Storming the castle

Sir Peter and Maiden Dalia, along with what must be the court jester, stormed the castle today as Sir David slept. At one point, I am pretty sure I saw a swallow flying south with a coconut in its mouth as a Frenchman told some tourists to 'Go and boil your bottoms, you sons of a silly person'.

For those of you who may think I have lost it at this point, the quotes above are from Monty Python and yes, I am a fan. Besides, me losing it happened years ago.

The day started out with the sounds of Peter and David giggling. This is never a good sign, so I raced in to their room to see what the hell was so funny. As it turns out, tic-tac-toe can be pretty damn hilarious, especially if you use big fat purple markers and play it on the legs, belly and arms of your brother. As it also turns out, the game is not so funny if your father walks in on you just as you are about to move to the forehead for lack of any other playing space.

Angie found it quite amusing, probably because she did not need to clean it off. No, she was too busy taking a nice warm and relaxing bath. After she stopped her snorting, she asked me for some milk. Being her indentured servant for life, I mean husband, I brought her the milk and looked for her cup of coffee. I did not find one. I questioned this. She told me to put down the milk and leave. I raised an eyebrow. She told me to go away. I went away.

I contemplated returning to the bath with some chocolate syrup and a straw, but the notion of getting smacked in the face with a Nestle Quick bottle kept me from further disturbing Angie's bizarre milk bath. Instead, I got the boys dressed in long sleeve shirts to hide the purple X's and O's and headed out to meet Brian and Dalia.

Knights normally hold a feast before going into battle, so we took medieval gang to the royal Burger King for a banquet of grease and happy meal toys.

With full bellies, we decided to take the mountain railway up to the castle instead of walking. You would think that with such short legs, kids would always go for the shortest route possible, but no. Dalia decided to pick the car that was the furthest away, meaning that I had to carry David in his stroller up three flights of stairs. Luckily, my Arnold-esque body is in Olympic shape so I had no problems whatsoever.

David took one look at the castle and fell asleep, so I don't think he will be getting any offers to be the poster child for castle tours. Peter and Dalia, on the other hand, took over the place. They buzzed from the wishing fountain to the panoramic view from one of the towers to the humongous wine barrel in the cellar.

Not that they appreciated any of it, though. At the wishing fountain, they only wanted to peg pigeons with the coins. The fact that some of them actually made it into the fountain was probably the pigeon's wishes coming true, not theirs.

Instead of checking out the panoramic view, they decided to practice jumping off one of the stone benches. Yes, that's right - jumping. They could do that anywhere, but something about the alluring and majestic view brings out the Tigger in all of us, doesn't it?

The house-size wine barrel just made them thirsty, so we stopped long enough for them to split a Sprite. Nothing goes better with a Sprite than a side dish of silliness, so Brian and I obliged. Considering how silly he looks, I should not be surprised, but Brian can be a pretty goofy clown when he wants to, which the kids found hilarious.

On our way out of the castle, Maiden Dalia tripped and went tumbling. For any girl at any age, I think the knight in shining armor will always be Daddy, so I stepped aside and let Brian do his magic. In no time at all, the damsel in distress was back on all twos and running around again.

David woke up just before we left and tried his best to completely insult a 90-year woman by asking if he could play with her hammer. I explained several times that the woman had a cane not a hammer. As with most things I explained to David several times, he just ignored me and went on screaming 'hammer' over and over again. The woman either has lots of grandchildren or patience, for she just smiled at him and walked away. We walked away, too, and as we left the castle I saw that swallow again and couldn't help but wonder if it was an African or European swallow.
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Ladder Talk:
1) What was the best part of your day?
Peter: When I went to Burger King with Dalia and by the SpongeBob toys.
David: When Peter sagt 'No here' and I cry with my nuna.

2) What was the worst part of your day?
Peter: When David hit me with the rubber pistol but it hurt so badly.
David: When Dalia bonk down and then cry.

3) What would you like to do tomorrow?
Peter: To dress up to be big and to be Buperman, I mean Superman.
David: When Dalia come.