Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween from......

The Robot

Sponge Bob Square Pants

The mad scientist who took them out in public to beg for candy from neighbors...

and our own personal Halloween decoration....

 She showed up just today on the house... but she had been hanging out in the bushes out front.  She is getting closer to trying to invite herself into the house.  (if you click on the picture, it will be cleared...tee hee)

The kids' first grade teacher told me I should go into business selling Halloween costumes.

I went into their class today to read them our favorite Halloween story, Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman and then stayed for lunch.  After lunch, they had one lesson in the computer lab and then they returned to the classroom for a little Fall Festival party.  Not a Halloween party.  No costumes or Halloween stuff is allowed.  We had some pretzels, juice boxes and I brought a craft project.  Luckily, I had both fall themed and Halloween themed possibilities for the frames they could decorate.  The teacher was able to go get the one little boy who had to leave the room when she thought it was 'Halloween only' on the party stuff.  She was pleased we could include him, too.  So was I.

Everyone had a fun time and we even got a group photo as well as a picture of Gretchen and her 2 friends who had on the same pumpkin sequin shirt that she did!  Then, Carl jumped into a shot since he was wearing his sequins, too.  And the best part - no homework on Halloween night!  They only had to do their 15 minutes of nightly reading.  Now, that was a treat!!!

Happy Halloween, Everyone!   I may come back with an update after they return from Trick or Treating.  By the way, it is currently 7:32 and we have only had 14 kids come by so far.

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OK.  They got home at 8:00.  Carl immediately ate some fruit snacks.  Then, he opened a box of Dots before we could stop him.  Then, he almost cried when we stopped him from opening another box.  Dude, you didn't really think you could eat this all tonight, did you?  Gretchen asked for one Kit Kat bar.  They had fun doing a little Trick or Treating, but both agreed that next year's costumes will not be made out of boxes.  Apparently, Carl's was very hard to walk in.  They could have ripped the bottom open to help, but didn't.  Gretchen's arm covers didn't last the whole night, but her hat did.  But, people told them they looked very cute.  One little boy even recognized Lew  in his lab coat... "Hey!  Last year you were Dr Doofenschmirtz!"  How cool is that?  Lew is a Halloween legend around these here parts!

We had 22 kids come to our door.  I gave out 24 candy bars.  1 went to Carl when he got home... he grabbed a Fruit by the Foot pack out of the bowl.  the other duplicate went to a tiny little girl with tattoos ALL over her arms!!  Her big brother quickly picked a Snickers bar and then asked politely, "Oh, can I trade this for one without peanuts?"  So, this tiny little girl asked politely, "Can I trade this in?" and she then pulled an empty candy bar wrapper out of her pumpkin and tossed it in my bowl - taking a second Rice Krispie Treat.  Seriously, how could I say 'no' to a biker princess chick covered in tats?

The Haul.

My mom called to talk to the kids.  Here's Carl quizzing her about what Kate, Claire and Joe wore for costumes.  He was excited to get to talk to Uncle Kenny as a bonus.  Kenny dressed as a fisherman and sent Lew a photo, but Lew cannot figure out how to get it off his phone for me.  Don't ask him.  He'll just yell at you.

"vote early and vote often"

With all the worry over voter identification fraud you have been hearing about - it surprised me that they didn't even ask me for ID.  Lew voted on his lunch break at the other location and they didn't ask him for ID either.

school pictures

I got the proofs back for the kids' fall school photos.  Here, they do pictures in both the fall and spring.  The fall ones are the classic school head shots that get used in the yearbook.  In the spring, they take casual photos with a patterned background of some sort.  They also take a big group shot of the class in the spring. 

So, as is tradition, I will purchase a package of each child's 1st Grade photo.  I am not, however, buying the one of them together.  With twins, they take one together, but they do not do that for other siblings who they would have to hunt down to be in the same shot.  The smiles are better than last years' pictures, but still not very natural.

Now, these are natural smiles! (and new haircuts)

Happy Birthday, Kenny!

I know at one time, I was trying to keep up with birthday wishes and, well, that didn't work very well.  But, since I only have 1 brother, I can wish him a Happy Birthday without worrying about having to be fair to someone else when their date rolls around.


This was last December 27th (my birthday).  As soon as Mom snapped it, Kenny announced that it was the best picture ever taken of him.

 I actually think this one is better.

These are from this summer.  Kenny & his friend Nick rode their bikes up to camp one day.  Then, they turned around and biked back home. It was 120 miles round trip.

Other summer 2012 fun shots....

How about one oldie?  This must be summer of 1974 up at camp.

Happy 39th Birthday, Kenny!!!

Disney day 8... Magic Kingdom... then home

Our last day in FL was Saturday, November 12th.  We got up early and headed over to Magic Kingdom to spend a half day before we had to take Grammie to the airport and hit the road for NC.

