Saturday, October 31, 2009
Halloween Retail-Style
The Chopin Trick-or-Treating excursion brought us to the Acadiana Mall this year. They do trick-or-treating from 6pm to 8pm every Halloween. We've done it in years past, but for whatever reason, got away from it. We made it our route of choice mostly because we needed to get some blue jeans for Gus. Here are some pics from the Chopins' Halloween, retail-style...
Friday, October 30, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Gettin' Medieval
Day 2 in Houston was spent at the Texas Renaissance Festival. It's usually only open on the weekends, but they have a school week once a season. Our families decided to take advantage of it--a place to have family fun and a great learning experience for our home-schoolers.
It piqued the kids interest because they actually participated in it. 
They enrolled (after making a brief pledge to never use these skills to attack another person; only in self-defense) and were taught sword-fighting skills such as the five blocking positions, forward and back stepping, and lunging. Here are some pics... 
Their play continued as they participated in some of the Medieval games and crafts areas, such as the rolling balls and the two-stick yo-yos (sorry, we didn't get a name for what they were called)...
We saw a couple of more entertaining shows, like the Art of Self-Defense, where participants fought using weaponry and hand-to-hand combat, and the Singing Pirates, who bellowed a series of Pirate songs, including one of their favorites--the popular Veggie Tales' song "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything."
We wrapped our day at the Texas Renaissance Fair with one last photo. I think you can tell by most of the kids faces that they had a good time.
The first show we went to was The Falconer.
The title immediately made me think of the skit on Saturday Night Live. But this was not as ridiculous. We learned about rare falcons, owl, buzzards--all that had special skills like speed, vision or the ability to tear a live chicken to shreds in 15 seconds. 
The title immediately made me think of the skit on Saturday Night Live. But this was not as ridiculous. We learned about rare falcons, owl, buzzards--all that had special skills like speed, vision or the ability to tear a live chicken to shreds in 15 seconds. The next feature we saw was one most of us were excited about--jousting. Our knight was the Spaniard. 
They started by snagging rings and then got to the fun part--trying to knock each other off their horses. 
The Spaniard knocked the Englishman off his horse and then was victorious in their sword fight. 
We felt very proud of our Spaniard. It was great entertainment.
We took a break for lunch and the boys had some more entertainment--from their food. They had been begging to get a big turkey leg. So we indulged them...
After eating meals fit for kings, we went to the next performance--Sword Fighting School.
It piqued the kids interest because they actually participated in it. They enrolled (after making a brief pledge to never use these skills to attack another person; only in self-defense) and were taught sword-fighting skills such as the five blocking positions, forward and back stepping, and lunging. Here are some pics... Their play continued as they participated in some of the Medieval games and crafts areas, such as the rolling balls and the two-stick yo-yos (sorry, we didn't get a name for what they were called)...We saw a couple of more entertaining shows, like the Art of Self-Defense, where participants fought using weaponry and hand-to-hand combat, and the Singing Pirates, who bellowed a series of Pirate songs, including one of their favorites--the popular Veggie Tales' song "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything."As a reward for the kids' good behavior, we allowed them to go on one ride...
Gracie went with Mom, Grant and Zoe on the Giant Swing.
Gus did the Giant Bungee. We were very proud of him because he went up very high.
And Beedle rode a rooster on his favorite, the merry-go-round.
We wrapped our day at the Texas Renaissance Fair with one last photo. I think you can tell by most of the kids faces that they had a good time.Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Birds of a Feather
As birds of a feather flock together, we met up with our extended family, Uncle Garland and Aunt Michele, for dinner at Red Robin--a nice family restaurant. We hadn't seen them in a while so we knew when we made it to Houston we wanted to get together. As always it was a great visit. We had some great hamburgers and the kids got an appearance from Red Robin himself. 
What's Happening in Houston?
We took a vacation for a few days with the Thomas family to see what Houston was all about. Today we went to the kids' favorite Houston spot--The Children's Museum. So much to do, so little time...
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Playing with Passion
Beedle told Mom to come see a performance. In the hallway, Beedle, with the accompaniment of Benjamin (Roman soldier), Gracie (Mary), and James (Simon of Cyrene...kind of), played Jesus in his reenactment of the Passion. Here are some scenes...
Jesus carrying his cross.
Mary weeping for her son.
Jesus being nailed to the cross.
Jesus taken down from the cross.
Jesus resurrected.
You do all these things with your kids and you wonder if it ever sinks in. Praise God for the beauty and hope of our youth!
Monday, October 12, 2009
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