Pennsic - the overview
Home from Pennsic. We got in Saturday at 12:45. It was 1:30 when we finished unpacking the car.
It was a great, but different Pennsic with the 2 kids. The buddy system worked relatively well. I did have my medalion number taken once due to a lost child. She wandered off during a class at Orluk to use a bathroom and couldn't find her way back. It involved about 20 people looking for her and I was getting frantic after a 5 minute search in both directions failed to find her. There was a lot for her to do, including:
-water battle on Monday night
-Pennsic theatre Sunday-Wednesday and the performance on Thursday. The theatre program was crazy with about 50 kids. There is talk of next year having 2 programs, one for younger kids and one for older ones.
-Children's fete Wednesday afternoon. They had face painting, balloon animals/hats, boffer, crafts, colouring, and archery. Grace loved the archery.
-I took her to an introductory dance class
-she liked shopping
-she sat when I was in class and coloured or read a book
-she loved the hammocks and hanging out with Sebastian (Aaron and Rustique's son) and hanging out with Sebastian in the hammocks. She also adored Kaisa.
We tried to have alternate Piers night out/Dubh's night out, but by the time we helped each other get the kids to bed we were both exhausted. We wasted a few of our nights out. I got to go to the Pennsic ball on one of mine. One other one, I hung out at the Fettered Cock talking to people. We both went to Midnight Madness.
In the end, I went to 11 courses this year, 9 of which involved some form of dance. I scrapped anything that happened before 11 as getting going in the morning was harder with 2 kids, plus a number of rainy mornings. I went to both the Middle Eastern and harp exhibition, without performing in either. If we do Pennsic in 2009, I would like to go with only 1 child and perform in both.
I didn't do any archery. We didn't even bring our equipment as space was at a premium in the car. The archery field is a good hike and it wasn't worth it. Maybe next year, especially if Grace is serious about wanting to learn archery. I didn't do anything bardic either. None of the bardic courses grabbed me this year. The Celtic bardic circle that inspired me my first Pennsic stopped happening somewhere along the line. I purposely didn't go to the Ealdormere bardic circle as I was really disappointed last Pennsic that it was mostly filk and non-period stuff. It struck me as being more like a campfire sing-a-long (like from my Guiding days) than anything medieval.
I cared on the tradition of bitchy Skrael women (meaning strong women who get labeled bitches when they have to deal with men behaving badly) by disbanding the Trimarian gauntlet that was set up on the road right in front of our tent. I tolerated it it for a few hours, but when they accosted me coming back from the bathroom, I found myself telling them off. Both Yaron and Piers thought about speaking to them, but I was the one who actually did it. I thought they'd ignore me or maybe quiet down, but they actually went away. I must use my new found power of bitchiness only for good. :)
I had more garb than I needed for a change. I came home with a ton of new costuming ideas. Despite having some terrible garb (I laughed harder than anything reading Helen's bad garb booklet), Pennsic is also inspiring. I have some new ideas for activities. I may have found 4 of 6 children's courses for Practicum already. I got to see James's pelican-ing and see a new embroidery laurel. (We should try and talk her into coming to Practicum.) So many people from Caldrithig went this year. Most camped with Skrael. I got to see lots of Menken and Eleanor. I got to talk to Mordain and dance with Aefleda. We camped directly near Raven and Yaron which was so cool because I haven't seen her since 2005. We also camped near Helen, which was fun. The most delightful new people we met were a couple of pirates who camped in a pop-up trailer that looked like a pirate ship. He let the kids ring the bell on his ship and gave the girls freezies when ever we went by. I bought him one of Eleanor's new skull and cross bones pins to thank him for his kindness. It took me about 2 days to get into it, but I did re-find the magic in the SCA.
We brought home booty!
-Piers finally bought medieval boots! It took him 9 years, but with the dollar almost at par, it was a great year to spend
-Grace got her own dance belt
-I got a new dance belt - only $30, in a striped fabric I've never seen
-I got some dance clothes at a bargain price
-I bought a purple hat to wear on the archery field with my boy's garb.
-We each bought a pewter pin to wear on our hats
-We bought blunts for our arrows!!
-Piers bought beads. I bought pearls and garnet for beading.
-I bought amazing trim that I now must think of garb to put it on
-I bought 36 Celtic knot buttons to make myself a cotehardie with a nod to my real persona
-I bought an amethyst necklace to add to my jewelry collection around my neck
Beyond that, we spent money on food. Breakfast bars worked great with the kids, coupled with a late lunch. Cheeseburgers were yummy, so were breadbowls, and that Chinese stir fry. Yaron invited us to dinner the last night with homemade macaroni and cheese and bacon.
