Monday, October 31, 2011

Boo to You!

So the end of October is here again - to quote Paul Simon, this one "glided by like Indians." Which brings us to Madison's costume this year for Halloween: here she is, Pocahontas!


We actually got this costume last November when it was way too big. When we brought it out in May, Madison saw it and instantly knew she wanted to be Pocahontas for Halloween. For a few months now, there has been no convincing her otherwise: she was going to be the Indian Princess for Halloween.

And so the big day was upon us. Boo to you! That was the song of the season for Madison, a bit of the soundtrack from last year's incredible Halloween parade at Disney World. She loved hearing that over and over again as we drove to school - although the track is about ten minutes long!

Today, Mommy spent quite a bit of time preparing for a brief party for Daddy, where the family came over to celebrate his birthday once more. Mommy's preparations were incredible, as usual! Check out these yummy mummy pizzas:


Here's part of the setting, with "finger snacks" to the right, and "eyeballs" on a fork as well. The candied apples are there, as are the rest of the pumpkin cookies that we made the other night. Mommy made the candied apples yesterday, and we've all been itching to eat them. Is it any surprise that there are only two left now? They'll be gone tomorrow!


Check out also the marshmallow peeps on top of the cupcakes. These are in the shape of ghosts - it looks like the peeps are making the big move into other holidays!

ANYWAY, next it was time for Daddy to open some of his presents. He got a bat house, a pirate movie, a few books and - I am not making this up - a six foot inflatable cockroach pool toy. Only my sister could get something like that. This is your aunt, Madison: get used to it!

After presents, it was time for the obvious: trick-or-treating. As mentioned before, our neighborhood is the ultimate trick-or-treating experience. There are so many houses to go to that we couldn't get to them all. Madison's candy bag had to keep unloading each full load into auxiliary candy bags so that she'd be able to carry it. This year, she and Hannah were the ones driving everyone forward, racing from house to house to get the candy. And what a ton of candy there was! Many of the houses were decorated with orange lights and lots of inflatables or spider webs, and some houses had creepy music playing too. Hundreds of kids were out in the neighborhood, many from outside our community. But each one got a lot of candy, that's for sure. Madison was thrilled. She would shout out, "Trick or treat!" And then "THANK YOU!"

The weather was cold, but Mommy dressed us all up nicely so that we didn't get too cold. Still, Daddy had the stroller with us - along with a few blankets. For the long trek back to the house, Madison hopped in the stroller and covered herself with the blankets. Ah, luxury.

Everyone returned home and knocked on Mommy's door with a huge "trick-or-treat!" And then got even more candy than before. It was a pretty epic night for going out. There were lots of fun costumes, from a weird "Last Airbender" guy to an inflatable "Stay Puft Marshmallow Man." By the way, David Austen was Darth Maul, and Jonathan was... well, I don't really know what he was. Neither did he, so that made me feel better. Hannah was Angelica, from "Pirates of the Caribbean." Madison got a lot of compliments on her costume - and her manners. And Mommy heard a lot of compliments on our Cinderella pumpkin too. What a fun night!

When we were done, we went inside to sit by the fire a bit. But it was late and tomorrow is school. So we told our war stories of the night's adventure, and posed for a group photo in our costumes, happy and tired from a very special night.


Trick-or-treat!

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Bedazzled!


Cinderella looks fantastic, doesn't she? Daddy got home to see this sight: Mommy and Madison had painted and decorated our Cinderella pumpkin very nicely, and all over! They did such a nice job, and Daddy was quite impressed!

Tomorrow is the big day, and coming home today, Daddy found Mommy and Madison busy at work to get things ready. One thing that Mommy was creating: candied apples!

We used to make these a few years ago, but it's been some time since we've last tried. These were wrapped in red cellophane and readied for tomorrow night. No cheating or early eating: these will be delicious tomorrow!

Tonight before bed, we watched the Heffalump Halloween movie together, which was delightful of course. Madison was quite into the movie, calling things out here or there. Mommy made a big tub of popcorn, and together we enjoyed a movie together before bed. It was so nice to snuggle with Madison before bed!

