Robots. Dinos. Leaves.

Busy few weeks as usual... here is a rapid update

We went to the Mom's and More Halloween parade yesterday, which included free goodies at Whole Foods Market and trick or treating within the downtown section of West Hartford. Nice stores. Great candy. It was Saturday morning, so we kept it short-- after all James does not know that anyone is supposed to get more than a handful of candy, and we did not want a huge amount.
Our guys were robots-- mom's easy last-minute cardboard box costume idea. We were just about the only folks in a home-made costume. That is a bummer, but I have to say I was a little envious of the ease and comfort of those 1-piece suits as our guys struggled around in their cardboard. The plan for the BIG day is to make a Thomas costume for James (Willy will be Sir Topham Hatt)-- this is what Mike told the boys they can be... so we will see how that works out. People thought our guys were variously a computer or a telephone. Most people got it, though. The clear winners of the day were a pair of twins who went as Sarah Palin and "Sarah Palin's body guard". Very cute.




The leaves continue to change-- here are just some views from around our house... it has been a stunning fall.


We went today to Dinosaur State Park-- where dinosaurs left gigantic footprints in a muddy lake bottom millions of years ago. They were baked in the sun then filled with sediment slowly over time. A backhoe operator found them in the 1960's and so they turned this area into a state park. There is a large dome with a simple but cool exhibit, and then miles of walking trails. We spent a few hours traipsing about-- it was a fun time. The indoor section had one large model dinosaur and some sound effects that sound like roaring-- James saw the big dinosaur, heard the roar, and ran back into the other room. It took a while to convince him it was not real.