happy halloween

Happy Halloween from the Brennan Family Circus!  There are many more photos of the lion and elephant coming soon ;)  The Ring Master and Clown are just as tired as those little circus animals.

hungry

Right off the freeway that cuts between Tucson and Phoenix there is this quirky looking ostrich farm.  Turns out they have a whole menagerie of animals and they have you feed them all.  The feeding a goat with your lips tops the list of quirk ;) - Grampa got lotsa goat smooches!  The goat penthouse where you use a conveyor belt to wheel up some treats is the next quirkiest.  The whole list of animals include: donkeys, goats, deer, ducks, prairie dogs, lorikeets, and ostriches.  Those long neck bug eye guys were aggressive, even stealing J's feed cup right out of his hand and then pounding it over his head like a frat boy chugging a beer.  The ducks win the loud, yet calm award. The chubby prairie dogs win the cutest peanut eater prize.  The lorikeets get a post all their own... Coming soon...

cowboy BBQ

Thanks to Nana for a really yummy cowboy BBQ with the boys' favorite tender ribs and corn on the cob.  After dinner there was a puppet show by Aiden and really fun new coloring pages and glow board.  The flashlight hunt for bunnies combined with chocolate cake made for some giddy cowboys.  Thanks Grampa and Nana!

zoo buds

Continuing the getting together with old friends plus their adorable kids, we met up at the Reid Park Zoo...And continuing the trend of major improvements, the zoo had also expanded just like the children's museum... They had added a huge elephant area.  The whole place was also decked out for their evening boo at the zoo.  But watching the boys get along so well was the definite highlight...

children at play

These guys just loved every aspect of the Tucson Children's - it had really expanded since our last visit, which seemed to be the case for the whole area around it downtown.  The almost two story vacuum pipe that launched balls and scarves across the room was a highlight. The ghost bubbles they were creating from dry ice were neat.  The ultimate favorite seemed to be the air pipes that helped the balls levitate.  It was fun to see some old friends and enjoy some lunch downtown at H U B Creamery too.

lookers

We are staying at the West ward Look in the foothills, which despite the drive was probably a good decision.  The grounds and room are nice.  It's fun that every time we approach the foothills Aiden mentions that we are getting to the out skirts of town where there are more views of the "black dot mountains" and Keaton starts again yelping at every "cool cactus" he sees. Aiden thinks that the way Keaton says cool cactus is funny and that he should name his pizza shop that - because of course KC is going to have a pizza shop? Who knows with these giggle guys...

art hunters

Tubac felt like a feast for the eyes since it seemed that after a few years there was a new set of patterns and little ceramic creatures laying around. It was also really hopping and it seemed most spots had expanded the giant collection of art. Aiden played a spelling hunt game with his grandparents nearly the entire time - he would spell a word and they would have to find what was spelled and vice versa.  Keaton spent the visit finding these little peacocks and roadrunners that rocked and "rescuing" them by helping them sit back up and then declaring that he "saved the day!"  

sonoran smiles

Someone's first glimpse of Tucson - and cactus! - during the day:

travel faces

The many faces of travel with the Brennan boys... 

We had some flight delays and lotsa waiting around for luggage and rental cars... But two mostly happy guys that were beyond thrilled by the robot ice cream machine on our layover and the novelty of sitting in a car seat outside of a car.  What can I call the no nap, late bedtime airplane riding Keaton and the past 1am EST of each giggle puss? Miniature drunkards?  How about mostly happy drunks?  You know what mini drunks think is really funny?  When a cop pulls over your daddy no less 100 yards from the rental car lot and shines a flashlight in your car.  You know what is important to the po pos?  Headlights on! Haha!  I couldn't stop laughing from our rental car watching daddy in his rental car finally flip those lights on... With a warning, we finally cruised to the hotel and the giggles were all out of two sleepy guys.

more tidbits

This week got away from me somehow... Aka. I forgot to setup my auto posts ;). I was in charge of organizing a print cookbook layout for KC's school auction which was fun, but the precious nap time I do have should've been spent packing for our trip to AZ - oh well, all's well that ends well and I like that little cookbook ;). We also spent many after schools meeting friends to run around in the tennis courts, more fun at school with KC in their little pumpkin patch and nature art time, and a storytime with a squawky crow and sharky boy.

tidbits

Little tidbits of our life lately...  Osage oranges and mini pumpkins at the farmer's market, hanging out at the playground with our buddies, date day at the Mosaic with street pianos, more school boys tromping down the path to school, tennis with our buddies (thank goodness one of the mom's does those tough mudder races because the boys locked themselves in the court area by accident - she scaled the fence just like a superhero according to AB), and hibachi dinner (Aiden gobbled the kids' glazed salmon)...

1771

We took a step back into 1771 at the Claude Moore Colonial Faire in McLean.  We left with bellies full of chicken and sausage made over a fire, a hollow cow horn, a spice pack custom made by Aiden and Keaton (aka. potpourri), new sword and militia marching skills, a jacob's ladder, a hand painted fan and doggie portrait, and a little piggie and turkey love.

pumpkins

These funny little pumpkins of mine rolled up to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins to paint with our old Lake friends.  It was the perfect fall day to take the perch path around the beach before breaking out the paints and stickers.  We played on the beach while the paint dried.  There was also a spot to make some paper pumpkins to hang in your window.  Our door step is now full of fall cheer and a little bit of sand we dumped out of our shoes ;)

hagley 2

The top floor of the Hagley Museum (all sponsored by Dupont) had a fun science lab and a bunch of cool stuff made from synthetic fibers.  Aiden loved that you could get into the race car especially. The computer games to match up what was made out of which type of material where Aiden's second favorite.  KC was all smiles with the astronaut suit - that was good for shaking hands.  We had to head on down the road so we never even made it to the third part of the museum with the old Dupont home. We'll have to head back someday.

hagley

On the way back from NJ, we wanted to stop someplace so I googled around for good spots close to 95.  I found this gem in Delaware called the Hagley Museum.  We took a risk on whether the kids would enjoy it, but it ended up being fun for everyone.  The boys even seemed somewhat interested in the Nylon exhibit that I found really neat - fiber!  The first part of the museum has a bunch of cool machinery exhibits and then the outdoor areas were really pretty.  They had a great lunch cafe there too (homemade spinach tortellini in a blush sauce - yum!), which was a short scenic hike through the woods - which were full of old machinery covered in vines.  Second, more scientific part, of the museum coming soon...

sesame 2

These guys loved the characters all over the place.  We caught a bunch of fun guys at the end of the day once the crowds had cleared.  The Elmo visit was unfortunately during Keaton's nap, but Aiden made sure to tell him that his brother said hello.  Keaton did get a chance to see him up close during the show later on and he saw all the characters during the giant parade.