A sword fight at the Renaissance Festival
The Renaissance festival is something my family looks forward to every year. This year even more so because the kiddos had decided to go with a pirate theme for Halloween. The Renn fair is the perfect place to add some authenticity to the costumes. Trystan planned on being a swashbuckling pirate and Liam chose to be Trystan’s parrot....with a sword. In fact, every single day leading up to the Renaissance fair Liam felt the need to confirm he was getting a sword.
Wanting to make sure we would be able to see everything and seizing this opportunity to keep us busy over the weekend, I purchased the 3 day access tickets. I figured if we couldn't make it one day we at least had another chance. As the Monday before the fair came and went, the excitement was building. This was one of my favorite events to attend. Just three more sleeps and we'd be feasting on turkey legs and raising a pint to king and country. Dilly! Dilly! Then Tuesday struck- it was late afternoon when I received a text message from one of the moms on Trystan's soccer team. The younger sibling, Liam's best friend had tested positive for Covid. The boys had the sniffles the past two days but with the drastic weather change, I didn't invest to much worry in it until I read that dreaded text. Immediately, I scheduled Covid tests for the boys and prayed the results would come back negative in time for the weekend. By Saturday morning my prayers were answered and we prepared for our exciting journey back in time. My parents joined us when we arrived and we made our way through the crowd of belly dancers, Celtics warriors, fairies, pirates, Vikings and oddly enough, Storm Troopers. We even saw the toad guy from Super Mario Brothers. All the while Liam was on the hunt for the perfect sword.
By the time we made it through the entrance, Liam had asked me three different times when we're we going to get his sword. I assured him we would get to it but right now that wasn't our main focus (at least not for the rest of us). Every time we passed by another family with children, Liam made an effort to point out the kids who already had their swords. As we walked through the maze of pop up shops, Liam had managed to get himself banned from uttering the word “sword” otherwise he would be leaving the Renaissance fair empty handed. After a couple of hours of pushing through the pain of his recent back injury, my dad was ready to head out. With frequent breaks and careful steps, we made our way back through the colorful shops displaying all sorts of unique of eye catching items. But nothing was more captivating to Liam then the alluring Siren’s call of a pirate sword.
Finally, we reached the exit and Liam's eyes widened in panic as he came to realize we were leaving without a sword. Trying to ease his growing anxiety, I explained to him we would be back tomorrow to which he frantically replied, "what does tomorrow mean?!" Again, in a futile attempt to explain it to him, he continued to insist he did not understand what I was saying. All he knew was, we left and he didn't have a sword. End of story. Beaten down by our go no where argument, my final reply was if he didn't know what tomorrow was then I couldn't help him. Maybe not my proudest mom moment but he was relentless. That's when my mom decided to instigate the situation… Turning back to me she says, "Wasn't there a sign that said no sword sales on Sundays?" Liam once again erupted into hysterics. By the time we made it to the car I was mentally exhausted and made my final attempt to sooth my little attack dog. "Liam, when you wake up in the morning we will go get your sword." In the saddest little voice Liam finally conceded.
The next morning, as promised we made our way back to the Renaissance fair. After 45 minutes of hunting for just the right one Liam finally got his sword. Since this was our primary mission, we headed back home. In the car, the boys discussed their plans to have a duel with their new swords. Mapping out the back story of their characters in this epic battle. Before the garage door was shut, they were upstairs preparing for war. Thunderous footsteps boomed through the house followed by yelling "TAKE THAT!" The longer I stayed downstairs out of the path of destruction the louder the war became. Until- there was a crash and that beckoning prolonged mmaaauum… once again. Now, as we know from my previous posts, that single word never leads to anything good. Moments later they both came rushing down the stairs blaming one another for the fallen picture frame that now laid in shattered pieces in the hallway.
Note to self: when your kids can turn literally anything into a weapon do not enable them by giving them weapons.