Little Boxes...

A (running outside, sees a stack of office chair boxes on the patio):  "Whoa!  What are all those 'Fragile' Boxes?"

J:  "I got those for you.  I figured you could make a labyrinth or a skyscraper out of them."

A:  (running to pile):  "I'm going to use those for target practice!"

J (putting hand to forehead):  "I was sort of hoping you might use them for Halloween props."

A (smacking one into wind chimes):  "I'm just going to use one..."

J:  "Oh-kay...."  (Thinks, "This is just like Minecraft, the creative game where they build....")

A:  "Whhaaaa!  DIE!"  (Runs and gets discarded salad spoon/hole digger.)  "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!

Christmas Train

Every  year, Grandpa H puts up a Christmas holiday train.  This year he got a new passenger car.  I believe the interior lights up and it has passenger seating and everything.




 A and Grandpa unpacked the rest of the train.  It's a Bachman, G scale.






 There are various figures who come with the train.  There's an engineer, a Santa, and three Elves. 







 The Engineer shoves coal into the engine.  He had a little mis-hap the trial run and fell out of the coal tender.








 The train has a gondola car--filled with giant gifts--and a caboose.
 The caboose has a tendency to become uncoupled with the rest of the train.  I think the couplings have to do a kind of back-and-forth engagement before the caboose will stay attached.






















Once the train and track are set up, Grandpa will put in a smallish tree, a mirror (for the frozen pond) and various English Village buildings he modeled after a real English Village that is the Ancestral Origin of the Family (and which they visited about twenty years ago).

Last Days of Summer

The mid-September life guard knew all about this one...








"What?"

Meanwhile...

... back at Emperor Ming's Palace...

August Camping Trip

We went to the Redwoods.








The trees were huge.







  There were many photo opportunities.








We're not sure, but we think the thing A liked most about the Oregon Caves was the Chateau.

The Medium Who Could

Scene:  Saturday morning.  The kitchen nook.  A is listening to an audio-recording of "The Little Engine That Could."

Book: "...Our engine has broken down and we're loaded with toys for children on the other side."

A: "The children are dead?"

J:  (Suffering from dead pirate fatigue):  "Augh.  The children are not dead."

A:  "The other side?"

J:  "It's not that Other Side."  (Thinking this is probably his fault for exposing The Child to the Fantasy Genre.)

Book:  "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..."

Opera Birthday

This year was the "Night at the Opera" Birthday.















 

The Duke Manchua greated visitors with song.

The cake.

Turned into a Victrola cake.

 There were many props.  The boat sailed between two banks of waves.

 Grandpa (and Grandma) came dressed as the audience.

 

 Meet me by the Ducal Palace of Manchua.