Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Potrero War

This past weekend, we went to Potrero War, a Medieval reenactment where you dress, talk and live in the Medieval/Renaissance era, held at Potrero Regional Park. You even go by a different name. Douglas used his own since it's period but used his middle name, Macquarie for his last name. He was Scottish and I was German. I went by Christine (pronounced Christina) Macquarie. When you first get there, you park your car in the lot and walk everyplace. It's not a huge park, so everything was pretty close. You wear a token around your neck the whole time, showing that you're there for the weekend (some choose to do a day pass.) We've been to war in May before and it's usually in the 90s, but this weekend it only got up to 59 degrees and was in the 30s at night (4 blankets, 2 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of pants, 2 shirts, gloves and a hat were not quite enough.) The forecast said it would be in the 70s. It was difficult to sleep in much past the sun, and I always woke up between 6:30 and 7:30. If anyone knows how much of a night owl I am, that's saying something. We also didn't have much access to soap and water. We were woken up by a bugle call a couple of the days (it would have been nice to have used somebody who could actually play the bugle decently) and one morning we got the weather report from somebody who went from camp to camp telling of the days activities. She said, "The weather still sucketh, but not quite as badeth." It was so funny! I brought my violin, but it was too cold to play. The whole weekend was very fun.


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On Thursday, we left in the morning and drove to Potrero, about a 75-minute drive. When we got there, we immediately started setting up tents in the campsite. We helped set up 3 tents (including ours) and it took close to 6 hours. We didn't do much else other than relax.

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On Friday, we walked to Merchants Row and met some friends and helped some of the merchants set up. Merchants Row feels like going to town, with all the bustling of a little village. They have tons of shops and a few "restaurants" where we would eat lunch. It started to rain, so we went back to camp and stayed in our tents for the majority of the day. We had a campfire built, so we sat around and talked before bed.

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Saturday was fighting day. In our camp there were 5 men and 1 woman who suited up in armor (including Douglas) and went to the battlefield while most everyone else watched the battles. There were about 200 fighters out on the field and they were separated evenly into 2 teams. In order to tell the teams apart, they would put a piece of colored tape on the helmets so they would know who to fight and who was on their side. It is very fun to watch. They count down from 10 and blow the horn and people would start running at each other and beating each other with sticks. There is no way to describe the sound of shields and swords and armor all hitting each other at once. It's exciting to watch and root for your men (or women.) They fight for several hours doing one battle after another and then go home and sleep. In the afternoon, I took a music ornamentation class (one of the many classes offered) and that evening, we had the big feast with our campsite (the Company of St. Martins.) We all brought period food to share and ate with period plates, bowls and utensils. We brought 4 pumpkin pies and they ate 3 of them, so we had one for breakfast the next day. Before bed, we sat around the campfire and sang songs.




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Sunday was mostly a relaxing day. We walked around Merchants Row for a bit and watched some of the battles. Sunday is a fighting day, but not as big as Saturday. None of our company fought on Sunday. We also went over to watch the hound coursing, but we got there just in time for it to end. There was a dog in our campsite who participated. Next time we'll make sure we get to watch it. We walked over to the campsite where our friends were camping and stayed there for a bit. In the evening, we sat around the campfire again and then played games in the main tent of the campsite.

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Monday was pack-up day. We started right when we got up and stuffed all our things into our tiny car. We took down 3 or 4 tents and it only took 5 hours. We drove home and stopped for lunch on the way. When we got home, we took showers and used soap and water! (Boy, the things you take for granted)

Monday afternoon, we went over to my family's house and had a Memorial Day potluck with several other families and played Apples to Apples. We laughed and laughed and had a great time.

So, that was our weekend. Overall, it was a blast.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Monday and Tuesday

On Monday night we had a bonfire at the beach with our family and the Busath family. It wasn't crowded at all and it was a beautiful night. We had hot dogs and chips and veggies and fruit and roasted marshmallows for s'mores. It was yummy! We watched the sunset and walked down to the shore to feel the water. It wasn't too cold and it felt good on our bare feet. And of course we went home smelling like campfire.


