Toddlers in Thomasland

Hey everyone,
Here's another installment depicting our trip to England.  Shea was so excited for this trip.  Every day before we left for England, he'd ask if we were going to Thomasland.  When we got there, he couldn't contain his excitement.  We got there right as the park opened, and he nearly ran right through the gates to get inside.  He immediately saw Thomas and wanted to go on a ride.  After the ride stopped, we tried to get a picture of him with Thomas.  But, Thomas didn't say "Hi" to Shea despite Shea's many attempts to engage the engine in a conversation.  Needless to say, this made him very upset.  Luckily, toddlers can be easily distracted when you highlight that there's a playground and dinosaurs nearby.  That's what makes this park so great.  Just when you think a toddler meltdown is imminent, there's something fun to grab his attention and make him forget what made him upset in the first place.  Thus, playgrounds and animals were, at least in our opinion, strategically placed throughout the park.  We saw reindeer, rabbits, tigers, penguins, and monkeys interspersed with Thomas rides, pirate rides, and the traditional ferris wheels and merry-go-rounds.  We took a tram car above the park and several train rides around the park. 

While Shea loved riding all of the Thomas-themed rides, the family favorite ride was the shooting gallery ride.  You get in a mining car, armed with pistols.  Each person has one and must try to shoot targets throughout the ride, as the car roams through a mining village.  The more difficult the shot, the higher the point value.  Daddy won the day with the highest score, but Jess's pistol prowess took away points that would have otherwise gone to me.  Shea did very well too, I must admit.  Thanks to the minimal crowd, we went on it 3 or 4 times in a row.  Although seemingly minor, just keeping score made the ride much more fun. 

It's owned by the same family for 60 years and was very family friendly.  I equate it to the way Dorney Park was before it became commercialized in the late 1980's.  My family will remember the older portion of the park where the log flume was the most advanced technology on the premises and the tram cable car and rocket ships were the favorite rides of all.  That's what it was like.  We only wished that there was a place like that in the US.  There might be one or two around here (Storyland in NH and Eddaville Railroad south of Boston) but we haven't been there yet.  Another glorious thing about Thomasland, as well as all of England, is that you can get a pint just about anywhere, including at 11:30 am in an amusement park!  So, we sat down to fish and chips, with a milk for Shea and a pint of bitter for me and Jess.  What a country!

Anyway, we stayed until closing time, straggling among the rides until we were nearly the last of the crowd being ushered out.  We all had such a great time, but were really tired.  The comfort of a hotel bed was calling and welcomed us with cushy goodness.  After a good night's rest, we went to Warwick Castle (the subject of our previous posting).  There's more postings in store, as I am reenergized to take more pictures following our vacation.  So, stay tuned.  That's NOT all folks!  For not, enjoy pictures from Thomasland!
Love,
Doug, Jess, and Shea 

Shea sees what he covets, Thomas!  If only this darn fence wasn't in his way.

Shea loves Thomas, but Percy is his favorite.  

He wasn't so keen on riding in his second favorite engine, at least at first.

As always, Shea's mood perked up when he sees a lady.  This time, it's Rosie.

"Hi Thomas!  I said 'HI!'  Why is he not talking, Mamma?"  

Well, bust my buffers, he can't talk afterall!

They had an exhibit of the original model used for the show.  

Here are a few pics of the layout, including Thomas, Rosie, and Bulgy the Bus. 

Another cool attraction at Thomasland was the dinosaur exhibit:

 

"This is such a great place, there's nothing scary around here!"

"Wait.  So, you're telling me there's a HUGE scary dinosaur about to eat me???"  

Luckily, the Flying Dutchman (ironic name, isn't it) swooped down and rescued us.

This ride seemed innocent enough and didn't look too fast for him.

We soon realized that English kids rides are MUCH faster than in the US.  

Shea was scared, but toughed it out, saying it was fun afterwards.  That's my brave pirate!

Here's a knight-themed ride.  It was generic and fun, but made me think of old Dorney Park.

They did have a cool dragon at the end of the ride, however.

This ride is called the "Jolly Buccaneer," but that's a total frickin' misnomer; Shea was no pleased pirate after going on this ride.  It was so fast and the g-forces so great that I was thrown outward toward Shea and he was pushed against the side (he insisted on sitting on the outside though).

The good old merry-go-round brought him back to his old self though.

That, and torturing unassuming helicopter pilots. 

"Live or die?  Wrong answer, HONK!"

Making our way back through Thomasland to play with familiar faces also helped.

Shea liked to turn the knobs on Lady's engine.  Who wouldn't?

