Happy 8th birthday Payton

Payton's had a great time at his 8th birthday party. He had both friends and family attend; what could be better? As usual his Mom made him a great Ninjago cake.

Payton's party was the weekend after his birthday. We weren't going to make him wait until then to have cake and ice cream. I picked up a cake at the store and we had a little celebration at home on his birthday.

Payton's tree

I planted a tree for Payton and Parker last summer. Payton's survived, but sadly Parker's didn't. See that stick on the right in the background? Yeah, that's Parker's tree. This year I replacing 4 out of 5 trees I planted last year. I really wanted these Sugar Maples to grow for their orange fall leaves. I'm switching to Red Maples because they tolerate varying conditions better than the Sugars do.

Liberty Bell

We're out and about today. We're in Philadelphia to see a show. We came early to check another site. We decided on the Liberty Bell. We've been there done that now. We're having lunch now and afterwards we'll head for the afternoon showing of How To Train Your Dragon at the Wells Fargo Center.

New jersey and first win!

Payton's football team received their long awaited new jerseys. Payton is no. 85. The team did the town proud by wearing them in their home opener victory. The team clicked really well and won 27-12. It was pretty sweet.

Don't little kids look good in football uniforms? It is quite a transformation.

Second grade, here comes Payton

Payton's first day of second grade. He was pretty excited and I think really glad to be going back to school. 

Parker too started at a new school the next day. I no longer drive Parker into Doylestown. His new school is just ten minutes away with a Wawa on the route. Sweet.

Parker turned 4

Our little Parker turned 4 years old. Poor Parker. Bad Mom and Dad. No party for Parker, just our family at Giggleberry Fair. Parker didn't feel short changed and he had fun playing with his big brother. Thank God for siblings. Next year Parker will have a proper birthday party.

Playing in a dumpster

This past week I dethatched the yard. It turned out to be a bigger job than I anticipated. Payton and I bagged eight bags of grass and I realized clean up would take forever. I called for and filled up a 15-yard dumpster. Payton isn't, but Parker is standing up. It's a lot of grass. Payton was also a big help. We would rake a big pile onto a tarp, drag it and hoist it over and into the dumpster. The original deal for Payton was $1 per bag. I ended up paying him $75 for his hard work.

First football game today

Payton's football team, the New Hope-Solebury Lions Jr. Mitey Mites played their first game today. They didn't win, but they played hard and had a good time.

Here's Payton trying to get around the blocker to get the ball carrier.

Disney Magic Canada Cruise

Setting sail leaving New York with One World Trade Center in the background.

We spent this past week cruising the New England area from New York up to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. We traveled on Disney's first cruise ship; the Disney Magic. It was a fairly short cruise of 5 nights with two stops.

Disney's first cruise ship - the Disney Magic.

Our stateroom was aft on the starboard side. We had a nice large private balcony with a great view of the sea. Note the large movie sceen just behind the forward stacks. The boys loved watching movies poolside.

All smiles and full of anticipation.

We set sail Sunday afternoon, sailing all day Monday, and docking at Halifax Tuesday morning. In Halifax we took a ride on a three-mast sailing ship around the harbor. Unfortunately it wasn't very windy so the boat had to rely on its engines. The crew set the sails anyway. All the kids on board helped hoist them. The crew taught the kids how to tie some nautical knots. In the wheel house the kids got to take turns piloting the boat. Funny, we sailed to Halifax to take a boat ride.

We still had time to walk a little around the city. Our first stop was for some ice cream. Next we found a Starbucks and collected another city mug. We were hoping for a Halifax mug, but it is to small of a market to have its own so we settled for a Canada mug. The boys were really dragging their feet on the way back to the ship; until we found a park. Their adrenaline kicked in and off they went to play. The thing they liked best was this huge blue wave they could climb on. Climb to the top and slide back down. You weren't supposed to climb on it, but everybody was.

Hoist the sails mateys!

Back on ship the boys really had a great time in the kids club. Disney did do a good job keeping the kids entertained. At the kids pool there was a giant outdoor video screen playing Disney movies and cartoons all day long. Kids and parents alike sat around and in the pool watching shows. Parker took a liking to just sitting in the hot tub with his chin in his hand watching the shows. Now I preferred the full size movie theater. They didn't play also ran movies either. Brave was playing, but we had seen it already. Payton and I watched the Avengers. Kathleen and I watched some of People Like Us, but we couldn't finish the show. The kids were putting on a show and we wanted to see that. We'll catch the movie again when it comes out on DVD.

Pirate night. All dressed up having fun.

Our second stop was in Saint John, New Brunswick. It was very foggy the morning we landed and stayed so much of the day. Our excursion took us out of the city and up into the hills. There it was a clear and sunny day. We went to a working Sugar Bush where they made real maple syrup. It was interesting. Forty gallons of tree sap to make one gallon of syrup. They served us a pancake brunch with real Canadian maple syrup of course.

That was all there was to our cruise. We spent all day Thursday at sea arriving back in New York  early Friday morning. We were home by 10:30 am. We liked that. Sailing out of New York is a pretty good deal for us.

Our tour guide in Saint John asked why Donald Duck puts on a towel after a shower. Good question.

You won't see me drinking much very often. Kathleen has never seen me have too much.

Straw mustaches

The boys are too young to shave, but they can still have mustaches.