First Day of Fall

The first day of Fall was super packed and a sure sign of the season.  It started with Pumpkin Spice Coffee and creamer is a super(hero) mug.  

I made some hanging towels on Friday and hung them up first thing in the morning.  

I started on the process of closing the pool around 7:30 and by mid morning we were both outside working.  Baylor in his jammies and boots totally rocking the look.   

Until it got wet or something and then he changed into another pair of jammies but still had the boots on as I drained the pool into another pool to keep if from washing out the sand. 

Just like last year I did an emergency worm rescue of the worms drowning in the flood.  We relocated them to the garden beds again and while there were some losses, it could have been worse.  

Around noon it was time to head to the Construction Rodeo.  It is our third year there and we loved it.  We were hoping Tara and Lucas could join us but the plague hit their house and were not able to this year.  We will be sure to try again.  I did tell a Mom at swim class about it (she has three boys) and I saw them walking in as we were driving in.   The first thing Baylor asked for was a hamburger and fries.  We shared of course.  Then he wanted to play in the sand until he realized all the good toys were taken and then it was off to the bounce/slide.  

I knew he would be there until the ice cream called. 

But first he wanted to play with his balloon and cat on the end of the string.  

Until the balloon got loose and I talked in the funny helium voice to make him laugh.  

And Turkey Hill ice cream called.  He took the vanilla on the first round and I ate the salted caramel (second round he switched things up). 

We played a few games like toss the hoopa hoop (his term) on the cones.  He picked a little popper thing. And then we had his finger prints done.  

And then he wanted to play fireman.  And he loved it.  

And then I had him do the hoops again to get the cool eye ball glasses.  

We checked out the ambulance on the way to Life Lion.  It flew in while we were eating out lunch and I wanted to make sure we saw it before it left.  

And we made it just in time. Baylor was the last kid to get near it before they prepared for take off.  

And then we checked out the fire truck. But he was very been there done that about it.  

We stopped at the Home Depot booth to build a little tool box.  While he wanted to build a house out of it, I pushed along the with the plans and we grabbed another one on the way out for him to build his way. 

Two handed hammering. Nice form.  

This was the lady I  meet at swimming class with her three boys.  I ran into her a few times but I did not want to intrude too much. 

Baylor played the helmet toss and won a lollypop. 

And back to the sand, This time he got a digger. 

And then he was the digger in the pile with the hidden blocks that were traded in for prizes. 

He rode the John Deere that was like his own but he acted like it was his first time and he did not know how to steer or pedal. 

He did the bean bag toss and won a small ruler.  And then he was done and we headed off. 

We went to That Fish Place in Lancaster for a snail and maybe a few new fish.  As usual he wanted to see the snake room.  He found a new friend in there and they looked at the creatures together.  

I was glad to see these signs because the thoughts of it being empty and not sold kind of freaked me out.  

We headed home with two new otocinclus catfish and an upside down cat fish.  He feel asleep about 10 minutes from home and is still asleep.  Lori was nice enough to pick up a pizza for dinner but she helped me finish closing the pool before she went inside. 

So on this first day of Fall, we have closed the pool.  It was a great day with my son and I look forward to all our fall adventures!  

Go Ravens

Sunday Lori and I headed to Baltimore for Lori's birthday gift, a Ravens game.  She is a Baltimore team fan and we have been to the Orioles before and I wanted to take her to a Ravens game.  She guessed where we were going when I asked her to take off on Sept 15 and while I was hoping to surprise her, I was OK she guessed.  She always guesses gifts anyway.  I drove and I was very surprised how easy it was to just drive into town and park.  I was expecting long taffic lines and we did not run into any issues.  Other than we I had prepaid for a parking garage space and they wer full when we arrived.  I don't argue and when he was giving us directions to the other garage Lori spoke up and said we had paid for this garage.  He started to argue back and so did she. Then he pointed to the curb and said we could park there, There was already one car there and when we left there was a third so apparently they had over booked on several people.  The stadium was only two blocks away and was easy to find.  All we had to do was follow all the purple shirts.  We did not wear our jerseys because they are personalized and I was asking who all the numbers were becuase I was just seeing a few numbers on jerseys.  One guy walking next to us corrected Lori on one of them.  He said he was dating a girl because her dad had season tickets and I put my arm around the Dad and said I would date him too.  I should have said I would date her too but I did not want to cause trouble.  We hit the Ravenswalk where all the vendors are and I finally got a photo of her.  She is happy but she was on a mission to get inside and not putting on her happy face yet.  

When we were in line to enter and she had her tickets in her hands, she started to get happy. 

I got happy when I spotted my first freaky fan. Most people were just weary jerseys but some where over the top of course.  Her hair was sprayed purple, her fascinator was black and glittery with a few Ravens on it. Her earrings were indescribable. And I think she had a long jean skirt on to complete the ensemble.   

We were in section 103 row 18 seats one and two.  They were awesome and totally worth it. When we entered the stadium we were on the ground floor and three sections over from the gateway.  We had the wall at our back that was for the next section so there was no one behind us..  We were at the end so we could get in easily and other than having to stand up for everyone getting out, they were great seats.  

They were playing the Cleveland Browns and we were really sitting on the visitor side.While there were orange shirted Browns fans around us, purple was the dominate color.  

Let the game begin!

I am ok with football and being there so close it was like being at a game back at Millersville U.  We were close enough to see everything and while we were on one of the corners, we could still see the rest of field rather well.  When they were far down at the other end zone we did stand up because the railing for the handicap seating was in the way.  Small price for being at a game.   

And we had our own cheerleading squad.  Right out front. 

And Poe showed up. 

This couple was sitting in front of us and till the end she was a bit drunk rubbing it in that the Ravens were winning and I don't think he was taking it well.  With three minuets left he said they were leaving.  She sadly followed him and in about two minutes (real time, not football time) they were back. She was smiling this time and he was irritated and they left again before the game was really over.  

I didn't get a photo of him but we apparently had an assistant couch sitting up in the section behind us.  He was a yeller and I was pretty irritated because who wants to your someone's comments for the entire game!  

Part of halftime entertainment.  

On one of my walks I found this fan with a ton of  feather clips on his hat.  

We made a touchdown right near the end ensuring a victory.

With less than 30 seconds left everyone just walked out on the field.  I had to ask Bob on Monday why. He said the clock would run out before they got off another play. 

We followed the purple wave out of the stadium, found the car and heading home.  With out any traffic issues again!  I hope we do it again some year and some year with Baylor