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.

Science!

A's class participated in a science fair.  His exhibit was about making records harder to scratch.  He wanted to see how chocolate would protect records, but got talked into using aluminum foil and plastic wrap instead.  

He was a little shy for a video, but stood still long enough for this photo.

His old phonograph (shown here playing Enrico Caruso) was a hit.  Kids also got to scratch a sample record on purpose.  

We Went to Seattle in November...

... to see King Tutankhamen, 

and got wet.

If you look closely, the small figure under a jet of water in red is A.  The figure to the left is M taking a video (we'll have to see if we can find that...), and the figure standing close, but-not-too-close, is J.