Blue Angels and Little Devils

WOW!  Since Liz doesn't seem to get the pictures from my phone I figured I would do this.  Today was a hit!  Our local airport put on a airshow today featuring the Navy's Blue Angels.  Us three boys were pretty excited about it.  Lots of airplanes and daring maneuvers by all sorts of pilots.  The tickets seemed a fair amount when we were debating whether or not to go, but now having gone I would have paid more, don't tell the show organizers.  I stood there holding my two boys, both climbing up my sides and shoulders to see, and I am sure the three of us had smiles a mile wide.  That is until the the announcer and the pilots scared everybody.  Two of the jets did a stunt and flew off, then four of them came by grabbing our attention and the announcer kept telling everyone to watch the four fly away.  Out of no where your body is shaking from the roaring engines of the other two flying 50 feet over head from behind.  Keegan's smile faded so fast that was funny in itself.  I have to admit, it got me too.  Those babies are loud when right over head at full throttle!  What a great show!  Topped off by a ride on a school bus for the boys back to our car.  Then there were no more angels.  Loud engines and hot pavement turn angels into devils.  At least until a stop a taco bell and a cold drink calm the masses.  Good day.  The pictures make it seem like the planes were far away, but they are not.

  Like I said the jets are closer than the pictures let you believe.  In these two, the planes are maybe a hundred feet off ground and maybe a football field length in front of us.

This one below the plane is slowly flying by.  I mean slowly! At one point I think I could have walked faster.

                           

                                                             Our little angel!

  And don't forget the other achievement in our house!  Keegan was tasked with not messing his pants for three days straight and he could have a special book, "Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site."  You can see he was finally successful, only took two weeks.

An Undersea Party for Keegan's 4th Birthday!

 The boys woke up to a dining room under the sea! They stared for awhile and Oliver's favorite was the bubbles hanging from the ceiling. I got all the food ready in the morning and set the table (p.s. I take no credit for any of this- Delia Creates blog has all the ideas). Then we headed out in the car, turned on Finding Nemo and picked up Keegan's friends that he invited. One little girl Paige brought her goggles because we were having an underwater party! I thought that was cute.

 We played a few games until lunch time and then we really had fun. The kids giggled at all the names I had for things since they can't read. Coral was the favorite food of the day.

 Cody and I had filled up a cooler full of water balloons for the party the night before and they demolished them with our launcher and finally just throwing them all over tarnation! The grass photo is of all the little pieces I picked up later. And parents were not exempt from getting wet! The kids enjoyed nailing us too.

We lucked out. The weather here has been one nice day and four crummy days. It was great for the party and the kids did not want to go home; luckily I had little buckets, shovels, and bubbles for them to take home. That seemed to help. It was a great day!

Chatter Bug

Caught Keegan Talking to Grandma May.  Everything was okay, at least that is what Keegan reassured us all.

The bib says it all!  Oliver liked Grandpa Bingham's hat, so grandma had to buy him one.

Mom's 60th Birthday at Chatsworth

 If ever there was a woman who pined for riding the train, it would be my mother. This was her 60th birthday and she was on a train to Chatsworth, home of the Cavendish family and the Dukes and Duchesses of Devonshire. We were both very impressed with this "home" and felt that it was cozy for being a palatial residence. It had beautiful scenery, the gardens are large but you didn't feel the immense space because of all the trees, sculptures, conservatories, etc. It was splendid.

 How to honk at the gateman to open for your car!

 Some good 'ole English field lice.

 Note: It was Christmas time at Chatsworth which sucked because the State Rooms were closed and there were Christmas decorations everywhere. A lot of the windows we shuttered because of massive restoration on the outside (cleaning limestone and gilding) and did I mention all the Christmas decorations. They made it difficult to take good photos and the sculpture gallery where the new Pride and Prejudice takes a scene was all dark due to horrid decorations. I was a little bummed.

 What a library! They have over 15,000 books at Chatsworth!

 Love the Veiled Maiden, but I took rotten shots due to the poor lighting where they stuck the lady surrounded by a heap of more decorations. I tried to exclude them from the photo.

 My grandmother would have her pooches immortalized like these prized pets were.

 The notorious 5th Duchess of Devonshire Georgiana after which the movie The Duchess was filmed. Much of it was filmed here.

 The sculpture gallery...sigh... I had to use harsh flash because it was so dark.

 All my Pride and Prejudice girls: this is for you. This is Pemberly from the 6-hour edition with Colin Firth, the best version! Althought the restoration greatly distracts, this is where Elizabeth looks from her carriage to see Pemberly for the first time, realizing all that she gave up when she turned down Mr. Darcy. I was just waiting for Colin Firth to come riding over the hill on a big white horse and dive into the pool!

 My mom got a little tired of all my sighing and daydreaming and went in search of a bench.

 This little owl friend is for my friend Jackie. She loves owls.

 Back in London, we ate at the Latium for Mom's birthday. She loves raviolis and this restaurant has an entire menu JUST of raviolis... I knew we had to eat here. It was delish and pretty! This is Mom's appetizer raviolis.