This weekend we went to a Renaissance Fair in Maryland with the kids and Ryan's parents. We've been hearing about it and it was GREAT!! Can you believe they even had jousting?!?

These are the fair maids who gave us a map of the grounds. The one in the peach dress even helped us find a few places and helped in the knighting of our kids

No fair would be complete without face paint!

The knighting ceremony. The Lady Mary dubbed the children knights for doing a goodly deed. They were so excited!! Caellum even got up to do this without our help. They got certificates declaring them official knights of the realm. Javin is so excited to be a knight but Cael wondered where his outfit was.

At one of the children's plays they asked for volunteers. OF course Javin volunteered. They had all of the kids yell as loud as they could and then picked the loudest two girls and boys. Javin wasn't the loudest and was extremely sad, (of course crying) but the Hero of the show George, decided that he didn't want to rescue a princess so the crew member said he'd take the first hand he saw to be the replacement and to every ones excitement Javin is extremely fast. He got to be the HERO and he was amazing. The play masters even had to step in because Javin really knows how to fight with a sword and could have taken the dragon out. He did an excellent job and was super excited. This was the best part of the day for me. I love how excited Javin gets for everything and he loves to be the center of attention.

As always good things must come to an end but I have to say if we are still here next year this will definitely be a repeat event.

DC and Grandparents

Caellum seriously loved this huge tower. We kept trying to tell him it was a monument but that tower was just so huge

We made Javin run around and read every state. He got especially excited to find the ones that we had lived in.

Just a friendly game of swords.

I love that Ryan isn't going to give the ball up for anything.

Caellum could barely even hold his sword. He did a great job getting dad though

I was really proud of Javin for the way he was going after the ball. I'm sure the day is coming when he may actually beat his dad

Wouldn't it be fun to be little and get tossed around like this?

Anyway, we're having a great time here and enjoying the extra time we get to see Ryan. It's weird to actually have a weekend and get holidays off. But we sure do like it!!

UPDATE

WOW it feels like years since I have posted anything. We had a great summer complete with the trip to Utah for a month to bask in the love of cousins, grandparents, and friends. After getting home, Javin started school at the beginning of August and then two weeks later we moved. School here didn't start until after Labor day so he got an extra couple of weeks of summer. WE love Virginia but miss our friends in Augusta. Our ward here is going to be a good one but probably not the home that the Augusta ward was. Javin loves everything about being here and is making friends in school. One of the things that we like about moving, besides just a little more space to live, is that we are now close to grandma and grandpa Thompson who will be coming to visit on weekends. YEAH! Also, we took the kids to DC one day and rode the metro in. They were super excited and can't wait to go back. I still haven't found my camera yet. It is in a box somewhere but once I get it out I'll get pictures up here. I'm super excited about Javin's school he gets recess everyday and has Spanish twice a week. Schools here are excellent. We really like the area we're living in and can't wait to make more friends and memories in a new state.