The Armory (military history museum) had its annual medieval festival where they shoot off all the cannons and have a great market. We headed over a couple weeks ago to check out the market, and the kids got to wear their knight costumes. Here is Ollie holding a real sword. He doesn’t look that happy because he was anxious to get inside and see the cannons. Elora on the other hand is scared of the cannons (they are too loud!) and couldn’t wait to find the free ear plugs.
The first booth we stopped at had the wood toys. Ollie quickly found a sword and began to fight this vicious looking wooden horse.
There was a great band complete with old school bagpipe like instruments, flutes, drums, and a harp. Ollie loved the music, and whenever he heard them playing he would say “See Music!” and drag us by the hand in the direction of the music.
Oliver finally decided to sport his new sunglasses. It has taken quite a few compliments from us for him to realize how nice they are.
Elora watching a candle being dipped. She really wanted to try it herself, but I think they felt she was too young. She loves to see all the crafts though, and watched for quite awhile. Her other favorite item was a real spinning wheel which she said she needed to buy so she could “spin the fabric into a long string!” Wow, where did she learn that?
Playing with the guns…
And the bigger gun…
We found a great booth that had a little jousting area set up for kids. Elora thought this was fantastic and got to have five turns riding the little horse and jousting the fake knight.
Oliver was too small to hold the joust, so he got the little stick that he got to use to knock over some posts. His favorite part however, was the fact that when you press the pony’s ear it made a little trotting horse hooves sound.
Oliver trying on some real chain mail. He said it was heavy, and then Elora wouldn’t try it on. Chris got a mini lesson on how to make his own chain mail – who doesn’t need to know how to do that?
Here is the fancy wood carved items stand. Oliver immediately picked up the hair brush to comb his hair. He thinks it is so fun to brush his hair for some bizarre reason – I guess he has been watching me brush Elora’s hair, since I never bother with his…
And of course, the best stand in the whole market – the fresh baked in a wood stove bread loaves and flatbread with butter, potatoes, and bacon. Yum.
Ollie picked out this cool wood sword with a sheath for his treat for the day. He would pick it up and say, “fight!” and then hand me a sword too so I could sword fight with him.
Elora saw many things she wanted to buy, but we kept telling her to wait until she had seen everything before choosing. When we had been wandering around for about an hour she suddenly turned to me and said, “Mommy, I want an ax!” So here she is swinging her new battle ax that she uses to cut off dragon tails.
Chris was blowing bubbles for the kids to pop with their weapons. It got a little dangerous when the kids would crowd in on him… especially since Oliver thinks it is hilarious to hit Chris with a sword.
Charge!
This shows a little of the museum, which is incredibly beautiful, and a little militia marching unit that would march around the market playing drums. It was such a fun relaxing day at the market. I wish they would have it for more than a weekend! We ended our day by playing at a nearby park and heading home before the afternoon got too hot. We will be heading to a super huge medieval market at the end of this month, hopefully that one will be as good as last year as well!
