Patriot's Day

I didn't know that today was officially known as Patriot's Day. I don't know why I was unaware of it, I just thought it was more of an unofficial moniker. It would seem to me to be unnecessary to mark this day with any name, as I will never forget the events of that horrible day. I mean, is there a name attached to December 7th or November 22nd or even April 12th? (If you know what is important about these dates, I invite you to comment to this post.) I don't need a calendar date to remember those I consider Patriots to this country.

In any case, I digress. For those of you who don't know already, Rachel and I are guardians to our nephews while their parents are on active duty in the Army overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. We enrolled them in the local elementary school, and they seem to really like it. Well, seeing as Becky is stationed at one of the air bases in Iraq, she was able to get an American Flag for Zach and Daniel that had been flown on an F-16 fighter, and one that was flown on a Chinook helicopter as well. She also went the extra mile of getting another two flags for the elementary school that were also flown on the same aircraft. We made sure the administration got the flags, and accompanying certificates. Well, Rachel received a phone call last week from the principal of the school. Being that I am who I am, a call from the principal at home is never something you look forward to. In this case, I was fine ... no suspension for me this time for trying to look up the girls skirts. She said that they were having an assembly to recognize Patriot Day at the school, and wanted to present the flags to the student body on that day. They also wanted to honor Becky and Eric, and have the boys recognized for their parents efforts. She just wanted to make sure that it was okay if they did that, and for us to make every effort to be there for the assembly. I had a doctor's appointment today, Rachel dropped the girls off at a friends house, and we met for the assembly. The principal had invited the Pottstown Mercury newspaper to the event, and they decided to show. They interviewed Rachel and I, the boys, and took some pictures. The principal ran down the basic tentpoles of the assembly, and then she said she was going to be recognizing us as well as the boys and their parents. Rachel got nervous, because we would be sitting in front of the entire student body, and have to stand at some point.

So, the kids start to file in, and it's the normal rowdiness that precedes all elementary school assemblies. Nice to know that this didn't change from when I was their age, too. This time, though, it's Rachel and I sitting in front watching them, instead of me being in the audience wondering who the odd looking bald man was sitting next to the hot lady. It was a nice presentation, the boys told where their parents were stationed and what they did for the Army. The boys teachers from last year, and this year held the flags up for the students to see. The principal, true to her word, introduced Rachel and I as the boys guardians and as Patriots to the country as well for our service to the country. I almost teared up at this point, because I never thought of this being a big deal. Whenever someone would say to me, "You are making such a huge sacrifice" or "I don't know if I could do something that big, for anyone" my counter was always, it's family. You do what you have to for your family, because you love them. I am proud to do this, as it shows a huge level of trust in Rachel and I from Becky and Eric. I did it for those reasons, not to be lauded or recognized publicly. I did it because I was asked to. If someone wants to buy me a HD Big Screen Television now or replace my iPod that they lost, I won't complain. *giggles* Otherwise, this is Rachel's and my labor of love. Just nobody else better get any ideas, we gave at the office.

I am not sure if the paper is going to run this story or not, it's really up to them. If you want to check out the website, it might be on there: http://www.pottsmerc.com/ also available at your local WaWa or Turkey Hill.

Our Weekend

I love going to Renaissance Faires. I love them. There is just something about the whole experience that I get caught up in. Maybe it's the food, there is nothing like chowing on an oversized smoked, grilled turkey legge while watching human chess or the joust. Maybe it's the people who work there, dressed in traditional attire and affecting an english accent. It could be the atmosphere of the tents, selling everything from hand fired, hand made silverware from a blacksmith to those selling attire of the period. A lot of it is encompassed in the attendees, those that dress up for the fun of it, or people like us who just go and want to bathe in that whole affair. We try to go once a year, and it's getting more fun now that Allison knows more about what is going on. More on that later.

We arrived a little later than we usually go, since Rachel wanted to stop at the Carter's outlet in Lancaster to try and get some more accessories for an outfit that she picked out to take the baby home in. I was a little annoyed, since it took us a long time to get to the outlet due to traffic. Neither of us knew how to get to the Faire from the outet, so I decided to stop at a hotel and see if they knew. Yes, I stopped for directions ... sue me. Rachel popped in, and they actually had directions typed out for people. I was impressed. The Faire is held on the grounds of Mt. Hope Mansion (http://www.parenfaire.com/ if you want to check out the site), and once we were inside and got a schedule of events, we found that the first joust was just about to start. We meandered over, and found seats on the ground. Allison loved the horses, and Ryleigh loved that she was able to run around for a little bit, free of the stroller. After that was over, we went to find the childrens area for a show that Allison would like. There was a guy dressed in a jester's outfit who was doing some fire-eating. Allison was a little freaked, she turned to Rachel and said, "Mommy, he shouldn't play with fire like that." We chuckled, and assured her that nothing was wrong, and that it was safe if you knew what you were doing.

We checked out a black-smith demonstrator, who was showing people how to do make some basic items using iron and a simple coal forge. He was good, we saw him make a toilet paper dispenser and he was also refinishing a knife, fork and spoon that he made the previous year. Allison and I were mesmerized. She loved the hammering mostly.

Before we arrived at the Faire, Rachel and I discussed what we had to do while there. Rachel wanted to see human chess most of all, and I wanted to see the Ultimate Joust. Well, it was time for human chess once the blacksmith guy was done with his project. We got there, and found a perfect spot for viewing. Basically, human chess is pretty self explanitory, it's a large chess board with the pieces being humans. Every year there is a theme to the Faire, this year being Sir Walter Raleigh and the Duke of Essex quarrel and Irish rebellion. Last time we went, the theme was the feud between Mary, Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth, before that it was Queen Elizabeth against the Spanish something or another. It's always been Queen Elizabeth, though. So, human chess pitted the Duke of Essex against Sir Walter Raleigh. It's a predetermined outcome, and the pieces have set-piece fights as they fight over spaces on the board where they've been moved.