Afterwards, Mommy and Daddy went back to Sleepy Hollow. If anything, this is the theme of the month: our genealogy research has taken us there frequently lately, as Daddy's ancestors were a big part of the community there. The cemetery is filled with stones that feature our last name, and as mentioned earlier, the name Van Tassel is connected to our lineage - yes, even a Katrina Van Tassel, who lived in Sleepy Hollow during the time of Washington Irving's famous story.

Tonight, we listened to the unabridged story being read, having never read it before. The church in the story is a Dutch church that Daddy's great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather was a deacon at, of course during the time of the controversy and story of ...the Headless Horseman.

"In the dark shadow of the grove, on the margin of the brook, he beheld something huge, misshapen, black and towering..."

- From "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Catwoman


Move over, Anne Hathaway! Here comes the real Catwoman! Tonight was Mrs. Kelly's annual Halloween party, and yet another opportunity for Madison to dress up in a costume. We thought up a variation of what she wore to the Fall Festival on Wednesday, adding a fun twist and making Madison Catwoman. Madison knows Catwoman from the Lego Batman game, so she was very excited to be Catwoman for the night. She kept the mask on the whole trip up to Cleveland, and had the whip resting beside her in the passenger seat, should any villains arise on the way there. Occasionally, we'd hear a "meow" in the back seat, or even a hiss!


The party itself was fun as always, especially for Madison. It's a tradition now, something we had a whole lot of fun with last year as well. Mrs. Kelly goes way out of her way to make this a fun evening for everyone. Madison loved the games, the decorations and the giant bouncy inflatable. You can't go wrong with a giant bouncy inflatable. Oh, and did we mention candy? Yep, there was lots of candy there as well. Just add that to the pile, Madison. We're maxing out on candy already, and it isn't even Halloween yet!

Here's a few snaps of some of the fun Madison had outside tonight, with a potato sack race - and a game throwing bean bags (that Mommy sewed):



As you can see, it was a fun night for Madison - although it got a bit chilly outside. We did have a funny feeling on the way home, like something was watching us... maybe it was the eyeball lollipops!

"I am Catwoman. Hear me roar."
- Catwoman

Friday, October 28, 2011

Second Annual Carving Party

Today we filmed a short musical video. I hope to show it here soon, but boy was it funny. It was so over-the-top corny that we sure enjoyed filming it. Tomorrow, we'll edit it together in time for service Sunday, so again - hopefully we'll be seeing it here on this site as well.

We were racing to finish it though: the reason was that the Second Annual Pumpkin Carving Party was being held at our house tonight. Brock and Josh came over for a night of delicious food, compliments of Mommy - and then a night of pumpkin decorating! But first, there were cookies - these were made by Mommy, Madison and Daddy. Here's a snap of Madison adding some orange sugar to the pumpkins:


We made these last night in preparation for the big day. Mommy had things set up so nice for us, and everyone had a swell time. Madison was in the mix tonight as we each got our pumpkins and went to work making the best design. Some of us went to the computer for research, while Josh just used his wax pencil to mark out an awesome design.


Josh is the nearest thing we know to a professional pumpkin sculptor, as you'll soon see for yourself. Daddy chose a design this year with help from Madison - it is a picture of Cinderella. You'll see that later too. But first, here's a picture of the surgeon's table:


Isn't that great? Mommy had this all laid out for us when we arrived at the house. Any tool you need for carving a great pumpkin rested there on the counter, and soon we were off to work! It takes a while to go at it, but Madison, Daddy, Brock and Josh were soon carving away - all the while, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" was playing on the television. We started earlier this year than last, so we weren't up too late - and I happen to think the pumpkins look even better: take a look!


Aren't they great? It was a great night for pumpkin carving! Madison was keyed up when everyone came over - she had a great time with the guys tonight, getting creative with her pumpkin as well. She just had to join in on the fun:


Tomorrow, she'll do a little more work on a pumpkin, as she'll take Daddy's Cinderella design and add a bit of jewels. It looks pretty good right now, but just wait until tomorrow!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Costume Parade


It's a costume parade! Madison goes to pre-school three days a week, but we made a special exception today, because all the kids got to wear their costumes to school today. Not only that, but they also got to parade down the hall in a quasi-line, and go trick-or-treating from door to door, and class to class. For the occasion, Madison got her own trick-or-treat bag, which you can see her holding above. It is decorated with "ghosts," which in fact are her footprints in white, and by the end of the parade, the bag had plenty of candy inside it!


