5th Annual Ren Fest!

Off the main topic, but important to the start of our day!  At church, Gar let a parishioner, who worked in a building 1000 feet away from the World Trade Center ten year ago, deliver the sermon.  He gave a detailed account of his experience, and how it has impacted his faith.  I brought tissues in because I figured the sermon would relate to the anniversary, and I would cry.  I thought I was going to make it, until he listed off the names of the 4 people that he knew personally who died in that attack.  It was very touching to hear.

After church, I made us pick up some to-go food from IHOP because I was feeling miserable.  The blueberry waffle really helped, the plain hashbrowns did not!  Then we were on our way to meet Steven in Bonner Springs!!!
  
For the past 5 years, Eric and I have gone to the KC Ren Fest every year.  The first time - we got matching puzzle rings, the third time - he proposed with a beautiful puzzle ring that he had custom made, and our fifth time - we bought a teeny tiny puzzle ring for our baby!

I was also (insert slew of emotions here) to find out that the ring I wanted from Grammys jewelry box was from the Ren Fest.  She must have bought it when she was there with us and Papa last year.  Happy, sad, surprised, excited - it just makes the ring a lot more special to me.  And now Ive got 3 generations of puzzle rings on my hands!  Grammys, mine, and babys.

Steven came with us and it was an awesome day.  This was the first time that Eric and I came prepared with money to actually do whatever we wanted!  First stop was to buy the puzzle ring, then we went looking for a Hypnotist show - Steven and I went on stage, but the guy only made us feel sleepy.  I had a root beer float for breakfast.  Steven and I bought $1 pickles, and Eric got a bag of peanuts that lasted all day.  We watched multiple shows that had fire jugglers, and went hunting for the hard to find faeries.  We went to the honey store and Steven bought a brick of honeycomb.  For lunch I had a hot dog, Eric had a steak sandwich, and Steven had a veggie burger and Dr. Pepper.  Steven brought us to the Gnarlies shop to hear about their stories.  I tried to talk Steven into getting a $50 shoulder puppet.  Steven bought the tiniest hat ever - well, not ever.  But people commented on it all day (Did your head grow or your hat shrink?).

Eric and I at the proposal spot.

Steven feeding medieval Steven Colbert a pickle.

Me with two pickles!

Steven with a tiny hat! 

 Itty bitty puzzle ring for baby.

The ring from Grammy’s jewelry box came from the Ren Fest last year!

Steven is a happy kitty :)

Eric put all of his peanut shells on Steven.

  

Fire play!

He was throwing the sticks around, but this shot was really funny.

This lady curls and dyes her dogs hair for the fest.  Poor pup.

Day 105: KC Ren Fest 2.0

Steven and Leslie invited us out to the KC Ren Fest today and we had an awesome time!  It was pretty darn cold, so I ended up putting a pair of Eric's pants on underneath my dress.  We did some walking, shopping, garlic eating, sheep and llama petting, and more!  

Also, after Eric got home from work tonight we decided that we were finally ready for the last EVER episode of LOST, which has been sitting on our TV stand for a week now.  But alas, the preview was confusing because I bumped up the season on Netflix in the wrong order, and we still have another disc to watch!  Yay!

My rockin' jeans and floral style.

A retake of our fountain picture from last year.

 I fed a chicken!

A baby and mama llama!

Serious llama.

 Jess and mama llama, Steven and Leslie.

Steven and Leslie!

Eric and me!

I forgot my flats socks and got bad blisters, so I made toilet paper socks for my toes!

Aren't we in love?!

Steven the three armed alcoholic lover!

Eric and me on the love pig!

Steven the archer!

 Leslie the archer!

I love spending time with my husband!

All of us at the KC Ren Fest!

 I couldn't walk a step further because of my blisters, so Eric carried me to the car.

Piggy back ride!

Day 79: KC Ren Fest 2010

Today marks the one year anniversary of Eric proposing to me!  We thought it would be great to go back to the same place to celebrate with friends and family.  Grammy, Papa, Matt, Connor, Chase, Cade, Kath, Zach, Belle, Paul, Deb, Brian, and Jen joined us for the fun!

Unfortunately, this was the last day that we got to spend with Grammy - as she passed away later this week.  I remember that she called to let me know they would be on time, which is always a miracle for Nicholsons!  They arrived right on time and Grammy was shooting pictures of everyone and having a great time with her dogs.  She and Papa had crepes for lunch and really enjoyed their day out.  Grammy bought one of the foldy wire bun holder for your hair, which I ended up taking and wearing to her memorial on Sunday.

Beyond our time spent with Grammy and Papa, we watched two of the jousting shows and spent most of our day enjoying looking at all of the shops!  Eric and I shared a turkey leg and had lunch with Paul, Deb, Brian, and Jen in a chapel, haha!  We also enjoyed some amazing candied pecans, and took a trip to the car for some cold Dr. Pepper and rum.  Eric ended up getting a "everything's better when you're having rum" t-shirt.

As we were leaving, we stopped off at the garden where Eric proposed and asked a stranger to take our picture.  He started jabbering at us in French, so I just motioned to take a picture and he nodded.  When we were done he said "Is this good?" and we were confused because now he was speaking English!  Apparently it was French and Hebrew, and he was a shop owner of a stone carving shop.  Because it was an anniversary for us, he carved us each a keychain with both of our names on it!

That evening Eric and I visited Kris and Andrew at the hospital - they unhooked his monitors and we got to take him on a walk outside!  Then we went to Mom and Alan's house and Eric had his first motorcycle ride with a passenger - me!  He did really great riding to his parents house, then up to Blackbob, over to 135th, down to Mur-Len and then home!  We didn't spend long out because a pretty rough storm was imminent.

On the bench where Eric proposed one year ago!

My keychain has my name in English and Eric's name in Hebrew.

The hair cage that Grammy bought for herself, and now it's mine.  She always liked fun hair bows, so this is a neat memento to have of hers.