Knives... Swords... Knives... Swords...

Normally signs like this along the side of the road in Bubba country in Texas would scare me a quite a bit, but since we were headed to the Texas Renaissance Festival, I wasn't all that worried.

We went to the Renaissance Festival on Sunday and had a great time! I always find it fascinating to go and see all the people who actually dress up for this event - and I secretly think it would be a lot of fun to also dress up, but that would take too much time and planning and I just don't have that to spare these days.

Baby boy had a great time when he found a hill to run up and down (quite a find here in the flatlands around Houston!) - of course, it was a man-made hill, but that didn't make it any less fun. And the horses during the jousting display were just about too much for him to handle. He actually got out of our seat and ran down to the front (followed quickly by daddy) so that he could be closer.

Baby girl spent the day running around and being very cute. She ran and ran underneath all the trees and dug in the dirt. She also found it fascinating to pick up the leaves and pine needles, drop them, and watch them fall with the wind.

Of course, in the midst of all this fun, there was the actual festival going on. Some of the costumes people wear are really well-done. They look like they stepped right out of the Renaissance. However, some of the costumes are just weird! The thong/chainmail combination defies all logic to me...

We had ice cream, meat on a stick (what festival is complete without meat on a stick?!) and drank some mead, which is a strange, effervescent variant of wine - but still good! All in all, it was a good trip back in time.

On the way home from the Renaissance Festival, we decided to drive past our old house out in the 'burbs to see what it looked like after all these years. We thought this diversion would give us enough time in the car for the kids to nap on the way home and be ready for the evening when we got home. Of course baby boy ended up NOT napping on the way home, even though he was literally falling asleep on daddy's shoulder before we left the festival, but whatever.

Everything in our old neighborhood is so built-up these days! Talk about urban sprawl!!! I was driving and it was really stressful to be driving through all the construction and the massive traffic that ensnarls the area now. When we lived there, we rode our bikes from our house straight into the country. Now, there's no way I would get on a bicycle out there. We couldn't wait to get out of the area and back to the solitude of our inner-city neighborhood. It sounds crazy, but our neighborhood now is so much more peaceful than the old one.

Which brings me back to the reason we went out there - to see what the old homestead looks like. It looks exactly the same. Our old neighbors are even still there. Some of you may remember the stories we'd tell about our old neighbors. Well, it doesn't look like they've changed at all. :)

Anyway, the whole day was a fun excursion, but we'll probably stay inside the loop for the next couple of weekends. It's a crazy world out there.