did all the kids do? Jumped in a pool (and one across the street from the main hotel so they had to run through the cold in their bathing suits.

We finally got back around 4:30 on Sunday. It was a loooooong weekend, but a great experience. Both the kids loved band day. Both agreed they could have done without the boring second day of the trip. (We basically drove home, and stopped at a mall for lunch.) I think they were just bumming because marching band season is now officially over. They hardly know what to do with themselves!

Trick or Treat!

Last year, the powers that be decided to move trick or treat to Friday night. This was a bummer for our kids, because that means the football game prevents them from trick or treating. But this year, we played Wilson on Saturday, which meant trick or treat was back on. But what costume to wear? Neither kid had any ideas until just days before Halloween. I spent Thursday night putting together Nick's choice - a zombie Packer. We got him a mask for school, because he can't put on his own make-up there. But, for trick or treat, I painted his face living dead style.

His zombie act was rather freakish - especially when he yanked off his detachable arm.

Kai had a hard time deciding, too, and when it came down to the wire with no costume in sight, she opted for the classic witch from our Halloween storage box. We thought she looked cute, but this may be her last trick or treat - she felt like everyone was thinking she was too old. (Which is silly, since there were much older kids out, but whatever.)

It did help that she was taking her cousins around. Faith was a dark bride or something like that - whatever it was, it was cute. And Juli was a "bat-erina".

Required picture taking was followed by "yes you have to eat your pizza before you can go get other junk food". And "no you can't eat your cousin's brains, Nick".

And finally it was time to trick or treat!

Unsurprisingly, they got quite a haul. I think they have enough candy to last until Christmas.

So, what do you do after collecting pounds and pounds of candy? Have cake, of course!

Gotta Love It

Our hometown, I mean. Just look at these pictures from the Halloween Parade today. Picture perfect small-town Americana. The kind of place where you personally know all the politicians handing you candy, and every kid on every float and team probably knows your kids, and even the bands from neighboring schools realize that the parade hold ups are caused by Saucon's signature Thriller dance.

From our perspective, it was a great parade. To hear the kids tell it, it was pure torture. But you have to remember they've LIVED in those uniforms for the past five days!

Sweet Competition

What a week this has been. A competition on Thursday. A football game on Friday. A parade and Youth Sunday service coming on Sunday. And on Saturday, the Pennsylvania State Marching Band Competition at Hershey Park.

Despite how exhausted both kids were, they had fun on the trip. Dinner at Fuddrucker's was a hit, and the band was in good spirits - especially since they got to bring home the banner proclaiming them state champs!

My favorite part was actually watching our band dancing and laughing in the stands waiting for the awards to begin. Nick participated in the dancing and carousing. Kai had just as much fun being hassled by her friends for NOT dancing, and laughing at everyone who was.

It was pretty hard to get up to perform at church the next day, though, considering we got home well into the next day!

A Mystical Weekend

I kidnapped Scott this weekend for our anniversary. Pretty much everyone in the world knew this, except him. I took the day off work and picked him up from his work at lunchtime on Friday. (Thanks, Scott's boss - I did say pretty much everyone in the world knew, right?) He was very surprised.

We drove to Mystic, Connecticut for a weekend of fall fun. The trip took way too long thanks to massive delays on the highly unpleasant George Washington Bridge. But we finally arrived, and headed to Latitude 41 at Mystic Seaport for dinner.

Do NOT, I repeat NOT ever go to this restaurant! The food was mediocre at best, and at worst - let's just say I spent the evening suffering the ill effects of food poisoning from the entree. (Both Scott and I had entrees that were cold by the time they were brought out, and were most likely never that warm to begin with). The desserts were even disappointing - the worst creme brulee ever and a cheesecake that crumbled into dry clumps when you tried to eat it. Ugh! Couple that with the insane prices and it was the low point of the whole trip.

The next morning, we set out, determined to salvage our trip. Fortunately, after the Latitude 41 debacle, the rest of the trip was fabulous. We started at B.F. Clyde's, a steam powered cider mill.

The mill was almost completely deserted, probably because of the very cold wind blowing through the area. We wandered around looking at the cider making equipment.

Scott wanted to try some apple wine, but the wine tasting didn't open until 10, and we had a train to catch.

But we did get some delicious cider and donuts.

The mill was situated in a very pretty area near the town, and we enjoyed the fall atmosphere and the New England architecture we saw on the way over.

Next, we headed for the Essex Steam Train and Riverboat.
(Sorry - that picture just called for the antique treatment. Here we are.)
We had seats on the parlor car, which meant not only did we get plush swivel seats and beverage service, but Robert Bell, the president of the railroad, dropped by to chat with us before the final whistle. He told us that he had people out in rowboats on the Connecticut River painting the trees for us.
He also mentioned that he had gotten a special gambling license from Connecticut just for this trip - it would be just like the casinos, he told us. Then he instructed us to take out all our money and hand it over.

The trip had many scenic vistas, which were hard to capture through the train glass. The peak colors hadn't yet occured in most places due to the drought and then the overabundance of fall rain, but it was still pretty.

Then we boarded the Becky Thatcher for an entertaining, but COLD trip up the river. We heard the story of eccentric millionaire William Gillette and the castle he built.
It would have been a great trip, but it got progressively colder as we went along. Still, the bratwurst from the boat snack bar was tasty, as was Scott's hamburger and rum and Coke.
Next, we headed to the Mystic Aquarium. The Aquarium is partnered with Dr. Bob Ballard, so we got to see great exhibits about the Titanic wreck and the work he's currently doing in the Mediterranean with ancient shipwrecks.
We also saw some beautiful local glass artwork commissioned for the aquarium.
Oh, and fish.
Lots of fish. (These are apparently all the same species who have evolved different skills and so differentiate their outer appearance to find mates. Sounds like some humans I know.)
And we found Nemo, of course.
This turtle wanted to find us - as soon as I crouched down to take his picture, he posed.
We headed next to Old Mystick Village, a shopping center with several potential dinner options. We ended up at Bleu Squid, an artisan grilled cheese sandwich shop.
As I told the proprietor, the food was 1/8th as expensive and 8x as good as Latitude 41. Scott had this amazing spinach pesto grilled cheese.
I had a bacon and tomato grilled cheese. He had a white chocolate brownie for dessert and I had this mocha cupcake.It was a great dinner. We enjoyed the hotel pool and went out to see the movie Red. Oh, and hit an Irish pub called "Harp and Hound" down by Mystic Pizza. Yes, that Mystic Pizza. It was a full, fun day.

On Sunday morning, we headed back to the aquarium. where we met this friendly beluga whale. He squirted us, and then laughed about it. We were the only people nearby and it was a really cool interaction.We also checked out the sea lion show.And the penguins. It was much warmer today, so we were glad we had waited to catch all these outdoor exhibits.In fact, the weather and foliage was downright gorgeous.For lunch (and souvenir shopping) we headed back to Old Mystick Village.

This time, we went to Mango's Wood Fired Pizza Company. We enjoyed a pulled pork barbecue pizza, and Scott got some kind of local India Pale Ale. I tried to order a Diet Coke, but was thwarted again. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a Coke in Connecticut??? Everywhere is Pepsi or Kola.

We gathered up a bunch of souvenirs for the kids and Grandma and Grandpa and headed home. The trip back was much shorter, and our trip over the George Washington Bridge was fast and actually pleasant (we were on the upper deck this time).

It was a great weekend, and I would recommend everything about it to anyone - except Latitude 41. Only problem is, I am keeping my travel companion. I've had him for fourteen wonderful years, so you'll just have to find your own!