Medieval Times Has a New Show!

Last night my husband and I took our son, Preston, and his friend, Ephraim, to do something that none of us had ever done before.  We stepped back into the 11th century and enjoyed an evening of feast and festivities.  We went to the brand new show at Medieval Times in Dallas!

Now, since none of us had ever been to Medieval Times before, it was ALL new to us.  But this new show they've put together touts an all new story, including all new costumes, music, and expanded menu!  I can't really comment on whether it's better than the previous show, because I didn't see it... but this one was wonderful!  It was fun, thrilling and all-around quite enjoyable!  Not only did the kids have fun... but my husband and I must admit that we did too!  

The moment you step through the castle doors you are greeted as "my Lord" or "my Lady," and you are given a crown and a banner to wave in the appropriate color of your seating section.  We had our photo taken with the Falconer, and I got to sit on a throne!  There was also an opportunity to dress up and get our photo taken on a green screen.  We chose to be photographed in front of a dragon, but then ultimately chose not to purchase the photo as it was a tad on the expensive side.  From there we entered the Grand Hall featuring several different gift shop kiosks, views into the stable to see the horses, a Museum of Torture (we did NOT go in there with our young children!) and a chance to get some photos with a few of the royal characters.

About 15 minutes before show time, we were addressed and tutored in how things would work once we entered the arena.  Then the doors opened, and we were allowed entrance.  We sat in the red section, and with our Royalty upgrade, in the front row even!  That put us very close to the action as we cheered for the Red Knight!

Our "serving wench" explained to our section how the food would be served, raising her hands, wiggling her fingers and announcing that "These are your utensils!"  The boys were a bit shocked that there would be no forks or spoons, lol!  We were offered unsweetened tea or Pepsi to drink, poured into our Medieval times souvenir cups (again, part of the Royalty upgrade).  We were then brought out "Dragon Scales" flat bread and "Dragon Blood Soup" tomato bisque.  It was delicious! Ephraim and I ordered the vegetarian dish which consisted of a red bell pepper stuffed with rice and beans of some sort, a roasted vegetable kabob and hummus with chips (by the way, if you order the vegetarian dish, you get a fork and knife!).  Michael and Preston opted for the regular fare and their plate consisted of a "Baby Dragon" (nearly half a chicken), "Dragon Toes" (roasted potatoes) and a slice of prime rib (I didn't catch the Dragon name of this).  Our dessert was... ahem... "Dragon Droppings" or a braided apple pastry.

While the feasting is going on, so is the show!  We were introduced to our knights along with our king and princess.  There were some beautiful horses that did some pretty amazing tricks, the Falconer showed of his bird's hunting skills and the knights take turns competing in spear throwing, relay racing and using their lances.  As they "win" their competitions, they are given flowers by the princess, and then then throw them out to spectators in the crowd.  And then the real thrilling entertainment starts: the battles!  The knights joust, sword fight, use ball and chains and battle axes.  It was all very well choreographed and pretty convincing.  The sound of the ball and chain hitting the shields makes you wonder if they ever accidentally miss, yikes!  All the while, the crowd cheers for their corresponding knights - some win, some lose.  Once the final knight is standing, he is ultimately chosen to go up against a "bad guy" from another kingdom trying to win the Princesses hand.  Battle of good and bad, I'll let you guess how it turns out - either way, it's a rather exciting show of swordplay and gymnastics.

Again, we all had a great time!  Thoroughly enjoyed the entire evening.  I know the two little boys we took with us spent the majority of today wielding swords and talking about kings and knights!  I imagine they're not the only ones!

If you have never been to Medieval Times, or haven't been in a while, it's time to go!  This new show is entertaining for everyone - especially kids!  And the location in Dallas, Texas is the first of the 9 castles to roll it out!

Callen Update at nearly 20 Months...

Monkey boy!

Oooh, boy.  The closer we get to the "Terrible Two's," the more he worries me.  Don't get me wrong, he is sooooo stinkin' sweet.  And smart and cute and funny and sometimes I just wanna nibble on his cheeks all day long. But, my word.  He keeps me on my toes!

He is a healthy boy, but still considered low in the weight division.  I've been giving him PediaSure, calling it his "shakey shakey."  Lol.  I usually give him half of one in the morning, mixed with milk (hence the shaking) and do that again at bedtime.  He loves it!  He loves snacks... crackers, chips, etc., but usually ends up throwing most of his breakfast, lunch and dinner on the floor.  I am nearing my wit's end with this little antic.  Soooo frustrating.  It's not so much the 'not eating.'  It's the having to throw everything off of his plate/tray EVERY STINKIN' MEAL.  I don't really know what to do to keep it from happening.  He won't even consider letting me hold the plate and feed him a bite at a time... throws a fit.  He always starts out great, behaving and acting like THIS TIME he's gonna cooperate.  I try to time it and watch carefully for the moment he's done, so I can snatch the plate away before he had a chance to start flinging.  I usually fail at this, of course.  It's just frustrating that he's not eating as he should and he's making a giant mess every meal.  And it's not just food, he throws EVERYTHING he gets his hands on pretty much.  So many broken toys because he throws it as hard as he can on our tile floor... and crack!  He has a great arm when he's throwing a ball, that's for sure... unfortunately he's practicing throwing everything that he shouldn't!