Shea's first driving lesson.  Not too shabby, I must say.  Certainly a better driver than Cousin Mike!  ;}

We had to take a tour on with Harold the Helicopter, three times over.

Here, James, the Red Engine, is sleeping.  It was about time for Shea to sleep too, as he threw a fit when we insisted that he share with the other kids. 

There's nothing like Thomas to bring back the smile though.  This was in the gift shop, of course.

We said he could pick out anything he wanted:  He picked an umbrella.  What a practical guy!

We finished the day with a tram ride across the park; what a nice ending.

Of course, we had to take one more spin on the merry-go-round.

Wandering Around Warwick Castle

Hello everyone!

As most of you know, we just got back from out trip across the pond to England.  It was a great experience for everyone.  We all got to do a bunch of stuff we all wanted to do.  We got to see some great museums in Liverpool, visit a castle, meet Thomas and his friends, see both a rugby and soccer game, and spend some great quality time with family.  The weather held out nearly the entire trip, raining only on the last 2 days.  Luckily, it was warm and we were able to avoid most of the rain, as it only came in small spurts.  The beer was great and abundant.  I tasted a bunch of different ones, but was convinced that John Smith's was the best.  Even the fish and chips were tasty (we had that 3 or 4 times).  I never got around to eating a pastie (a calzone-like pocket with meat and sometimes potatoes inside), so I'll have to get one on our next trip down the road.

I took more than 375 pictures.  Obviously, I can't post all of them, so I'll have to post the highlights in batches.  Here's the first batch:  Our trip to Warwick Castle.  What a great place!!!  We spent the entire day there and probably could have spent another few hours checking things out.  They had a princess (and knight) dress-up activities, the sword in the stone, tours of midevil English history, torture chamber, jousting and fighting displays (they didn't have any when we were there), and archery/trebuche shooting (we missed the trebuche demonstration though).  I'd definitely go back.  I hope you can enjoy some of our pictures and videos to get a taste of what we experienced.

Stay tuned for more postings of our other adventures!

Love,

Doug, Jess, and Shea

Warwick Castle includes fortifications that date back to the 11th century, but most of it dates from the 1300s.

If you look closely, you can see the 30' deep and ~60' wide ditch surrounding the castle.  It was pretty impressive at first sight.

These were the towers surrounding one of the gates barely visible at the bottom-center.

Here's the portcullis (main entrance) to the castle that goes over the gully mentioned above.  The entrance leads into a ~80' tunnel before you get into the courtyard.  Behind this is another tower much higher (see picture below). 

Here is looking up at some more of the walled fortifications from the courtyard.

Here's a view of the courtyard and main residence part of the castle from atop the hill in the picture above.  You can see the back of the portcullis at the far left of the picture.  

View of the side gate from atop the righhand tower in the first picture.  The tower dates to 1350.  You need to walk up 535 or so steps to access the 3 main towers of the castle, often climbing up steep spiral staircases not much wider than my shoulders.  It was harrowing, but well worth the efforts for the amazing views!

Here's a view of the portcullis from the same tower.  Note the higher tower behind the first entrance and bridge over the gully mentioned above, with the town of Warwick in the background.  What a view!

Here's a view of the boathouse along the Warwick River that runs along one side of the castle.

Here's the back side of the main residences that borders the river that turns a mill connected to the castle.

Here's Shea, Paka, and I in front of a real working trebuche.  Unfortunately, we missed a demonstration of this, but I could only imagine how impressive it must be to witness - note the man-sized hamster wheels used to crank down the catapult arm.

Here's another instrument of warfare, a balista.  Shea wanted to fire it at the castle. 

Shea next tried to steal a sword he saw sticking out of a stone.

It wouldn't budge and he got caught trying to steal it.

The authorities threw him and his accomplice in the stocks for his attempted larceny.

They released him under his own cognizance, but were forced to put all armaments up on the wall so he couldn't steal them.

A knight stood guard at some within arm's reach though.

A mounted knight stood guard just the same.  Is it me, or is the horse's eye REALLY creepy here.  I'd hate to stumble across this in the dark!

A ghost also prowled the great hall to ensure nothing was misplaced...just for added measure.

As if all that wasn't creepy enough, since the castle is run by Madam Tusseau's, they felt the need to include really lifelike statues throughout the castle illustrating activities in preparation for battle.

Here the Earl of Warwick rallies his forces just before dying in the decisive battle nearby.

Here's a clip of Knight Shea Shea defending the realm from evil forces.

