Weekend Adventures

So Friday I left school early to head over to the Catholic League Tennis Championships. This was my second year coaching tennis for Saint Huberts. We finished the season in first place and had an excellent chance of winning the 'ship. We easily beat Archbishop Wood in the playoffs. Then it came to the championship. We ended up playing our arch rivals... Cardinal O'Hara. We quickly won our first two games and just as quickly lost the next two. It was down to our second doubles. The girls on that team weren't the best players but they certainly fought it out. Our girls lost the first set 6-1, fought hard and won the second set 7-5, and fought all the way through the third set. They ended up losing 6-4. It was so emotional after we lost. Even our hard ass coach was emotional. I have never seen him get like that. He was my coach when I played for Huberts myself. 

Luckily I didn't have as much time as usual to dwell on the fact that I STILL have not won a championship because as soon as I got home we packed up the car, dropped the dog off at Jim's parents, picked up Jim's cousin Rosie, and head

ed off to Elizabethtown for a camping trip. We rented a cabin for the weekend, although the weather was so nice I think we would have done ok in a tent. The cabin was really cute though. Friday night we got out there pretty late, around 9ish so we really just hung around the fire and made s'mores. Saturday morning we woke up a

nd went to the Renascence Faire. Jim and I go once a year and love it. I was so excited that we got to go twice. I felt like we didn't see as many shows as we normally do but it was ok, we still had a great time. 

We saw two of the three mudshows. I LOVE the mudshows.  I would be satisfied if that was all we saw. Well, I would also want to see the final joust. Anyway, the mudshow is exactly what it sounds like. There are three actors that act out a story. The actors are dressed as beggars would have been back then. They put on three different shows a day such as The Muddy Wives of Winsdor, Romeo and Juliet, and A'ntny and Cleo. They pick out audience members to be in the show and there is a splash zone. The shows are great! 

These are two of the actors in the Muddy Wives of Windsor. They pick one girl from the audience to play one of the sisters and then the two guys play the other two sisters complete with balloon boobs, balloon butts, wigs, and lipstick. I love it!

Anyway, we also saw a little bit of the archery demonstration which Jim likes. It is really cool. The guy talks about bows and arrows and shoots at targets that his apprentice throws up into the air. Then he starts shooting at targets with humans painted on them. As he shoots he back up. He get so far that he is clear off of the field and in a little wooded area! It is crazy! He is still hitting the targets. 

After the archery demonstration was the first joust. There are two jousts each day and they, with another show, have a connected story. This year's story is the Russian Czar comes to find a wife. There is a joust and the Russians win therefore the Czar can pick a wife. At the other show he picks a woman who already secretly married a knight. The knight is then disgraced. At the final Czar turns out to be a woman  beater and Queen Elizabeth doesn't like it. She allows the disgraced knight to get back on the horse and fight for the woman he loves. The Czar wins and demands to be married immediately. Well, the girl refuses, a fight starts, and the girl is to be burned at the stake. Does she live? You will have to go to find out!!

The joust was amazing! At one point one of the English knights "fell" off his horse. He was supposed to do that, however, he wasn't supposed to get his foot stuck in the stirrup. His horse had been acting jittery at the first joust and during the second one. When the knight fell, his foot got stuck in the stirrup and he was then drug around. A few actors tried grabbing his horse but they couldn't. Luckily, before he got really hurt he was able to get loose and was able to get back out there and continue acting. He really looked more shook up than hurt. 

Anyway, everything was amazing. I bought some awesome beeswax hand cream. It was about $20 but I think it is totally worth it and since it is beeswax it should last a while. On Sunday we went to Indian Echo Caverns. They are so beautiful! The temperature in the caverns is a constant 52 degrees year round. The caverns are only about 10 minutes away from Hershey so we decided to go to Chocolate World and take the Factory tour. I love going there. I always feel like a little kid. Jim and I bought a five pound bar of chocolate. It was $30 but totally worth it!!! After Hershey we went to the outlets on Route 30. I bought a couple pairs of shoes. I love the outlets. Anyway, for lunch/dinner we ate at Cici's pizza. We always see comercials for Cici's but there are none around here. It is a pizza buffet and AMAZING! I hope they come closer to home soon.