The "Fab Four" were FABulous!

Hubby is quite the Beatles fan so when we heard that the Fab Four were going to be within driving distance in Providence, RI, I hopped online and bought tickets.   Little did I know that they'd also be playing much closer in Beverly, MA!  

That's okay....we like to take little getaway weekends.  I found us a  Hampton Inn just a couple of miles from Twin River Casino, where the show was being held.

We drove down in the morning and spent the day at the Roger Williams Zoo.  I won't bore you with zoo photos.....you've seen animals before!  Although we did see an animal I hadn't seen before....a Red Panda......so just one photo!  He wouldn't turn his face towards us, but he had a cute little face and a tail like a raccoon.

Roger Williams Park also has a Botanical Garden.  We checked it out but I wasn't impressed.   

After going to the hotel and swimming for a bit and relaxing, we headed over to Twin River to find something to eat and see the show.

I wanted to eat somewhere decent, but by the time we looked at the Steak Restaurant (way too pricey - it had real white tablecloths!) and got our name into another place, we were worried that we'd be cutting it too close so we settled on Johnny Rockets.

It was fun and the food was decent and we made it to the show on time....what more could we want?

Hubby did take one illicit photo of the casino.  Neither one of us are interested in the gambling but we wandered around trying to find a machine that would let us play just $1.   No luck.  

Finally it was time to go see the show.   I was very surprised that the "Event Center" at the casino was just a big room with folding chairs!   Luckily, I had picked the front row of the second section, which gave us a good view without people standing in front of us.....although it was pretty annoying that there was a constant flow of traffic walking in front of us.   I doubt that I'd ever go see a show again at Twin River for that reason.

The show itself was wonderful.   It was funny that the guy sitting next to us commented that he'd love it if Ed Sullivan would come out and introduce the band like he did in 1964.....and he did!

The band started out with the songs they sang on that original Ed Sullivan Show.  I had a hard time getting photos because we were further away but I got some good ones and later went up front to take a few from closer to the stage.

After a few songs, they did a costume change while Ed Sullivan kept us amused,  and came out dressed in the Sargent Pepper outfits.

And then they finished the show in their regular clothes (from the 1960s!)

They put on a really, really good show!   They had everyone dancing, clapping and of course, singing along.

Emily's 8 year Birthday Outing

We attended Emily's 8th birthday party on Sunday.  Sadly, we did not bring the camera.  It was a pool party and lots of fun for everyone.

However, we gave Emily her usual gift of an outing with Memere and Pepere.  This year she chose the Science Museum.

    Pepere loves moose so much, 

I think he's becoming one!

They had a whole display on Pixar and the art of animation.

Emily checks out what it's like to be in "A Bug's Life"

We worked together to design a Virtual Set

Pepere bears a striking resemblance to a 

character from Finding Nemo

While  Emily lights up the set.

In the Science of the Playground, Emily sees if she can beat the light in a foot race.  She did!

The science of spinning.......

and swinging!

Optical Illusions!

Watch the red dot and the lines around it start to swirl.

Electricity!

One of the main reasons Emily wanted to go to the Museum of Science was to see the Lightening Show......now she's waiting in trepidation for the loud noise!

Creating a bit of her own electricity.

Ever look at yourself in the mirror?

Loved making colored shadows!

And finally a stop at Papa Gino's where Emily tormented me with her straw wrapper!

After the day in Boston was over, she still wanted to come hang with us, so she came to our house where we played music, hung out with Pepere in his room, and made some chocolate chip cookies with Memere.

All in all a great birthday adventure with Memere and Pepere!

Insane Inflatables

Even though we'd already done the Mud Run this year, when the Insane Inflatables was going to be in our own hometown, I couldn't resist signing up Jamie and I.   And I was very excited when Kenny and  his friend Ashley decided to join us.   (Kenny did say he might have signed up after drinking excessively.....but that's okay!)

Side note - we did see a T-shirt that said, "This seemed like a good idea 3 months ago."   Our exact thoughts when we were all faced with getting up early for our 9am wave.

Pretty obviously, Insane Inflatables is a 5K course with obstacles that are all blow-up style, like bouncy houses.

We got there nice and early and made sure we were all ready for our wave.

Kenny and Ashley are all ready to go!

A tiny bit of warming up before the race.

The official race photographer (Hubby) was fooled into thinking our wave had begun.  While we were still waiting in the "cattle pen" he was wandering off in the shrubbery trying to find us.

But he did take a photo of another wave of people.....looks like a bunch of bugs going over the wall!

The obstacles were pretty cool:

Hubby got in position to take some photos at the end of this slide:

Kenny sticks the landing.

Ashley looking good!

Jamie rolls out the bottom.

The photographer got a good one of me....I'll check the official race photos later this week.

In between the obstacles, there was lots of running .....or walking in my case!

Kenny running so fast his hair is flying!

Poor Hubby...every time we saw him with the camera we pretended to run!

But we were really doing this!

The final obstacle.....Big Balls!  

 Jamie swung it back to try and hit me.

A long climb up to a giant slide at the end.

High Five! Job well done!

A post-race brew.

No problem drinking while doing some post-race stretching!

Free t-shirt for me to wear to the gym.

My bling!

And for those of you who read this post all the way to the end, here's a treat for you!  Don't miss Jamie's curtsy at the end!