The end came when the Duke of Essex demanded that Elizabeth name him as her successor, and Raleigh defended the Queen. The outcome of this disagreement would be determined during the final joust of the day. We never stayed long enough for the Ultimate Joust, as it takes place at 6 PM, and the kids are usually wiped out or we are after that long out in the sun. Well, we decided to stay this year. I'm glad we stayed. It's a full on joust, albeit with-out the full armor. I am assuming later in the year, when it's cooler, the Knights probably wear more armor as heat exhaustion is less of an issue.

They have special effects and everything, I wish I had known that the English Knight, Sir Lucas, was going to enter through wall of fire caused by burning hay and gas. It was sweet, and would have made a great picture. So, they have the joust between the 4 knights, and at some point the Duke of Essex gets pissed and decides to storm the throne and take by force. There ensues a battle between forces, and Sir Walter Raleigh is successful and the Queen orders that the Duke be imprisoned in the Tower of London for the rest of his life. So, at that point, we were walking out and Allison was upset, because there were no dragons. Well, the place we told her had dragons was right outside the joust arena. They sell these dragons that sit on your shoulder, and you can animate by playing with their tail. They also have a dragon egg bazaar, where you can buy a dragon egg, and they'll hatch it by putting it through this machine that drops a cannon ball through a series of ramps and smashes into your egg. They have different size eggs, at different size prices, so Allison picked the egg out she wanted to try. Well, she ended up winning two dragon sculptures from her egg. She is so proud of them, and shows everyone. She also plays with them. It is so cute to see her tell people, "These are my sculptures. My daddy got them for me." So, she has two pet dragons now. Man, I love that kid. In the meantime, I told Rachel that I think it would be cool to dress up for the next time we go in some simple costumes. I want to have a kilt and tartan, and the girls in matching peasant dresses. Mom said she would help me work on it, because she thinks it's a neat project. We'll see though.

"Attention, Lords and Ladies of the Ward !!"

On Friday, the first activity I wasn't in charge of in the last two years was pulled off. Rachel is still on the Activities committee, so I was well aware of the pending doom that she was predicting. Well, I am glad to say that she was wrong, and that I was jealous at how fun and successful the activity was. There was plenty of food, there were plenty of people who showed up, and there was plenty of fun to be had. They decided to do a Medieval theme, with the crowd separated into teams (colors) who sat together, and captained by Knights who would either compete in events or choose members from their team to compete in their stead. I was the White Knight, as Rachel volunteered my services. Dustin said that he was trying to give me a break from participating, but Rachel knows that I was perfect to pull off the cheesy loudness required for such the job. I wore my white Skins jersey, white turtleneck, motorcycle gloves with the gauntlets, and my fake throwback Skins helmet.

Now, when I was still the activities chair, my committee had started to tentatively plan this shindig. I had already selected Ed Ott as the King, as he had acting experience (in L.A. even) and would do a good job being over the top. We planned the menu to be finger or hand foods, and no silverware. The only thing we didn't start to plan were the activities. I wanted to do a scripted event, where the outcome was predetermined, and that way we could have a villian and a hero already thought out and all we would have to do was practice and then roleplay. Well, that never happened. They planned six events: tug-o-war, wife drag, skateboard joust, wench pillow fight, piggyback horsey ride, and the Gauntlet. The Knights only competed in the tug-o-war, and chose contestants for the other events. Apparently, the Black Knight was supposed to cheat in the events by messing with the other competitors. Unfortunately, the Black Knight was an attorney who spent half the night on his cell phone, and didn't play up the part like it needed to be done. Rachel told me after the night was over, that her and Melia thought I should've been the Black Knight, as I would have done a great job in screwing over the other competitors. Regardless of my color, I still took glee in being the villian for a few events. In the horsey race, I stepped right into one of the people who was racing and prevented him from winning. It was awesome. The guy never knew what hit him, just bounced off me. Everyone was BOOING and shouting that I was cheating - - - but Ed, in his dubious King voice proclaimed "I saw Nothing" when the Green Knight protested. The next racer I took it easy on, and gave a chance to avoid me tying my shoes in the line of racing. That was funny, but that guy's kid came up to me after the race, telling me to stay off the course so his Daddy could win. Nevermind the fact that this guy was racing a teenage girl .... I told the kid to nevermind what I did and to never speak to me like that again. (On a side note, I despise this child and his brother. They are both Zachary's friends at church and Cub Scouts, so I am well aware of their horrid behavior before this episode.) In the Gauntlet, one of the tasks was to arm wrestle each of the Knights. I licked the hands of the kids who weren't racing for my team, and generally was a menace. Like I said, incredible night. I was also the unofficial Town Crier, as my voice was the loudest, until sissy boy Dustin got a microphone.

I had people coming up to me, telling me what a great job we had done. I told them all I was jealous, because I didn't pull this one off. I guess I was kinda hoping for a stinker of an activity, so that I would be validated as having pulled off the best get togethers. In any case, everyone had a blast and was sent home with a warm belly. Our only unfortunate event occured later in the night, when Ed noticed that his iPod was missing. I bought a cable to hook my iPod to the system in the Cultural Hall for the Sweethearts Dance to play music. Ed wanted to borrow my cable to play his celtic music while we were eating and socializing. Well, some choice individual decided they wanted the iPod more than their decency and absconded with it. They took the charger and the iPod, but left my cable attached. We have suspicions on who took it, but unless decency takes over, it's gone for good. Such a crap thing to happen to such good people. Things like that have affected people's views on the Church, and have caused many a person to go inactive. Just frosts me ..... a few more pics, and this post will be done.