As soon as the trek around the school was over, it was time for a party in the room, where there were cupcakes and other tasty items. Madison enjoyed spending time with her classmates, and eating snacks as well.

In case you're wondering what her costume looked like, today we wanted to let her wear the big one. That is to say, the one she's been waiting to wear: Pocahontas. She was adorable in her Pocahontas costume, and she knew it! She enjoyed wearing that dress, and of course it won't be the last time she does either. This is something she's wanted to be for the past few months:

"What do you want to be for Halloween?"

"Pocahontas!"

Same answer every time. And so, today was her first official outing as Pocahontas, and it was a great success! Let's see: last night, she was a cat. Today, she was Pocahontas. At the Halloween Party on Saturday, she's going as Catwoman. And then for Halloween itself, she's going to be Pocahontas.

We'll save the official "portrait" style pictures of Madison in her costume for later, but for now, here's one below that Daddy simply adores. It's of Madison with one of our pumpkins on the porch.


The houses around our neighborhood are all decked out again: Massive balloons, inflatable ghosts, spider webs, orange and purple lights, and instant cemeteries in people's front yards. We were touring the neighborhood while listening to one of Madison's favorite October tunes: "Boo to You!" We watched Mickey's "Boo to You" Parade online again, and she loved it.

We did have ballet practice again today, which was a lot of fun as usual. Madison is learning to leap properly as a ballerina would. This, on top of the other things she's been enjoying to do as a dancer. It is a small class for the autumn, but that makes it more intimate. She loves Miss Jenny, her teacher. Only a few weeks to go until this class is over, at which point it is time to register for the next one!

Tonight we made seasonal cookies again! Mommy got everything ready, and Daddy and Madison put the orange and green sugar onto the pumpkin shaped cookies. Can you believe we used self-control and didn't eat any of the cookie dough?

I didn't say we didn't eat any of the sugar though!

______________________

"You can't just throw some half-baked costume together at the last minute, the way we did in my childhood, when 80 to 90 percent of us kids stumbled around blindly on Halloween night wearing bed sheets with poorly aligned eye holes. We were supposed to look like ghosts, although this never made a ton of sense to me. I mean, ghosts are the spirits of dead people, right? Why would dead people wear bed sheets? Did they all die in an explosion at a hotel laundry?"
- Dave Barry

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Fall Festival 2011


Tonight was KidPak's big Fall festival - here's a photo of Madison having a great time around the inflatables we had set up indoors. We had them outdoors too - all for the 1,500 kids that showed up. Maybe more. We don't have the exact numbers yet, but it was a fairly large group. Mommy helped out, and dressed as a pirate for the younger kids. Daddy spent his time outdoors, and what a pleasant day it was!

This is a great opportunity to bless the community. It was designed as an alternative to trick-or-treating, where kids could come and have a good time - and get some free candy. Okay, so they actually get a lot of free candy.

Madison got the candy, and got the fun too. It was a pretty epic night for us all, but in a good way. Fall Festival 2011 was a wonderful night!



Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Jedi Breakfast


Behold the jedi at breakfast. How do we know she's a jedi? Why, look at the spoon, friend. This promotional spoon came out a few years ago, and has been lighting up breakfasts ever since. The handle resembles that of a lightsaber, and yes, it lights up green if you must know. Our daughter is not a naughty Sith!

She happens to be using her force powers to eat yogurt, and a bowl of Booberry, which is an important part of any balanced October breakfast. If you're not eating Booberry, you're not eating right!

Today happened to be World Pasta Day again, and as you know from reading this blog, our family is big on pasta. For lunch, Mommy brought some pasta in for us - still warm and inside a mug. And for dinner, we had spaghetti! So we pretty much had the pasta thing covered from the afternoon on. The World Pasta Council should be impressed!

We had a fun bedtime story tonight, sort of getting into the spirit of this time of year a bit. I wrote a short (abridged) version of our story, but as you read, you can imagine the parts that could be stretched out. Here it is below:


Once upon an adventure, our friends Madison and Batman were following a trail through some creepy woods. It was close to Halloween, so things seemed a bit extra creepy if you know what I mean.

