The kids and I have read so many different books about knights and maidens and evil doers, about jousting and battles - good vs. evil. Swords and staves and high towers. We couldn't pass this up!
Sadly Kurt had others plans but my sister Chris and my sister Debra were both interested too. We have boys . . . you just had to go!
The day arrived, July 10, 2010.
We were all excited not knowing exactly what we would find but knowing we were going to see knights and archery, battles with the sword and who knew what. The only hard thing was, we arrived at 11 a.m. and it was already HOT!
This was a neat group. I think they are called "The Guess When" band and they were pretty good. Hailey said she has seen them play at other events.
This was pretty cool. It is a Trebuchet and it was really quite large. It was also for sale and the kids thought it would be fun to fling cats with but, I just couldn't see the CCR's allowing this in the back yard! Tempting, but we had to walk away!
There was also this wonderful company that came from the Puget Sound area that had a lot of knowledge on Pirates. They had a tent full of items you would find on a ship and were having shows outside on black powder weapons and using whips. It was entertaining.
The girls taking a rest . . . did I mention it was HOT?
Hmmmm, just a touch too short to captain a ship yet, Tyler.
Let me take just a minute to mention something here. Do you see those two little black boxes hanging on that pole??? That was part of this groups brand new "speaker system". Being married to a man who works with a sound company really makes things like this tough. I can't think of how many times I tried to picture this with a pair of nice Mackies! The sound system was TERRIBLE. There were so many weird noises coming out of those little speakers and the pirate speaker's voice kept cutting in and out and their wireless mics were picking up all kinds of stuff. I realize now I am "sound spoiled". Thinking of putting out the word to their sponsors next year . . . really.
We are getting ready for the show to start. I think at this point we had all lost about 3 lbs. in sweat alone. Thankfully every now and then a thin covering of clouds would pass by and we would have a small reprieve but mostly you felt like you were going to faint.
As you can imagine this guy had a huge, booming voice. He liked to joke throughout his presentation. You could tell he loved what he was doing.
This is his assistant.
He was explaining how the weaponry of the day was used. How they used rapiers and small pistols and these little spikes they would throw on the deck of the enemy ship.
He explained the challenges of using the rapier, how it would get stuck in rigging and such and how limited your space was to be able to fight. How crowded the ships were during a battle and how unsuccessful some weaponry really was.
He was sharing here about how they had pistols but after they shot once they were literally worthless because you didn't have time to clean it out and reload so they would turn the pistol and use the handle as a bludgeoning tool, that's why a lot of them had metal built into the handle.
He actually attempted to shoot it but it didn't fire properly, he also pointed out about how that happened a lot during battle and gave us an explanation of where the term "Don't go off half-cocked" came from!
Here he is loading a weapon similar to a modern shotgun. I can't remember the name of it but all I can say is . . . LOUD! But awesome!
He also taught us about the use of the cannon. He had some funny stories while introducing us to this. Did I mention that the shotgun was loud? THIS was LOUDER! oh, and awesome!
This is just some pictures of us that I took while we were waiting for the speakers to work right. Here is Hayden and Jonny trying not to die of heat stroke!
Deb's boys: Brodie, Dylan and Ryan.
Tyler and Kimmy. I think Kimmy was coming over to tell us she was hot.
Debra looking remarkably cool, Bryan next to her.
After the show was over, Tyler went and told Mr. Pirate how AWESOME the show was and we asked a few more questions. We decided to wander around more and see what else there was to see.
I was pretty thrilled to get to see some armour. I really wanted to see it on someone but there was a guy standing next to this armour with a wet towel over his head mentioning something to a friend about glad to take it off because he felt like he was going to die in it or something. It was still cool to look at. The shield was much smaller than I expected them to be.
A lot of wonderful weapons on display. Tyler couldn't understand why he couldn't pick them up. He REALLY wanted to.
I have to admit that when I was looking at these I wondered where the two dents came from on the top ax. I made a comment to Hayden that I hope it wasn't on the neck of some poor soul!
This is the stage for the Queen's Court. We missed the Royal Wedding, The Coronation and Knighting that they held here. We weren't going to be able to hang out all day plus it was so hot a few of the kids were starting to not feel very well.
Of course we couldn't miss this wonderful opportunity to all become a knight just for a few seconds. We couldn't get everyone to participate but it was fun anyway!