He also still bonks his head on purpose when he gets mad.  He'll throw himself down in the floor and purposely hit his head on the hard tile floor.  It's scary.  He's got some pretty good dents in his head from this. It's gotten better, and it isn't nearly as often... but it still happens before I have time to react and keep him from it most of the time.

Good sleeper!

On some positive notes, he is being a total sleep rock star lately!  His latest routine requires PJs, kisses from us, me reading him a book, him looking through the book to make sure he hasn't missed anything, then I put him in his crib, tuck in his Stitch guy and then tuck him in.  He actually lays down beside stitch and STAYS down.  Now, he's been doing this for a little over a week only, but he's done it like that EVERY NITE since Halloween - I pray it sticks!  Because it's so much better than him standing there, crying, as a I close the door and leave him!  He does sleep through the nite too, I usually have to go wake him up in the morning!  So, that's going well, woo hoo!

He's also saying more words.  And the past few days, we've taught him "please" and "thank you" in sign language.  He seems to refuse to say it in words, but sometimes he'll do in SL... so there's something at least.  And this evening, he came into the living room, pointing out the window and said "wah wah!"  It was raining, but the blinds were mostly closed and it was dark, he couldn't have SEEN the rain.  He must have heard it.  It was just cute to see him picking up concepts like that.  He follows and does pretty much anything Preston does.  Which, isn't always a good thing... but that's life for a little brother, right?

Anyway, just thought I better do a Callen update, since Preston gets so much bloggy love here with all of our homeschool updates and whatnot.  I love my little "Calico" so much - and I know the throwing phase will pass (please, Lord, let it pass and soon!) and maybe my patience will stretch a little farther then. 

Homeschoop Swap: October-November 2011

I enjoyed another round of The Homeschool Post's Homeschool Swap this Fall.  My partner this time was Dana from Noggins & Nonsense. I had a fun time collecting some goodies to send to her.  She said she was a list-maker so I figured she would enjoy this super neat Goal Setting/List Making book from Seth Godin and Zig Ziglar.  Reading some of Godin's stuff has really inspired me lately (thanks BzzAgent Domino Project campaign, lol!).  I was very glad to hear that she liked it!  Yay!

I received my package from her just a few days ago, and was very excited to open it!  Ok, surely you KNOW how much I enjoy getting mail by now.  =)  Anyway, it was definitely a fun surprise:

There were several readers for Preston, who instantly collected them all, sat on the couch and began reading (love that kid!).  A fun snow experiment - I've already got it worked into our curriculum for the week before Christmas when we talk about ice and snow!  There was candy!  An adorable Fall bookmark that Dana made... yay Fall!  And a beautiful framed artwork that says "They call me mom, for that I am truly blessed."  Love it!

Previous swaps I've taken part in:
April-May 2011
July-August 2011

We were on Fall Break!

I don't have a homeschool recap for this week because we took the week off!  I felt like Preston was getting a bit burnt out and then, of course, I worked Wed-Fri at the radio station's Share-A-Thon.  I only worked about 4 hours each day, but I still didn't want to try to schedule school around that... just seemed like a great time to take a break from our lessons and enjoy the wonderful, Fall air!  It's been cool!  And downright cold a few times, even!  Woooo hoooo!

Monday was Halloween.

My 3 heroes - Snoopy, Mario & a Knight!

Preston was Super Mario and Callen was a knight wielding a sword (watch out - 'cuz... um... he might take a bite out of you next?!).  My in-laws took us to our church's trunk or treat for a little bit, then we went out to dinner to celebrate my Father-In-Law's birthday.  Unfortunately, Michael missed it all because he had to work that evening.

The rest of the week flew by.  The boys got to spend time with my mom while I worked on Wed and Thurs, and was with Michael's mom today as I worked.  They enjoyed that, of course!

Praying that the week off helps Preston to be excited to start schooling again on Monday.  We start doing a little more with the Bible in the next few weeks, so hopefully that helps him get motivated - he loves Bible stories!  Our curriculum also seems to pick up speed as well... it's been kinda slow and too simple for him thus far.  I also pray the downtime helped rest my patience.  I was quite easily provoked the past few weeks, and I have got to rein that in.  But first... let's just enjoy the weekend!