Suddenly, there came a terrifying noise! Scared silly, Batman jumped up and hugged Madison closely, looking around for whatever it was that had made the sound.

"Mooooooo!" it called out again.

"What was that sound, Madison?"

"It's just a cow!"

Batman composed himself, and the two began to walk once more down along the path. When suddenly, there came yet another horrendous sound echoing through the woods! He jumped once more, and ran to Madison's side, looking around with fear in his eyes.

"Oink! Oink!" it said.

"That's just a pig!" Madison told him.

So he calmed down a bit. That is, until he heard the most sinister sound he'd ever heard before!

"Meow! Meow!"

"That's a cat!" Madison said.

Clearly, Batman was a little frightened. But fortunately, they got through the spooky woods. Where they heard this awful sound that nearly caused Batman to faint!

"Ook! Ook!"

"That's a monkey!" Madison said.

Oh dear. This was shaping up to be a long night. But suddenly they both spotted something peculiar on a tree, along their path. It was a sign, posted for them to read - and on the top of this paper was a big green question mark.

"The Riddler!" Batman said.

They looked at the paper, and it said this: "If you want treasure to be found, look for something orange and round."

Batman and Madison looked at each other, as they tried to figure this one out.

"Orange and round?" Madison thought out loud.

"Is it a traffic cone?" Batman suggested.

"No," Madison answered. "That's a triangle."

"Oh," Batman said. Then he rubbed his chin and thought hard.

"I got it!" Madison cried out. "It's a pumpkin!"

"Why, you're right!"

That's when the two of them saw a pumpkin not far away - and raced towards it.

"What do we do?" Madison asked.

Batman replied, "We look inside the pumpkin."

And inside was indeed a treasure! A whole lot of candy from the Riddler. They knew it was from the him, because also inside the pumpkin was this note: "Happy Halloween, from the Riddler."

So for Batman and Madison, even though things started out scary, they ended up very, very sweet.

The End.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Great Great Great Great Grandmother


This is Madison's Great Great Great Great Grandmother, which is fun to say. That's why we had Madison saying it over and over again. It also happens to be Daddy's Great Great Great Grandmother, and Ye-Ye's Great Great Grandmother. Mommy's research on ancestry is taking us way further back than this, but a trip to Ye-Ye and Nana's house recently uncovered some really cool pictures, including this one of Madison's Great Great Great Great Grandmother (there, I said it again!). Her name was Maria Ellis, and currently we don't know much about her yet. But I'm assuming she was pretty great.

Today we found ourselves a treasure trove: all the Booberry, Frankenberry and Count Chocula we cared to get! Of course, for us that was only one box of each. And we got it just in time, too: Halloween is only a few days away. We've got just a few days to wolf down three boxes of sugary cereal!

It was a fun day out today, although Mommy didn't enjoy it initially: she was at the dentist getting some routine work done. It took a while, so Daddy and Madison went exploring a bit - we went to the Northpoint Mall and rode the carousel (Madison wanted to ride on a Lion's back, as if she was in Narnia or something!). We also hit the Disney store and got some accessories for her Pocahontas costume - a necklace and earrings. She'll be all decked out for the big day!

We picked up some accessories for the house today, small furniture and items that will look nice and make life a little more organized, and spent most of the day out on the road. It may not have been a great, great, great, great day - but it wasn't that bad either!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Jaemor Farm


After church today, we went to Jaemor Farm, a place up the road in Hall County. We didn't stop by any apple orchards so far this year, so we figured this might do the trick. In fact, we had a whole lot of fun with apples...!


This is a formal shot of Daddy and Madison, as she's about to shoot her apple ion cannon, which launches old apples out at speeds illegal in most states. Why do we do this? I have no idea. There must be some hidden gene within us that says, "Hey, shooting apples and watching them splat is pretty awesome." And apparently, this gene is strong within our family.


Ready... aim... fire! This passing school bus never stood a chance. The driver was pelted with an apple going 58 mph! Okay, so that's not entirely true. This bus is stationary. It sits there as this huge target so a bunch of us gun totin' crazies can spend their recreational time launching apples at it. Madison and I are going to start a gang - yes, you can call us the Apple Dumpling Gang. And for the record, she nailed that bus. SPLAT!


