Texas Renaissance Festival

Several weeks ago, we bought tickets to the local Renaissance Fair. Susie and I both thought that it would be fun, and that it would give us a good excuse to wear our costumes again. It turned out to be a lot of fun. I think we are going to try visiting annually.

We are pretty frugal people. We ended up picnicking in the the parking lot for lunch and dinner. We came well prepared for many different contingencies. We all had coats and sweaters since this past week has been cold enough that we have had to turn on the furnace at night. 

They turned out to be unnecessary. The wind started blowing in from the gulf, and combined with driving 2 hours south, the weather was hot and muggy. The costumes were actually a little to warm for the weather.

The was quite a bit to see and do. There a lot of shops merchants. Everything was interesting to see, and there were quite a few unusual items.

We saw several shows.There was always something going on. We didn't get a map or schedule, so we basically wandered around looking at everything, until we saw a crowd gathering. We would then stop and see what was going on. Here we are watching a tournament including jousting. The picture at the top of the post was from the tournament. We all had fun cheering on our champion while booing the other sections champions. This really confused Braxton. I guess he didn't understand why Dad was booing, while I had taught him that it wasn't appropriate.

I am glad that we dressed up in our costumes. Not everyone did, but a good proportion did. Many of the costumes were extremely elaborate. I think Susie and I were inspired to continue to hone our costume making skills. Here Braxton is waiting for a fire whip demonstration to begin.

Tavin is watching the same demonstration. The performer was talented and funny. Some of his stunts seemed rather dangerous. He would ask the audience if should perform some trick or another. We would all yell encouragement, except for the most dangerous. To these Susie would call out, "No!"

There were lots og great costumes. It was hard to convince Braxton and Tavin to pose for this picture.They really did not want anything to do with the giant bat.

I've posted it before, but I'll comment again, Susie is a wonderful model to photograph. She almost makes me look like an adequate photographer. I'll clarify the matter, she does all the work.

Susie latter told me that these girls were completely in character the entire time.

It was a challenge to find many group pictures to post. Tavin is at the age where if you ask him to smile, he'll make a funny face instead.

We bought these wooden roses to remember our Rainbow.

Ward Fall Festival - Halloween costumes

I don't have pictures from trick or treating tonight. Our cameras weren't working. This year we all had costumes on the same theme. I dressed as a king, Susie was a queen, Braxton and Tavin were knights. Susie and sewed the costumes together. This was particularly helpful for Susie and I. We had to make my costume extra tall. We had to adjust Susie's costume to accommodate her baby bump.

Overall, I like how the costumes worked out. Susie's costume is particularly impressive. We had more than one person ask us tonight if she had been in a play.

I think that she make a beautiful queen.

Braxton really got in the role of a knight. For the past several weeks he will randomly get in character and ask his king or queen for a quest. Before we left the house for trick or treating, He stood straight and still at the front of the driveway facing forward. I finally figured out that he was imitating one of those English guards. He wouldn't respond to anything around him. Finally, I stood in front of him and made funny faces at him. He soon cracked and broke character, but accused me of cheating. Apparently, I wasn't supposed to make him laugh.

We made Braxton and Tavin's costumes first to see if we could figure out the whole sewing thing. This means that for the past month the boys have been trying to sneak on their costumes. We have a whole box full of costumes for them, and they like to dress up. After today, these costumes will go in the box with the rest, available for day to day dress up.

Tavin struggled mightily with his shield. He just never seemed to remember that he had it. I think we had to go looking for it at least 3 times at the ward party to see if we could find the last place he had left it.

So not so many pictures of me. That is fairly typical. Of course I wonder who could blame me. Susie is an amazing model. I think that the camera loves her almost as much as I do. We made my costume after we finished the boys', gradually working up to Susie's dress. As we neared completion, we discovered that we didn't have the foot for the sewing machine that would let us easily make the button holes.Somewhere in the 3 moves since we lived in Syracuse we had misplaced the accessories for the sewing machine. Eventually we sewed the buttons to the front and sewed on snaps to keep it closed.

The costume is pretty fancy, but I think that in order to really get that I am suppose to be a king, I need to be wearing a crown. Unfortunately, we haven't got to that part yet.

This is one of the advantages of living in Waco. We get two growing seasons each year, one in the spring and one in the fall. The week before school started we prepared this strip at the side of our lot and planted tomatoes. They seem to be growing well and we hope to start harvesting another crop of tomatoes soon. I think that Susie is rightly proud of this and the rest of our garden areas.

One nice thing about our backyard is that we have so many good places to take pictures.

You can see the garden behind Susie down the slope of backyard. Our project starting next spring will be to start putting retaining walls.

This was at the Fall Festival at church. Both both enjoyed trying to catch the donuts.

Braxton and Tavin have started to expect face painting at activities. When they asked Tavin what he wanted he first asked for a "BU" before he saw that he could get a rainbow instead.

Tavin is presenting his other check to be painted.

See, I told you that the camera loves her.

I think Braxton and Tavin are pretty much the perfect age for Halloween.