A lot of wonderful weapons on display. Tyler couldn't understand why he couldn't pick them up. He REALLY wanted to.
I have to admit that when I was looking at these I wondered where the two dents came from on the top ax. I made a comment to Hayden that I hope it wasn't on the neck of some poor soul!
This is the stage for the Queen's Court. We missed the Royal Wedding, The Coronation and Knighting that they held here. We weren't going to be able to hang out all day plus it was so hot a few of the kids were starting to not feel very well.
Of course we couldn't miss this wonderful opportunity to all become a knight just for a few seconds. We couldn't get everyone to participate but it was fun anyway!Hayden the Mighty!
Tyler the Valiant!
Emma the Noble!
Laura the Honorable!
Chris the Maiden of Hope!
That was a little cheesy but anyway.
Tyler the Valiant!
Emma the Noble!
Laura the Honorable!
Chris the Maiden of Hope!
That was a little cheesy but anyway.Here is a little game for the kids where they could throw darts and try to hit the dragon's heart.
This was a children's art center but when we were there not much was happening because there was a communication glitch and there was no paint supplies . . . we moved on.
There were some really neat wooden items at this table. Hayden really liked the dragon but the prices were a bit high for us. I told him I would try to see if we could find a similar kit and see if he could construct one himself. Tyler did pick up a pretty fancy foam sword for a few dollars here.
This was one of my favorite and a must see. The Stocks! Every home should have one of these! Perfect to get that degree of motivation from your children when you need help with housework!
This was a children's art center but when we were there not much was happening because there was a communication glitch and there was no paint supplies . . . we moved on.
There were some really neat wooden items at this table. Hayden really liked the dragon but the prices were a bit high for us. I told him I would try to see if we could find a similar kit and see if he could construct one himself. Tyler did pick up a pretty fancy foam sword for a few dollars here.
This was one of my favorite and a must see. The Stocks! Every home should have one of these! Perfect to get that degree of motivation from your children when you need help with housework!Will have to look into a box for Tyler!
Hayden's turn.
The tall people would have suffered more I think, Poor Emma!
We gave Hailey a hard time - she wouldn't quit smiling. I don't think she understood this was supposed to be a bad thing. She was worried about her hair :)
I had to try it myself. I tried to imagine what it would be like to be stuck in that for hours or days or weeks. And also having people throwing rotten food and who knows what else at you. Definitely would break the spirit. It must have been awful.
Couldn't have the proper Faire without the Maypole dancing. There girls seemed to be having such a great time. It had to be close to 100 around there and they were all dressed up in their medeival garb. Hats off to their enthusiasm.
The band played a nice tune.
This part was fun too. If you went up to this guy and told them that a certain person had done a wrongdoing he called out that this individual was guilty and needing punishment. They were put in the stocks and then a relative could pull a string and it would fling wet sponges at their face.
Hayden's turn.
The tall people would have suffered more I think, Poor Emma!
We gave Hailey a hard time - she wouldn't quit smiling. I don't think she understood this was supposed to be a bad thing. She was worried about her hair :)
I had to try it myself. I tried to imagine what it would be like to be stuck in that for hours or days or weeks. And also having people throwing rotten food and who knows what else at you. Definitely would break the spirit. It must have been awful.
Couldn't have the proper Faire without the Maypole dancing. There girls seemed to be having such a great time. It had to be close to 100 around there and they were all dressed up in their medeival garb. Hats off to their enthusiasm.
The band played a nice tune.
This part was fun too. If you went up to this guy and told them that a certain person had done a wrongdoing he called out that this individual was guilty and needing punishment. They were put in the stocks and then a relative could pull a string and it would fling wet sponges at their face.Naturally a crowd pleaser!
We tried to get one of the kids to do it but they didn't want to, well, not until we were getting ready to head out and Tyler kind of wanted to but we were all so hot and tired by now we said maybe next time.
We tried to get one of the kids to do it but they didn't want to, well, not until we were getting ready to head out and Tyler kind of wanted to but we were all so hot and tired by now we said maybe next time.It was fun and I really hope that they do it again next year. I am sure it will get bigger and better over time. I want to see some horses in full armour, some jousting, real knights having a fight. We will just have to wait and see!
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