It's the broncs and the blood, the dust and the mud - a crazy thing called rodeo. Here's another activity we found at the farm. It's an inflatable rodeo! Kids hopped on these sturdy balloon horses and galloped around the track. Madison was surprisingly good at this - I am being dead serious when I say that she could beat ANYONE around that track, including adults. She's an inflatable horse whisperer.


After a bit of horseplay, we boarded a giant hay ride. Minus the hay. Apparently, any ride that involves people climbing into a cart that is drug around a bit of property is called a hay ride. Even if it has no hay. Still, as you can see above, there was a bit of pretty scenery, including a view of the mountains that Madison enjoyed. She called them out - we could spot Mt. Yonah and Brasstown Bald from one part of the ride.


Another amusing activity Madison did time and again was the "Put the Rubber Ducky on the Pipe and Pump the Water so the Rubber Ducky goes Down the Pipe and Falls into the Bucket at the Other End" game. Which is a somewhat descriptive title, but there you go. As you can see above, Madison enjoyed pumping the water and watching the ducky plummet off the deep end.


But as fun as all of the above were for us, nothing compares to the main event of the afternoon - the corn maze. This was Madison's first corn maze. She's shown above, shrugging, as if she doesn't know the way. She was pretty confident to begin with, pulling us along and directing us to go this way or that. In fact, it worked. But more on that in a moment.

Somewhere early in the 90's, Daddy's first corn maze experience was in Pennsylvania, when he and Ye-Ye got lost in Amish country on their way to visit Madison's Great Grandfather.

But this time we would not get lost. No sir! Thankfully, Madison led accurately us to station one and found a map there. Using a sophisticated system*, we successfully navigated ourselves through the labyrinth of corn and out the out to safety.


Madison really enjoyed the corn maze. We weren't too sure about this one, but once she saw it, she dashed in and had all the energy in the world, unafraid and bounding down each path. Only at the very end, as you can see above, did she resort to mounting her faithful steed. It was funny towards the end: you could see all sorts of Daddies carrying weary children on their shoulders. It was quite a long walk for us - thankfully we didn't really get lost, thanks to our map reading skills at that one station. I could imagine things getting long and drawn out without any proper guidance. That maze had a few tricky spots!

Anyway, the bottom line was that we had a lot of fun today. Madison saw plenty of apple trees along the hay ride (sans hay), and later on we went back to firing apple artillery at the school bus. But soon it was time to go, and that we did, straight to Ye-Ye and Nana's house.

We spent some time over there for a bit, once again enjoying their company. They have their house decorated very nicely for fall! Madison had a great time playing games with Nana, and playing with toys in the living room. Meanwhile, Mommy, Daddy and Ye-Ye were discussing mainly our ancestry. Mommy has been making some major breakthroughs with her research of our family lines, and it's been simply fascinating. We'll post pictures and things of that nature here in time, as there are some amazing old photos Ye-Ye has been sharing with us - things that belonged to our great-great grandparents and even before that.

On our way home, we drove around the neighborhood. Halloween lights are going up - orange and white. Big inflatable skulls and pumpkins and all sorts of webbing, as if a few of the homes in this neighborhood are infested with some sort of deranged giant spiders. Madison loved the decor, of course. It reminds her that in just one week, we'll get to go from house to house and get a bunch of candy.

We've said it before, and we'll say it again: this is the best time of year, from October to December. It awakens the kid in all of us!

____________________

* Daddy looked at the map and had Mommy write down: L, L, R, L, R, R, R, L, L, L. It looked like she was writing a video game cheat.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Giant Tater Tot


So there he is, the Giant Tater Tot. This is a creation of Mommy's, although today he was missing his eyebrows. I believe they fell off somewhere. No, the Giant Tater Tot is not normally this big - but this screen capture of a video we made, you can see that things are getting somewhat out of hand!

Today was a big work day for Daddy, but it was a big homework day for Madison too. She did a lot of speech practice and a lot of music class too. She's been building up a lot of Mom Bucks - pretty soon there'll be a day of reckoning with Daddy, and the two of us are going to spend hours playing video games!

