Candy Cane Train

We went on the Candy Cane Train from Bath to Wiscasset. It is set to emulate the movie Polar Express. Once the train gets moving Santa's Elves (local high school cheerleaders) ask if any of the kids would like to go to the front of the car to listen to story time. Refreshments (Juice and x-mas cookies) are offered, a barber shop quartet sings Christmas songs, a stop in Wiscasset where the elves get off the train and cheer and then the big man shows-up and sits with each child at their seat and asks what they want for Christmas. Sounds like a great time to me if I was a kid. Well you wouldn't know it by the reaction of our to little darlings. They were very unimpressed and grumpy. We now fully believe they are just like Carey and my fathers. Bah Humbug!!

The Underwear Acrobat

What incredible form!

Brotherly Love

The other night Boy 1 agreed to run around in his underwear so that Boy 2 would want to do it also. This makes it easier during potty training for Boy 2 to run to the bathroom every 10 minutes or so and try to go potty. The one drawback is anytime we do this they seem to get very hyper, run, scream and wrestle.

Boy 1 is still stronger so Boy 2 takes the brunt of the attack, but it is getting closer. Luckily when it ends they still end up as buddies............pretty much.

Foolish Little Boys

You never know what these two little monkeys may be doing from 1 minute to the next. Boy 1 and Boy 2 each got a dress-up costume at daycare for one of the kids birthdays a few weeks ago. Boy 2 got a tiger costume with mask, tail and bow tie. Though he doesn't really wear it, Boy 1 loves it prancing, climbing and meowing all around the house.

On Thanksgiving, Boy 2 wanted to help with anything he could, so he was handing me potato's from the bag so I could peel them and then sometimes taking the peeled ones and placing them back in the bag. As you can see he was particularly impressed with my use of a peeler. The next day we got some sleet that the boys were convinced was snow..........but that didn't keep them from using a lawn mower.

Halloween 2010 (Catch-Up)

We went and got our pumpkins from Rocky Ridge Orchards in Bowdoin. They have a big swing in the barn (this sounds like last year) and some decorations around the pumpkin yard that the boys liked. Though the real reason we get our pumpkins here rather than the hundreds of other roadside place is because the fresh donuts and pastries.

Prior to carving the pumpkins Boy 1 was very brash talking how he was going to clean the guts out of the pumpkin. Oh, the courage quickly disappeared. Boy 2 showed him up from the beginning just digging in that still didn't change the mind of Boy 1, he wasn't touching the guts.

Since probably mid-September Boy 1 said he wanted to be a race car driver. Funny thing we don't watch any racing. Well, other than Handy Manny's Big Race. His was an easy find, Carey found the costume in the Nascar store for $10.00 with free shipping and handling..............SCORE!! Boy 2 on the other hand was supposed to be Elmo, we thought no problem he loves Elmo. He would not put on that costume for anything. We had a fall back costume of Thomas the Train. Still, he would not put it on. Well that quickly changed when Aunt Darcy stopped by with treats and he saw Boy 1 got candy when he put his costume on and said "Trick or Treat"! He was in a skid to get the costume on from that point and we had not trouble the rest of the night.

Fastest Elevator in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont

Yesterday we went for a little ride to go to the Waldo Hancock Bridge and Fort Knox in Prospect just outside of Bucksport. The bridge is only 1 of 3 in the world that has an observation tower at the top. (Now remember the following numbers) The observation deck is 442 feet in the air, it gives you a 360 degree view of the area. The elevator to get to the top is the fastest in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, it rises 5oo feet per minute. Stick with me, these numbers will mean things soon. So to go up 442 feet it only takes 50 seconds. Once at the top you have to climb 2 more flights of stairs to get to the observation deck. You can see surrounding towns and mountains (Saddleback) and the coast. We thought we may see more foliage, but we were probably a week or so to early.

We stayed in the observation deck for about 2o minutes Boy 1 and Boy 2 had about all they could handle. Here come the numbers, do you remember them? We walked back down the 2 flights of stairs to get to the elevator. Stop, we only made it 1.5 flights, the line at the elevator was backed-up. Then after about 3 minutes we hear this voice down below. "The elevator is broken, it should only be a few minutes and then we should have it going again". Oh yeah, did I mention this is a state run park and building? Now we are in a stair well with lines of people behind us and in front of us. So now we are trying to enterain the boys, good thing there were still some windows to look out. Here comes that voice again. "We are still trying to fix the elevator, but we may have to walk down the emergency stairwell" (442 feet=44 stories with 2 children). Remember, we still had some small windows to look out, look there's 2 guys walking down the road of the bridge. Look a firetruck. Look another fire truck. Oh here comes an ambulance.

The voice, "Does everyone here feel they can walk down the stairs?" "Sir, would it be easier for you and your wife to be in front with the kids or in the back of the line or are you fine in the middle?" Look another rescue vehicle coming. The voice again, "This is the 2nd time today we had to walk everyone down." They didnt mention that when they took our money!!

Well the good news is was we only had to walk to the road not the ground, the bad news our legs were jelly when we finally made it to the fort to walk around. There we were met by fireman and firetrucks that would take us back to the parking lot. This was great for the kids. They rode in the back of a heavy rescue truck. Oh yeah, did you notice I had no stats on how fast the elevator went back down.

Yes..........I hear you guys

Ok I know I've been very bad at keeping-up. I have been hearing it from alot of people. I have decided to simply add some pics to try to catch-up and then I can start fresh with some of my insightful humor. I will keep adding pics over the next few days.