The Feast

At Reuben's Birthday request,

we went to the Feast of the Hunter's Moon today.

To buy a sword.

Because we don't have any??? 

Our pre-Feast sword collection.

I guess the word is "enough".  We don't have enough swords??  I don't know.  But we drove an hour, paid our family admission, and went hunting for the perfect sword.

 So The Feast is a weekend festival on the grounds of a French fort from the 1700s.

All the food vendors, craftsmen, and actors

are as authentic as can be.

We arrived just in time for the parade of soldiers,

Indians, and musicians.

It was also Charlie's naptime.

Which didn't last long.

Welcome men in skirts.

Awake now.

On to the search for weapons...

 Hatchets and little swords.

(Rube's wearing a tiger hat

in case you're wondering what in the world is on his head.

You'll see it better in another picture.)

More swords and bows

and cute little guns at the top there.

 They did have other things for sale,

like peacock feathers and walking sticks...

And beads and jewelry.

 And these horrible purses made with some kind of

animal's leg and foot dangling off the front.

Debbie, you're welcome.

Peter wanted to buy you one of these.

 Look at this booth of animal body parts for sale.

Trying out a rifle.

After much purusing and careful consideration,

we traded our dollars for matching 'inja swords.

<'Inja is Reubenese for Ninja>

Ninja's fought in the Revolutionary War apparently.

 Note Charlie at the bottom,

watching and learning. 

 Loving the Feast.

 So we purchased the swords.

The day is a success.

Next we walked the grounds

and practiced our sword fighting.

In this picture we are watching

a dancing demonstration.

See how Peter's watching it?

 

 Charlie, too, thinks the dancers are pretty neat.

Except, Reuben set down his sword and now is

Charlie's big chance to pull out his inner French 'Inja.

I enjoyed the dancers anyway.

So now we're home and the three 'injas are in bed.

Peter, turns out, has a 101.5 fever

that came about post-feast.

So he spent the evening nibbling on saltines

and watching Ben Hur and Ivanhoe.

It's what he requested.

 Oh yeah, that's better.

Eleven swords is what we needed.

The two new ones are in the middle,

to the left of the red lightsaber.

These are the 'best swords' because

they each came with a sheath.

The swords are currently out of commission as we wait for the wood glue to dry.

A day of battle was hard on them.

Reuben can't wait for morning to begin the battle anew.