Friday, October 21, 2011

Indiana Jones and the Treasure of Giza Helado

Today we learned that the Thanksgiving Parade is going to get rather interesting with the inclusion of a new parade balloon – the design is here below:



If it seems familiar, you’re right: it’s a Tim Burton design. Mommy and Daddy are big fans of many of his movies, from “Edward Scissorhands” to the “Batman” movies to “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” There are too many to list here, of course.


This time of year seems to be the best to watch a lot of his movies. Indeed, flicks like “Beetlejuice” and “Ed Wood” offer up laughs and that unique and bizarre sort of fun you come to recognize with a Tim Burton movie.


Madison hasn’t seen any yet. We might let her watch “Nightmare Before Christmas” this year though. She knows all about Jack and the other characters that live in Halloween Town, a place where everyone works hard all year to serve up the best Halloween they know how.


Today at church we filmed something funny – it was the return of the giant Tater Tot. This is a costume Mommy made a few years ago, but it just keeps on coming back. Today’s movie will have this giant Tater Tot towering over the church, poised to attack. It sort of sounds like a Tim Burton movie in a slight way. Or, at least an Ed Wood movie.


Madison will get to see that one when it is finished – hopefully tomorrow night. Until then, she’s content with her other television habits, which are much more rewarding.


Madison’s favorite television shows of late have been educational, which is incredibly pleasing to Mommy and Daddy. She likes this show “Super Why,” which deals with grammar – switching out letters and words to change the meanings of sentences or stories. She also likes Blues Clues. What is funny about both is she is one of those kids that answers the television back.


Steve: “Is that a clue over there on the fish bowl?”


Madison: “Yes! Yes it is!”


She spent much of today with Mommy - after school of course - helping out at church. We were putting together costumes, the giant Tater Tot among them. Madison stopped to pose for a picture with Pastor Brock as well:



Tonight at bedtime we made up a story together. Daddy was going to go the traditional princess route, but Madison interjected: “Indiana Jones.”


Just to make sure she was communicating right, she pulled out an imaginary whip and cracked it off in another direction.


And so, we had ourselves a story.


Princess Madison was sitting in Cairo. That’s a town in Egypt, which is pretty close to a bunch of tall, tall pyramids. Pyramids are in the shape of a ginormous triangle.



Now why was she in Cairo? Simple. She was following a map. This map was a map to a big treasure, though nobody knew exactly what it was yet. Still, Madison was determined that she would be the one to find out.


Or at least that was her hope. You see, just as she was sitting there in the room, a naughty man dressed in black burst in with several soldiers behind him.


“Get her,” he growled in a thick accent.


Oh no! The three naughty soldiers grabbed her and tied her up, and dragged her off to their car.


The man in black told her, “You vill tell us vat ve vant to know, ya?”


And then he locked her in a room high up with only one window and a locked door. She listened carefully, and heard he and his men tromp down the stairs laughing. And then she jumped up to action! She raced over to the window and looked down – she was really high up!

But just then she heard the dramatic theme music. It was Indiana Jones - and he was coming to the rescue! Across the alley and on top of another building, he used his whip to latch onto something above - and swinging wildly on his bullwhip, he soared through the air and crashed through the window! It was quite spectacular and noisy, and just like that, Indiana Jones landed roughly right in front of her! Dusting off his cap, he looked around the room and spotted Princess Madison, who was quite surprised to see him again. But then again, this was an adventure, and who better to join her on one.


“Let’s crash this joint,” he told her. She jumped on his back, and jumped out the window! Swinging again on the bullwhip, they flew through the air and landed on the rooftop of a nearby building.


“Get them!” the bad guy’s voice rang out! He was pointing at Indiana Jones and Princess Madison from his window, now all broken.


“Time to get a move on,” Indiana Jones said, and the two of them climbed down a big, long ladder until they reached the ground. Waiting there in plain sight was a beautiful white horse, which they both jumped on.


“Giddyup!”


The horse galloped away through crowded city streets, bustling with activity of people in the marketplace. But right behind were the bad guys in their dark green jeep, each waving their fists and yelling out phrases in German that I’d care not repeat.


The bad guys simply could not keep up though, as Indiana Jones and Princess Madison rode their horses through skinny, dark alleys, ducking here and there to avoid getting caught in the clothes that people hung out to dry.