Everyone but me cuz I was taking the picture.


Dad and Jared

Last night, Mom and I went to the "G" Group, which stands for girls, giggles and gabs (I think?) It's a girls night out at the house of a member of our ward. We had pedicures, ate lots of really good food and just talked and laughed. My toes are really cute now with flower stickers. I really enjoyed the evening and it was nice to get out, especially since I had had a really long day. Yesterday and today, we were super busy getting ready for our trip to the desert tomorrow, plus I had all my normal students and make-up students since I can't teach for the rest of the week. We're pretty much ready to go now and we're very excited. We'll be back to report.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

It's hot!

I'd just like to say that it was 98 degrees today. Wow!

Monday, May 12, 2008

I love my mom!



On Saturday, my mom and I went to Time Out For Women, which is an LDS women's conference with speakers and performers. It was such a great experience and I felt so uplifted. One of my very favorite LDS speakers, John Bytheway, was there and I got his autograph and shook his hand. He is very nice. Also, Kenneth Cope was one of the performers and he was great. The top picture is Kenneth Cope (I know it's blurry, but my camera decided not to work before I could retake the picture) and the bottom picture is John Bytheway. We were in the second row on the very right so we were pretty close. We got really cute tote bags, too. I can't post a picture because I left the bag in the car and I'm too lazy to go get it. One of the talks was on patience and how to handle frustrating situations, so it was ironic that during our 1-hour lunch break, the restaurant we went to took an hour to bring our food out and we were frustrated. They literally brought it out the minute we were supposed to be back in our seats. But we just boxed it up and thanked them for the wonderful meal and took it with us instead of complaining. It felt good. Thanks, Mom!

Yesterday, for Mother's Day, all the women at church (not just mothers) were given See's candy, so I got to celebrate Mother's Day even though I'm not a mother yet. For dinner, we had Dad's famous chicken cacciatore (one of my all-time favorite dishes) and I made cookies afterwards for Mom (she always makes them for us on Sunday nights.) We got Mom a brand new red crock pot. It's pretty! I love you, Mom!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Happy Anniversary!





On Tuesday, we went to Disney's California Adventure as the second half of our anniversary celebration. We got the 2fer ticket where southern California residents can go to both parks for the price of one. We had never been to DCA before and it was very fun. It's not quite as exciting as Disneyland, but it was still neat. We went on Soarin' Over California as our first and last ride. It was the only ride we went on twice. We made sure to go on all the rides and we also saw "It's Tough to be a Bug" and "Muppets" in 3-D and most of the Pixar Parade. It wasn't crowded (our longest wait was 25 minutes for California Screamin', the big roller coaster) and it was nice and warm. One of the first rides we went on was the Grizzly River Run. It was just getting hot as we were in line. We got drenched! I've never gotten so wet on a ride. Our clothes were wet for most of the day, which was ok, considering it was around 80 degrees, so we were kept cool. We made sure to go on the Tower of Terror. With all the hype, I was absolutely terrified, but I knew I had to go on it just to say I did. People were screaming as the elevator doors closed and I could see my heart pounding through my shirt. When it finally dropped, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. I almost could go on it again. The park closed at 6, so then we went over to Downtown Disney and had dinner at Naples Pizzeria. There wasn't much selection, but it was pretty good food. The service was great. We walked around the shops after dinner for a while and then went home. It was such a fun day. I'm so glad we went.

Yesterday was our 3-year wedding anniversary. I can't believe it's already been 3 years! I remember our wedding like it was yesterday. Last night, we went to Old California Mining Co. for dinner with my family. It was yummy! We tried to go to Fish House Vera Cruz first, but they ran out of red snapper (their best dish) as we were waiting to be seated. And we told them when we arrived that we were gonna order it. As soon as the last fish were sold, we walked out and saw Old California there and decided to try it. It was great. Thanks, Mom! We went home and danced to Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up" which was our first dance. It always chokes me up. I love you, Douglas!