More Pennsic-y chunks
Cranky W is cranky for a variety of reasons, so if anything here comes off too intensely negative, please just dial it down a notch or two in your mental translating device, ok? Thanks.
So, overall: Doing War with the baby was hard. I think the plan for next year is that the L.C. and I will go for land grab and have a lovely quiet week of honest-to-goodness vacation wherein we might get to fight, shoot archery, play music, socialize, etc., and then meet my parents halfway to pick the sprout up for the last few days so she can come have fun too. She was fantastic, don't get me wrong... but she didn't sleep. She didn't nap during the day unless we took extreme measures, and she woke up consistently every single night not willing to go back to sleep unless we brought her in bed with us -- after which we didn't get any sleep because she was tossing and turning. It didn't seem to have any impact on her -- she had a blast running around with the kids in camp, terrorizing everyone in sight with her boffer swords, being enthralled by the pipers, all that good stuff. It just made us absolute, complete zombies; by about the third day of no sleep we were total wrecks. I wouldn't have cared quite so much except that 1) I'm keenly aware that I was the most incoherent/out of it at exactly the two or three times I wanted to be my most articulate and engaged/engaging, and 2) I think I may have been short with people when I didn't really mean to be. That kinda sucks.
On the one hand, it was utterly thrilling to me to see how astounded and excited she was about everything that was going on... and I'm delighted that she got so attached to the kids in our camp, too! On the other hand, did I mention dead people walking? Also, I kept trying to check in with the adults in question to make sure no one felt too put-upon, but I do still feel like being so de-energized meant we kind of took advantage of the nice folks on the Tad side who not only put up with M being constantly in their space, but also fed her and entertained her and let her use their art supplies. :( Sorry, guys. We definitely owe you.
Socializing: We didn't go to any parties. Not one! I didn't even really make it out to visit friends in other camps during the day. However, there were amazing people in our camp every night. That rocked. There was also a great deal of bacon getting cooked at ungodly hours; I hear that the Bacon O'Clock concept is spreading rapidly. :) We had TRMs of Aethelmearc in camp one night, enjoying bacon and Salamander Eggs. Other nights there were old friends and new friends and people we didn't really know but enjoyed having around anyway. Having the new common area was great -- it meant our porch was still an option for hanging out, but people were able to make much more use of the comfy lounging area and I never wound up in the "OMGTooManyPeopleInMyPersonalSpace!" crazy zone.
I pulled into the campground at around 12:30am on Wednesday night of land grab, and the Slackeys came to meet me. I can't even tell you how awesome that was; the folks at Troll didn't say the usual "Welcome home" this year, but wow, did I feel welcomed anyway! I think the gang scared Troll, though. Possibly it was the decent-sized mob charging in in the middle of the night waving their arms and their drinks and yelling about ... er... well, actually, it was "Scratchy Poopers," but there was a good reason! Honest! The Baronial Alchemist invented another new drink. :)
The Slackeys et al. also got a cake and a very funny card for my birthday; J decorated the cake lavishly with salamanders and flames and large Roman numerals. Whee! (and thank you to everyone at home who sent good wishes, too!)
... er, it's late and I should stop here. Sorry, I know you guys only really want to hear about the Court of Love and I keep not getting to it, but I promise that's coming soon...
So, overall: Doing War with the baby was hard. I think the plan for next year is that the L.C. and I will go for land grab and have a lovely quiet week of honest-to-goodness vacation wherein we might get to fight, shoot archery, play music, socialize, etc., and then meet my parents halfway to pick the sprout up for the last few days so she can come have fun too. She was fantastic, don't get me wrong... but she didn't sleep. She didn't nap during the day unless we took extreme measures, and she woke up consistently every single night not willing to go back to sleep unless we brought her in bed with us -- after which we didn't get any sleep because she was tossing and turning. It didn't seem to have any impact on her -- she had a blast running around with the kids in camp, terrorizing everyone in sight with her boffer swords, being enthralled by the pipers, all that good stuff. It just made us absolute, complete zombies; by about the third day of no sleep we were total wrecks. I wouldn't have cared quite so much except that 1) I'm keenly aware that I was the most incoherent/out of it at exactly the two or three times I wanted to be my most articulate and engaged/engaging, and 2) I think I may have been short with people when I didn't really mean to be. That kinda sucks.
On the one hand, it was utterly thrilling to me to see how astounded and excited she was about everything that was going on... and I'm delighted that she got so attached to the kids in our camp, too! On the other hand, did I mention dead people walking? Also, I kept trying to check in with the adults in question to make sure no one felt too put-upon, but I do still feel like being so de-energized meant we kind of took advantage of the nice folks on the Tad side who not only put up with M being constantly in their space, but also fed her and entertained her and let her use their art supplies. :( Sorry, guys. We definitely owe you.
Socializing: We didn't go to any parties. Not one! I didn't even really make it out to visit friends in other camps during the day. However, there were amazing people in our camp every night. That rocked. There was also a great deal of bacon getting cooked at ungodly hours; I hear that the Bacon O'Clock concept is spreading rapidly. :) We had TRMs of Aethelmearc in camp one night, enjoying bacon and Salamander Eggs. Other nights there were old friends and new friends and people we didn't really know but enjoyed having around anyway. Having the new common area was great -- it meant our porch was still an option for hanging out, but people were able to make much more use of the comfy lounging area and I never wound up in the "OMGTooManyPeopleInMyPersonalSpace!" crazy zone.
I pulled into the campground at around 12:30am on Wednesday night of land grab, and the Slackeys came to meet me. I can't even tell you how awesome that was; the folks at Troll didn't say the usual "Welcome home" this year, but wow, did I feel welcomed anyway! I think the gang scared Troll, though. Possibly it was the decent-sized mob charging in in the middle of the night waving their arms and their drinks and yelling about ... er... well, actually, it was "Scratchy Poopers," but there was a good reason! Honest! The Baronial Alchemist invented another new drink. :)
The Slackeys et al. also got a cake and a very funny card for my birthday; J decorated the cake lavishly with salamanders and flames and large Roman numerals. Whee! (and thank you to everyone at home who sent good wishes, too!)
... er, it's late and I should stop here. Sorry, I know you guys only really want to hear about the Court of Love and I keep not getting to it, but I promise that's coming soon...