Stadium Surprise

Hey everybody,
In the last post, I said that we went to NY a few weekends ago.  Well, here's why.  Jess's mom gave us some primo seats to the Yankees/Royals game on a Friday night.  I had jury duty all week, but got out at 1pm Friday afternoon.  By 1:45, we were driving to NY.  Due to traffic, we didn't have much time to catch the last train to the stadium, so we had to drop off Shea at Jess's mom's house and book it to the train station.  We got there by the end of the 1st inning.  We missed out on a few Yanks runs, but they had plenty in them and we didn't miss all of the excitement.  In fact, the excitement didn't happen until the 5th inning when a massive thunderstorm came down upon the Stadium.  They had a 45 minute rain delay, but Jess and I stayed.  The rain felt good, as it was really hot, and the lightening was awesome.  We sought shelter after the announcer said everyone should go under the awnings.  We then walked around the stadium.  Sometimes, the thunder shook the Stadium and the mist and rain came through to the inside concourse.  All-in-all, it was a great date night!  THANKS MOM!  Here are some pics from that night.
 
Have a great weekend!
Love,
Doug, Jess, and Shea

New Yankee Stadium in the back, what's left of the old Yankee Stadium in the front.  It's so sad to see it completely gone!  

We walked past the baseball bat vent from the old stadium before we realized where we were.  

We were walking over what used to be the 3rd base line!!!

They'll be putting up a sports park for local kids to play baseball.

Here's the view that $175 will get you at Yankee Stadium.  Images in this picture are closer than they appear though.  It felt like were were nearly on the field!  We had waiter service, which was very nice, although the lines, except for beer, weren't that bad.  The bad part was the price!  $9 for a beer and $25 for 2 hotdogs and a medium fries!  They gotta pay for the Stadium somehow!

Jay-Z was at the game, right behind the dugout, or that guy's head in the center of the picture.

We had to wear our finest to the game.  I actually got flack for wearing my "Sail Boston" hat.  I explained that I wanted to get my 1st Yankees hat at the Stadium, which I did.  

We also bought one for Shea.  He wore it to a Lowell Spinners game (single A Red Sox team).  He He!

Picture of the inside concourse just inside the gates.  This was during the rain delay when everyone was trying to get out of the rain.  During the height of the storm, rain/mist came in through the tall windows in this picture.  It felt really good though.

Summer Snapshots

Hey everybody,
It's been a busy summer.  We've been doing so many things that it's been hard to find time to keep up the blog.  For some reason, we haven't been taking many pictures of our adventures.  I've posted a few below for your enjoyment though.

So, what have we been up to lately?  Well, we've been going to some of the Thursday night concerts at Crane Beach Estate - a 1920's mansion with rolling lawns (literally) in Ipswich.  It's been great to bring pizza or sandwiches and listen to music or run around the grounds with Shea.  We've also been spending time at the Willows, a park and seasonal arcade boardwalk in Salem.  We've also taken many bike rides and hikes in the woods.  Shea went on his first kayak trip a few weeks ago.  He was so good, sitting in Jess's lap for over 2 hours as we paddled down the Ipswich River.  We saw deer, beavers, herons, ducks, geese, egrets, and turtles, including a snapping turtle we ran over thinking it was a log.  He loved it and wants to go again this weekend.  Last week, I had jury duty all week.  It was interesting, but I don't want to do it again anytime soon.  Jess finished her last class for her master's degree and took her teacher certification exam.  We'll get the results soon, but she's done with her degree and can teach labs at Salem State UNIVERSITY (they changed the name this week) in the fall.  We're so very proud of her.  We went to NY last week on a last-minute trip (you'll see why in the next post).

Shea's growing up so quickly.  We think (knock on wood) that the worst of the terrible 2s are over.  He's been really good and listens very well.  He's also very interested in using the potty.  He's been telling us more and more every time he goes.  He's even used the potty at school and at home in recent weeks.  So, the potty sits in the living room, ready for any need that may arise.  He's getting to be such a big boy.

That's all for now.  Enjoy the pictures and your weekend!
Love,
Doug, Jess, and Shea

I'm going to impress my lady with my fleet.  

Yes, dear, I'll go get the ball...as you wish!

"Cruising for chicks in my ride.  Firefighters get all the babes."

Seriously, this was one cool toy.  It's a power wheels, so you can drive it, 

the lights and sirens work, and it has a working firehose on the back!!!

Always the performer, Shea prefers to play on top of tables as his stage.

Shea really LOVES basketball.  

We play every night on the porch.  He's even beginning to dribble.

M&Ms melt in your mouth...and on your chin.