What-What?! Week of September 23rd

Last weekend, we spend Saturday at an SCA event (http://www.sca.org/) called Bannerwar; the idea of the event is that the different "houses" present their banners and earn 'war points' based on different events, with a prize for the winners.  The location is up in the mountains east of Granite Falls, at a large park/camp ground up there.

We learned from the last event we went to and brought a crap-ton more stuff; extra clothing layers, toys, a ton of food, table, chairs, extra toys, extra dishes, etc.  Unfortunately, one of the husband's friends was not able to make it, and she had reserved a pavilion; she told us that we could use it since she wouldn't be there for it.  That was very, very nice; having a real roof and a picnic bench that you don't have to set up at all is fricken' convenient.  We're thinking about checking into reserving our own for future events.

In preparation for the event, the husband did a bunch of cooking.  He made some 15th century German sausages called servelat (not anything like the modern cervelat), which are pork sausages (mixture of some pork cut I don't recall and bacon) heavily spiced with what can only be described as Christmas spices: nutmeg, cloves, etc..  Also, a ton, and I mean a ton, of pepper.  They were spicy and delicious, though due to the spiced nature, it was difficult to eat a lot in one sitting.

The husband also made a braised goat leg, cooked with carrots, onions, and barley.  He braised the goat for about 6 hours, so it was just falling apart tender when we went to eat it.

We brought some hard cider to drink; this also improved things drastically.

Mostly we spent the event around the kids activities and the games tent; we did some visiting with various people the husband knows, and watched some of the events.  There was a demonstration going on for block printing, which one of the local old hand had recently gotten into.  I had a good time visiting with him and messing around with his lino blocks and tools; I did stab myself with one of the knives, though (oops).

It was a good time, especially being so much more prepared this time around.  Looking forward to the next one!

What-What?! Week of September 16th

One of the fun things we did on our trip was go to CuriOdyssey with my sister, which is like a science museum with animal exhibits.  The place was very cool, fairly inexpensive, and we all had a good time.

This was a big tube with a fan at the bottom.  The kids made sculptures out of foam pieces, put them in the bottom, and watched them fly out the top!

Fly!

Saffron catching her creation!

This was a water cyclone thing.  The husband was able to get a big cyclone going.

We spent a lot of time with this activity.

This was filled with teeny-tiny BBs and made a rain noise.

Light table with various colored pieces and right-angle mirrors so you can play with rotational symmetry.

There was tons of art in the place.  This was one of my favorites.

All the Corwins...

The view is pretty too.

And then on to the animal exhibits!  This was a rattlesnake.

Bobcats, all snuggly.

The otters were adorable!  This one came right up to Oz.

Kids climbing on things, 'cuz kids gotta climb.

More views!

Walking the trail near there, we found this awesome chair/throne.

Afterwards, we headed back to my sister and her fiancé's house and enjoyed a fire.

Corwin was really excited.

But the fire was bothering his eyes, so he tried this on for some protection!

Saffron doesn't care.  She got a book.  While she's readin', the rest of the world can wait.

Ozzy had to try it out too.

Corwin and Quenten added some wood to the fire...  Saffron pretending they don't exist.

Oz crashed out at the hotel.  Poor baby was very worn out.

Picture of the hills as we're on our way to the airport.

We had a really good trip, and I am looking forward to next time.  Probably going to go again in the springtime. We might actually make it a roadtrip, though we'll see.

What-What?! Week of September 9th

We also visited the Hollister house, and had an outing with all of the husband's family.

Saffron and Carla working on braiding some rope to fix the wooden swing.

My kids were given some books, so...

Took Corey to the bathroom and came across this picture of the husband with his brothers as kids.  So cute!

Looking at the hills on the way back from Hollister.  You can still see some of the haze from the smoke.

We also went to the beach!

There were these tunnels dug into the hillside, so we took pictures with them.

Saffron burying herself in sand, as always.

Oz and I made a sandcastle

The entire time we were there, this seagull hung around and watched.

Another little tunnel dug into the hillside.

I made him wear a hat.

My mom found these trucks that had been left on the beach.  No one came back to get them, so my kids had a good time driving them around.