Medieval Moments....

So how did you spend your Sunday?

I spent about half of mine driving and the other half walking :)

The children and I along with another HS family, woke our tired sleepy children at around 5am and bundled them into the car for a 3hr drive to Balingup for their annual Medieval Carnivale  It was a good thing I was following, as  "Serena" our GPS, was up to her usual tricks....

But we did eventually get there and a great time was had by all. :)

We did get some head turners though, as the other family we went with were our new homeschool friends with 6 children...and with Jamie being away at work....11 children aged from 2 - 13. Three adults, 2 of which were the Mums....well i can only imagine what thoughts would have gone through passers by ;p

Samuel discovered just how heavy chain mail can be...

We watched the Irish fighting the Irish....

the Irish won by the way ;p

The Royal Parade

The sign seems a bit redundant...

d'uh, we KNOW there were no cars in medieval times!! ;p


You see Samuel over there? I swear he thought he was there alone!
He was #11 in the headcount EVERY TIME     grrrrr!

It even blew smoke!!!
Not sure what the brightly coloured roosters behind it are about though??

Eeeeewwww!  I have to wonder how many little
kids had nightmares after meeting this pair??
Are they even in the right time period???

And can you spot the odd one out??

Kaytie really wanted to have her photo with the princesses and missed her first chance. So after the parade she worked up the courage to ask. The redheaded princess at the front said yes and she slipped up there, meanwhile i was trying to get a good shot, and could see someone 'professional' was also trying to get a shot... I sooooo should have got out of the way and let him take it....NOBODY realised she was there, and everyone no doubt wondered what the 'crazy lady' was doing reaching up into their stand, well they all laughed with surprise when a little 6 yo climbed down the steps :D At least she was matching in her purple shirt   ;p
 PS I never realised Medieval princesses had lip piercings. Did you?

Well that's about all the photos i took. But we did soooo much more, i found some great books to add to our ever growing library. I almost, nearly possibly desperately, wanted too, to buy the whole set of Asterix comics for Samuel, but at $20 a pop, even with a promised discount, i thought better of it :)  We learnt some great stuff and would have liked to have gone on the Saturday, especially for the Saturday night, for the "Dragon Burning"
The children had a camel ride each, I am waiting on a video to be emailed through kindly taken by our friends. They also had a turn at 'crossbow shooting' at some wooden soldiers. There were free Celtic face painting - though we avoid face painting after an 'incident' in 2007! (read as a 2nd chicken pox infection!!) There were drumming workshops, Celtic dancing, all sorts of performances through out the day and a few other things we didn't get to do and see. Oh well there is always next year, though we have heard there may be a bigger one, by different people in March!! Maybe we can drag Jamie along if he's home LOL  so as not to cause gossip again ;D

It was an awesome day out and extremely cost effective as children under 12 were free. I bet they regretted that when they saw 11 children wandering up to the gates with only 3 adults between them  LOL. It was very family friendly also, though a few of the knights seemed to forget that with their antics after defeating their opponent :/ I am also thankful it was a winter event as A) it would have been AWFUL for the people wearing full costume- corsets and petticoats included! and B) I think if it had of been Summer, we would have seen a lot more 'busty wenches' and inappropriately dressed fairies :S 

All the children behaved impeccably, considering how much they had to walk, and how many exciting things were available for purchase. Speaking of money (sort of) I was introduced to a neat website via our HS friends. It is called Zefty  It's an online virtual bank, where you, the parent, are the bank manager/teller/atm.
you can set up allowance/pocket money accounts with 'direct debit' weekly amounts or credits into their 'account' or you can 'deposit' into it dependant on their chores done. There is no actual real money whizzing about cyberspace, and the children are unable to make an actual withdrawl without you, but they can print out a cheque if they require real money, which you then cash for them and adjust their balances. I would consider giving my crew pocket money just to use this website lol :) it is also available as an iphone/ipad/itouch app. for when you are out and about....now if i only HAD an iphone/ipad/itouch to use it with..... ;p lol.

We set off for the long drive home after stopping in at the local info. centre for our obligatory purchases... i was disappointed to find they had sold out of stubbie coolers :( and had to settle for a magnet.


"Serena" was not over her mood from that morning...

Huh??

eh??

Well it's a good thing I knew my way home!!!

But we made it home safely, but woke up this morning with the 3 eldest children sick with fevers and nausea :( (they didn't eat anything at the fair, we packed lunches in the camp fridges.) I guess 'time travel' doesn't suit them ;p
Claire and Sophie on the other hand made up for them and destroyed the house faster than i was able to keep up with them :S Then again, maybe they did the normal amount of Tag Team Terror, and i just didn't have the extra 3 pair of hands to help??

and ....
So humbly craving the continuance of your honorable favor towards me, and th'eternal establishment of your happiness, I humbly take leave.

B(J)slkcs
OX(OX)oxoxoxoxox