The Boyds

After Aran and Lexie's wedding, the Boyds said we could park at their house.  When we got there, we parked in the cul-de-sac and got unhitched. We went inside and met Bordeax the dog, and talked. 

Two or three days later, Stan offered to take us water skiing. So we went.  

We had to pull the boat out of storage so we took off the tarp and towed it to the launch. We launched and Lois was there but she had some appointment so she could only be there for part of the time. So we went on the Delta.  At first it was slow because there was a lot of parked boats. 

When we got out of the slow zone we went for awhile.  Then Stan showed us how to ski and did a test run. 

Douglas went next, he got up for about one second. 

After Douglas went, we took Lois back and dropped her off.  Then we went back out. I went next but the skis didn't fit so I kneeboarded.  I lasted for about a minute. 

I think Mom went next. I don't think she could get up so she kneeboarded.  My dad got up for about 3 minutes ...

... then I went again on the kneeboard.  I was able to stay up for about 5 minutes, until there was some sort of waterfall and it made waves and I was getting pulled into it. 

We went around a bit and looked at some houses, and started to go back. When we got back we went and towed the boat back and put the tarp back on and went back to their house.  

The next day we went to Aran and Lexie's.  When we got there we talked awhile until me and Douglas went to the park across the street. After we came back we went to sleep on the floor.  The next morning we got up.  Aran went to work and we all walked to the park.  Me and Douglas played awhile while the grownups talked.  When we got to the apartment it was time to go. 

We got back to Stan's house.  He offered to take us flying that day.  We went to the airport and Stan drove us there.  We had to wait for the plane.  Stan checked the plane. 

Everything was good.  So we waited for the runway to be clear and Stan put it into full throttle and we took off. 

We flew for awhile until we got out of range of the airport and Stan said I could fly the plane and showed me how the controls worked. 

After that we flew over the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Not long after that we started heading back. Stan did a partial dive but we couldn't do the death drop of zero gravity because my mom got sick.  

The next morning we left. 

Two States

South Carolina

We were in South Carolina and we were going to my dad's cousin George's house. We were driving and the road turned to sand.  We got to the driveway so we went down it.  There was a hill, 9% grade, filled with potholes.  So we went slowly and made our way down the hill.  We got parked and ate supper.  The next day, George's daughter Eliora got back mid afternoon from school.  When she got back we turned on the hose and put it on the trampoline, and jumped on the trampoline.

At night, we played card games.  Me and Eliora caught a lizard and made a habitat for it.  After three nights, we left, but the hill was a lot harder going up than down.  But we made it!

Savannah

When we went to Savannah it was St Patrick's day weekend.  So the first thing we did was we went to up to the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum.  That was really cool.  The ship museum had lots of models of all the ships.  Then we walked up to the harbor and saw the US Coast Guard tall ship the Eagle.  The harbor was really crowded because there was a big party for St. Patty's Day.  Then we left the harbor and walked around the city and got some lunch.  

Then we walked back to the harbor and watched the tall ship leave.  First they got a tugboat to turn them around, then they opened the sails and went upriver.  But before that happened, a container ship came downriver and slowed the Eagle's leaving.  There are lots more pictures here.

Then we walked across town and went to a book store.  We looked for Nathaniel Bowditch's book of General Navigation.  Then we walked back and went home.

The Bristol Renaissance Faire

My birthday outing was going to the Bristol Renaissance Faire.  We looked at people's costumes while we waited to go in.

I wanted to see through the fence to see what the inside was like before we went in.  It was just the very back of the outhouses!

Mom waiting to go in. 

I had birthday money to spend and I was going to look for costume stuff to get. 

This is Douglas at a crossbow stand, and when we came in we split up.  I went with my Dad, and Douglas went with Mom and Danny, a friend who came with us.  The first place me and my Dad went was to a miniature siege weapon shop.  Then we wandered over from shop to shop to a bridge. 

