• Oct. 22, 2007
Huzzah!!
Yesterday, we spent the afternoon at the Maryland Renaissance Festival. Huzzah!!
It's an interesting place, this MD RenFest. Many, many people come in costume. For those who do not arrive costumed, there is a place where one can rent a costume. Rachel has a costume and went all decked out. The rest of us went in "normal" attire. I found it extremely interesting to observe the costumed, especially the menfolk. Some as knights, a few as monks, some in tight velvet pants, many, many men in kilts. Some men in very short, leather "kilts." All I will say in regard to that is, "Interesting." I would have liked to have seen more knights. I wonder if one's choice of costume is directly reflective of one's character? Of the women, it was painfully obvious that, for some, coming costumed for the RenFest simply functioned as a poor excuse for exhibitionism. I felt sorry for my dh and 2 sons as "Br**sts on Parade" passed by all day long. There were some that I thought should have been arrested for indecent exposure. However, there were a great many women, modestly costumed in beautiful velvet gowns and such. Some of the costumes left me pondering how it must have been, back in the Renaissance era, to have worn those heavy, cascading gowns and such everyday. Personally, I'll take jeans anytime!
Well, the RenFest was testosterone-heaven for Danny and the boys (other than the parade going on)! They played "Drench-a-wench," they threw knives, they threw axes, they watched jousting, they scaled castle walls. Can you just hear Tim Allen going, "Rahr, rahr, rahr, rahr, RAHRRRRRRRR!" Danny even let Darcy have a turn and throwing knives and to our sheer surprise, she actually stuck a couple in the wall!! No easy task. It was a riot, although I fear that one day I will find all the knives gone from my silverware drawer and being thrown at yonder tree in the yard!
The most hysterical moment of the day was when we let Megan and Darcy climb the wall. Basically, it was like a rock-climbing wall, placed on the side of a castle. Megan went all the way to the top. Megan came back down. Darcy got about 60% up the wall, turned her head, looked down and realized how high she was and froze. She wanted to come back down, but couldn't navigate it using the grips on the wall. She wouldn't let go either. We kept calling to her, telling her which foot to move up, but she wouldn't. She just hung there. We called to her telling her to let go, but she wouldn't. She just hung there. Danny went and stood below her and called to her to let go and he would catch her, but she wouldn't. She just hung there. Danny went to the girl holding the rope and asked if he could just pull Darcy to the top. She let him take the rope and we kept calling to Darcy to "let go." Now, I'm sure that she did not put together the fact that if she let go, the rope would catch her. She must have thought we were out of our minds. Danny pulled her higher up the wall, but she just caught on more finger and toe-holds and hung on. At this point, there was a huge crowd watching her and calling, "Darcy, let go!" She turned her head and looked at them with a tremendous look of incredulity. Finally, one of the men who worked there (and wore tight velvet pants and a jester's hat) and could literally scale the wall like Spiderman climbed up to her, grabbed her rope and yanked her off the wall. At that point, with Medieval Spiderman holding her out from the wall, rope-girl lowered Darcy to the ground. A cheer of epic proportions rose from the crowd as Darcy was saved! The Queen of Spain had been in the crowd, cheering Darcy on. When Darcy passed by her, the Queen handed Darcy $2 for her valiant effort. Darcy could not have been more delighted!
Later in the day, we actually lost Darcy in a crowd. How terrifying that feeling is! After almost 10 minutes of searching, where did we find her, but watching the castle-climbers! We made it to the 4pm jousting tournament. At that point, Lily was pretty much spent, as she will NOT sleep when we are out anywhere. She was fussing and crying and kicking the guy sitting on the bleacher in front of us. Finally, when the horses came out with the shining, armored knights astride them, she called out, "Doggies!!" So, to keep her happy throughout, each time the horses lined up for another pass, I had to get her attention saying, "Lily, look, look at the doggies!! Go doggies, go doggies!!" I think the guy in front of us thought we were total loons! Beside cheering for the doggies, I cannot count the number of times I was called upon to shout huzzah!! If I never have to shout "huzzah" again, it will be too soon!
All in all, it was a fun afternoon, especially since this was the period in time that Zak, Josh, Megan and Darcy had just finished studying in school. It really made it come alive, for the little girls particularly. Danny was gracious enough to buy the little girls outrageously over-priced princess headgear. They were delighted and can now run around the house practicing their knife and axe-throwing as perfectly coifed princesses.
Comments
• Oct. 30, 2007
<i>Untitled Comment</i>
Posted by brownie
I don't often smile or laugh at my computer - but I did when I read this!
Darcy must be a hoot! I can say that easily because she doesn't live in my house :)
Edited by brownie on Oct. 30, 2007 at 3:16 PM