Soon, the buildings got smaller and fewer, and after that there were no buildings at all: they were outside the city. All they could see in front of them were the looming pyramids of old.


They stopped for a moment so Madison could look at her treasure map. These ancient pyramids soared high in front of them, and Princess Madison knew which direction to go.


“The big one!” she shouted.


And together, they once again hopped on the horse and galloped quickly towards the largest pyramid of all, the Great Pyramid of Weezer.


As they got to the entrance, they once again dismounted – but this time left their horse outside.


“Stay here,” Indiana Jones instructed the faithful steed. “We’ll be right back.”


He grabbed a few sticks and made some torches out of them, lighting a fire on the tips of each one. The glow of the fires lit the way, as he and Princess Madison carefully entered the darkened pyramid halls.


“Watch your step,” he instructed her. But he probably didn’t need to. She was being very, very careful as they moved across the stone floor.


“Look!” he pointed. “The circles on the ground. Whatever you do, don’t step on one.”


Slowly, cautiously, the two tip-toed across the rock floor, so very careful not to step on any of the circular rocks. Once they safely made it past, Princess Madison and Indiana Jones climbed up, up and up – inside the pyramid.


Soon, they found themselves in a great big room – the Chamber of Giza Helado! All sorts of treasure lay within this room. There was a large sarcophagus, and golden chairs, and great stacks of money. But the one thing that everyone was after sat in the middle of the room: a giant cube made of stone. The top was a heavy stone lid, and soon, Princess Madison and Indiana Jones made their way to it, to push the heavy lid off.



Princess Madison called out: “One…two…three…”


And the two pushed with all their might. Scraping, sliding and eventually falling with a thundering boom, the lid came off the top – and that’s when the two of them peered over the top to peek inside.


“It’s the Ice Cream Treasure of Giza Helado,” Indiana Jones said reverently.


Before them was a massive treasury of magical ice cream that would never get old and always stay cold. Every flavor imaginable was there – if you could come up with the craziest and tastiest flavor ever –you’d find it there inside. The two were awestruck, as the glow of ice cream lit up their faces.


“Stop right there,” the bad guy’s voice called out.


Indiana Jones and Princess Madison slowly turned around to see the man in black. But where were his soldiers?


“They stepped on the little circles,” he said, as if he read their minds. “And they were hit on the head with a giant hammers and…”


Here he gasped.


“…and they were hit in the face with cream pies!”


How dreadful! But somehow this man in black got through. And here he was, threatening Indiana Jones and Princess Madison once more.


But not for long. For Indiana Jones whipped out his bullwhip and shot it across the room as fast as lightning! Quickly, it wrapped around the bad guy – and suddenly he was all tied up!


“Vat are you doing!” the man in black called out. “Let me go! I vill get you! Let me go!!”


At that point, Princess Madison stopped him. And asked, “What flavor ice cream do you like?”


“Vanilla,” he responded. “Why?”


She scooped a big, delicious scoop of ice cream out, put it on a cone – and stepped forward to give it to him.


“You voud do that,” he asked. “For me?”


Princess Madison nodded sweetly. And Indiana Jones smiled. And the man in black cried.


“Thank you,” he said. “Thank you for being kind to me. No one has ever been kind to me before!”


And with that, Indiana Jones released him – and Princess Madison gave him the delicious ice cream. Soon all three were eating ice cream. Madison’s had sprinkles and Indiana Jones likes chocolate.


Carefully, they made their way to the others, bringing the other soldiers ice cream. They were all miserable, with bruised heads and cream pie still all over their faces. Clearly, they had never wanted to go inside a pyramid again - it was too dangerous! Still, safely they all made it out of the pyramid, enjoying their tasty ice cream cones just outside the entrance.


“Thank you so much,” the man in black said. “We must go for now, but when will we ever meet again?”



Indiana Jones smiled and answered, “The next time you want some great ice cream, maybe we can meet here.”


They shook hands and soon the formerly bad guys were off, all still licking their ice cream cones.


As for Indiana Jones and Princess Madison, they too had to leave. They mounted their white horse and rode off towards town where he dropped her off at her room once more. They said their goodbyes once again, but this was certainly not the last adventure they had together. There were more treasures to dig up indeed!


But you’ll have to hear about those stories … another time.