We crossed the bridge and saw a giant climbing wall, then went to a cannon-shooting game.  The game was a big tarp with holes in it, and they'd put a wooden cannon ball in a cannon, and you'd have to pull back a rope and let go, to fire and try to get the cannon ball into the holes.  We did the game, but didn't get anything in.  Then we went looking for a weapons shop.  We found one, but everything was too expensive.  We went looking for armor and chain mail.  We asked somebody, and we still couldn't find it.  There were a lot of shops!  Then we met back up with Douglas, my Mom, and Danny by accident.  Then we asked somebody else where the chainmail shop was, and we found it, but everything was too expensive.  The cheapest coif was $120.

The cheapest chain mail shirt was $500!  Then we just wandered around for awhile.  There was a lot of really cool costumes.

And then I bought a miniature catapult.  Then we met up with Mom and Douglas and Danny for lunch.  I had a bratwurst sausage.  Danny had a ginormous turkey leg.  Mom and Douglas got artichokes, and Douglas helped Danny devour his turkey leg. 

Then we all watched the fire whip show together, and it was raining.  The whip cracking was very loud.

Then I bought a leather arm guard at one shop.  It has three silver buckles on it.  At another shop I bought a handmade steel bearded axe.  The handle is made out of hickory wood, and it's a remodel of a Norse axe.

This man made my axe.

We went to a joust.  There were 4 knights, and our knight came in 2nd place.  For practice at the start, there were little magnetic rings hanging from a pole, and they had to get their lance through the rings.  Then there was a catapult that launched a ball with holes, and they had to get the ball caught on their lance. 

Our knight.

The green knight.

After the joust, I went to an armor trying place.  The breastplate was really heavy!

I was expecting there to be more armor for sale, but I had a really good day and I got an axe, an arm guard, and a catapult. 

Face Off

Face Off is a contest where people put makeup on people and go in front of judges to see who has the best makeup.  And they don't just use eyeliner and lipstick, they use professional special effects makeup like airbrushes and fabrications and different clothes.  In the building they have hundreds and hundreds of different things that you might need.  So that's what we did, and we did a mini one.

This is us planning and getting ready to do Face Off tomorrow.  We had two teams.  The first team was me, my dad, and Bobby.  Team number two was Douglas, Keren, and my mom.  So we planned the first day, and worked the next day.  In planning, we had 2.5 hours, and the same for working.

And the way we came up with our characters, we had a list of different elements and jobs, and numbers next to them.  The teams took turns rolling dice.  You would roll twice for the elements, and once for the jobs.  The different elements that we had were dirt, lava, water, and metal.  Our team got dirt and metal.  The other team got lava and dirt.  And for the jobs, we did the same.  Our team got a postal worker, and the other team got an engineer.

And at the judging time, what we would get judged by ... we had to have a back story, and how the character looks, and how the elements were incorporated. 

Our backstory for what we were putting on our character was that the earth had gotten mostly destroyed, and there were small chunks left with people on it.  Our character was a giant postal worker that is slowly terraforming the moon, and making it into dirt, and all the silver and copper in the moon are going into his arms.  And also he has the moon for his head.  And he has the moon for his head.  He has the moon for his head. 

And on the bits of the earth there is a rumor traveling around that the EARTH BRAIN MOON MAN is going to come back and remake the earth.  Bobby was our model.

The other team's idea was to have siamese twins, one was immune to fire and lava, the other was made of dirt.  They were chemical engineers and were exploring in volcanoes trying to find the fountain of youth.  Douglas was dirt and my mom was lava.

My mom partway through being painted.  The red is lava and the black shapes are going to be crusty lava.  The red was grease paint and acrylic paint and red sharpie marker. 

We were allowed to use anything in the house.  And we only had a few supplies of makeup and stuff.

Our model before he put on makeup.

Douglas being made, at the age of one minute.  And the vines on his arm are real.

