Halloween: Pirates, Half Mermaid & George

I figured out the power to be a pirate on Halloween day. Even I was little and small, every one in our neighborhood handed me candies right away, no matter who is pretty, or is strong, or is old, or is young. "Trick or Treat" was fun. I was wondering if I can go some other days. I will ask Baba and Mama later.

Isn't Baba great? 

He pretended to be a half mermaid and he carved Curious George face on a squash and made a lantern from it in front of our house.

Classical New England Cartoon Festival

"Give me High Five, Lex", Clifford, the big red dog, said to me.

On October, 27th, Saturday, Mama, Baba and I, Lex went to Symphony Hall, Boston to attended 14th annual Classical New England Cartoon Festival (Thanks for Fenni's recommendation). When we arrived, we headed to the main hall directly to watch our favorite Warner Brothers cartoons and live music performances. I did not know why I kept saying "Watch more chickens, please".

Then, we walked around the Hall to see other activities.
There were people playing music on the off-site stage. Audience either sit on the floor or stand to watch the performance.

There was the Kids' activity room. We had live music to company us while we trying all kinds of cool things.

Do you like my Nutcracker hat?

I drew a rocket ship with Baba. One, two, three, blast off!

Wow, all different size of string musical instruments.

Let me try one out.

There were other types of musical instrument for me to try out too.
Blow, blow, blow!

Blow, blow, blow!

I got it! You also need to push those buttons.

This is the easiest one!

Fall Foliage: Flume Gorge

Guoguo's family and I Lex's family planed a fall foliage trip to New Hempshire in the middle of October. Even though we probably missed the fall foliage peak, we had a great time walking through the Flume Gorge.

The Flume Gorge is a natural gorge extending 800 feet horizontally at the base of Mount Liberty in Franconia Notch State Park, New Hampshire.  Cut by the Flume Brook, the gorge features walls of Conway granite that rise to a height of 70 to 90 feet and are 12 to 20 feet apart [1].

Baba realized it would not be an easy job for me to walk two miles by feet. He picked a branch for me to use as a walking stick, so I could become a little old gentle man.

Defending my honor

Mama, you see  Didi behind me. He was practicing walking in the air.

Lex, do not be silly! Let's post for the picture.

It was very interesting to know that the Flume was discovered by "Aunt" Jess Guernsey, who was 93-year-old, when she accidently came upon it while fishing. However, her family was not convinced by  the marvelous discovery. She eventually persuaded others to come and see for themselves. At that time, a huge egg-shaped boulder, which was 10 feet high and 12 feet long, hung suspended between the walls. In June of 1883, a heavy rainstorm started a landslide and swept the boulder from its place. 

It was lost forever. The storm also deepened the gorge and formed Avalanche Falls [2]. 

I almost walked all the way except for those steep stairs. Baba assisted me to climb them. On the other side, there was a gorgeous view from the Flume Gorge!

Hi, Guoguo, Didi, Sissi and Max, come over to this side.

Ha, take a break on a nice huge boulder!

Stick fight on the road.

A big family portrait.

We stayed in Lincoln, Mt. Liberty Lodging, for the night.

The next day in Lincoln was foggy and rainy. I helped to move our luggage to Mama's car and then we headed for a Hobo train ride. It was a perfect activity for a rainy day.

 Time to go

On the way home, we drove through the Kancamagus Highway and snapped several views of the tail of fall foliage. The tree below was the same tree that Mama and Baba had been at six years ago.

Six years ago, 2006, in October,

 
 

References:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flume_Gorge
2. http://www.nhstateparks.org/explore/state-parks/flume-gorge.aspx