It was a great, but different Pennsic with the 2 kids. The buddy system worked relatively well. I did have my medalion number taken once due to a lost child. She wandered off during a class at Orluk to use a bathroom and couldn't find her way back. It involved about 20 people looking for her and I was getting frantic after a 5 minute search in both directions failed to find her. There was a lot for her to do, including:
-water battle on Monday night
-Pennsic theatre Sunday-Wednesday and the performance on Thursday. The theatre program was crazy with about 50 kids. There is talk of next year having 2 programs, one for younger kids and one for older ones.
-Children's fete Wednesday afternoon. They had face painting, balloon animals/hats, boffer, crafts, colouring, and archery. Grace loved the archery.
-I took her to an introductory dance class
-she liked shopping
-she sat when I was in class and coloured or read a book
-she loved the hammocks and hanging out with Sebastian (Aaron and Rustique's son) and hanging out with Sebastian in the hammocks. She also adored Kaisa.
We tried to have alternate Piers night out/Dubh's night out, but by the time we helped each other get the kids to bed we were both exhausted. We wasted a few of our nights out. I got to go to the Pennsic ball on one of mine. One other one, I hung out at the Fettered Cock talking to people. We both went to Midnight Madness.
In the end, I went to 11 courses this year, 9 of which involved some form of dance. I scrapped anything that happened before 11 as getting going in the morning was harder with 2 kids, plus a number of rainy mornings. I went to both the Middle Eastern and harp exhibition, without performing in either. If we do Pennsic in 2009, I would like to go with only 1 child and perform in both.
I didn't do any archery. We didn't even bring our equipment as space was at a premium in the car. The archery field is a good hike and it wasn't worth it. Maybe next year, especially if Grace is serious about wanting to learn archery. I didn't do anything bardic either. None of the bardic courses grabbed me this year. The Celtic bardic circle that inspired me my first Pennsic stopped happening somewhere along the line. I purposely didn't go to the Ealdormere bardic circle as I was really disappointed last Pennsic that it was mostly filk and non-period stuff. It struck me as being more like a campfire sing-a-long (like from my Guiding days) than anything medieval.
I cared on the tradition of bitchy Skrael women (meaning strong women who get labeled bitches when they have to deal with men behaving badly) by disbanding the Trimarian gauntlet that was set up on the road right in front of our tent. I tolerated it it for a few hours, but when they accosted me coming back from the bathroom, I found myself telling them off. Both Yaron and Piers thought about speaking to them, but I was the one who actually did it. I thought they'd ignore me or maybe quiet down, but they actually went away. I must use my new found power of bitchiness only for good. :)
I had more garb than I needed for a change. I came home with a ton of new costuming ideas. Despite having some terrible garb (I laughed harder than anything reading Helen's bad garb booklet), Pennsic is also inspiring. I have some new ideas for activities. I may have found 4 of 6 children's courses for Practicum already. I got to see James's pelican-ing and see a new embroidery laurel. (We should try and talk her into coming to Practicum.) So many people from Caldrithig went this year. Most camped with Skrael. I got to see lots of Menken and Eleanor. I got to talk to Mordain and dance with Aefleda. We camped directly near Raven and Yaron which was so cool because I haven't seen her since 2005. We also camped near Helen, which was fun. The most delightful new people we met were a couple of pirates who camped in a pop-up trailer that looked like a pirate ship. He let the kids ring the bell on his ship and gave the girls freezies when ever we went by. I bought him one of Eleanor's new skull and cross bones pins to thank him for his kindness. It took me about 2 days to get into it, but I did re-find the magic in the SCA.
We brought home booty!
-Piers finally bought medieval boots! It took him 9 years, but with the dollar almost at par, it was a great year to spend
-Grace got her own dance belt
-I got a new dance belt - only $30, in a striped fabric I've never seen
-I got some dance clothes at a bargain price
-I bought a purple hat to wear on the archery field with my boy's garb.
-We each bought a pewter pin to wear on our hats
-We bought blunts for our arrows!!
-Piers bought beads. I bought pearls and garnet for beading.
-I bought amazing trim that I now must think of garb to put it on
-I bought 36 Celtic knot buttons to make myself a cotehardie with a nod to my real persona
-I bought an amethyst necklace to add to my jewelry collection around my neck
Beyond that, we spent money on food. Breakfast bars worked great with the kids, coupled with a late lunch. Cheeseburgers were yummy, so were breadbowls, and that Chinese stir fry. Yaron invited us to dinner the last night with homemade macaroni and cheese and bacon.