OUR TEAM's FINISHED MODEL

Earth Brain Moon Man

Inside his head is the terraforming of the moon turning into dirt for the earth.  We made the dirt out of grinding up styrofoam bits, then pouring in paint.

team two's finished model

judging

Our judges were Opa and GramGram, and we were judging on skype.  They judged us by making a list of three categories which were Backstory, Makeup, and Incorporation of Elements.  Each team got a different amount of points in each category.

Waiting for the judges

This is the end of the Face Off and the winning team is ...

Team Number Two!

I liked the Face Off thing and I would want to do it again, and it was my idea to do it.  Most of the people didn't want to do it at first, but we all had fun.

Bobby's Birthday

It's Bobby's birthday and we're having a medieval-themed birthday and we're decorating it with medieval things.  This is Bobby sitting at the throne at the start of the meal.

This is the Queen of the Castle of Stepp smiling insanely.

Douglas, the Wizard of Barnacle, with his staff glowing and exploding. 

I was Fynn, Knight of Barnacle, with a shiny-tipped sword.

The world's most insane court jester, 90 years old, who hunts peacocks.

The King before the meal, without his crown, in front of a present (a painting).

At the meal, we got a menu at the start with lots of items from a king's court.  And there was three different courses, we would choose of the first one two different items, of the second one three items, and of the last one we chose one item.  The Queen of Stepp, Keren, would bring us the food that we would pick, and we would not know what we were getting.  And two days before the meal we had that time to earn little gold and silver stars.  And we could use those to get other things of food.  The gold stars, we could pick what we wanted from the menu, and the silver stars, Keren, Queen of Stepp, would pick, and we wouldn't know what we were getting.  And of the first course, you would be getting your utensils and your plates.  And Douglas, when he was picking, did not get any plate, and got a giant Bowie knife.  And used it to pierce raisins. 

The Court Jester helping the Knight of Barnacle choose items on the menu.

My Dad, the Court Jester, cooking a piece of steak that he got over a candle, in a candle holder that I made out of clay that I bought. 

My mom, the Minstrel of Stepp, getting more food during the meal.

Douglas, Wizard of Barnacle.  Keren, Queen of Stepp.  Bobby, King of Stepp.  Lena, Queen Mother of Stepp.  Fynn, Knight of Barnacle.  Michael, Court Jester of Stepp. Bethany, Minstrel of Stepp.

These are the cards that we got two nights before the feast.  I sealed them with wax. 

This is the throne, and the crown that me and my mom made is on the back of the throne. 

We strung these on the ceiling for some of the decorations, with giant S's on them for Stepp.  They came from Keren and Bobby's wedding. 

This is a castle made of rice crispies, with chocolate poured over it, that Douglas made for Bobby. 

This is the cake that my mom made with one pound of chocolate in it, and a stencil of powdered sugar on the top.

Bobby, King of Stepp, holding up the card that I made him for his birthday.

Robert, King of Stepp, holding up a cat Mikey that I made of Fimo for his birthday.  Mikey, Bobby's cat, the barfing machine. 

This is Fynn, Knight of Barnacle, and Douglas, Wizard of Barnacle, and our friends, walking to the park with Bobby, King of Stepp.

The Feast is OVER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The things we need to do at Keren and Bobby's

The grown-ups talked about what needed to be done like putting up dry-wall, and stacking logs.  Then they went to the store and priced everything out for putting up dry wall in the laundry room.  And we picked up a load of free wood, and unloaded it and stacked it in the back yard.

And we broke down a fence and we screwed steps into the tree. 

Then Dad climbed the tree with a chainsaw and we pulled a rope to make the tree not hit the house. 

And Dad and Bobby put up dry-wall. 

Me and Douglas pulling out nails.

-- Fynn

ideas for campers

I would like to travel in a camper like these. They have two stories.

View fullsize

motorhome

View fullsize

5th wheel

The storage space on the back is 10x10, that kind of shows you how big it is. Above it is propane and water.