Texas Renaissance Festival

Beautiful weather, fun activities, a few freaks, and even more fun.

Matt got us all tickets to the "tex ren fest" this year, we thought the boys would be really into it. Every weekend is themed, and this weekend it was 'All Hollows Eve', with plenty of costumes (not like there aren't already people in costume) but there is trick-or-treating for the kids, so it's extra fun for them. Jason didn't want to dress up, but Ian was all for going in costume.



A funny little thing about Ian's costume, 99% of the time people don't know who or what he is, but at a renaissance festival, he's very well known, in fact we even saw an older Link (after the temple of time of course! ...and if you get that reference you're a nerd!) Ian had complete strangers taking pictures of him, saying 'hi' to him and asking him where Zelda was, by the end of the day he would wave and pose for their pictures! However, tonight for Halloween he was back to being asked if he was a pirate... oh, well.

Jason really wanted a new sword (because the 10 that we have arn't enough). With the purchase of a new sword you got to fight the man who sold it to you, Jason loved every second of it.

This was a show we watched where this guy trains his "seconds" (the little kids) to help him fight the bad guy, it was funny and impressive, The boys had so much fun.  

Yes, here is Link's new accesory.  It's a real working Ocarina, it even came with Zelda sheet music. Both the boys have even mastered a few songs, so far, no atmospheric or time changes have occurred (If you get that reference, then you're a really big nerd).  

Who knew centuars liked trick-or-treating!

Hagrid stopped to ask the boys if they had seen his pet spider, Aragog! He gave them spider rings, I stole them and wore them all day.

The boys got to pick out what they wanted to ride, they both picked this bungie bounce thing (did they have bungies during the renaissance?) This guy attaches you to some bungies, and bounces you way up in the air, they don't seem to care if you're 20, 10 or 5, they shoot you as high as you can go.  Anyway, they were terrified, it was so funny to watch, actually I was a little worried that Jason was going to puke, thankfully he didn't, but let's just say they won't be spending their money on any bungie type thing for a long time... I'll remind them of this if they even want to bungie jump later in life.  The picture of Ian is classic!

Finally! House Picures

See, good things come to those who wait.  We've done lots of painting, decorating, and unpacking and the house is starting to feel like home.

The office/Guitar Room

 


Living Room

Master

Master Bath

Family Room

Kitchen (painted) with breakfast area inluded.

Front Entry

There are a  few more rooms to paint but we're almost done!  We still have some blank spots on the walls, but those are getting filled in quickly too. We are looking forward to a weekend where we are not working on the house, but we can just enjoy it.  Oh, and we love our garage.  I should have taken a picture of that...it's not pretty or anything, it's just that we have a garage!  After living in 2 apartments, we moved into a townhouse with a carport (and that was really special), then we moved to Texas into another townhouse and had a 1 car garage (wow, what a treat).  Now we have a 3 car garage, it feels like a luxury! Also our back yard is huge, so is the side yard, oh and the other side yard.  So if you visit, we don't have beds for you to stay in, but you can stay in a tent in the back! :) I didn't take a picture of  it because it's kinda boring, we need landscaping (and a good mowing).  I know my sister would be jealous of just having grass, but we are looking forward to making the backyard a retreat... just not anytime soon.

Pics

I know what you want, but I'm just not ready to post house pictures yet... You'll just have to wait till it's ready, you're all voyeristic monsters! :)

You get my most recent Tri pictures and report!

Here is my cheering squad... they didn't really do anything, but that's okay they had a good time. I toyed with the idea of making signs and having them hold them, but it would be like me cheering for myself, and that wasn't as fun!  Matt was awesome, he was at every transition cheering for me on and being my personal photographer, Thanks Matt, for getting up early with me, being my personal roady, and being the best dad!

 

Can you see me?  (Don't worry, I can't see me either) I'm one of the people in the pink caps!

 I couldn't catch my breath when I first got in because the water was FREEZING!  I had stopped  training for the swim, and I was worried how it would go, (it was hard with the move to find a pool), but I dropped my time by almost a minute and came in 3rd overall in my age group. So no worries after all, I guess swimming is like riding a bike... but not really.

 The bike was much better this time around, I pushed a lot harder, and I got passed, but not as much, I even did some passing.  I felt great! It was the best part of the race!

The run... what can I say, you're tired, you're sore, you're legs feel like crap and your lungs were done working 10 mins ago. I pushed through, and ran the whole thing (slowly but I did it)!  It feels great to pass the 21 year old guy with the smokn' abs!

 I felt awesome when it was over! Check out my sweet medal (they were for first timers, and eventhough I did one before, when I signed up for this race I hadn't done one yet, and I got it at the end, oh-well!)
And yes, I am still wearing my medal!

Overall Time

‎1:16.31 431 out of 850 overall 5:30 Swim, 33:59 Bike, 32:20 Run!