Medieval Times

We just got back from a little "last hoorah for the summer" vacation yesterday and as usual, I'm way behind on blogging. So much to write about and I never even finished blogging about our cruise last month. Time is just slipping by ever so quickly. I'll just start with last Friday, Harper's 6th birthday.

We'd been planning on taking the kids to Medieval Times this summer and when we looked at the calendar and realized the days were just ticking by we made a rash decision to take them on the night of Harper's 6th birthday. It was a Friday night and there were lots of seats available so off we went. They recommended we arrive about 75 minutes prior to seating because seating is first come first served, so we got to the castle around 6:20 pm for our 7:30 pm show. We were among the very first to arrive and while seating may be first come first served it's also gives you lots of time to walk around the castle and buy a million things. 

We wanted Harper's name to be announced during the show since it was his birthday and that one request led to a wooden shield and sword for him, a princess tiara for Dakota and a metal sword for Landon. The boys were also "knighted" by the king and neither of them were thrilled about it, haha!

Here's our baby princess. She just loved wearing that crown but she was not even about to go up and talk to the king. Hell to the NO.

Harper was a little nervous about what being "knighted" meant so he didn't want to do it. He wasn't fond of people watching him either so he drug me up there with him. I was able to sneak out of the picture though and it turned out pretty cute.

Landon didn't really know what was going to happen either, but he had the luxury of watching Harper go through it first and he was about to absolutely die of embarrassment when it was his turn! They call everyone in the castle over to witness the knighting, so he had all eyes on him when he was awarded his knighthood...haha! The look on his face says "bite me" and "I'm going to die of humiliation" all at the same time. But, he did get a cool sword out of the deal.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'd pretty much rather not ever go to this type of thing and the performance that night reminded me why. It is so freaking cheesy it makes my brain ache. I feel like crying sometimes...it's just that bad. BUT! There was a bit of a shining light that night, a little reminder of why we often go to these awful things; Harper and Dakota. (Landon and Tony love it too, horrible acting and all.) Those two little kids absolutely loved it. Dakota was all ears once she learned there was a princess involved (she wanted me to ask the princess to come to our house to play with her) and Harper was amazed by the knights and their armor. They loved waving their flag (we were cheering the red knight, but he lost in the end) and screaming BOO!!!! as the other knights prevailed. They loved eating with their hands and paid close attention to each knight's demise. They ate it up. Every last bit of it.

There was one moment when one of the knights used his sword to strike his opponent in the gut and Harper yelled "JESUS" really loud! He was just sure that guy was for real dead! It was hilarious! (I don't love him saying that but if you've ever heard Landon play a video game you'd understand where he gets it.) At some point Harper realized there wasn't any blood and he was a little less concerned at that point, but he was still not too sure if those guys were alive or not. :) And, when the green knight defeated our red night, Dakota was not pleased. She said "I do not like that guy. He is bad!" 

We had a pretty good time that night (especially Tony who was a little too enthusiastic when cheering on our knight and got a weird look from the guy) but you couldn't pay me to go back anytime soon. Or possibly ever...unless I get to sit next to the little kids and hear all the funny stuff they say during the show!