Mine mine mine, all mine

Drew the Dragon Slayer

Today we journeyed northwards to the Charlotte area of North Carolina, where we attended the annual Carolina Renaissance Festival. We go to the Ren Fest every year, but usually we go in October when it's still warm. Today it was quite breezy and chilly, although it felt nice when you were out in the sun.

First we stopped by our friend Nancy's tent - the Hounds of East Fairhaven.

Drew didn't really care that much about the greyhounds, since we have one at home that he sees every day. No, what he cared about were the gold-wrapped candy coins they had set out as treats for visitors - he absconded with quite a few.

Then we met the love of Drew's life - Twig the Fairy.

He flirted unabashedly with her, giving her sidelong glances and batting his eyes and everything.

Yeah, it was quite a display. After we left her, he kept asking about "seeing the fairy again"...over and over and over.

We distracted him with a butterfly ride...

And then we found the sword and shield store and he was in little boy heaven.

He ran around the store pointing this wooden sword at anybody who would stand still, while yelling, "En guarde!"

Then he told Charles to "be a dragon", and when Charles growled, Drew brandished the sword at him and yelled, "Go 'way, dragon!"

Isn't he fierce?

Yeah, we bought the overpriced wooden sword.
"We're total suckers," said Charles.
"Yeah," I said. "At least we got out without buying the shield, too."

as if...

In the car on the way home last night, Drew announced that he was Mama and I was Drew.

So, being the former drama geek that I am, I got into character and immediately started clamoring to be told a story, provided with "strawberry chocolate milk" and to have various items picked up off the floor where I had dropped them.

Drew, in turn, said the following, "Not right now. When we get home. Ow, my neck hurts."

"Man, he's got you pegged," Charles said.

Halloween 07

Here they are - the long-awaited Halloween pictures.
We took Drew out to our friends Kelly and Jeff's neighborhood so he could go trick-or-treating with Alex, since we live way out in the country and our only choices for local trick-or-treating would be my in-laws or, well, possibly a meth lab or two.
Our friend Amy and her husband Chris and their two kids, Connor and Peyton, also joined the crew.

We met up at Kelly and Jeff's house right after work to eat some pizza and change the kids into their costumes.

Here's Drew the Dragon and Peyton the Kitty. Drew felt the need to tell us, and anyone who acted frightened of him, that he was "a nice da-gon, not a tary da-gon."

Drew and Alex, pre-trick-or-treating.

Drew, Alex, Kelly and Jeff, setting off on our Trick-or-Treat Tour 2007.

What would you think if you saw this crew standing at your door, screaming for candy? I'd want to adopt them all. At least for an hour or two.

We continually exhorted our charges to say, "Trick or Treat!" (which Drew pronounced "lick or leet!") when someone answered the door. However, usually they would get so excited they'd forget, and just get straight to the point..."We want candy!" they would cry.
Drew sometimes took it a step further, demanding certain types of candy, such as lollipops or chocolate.
I had to explain that these were not drive-through windows....

And that you should simply take what was offered, say "thank you" and move on. We also found ourselves explaining, many times, that ringing the doorbell ONE TIME was generally sufficient and preferred over holding one's finger on the doorbell for 20 seconds or pressing it over and over until someone arrived at the door.

Here's an action shot of me chasing Drew. Not an especially unusual occurrence that night, unfortunately.

Drew loved this house, which, in addition to the spooky archway shown here, also featured fog, creepy music and light-up window-ghosts. When we finished our trick-or-treating here, he said, "I want to do it again!", as if it were a carnival ride or some such.

By the end of the evening, Charles and I were trading off carrying our tired dragon around from house to house. If we insisted that he walk on his own, he would simply sit down right in the middle of someone's yard and sigh heavily, sometimes actually laying down and making snoring noises.

Of course, when we finished up, he broke down into tears and demanded to do it all again. Oh, and guess what we heard when he woke up the next morning?
"Mama, let's have candy for breakfast!"

Happy Halloween!