Main Street early in the morning

We took the train to get where we were headed.

That was over to the Big Thunder Mountain Rail Road roller coaster.  Lew and both kids are on this run.  Gretchen didn't ride as much as Carl did this trip.  This is when Lew & Carl  got themselves up to 19 rides.

 Check this out...  can you spot them?  It's hard among the crowds, eh?

 The boys with their favorite ride behind them.

 All four of us rode the carousel one more time.

 We actually never waited in Dumbo's long lines this trip.  But, they have this one car you can pose in.

A final stop in front of the castle.  The photographer tried to get a shot of the 2 kids looking cute, but they were tired, the sun was directly in their faces and therefore, not cooperative.  Oh well.

 We did a little shopping before we left, too.

 Waiting for the last ride on the monorail.

 Good bye, Mickey & Minnie.

 All packed up and ready to head for home!

Our 2011 trip to Disney - Grammie's first trip there - was magical!

Disney day 7... Magic Kingdom

We got to the park around 9:30 in the morning.  First ride we hit was the tea cups...  I am not sure why, but those are the first photos I have from the day.  We must have been walking somewhere and stopped as we passed.  I don't think we would have dashed for them first thing.  I know Lew wouldn't have!

Next up on the schedule... It's a Small World!   It doesn't get much more "Disney" that this.

We then headed over to Adventure Land where Gretchen and I rode the Magic Carpets ( a very Dumbo like ride) while the boys rode the Big Thunder Mt RR roller coaster.  The wait was almost nothing on this ride, we rode several times in a row.

Next, we ate lunch at Cosmic Rays.  Here you can see the counter as you order and wait for your food.

After lunch, we actually sent Mom over to wait in a line to meet Rapunzel.  We were told this line would be hours long - but it was only a few minutes before Mom flagged us over.  They take in large groups and we were going to make the cut off for the next group let in.  So, we may have waited a half hour.  Only Gretchen and I went in.  Honestly, I cannot remember what the boys went to do.  It might have been ride the Speedway cars.  It may have beef truck it back over to the BTMRR.  Once they bring the group in, the kids can color together while the adults stay in live.  Gretchen loved this!  I'm not sure Carl would have been so excited and patient.

Gretchen said meeting Rapunzel was one of her favorite parts of the vacation.  She is still talking about how her hair was braided to help it not be so long.

Gretchen, Mom and I rode the People Mover around to check things out for above.  That actually may have been one of my favorites.  We did not ride it the year before.  It is pretty cool.  Here's Gretchen looking out over the castle.  Wouldn't you love to know what she is imagining?   Later, we would ride it with Carl and Lew - and Carl's favorite part was riding over the speedway cars, of course.

This is taken from the People Mover.  It is the entrance to Space Mountain.  I took the shot to show you  what the crowd level in early November looks like.

On our way to the next activity, we saw some people gathered so we peeked at what they were looking at.  Turns out, a Cast Member who was sweeping the street had stopped to do a little artwork.

 
Gretchen, Mom and I went on to wait to meet Tinkerbell and Rosetta, one of the other fairies.  That may have been the longest wait to meet a character that we encountered.  I think we spent about 45 minutes in line, but you were in a big room with TVs playing cartoons, so it was not a bad wait.  Once it was your turn to enter, you were magically shrinked (shrunk?) down to fairy size before you could enter.  The scenery was amazing!  We only had crayons, but they loaned us magic markers for the fairies to sign with because they have very intricate signatures.

All that waiting made us hungry!  We met back up with the boys and had a yummy Dole Whip snack.  And ice cream for Carl.  We used to be able to get Dole Whip out in Buffalo so it wasn't anything new to us, but from reading various Disney message boards, I think not many people know what it is. People go nuts for it!  These are pineapple and orange floats.  Yum!  I told you we entered the park at 9:30?  Well, these cool treat pictures were taken at 4 pm.  Getting late on us.

We worked our way back to Main Street for a little shopping. You get to pass the castle all the time!

 Everything is decked out for the holidays in November.

 Hey there, hi there, ho there!

You're as welcome as can be!

 M-i-c...k-e-y..... M-o-u-s-e!

 We had a couple family photos taken.

(See the guy in the wheelchair under my elbow?  That is why you should always smile when you are walking around,  You never know how many photos you may end up in.)

 They even let us hold Tinkerbell for a moment!  Magic!

Then, back to the condo.  Carl loves the monorail.  This is one of my favorite photos from the week.  I love that Carl and Gretchen seem to be mesmerized, but I like that the Cast Member is looking at them smiling, as if he realizes how cool that the monorail he works with for hours a day still can seem to a 5 year old. or two.

Later that evening....  shhhh......