Moon Marble Company is quite unique. They have lots of toys and this fun Edgar Allen Poe prediction machine that had you choose from dark, darker, or darkest.
The best part was the live demonstration.
I loved these marbles; they are painted on the inside.
Afterwards, we picked up Ron and went to visit NaDene. It will be 5 years since her death, and I felt we couldn't let that go by without a visit. It was a beautiful day, and I loved seeing the fall decorations.
During General Conference, I had given the kids a LEGO rose to put together. One of the gravesites had the same rose, but it was coming apart. Devon put it to rights.
We went back to Ron's to see the incredible puzzle he had been working on. It's based on an old movie and quite crazy. I never would have finished it myself, but Ron is made of stronger stuff than I. He even watched the movie and everything.
The next day, Charles challenged his siblings to a marble match. As one does.
We started October with a trip to Home Depot. The kids made witch boxes. Charles used the extra pieces to make an homage to Darkwing Duck.
Lizzy made the pumpkin king from Over the Hedge.
The Wichita Temple open house was going on, and I had gone back and forth about attending. It's a 3-hour drive. Then the ward decided to take all the youth and invited the families to join, so we tagged along. It was a pleasant day and a long drive, but the temple was pretty.
We waited around a bit, and then the bishop decided we would eat at Costco. It was 25 mins the wrong way, but whatever. We descended on the unsuspecting food court at lunchtime on a Saturday. It was a bit chaotic. The tables were already packed. I felt so bad. After pizza, the bishop decided to do ice cream as well. So we were there another half hour. On our drive back, we had different kids join us. It was poorly planned, and honestly, I wish we hadn't gone. There was a Brahms right by the temple, and we tried to convince the Bishop to let us go there, but he didn't. So one carload texted on the way back and said they would be late, as they were stopping at Brahms. Go figure.
The middle school had a family paint night, and we had a fun time going. I got the time wrong, and we went too early, but they let us in.
A week ago, I got news of my Dad falling and getting stitches in his head. I joked that he was following in Devon's footsteps, but I spoke too soon. For during our family movie, Devon decided to hop over our piano bench in the dark and hit his head on the low ceiling. He ended up splitting the top of his head. Daniel took him to the ER.
He came home with 3 new staples and a mighty headache. They didn't give him any pain meds. I dosed him and sent him to bed. He had bitten his tongue pretty badly and hurt his tailbone, but he seems to be healing ok.
Here he is getting the staples removed; he did really well, didn't even flinch.
The Kansas Renaissance Festival is shifting into high gear. While they put on events year-round, this is the main event! A friend decided to go with her family for the first time, and her daughter insisted they dress up. I was only too happy to assist them. I pulled a few pieces, and they went away overwhelmed but happy.
Unfortunately, the day they went was in the high 90s, so they sweltered a bit. They seemed to enjoy themselves anyway. I'm glad they went and survived! We went the following week in much cooler temperatures.
This year I asked the kids what they wanted to dress up as; Charles wanted to go as a beggar. I had an old costume that was crazy quilted that I pieced together for his outfit and even had enough left over to make him a sack to carry things in. Devon wanted to be a plague doctor, but with German military vibes. I tried to make his vision come true. I am always surprised at the level of confidence my children have in my abilities. I looked through my patterns and modified 3 different ones to create his costume. Typically, I was putting the finishing touches on the morning of our visit to the faire.
Emily did not want to dress up, but she did bring her toy sword. Teddy wore a D&D shirt I made for him and his "saucy" shorts. Back when I was asking them what they might like to wear, Teddy declared that he did not want a Renaissance shirt or vest or anything, but he was fine with Renaissance pants. So I clarified that he would wear something "renaissancey" in legwear, and he agreed to "saucy" pants. I have laughed about that for months now.
Henry wanted to use his Robin Hood costume from last year; everything fit except for the pants, so he wore non-saucy pants. We somehow have lost one of the bracers too, but as long as he had one for his bow arm, it was fine. I will have to make him a bigger shirt next year. Lizzy's outfit was made up of the various options she has collected over the years. Daniel wore his blue outfit, and I wore my floral and green. I need to make him a new shirt as well. The mice had gotten to it at one point so it's looking a bit rough in places.
Enough chatter, on to the pretties!
The obligatory photo with the fountain! As it had promised to rain, the crowds were sparser than usual, which was nice. We armed ourselves with umbrellas and separated into 2 groups. I took Henry and Teddy to the children's realm, and the rest wandered with Daniel.
Whilst in the children's realm, the boys made wands and took them to the wizard for inspection. He listened to them and declared them fine wands. They each received a dragon's tear. Henry's was from an amethyst dragon. Teddy's was from a crystal dragon.
After finishing the obstacle course, they went to visit with Mother Goose and Lady Nightshade (apprentice to The Sandman). Lady Nightshade read them a story, and they received blessings from both ladies respectively. This year I came prepared with trinkets to trade. The boys were excited to trade with everyone.
Henry really wanted to trade a trinket with The Sandman. He was away somewhere for a bit, but when he returned, Lady Nightshade came to get Henry so he could meet him. I thought that was sweet.
After playing on the pirate ship for a bit, King Ferdinand called everyone over to the stage. We came as bidden and found ourselves recruited for a play. Teddy chose to be on the good guys, Queen Isabella's team. Henry elected to join the bad guys on King Ferdinand's team.
It was a riot! Afterwards, they were knighted.
Then we met the Pirate Queen, and she taught the boys how to be pirates in her fleet. She gave them new pirate names: Henry is Crackers, and Teddy is Blackbox.
She gave them each a coin, and Henry fed her dragon. A good pirate needs a captain, and we soon found ours!
By this time everyone else came around, and we went in search of some lunch. 3 boys wanted hot dogs, and the rest wanted sandwiches. Unfortunately, I didn't tell the seller at the stall that one didn't need a bun. Teddy took one look at it and absolutely dissolved in tears. He said that he wanted it given to him, so I asked the cashier to hand it to him, but that wasn't enough. The rest of us ate, then Devon went for some ice cream, and then Henry had to get some. Finally, I convinced Teddy to have some, and he calmed down.
I spied the dread pirate Roberts and Inigo Montoya.
Some fun outfits:
Then we went to see the joust!
I got the plague for this picture! She stamped my hand.
It was beginning to rain by this time, and while Henry and Teddy tried their luck in the maze, I went to listen to this lovely woman play the bagpipes and sing Scottish love songs. We headed home soon thereafter.
