Since it happeneed to be Emmy's lunch time, we decided to stop at a BBQ place in Tomball before continuing on to Magnolia. We were back on the road around 12:15 p.m. only to meet traffic just north of Tomball. I won't go into too many details but the 10.8 miles (which Kristen was so good to continue reminding me of as the tenths of a mile ticked off her IPhone) took approximately 1.5 hours.That part of the afternoon was fairly agonizing as each and every car in line jockeyed for position, some even using the suicide lane as their personal highway. Although it sounds completely miserable, there were a few highlights. We were passed by a funeral procession speeding down the suicide lane. We were fairly delirious at this point and laughed about the fact that we thought the people in the procession had hired the officer to get them to the Ren fest faster. I for one thought that the hearse was going to arrive in Plantersville and unload a dozen people dressed in skanky Renaissance faire much like a car full of clowns. Please don't hold the jokes against us God, we were only kidding and had to entertain ourselves some way. If that wasn't enough, Emmy broke the silence in the car as she pushed and pushed and pushed out a poo. We all felt bad for her since the four of us were listening intently to her struggle and then sigh in relief as she passed what we believed to be a monumental poo.
We arrive in Plantersville, make our way onto the property and park on lane 25. By the time we got out of the car, changed Emmy's soiled dipe (a terd about the size of a quarter, nice acting baby...) and walk to the gates, its 2 p.m.
For those of you who have never been to the RenFest, it is a mass confusion of some of the oddest looking and acting people you have ever come across. We joked that no matter what you liked, or what you wore, at the RenFest there would always be someone that looked more ridiculous than you. And many people there take that very nugget of information to heart. Its a place where so many let it ALL hang out, and I do mean ALL...Sure, there are tons of families there, but everything from the dress to the entertainment is not really family oriented. Or, to some, maybe it is...Emmy is small enough that she won't remember a thing...
(Petting zoo #327 of the festival season...but the only one with a giant drugged out donkey!)We did the important things. Kristen got her apple dumpling and candied almonds.
Kathy bought Emmy a maiden's flower headdress
and I enjoyed an adult beverage. We took in the sights, sounds and experiences that the age of Renaissance had to offer. I laughed when Tim said "I think that some of these people have a very loose interpretation of the Renaissance." So true Tim, so true.
(Scary monkey carousel...as you can see from her face, Emmy was not amused)But our Renaissance Festival experience was not about the satyr music that my daughter jammed to, nor was it about the Alco-Balls that Kristen's client (who was there) enjoyed with his family, and it definitely was not about the giant Wizard that scared the ever-living-you-know-what out of Emmy (Tony, it's a height thing)...
No, no, no, our RenFest experience can be summed up in two words, eighties rock. Yep eighties rock. For it was eighties rock music that our neighbors stuck in their car, as we were in ours, blared loudly even after Kristen had asked them nicely to turn it down due to our sleeping baby. Eighties rock that the drunk lady from that car dirty danced to outside my car window, so close I felt like smacking her with my door.Most of the rest of the TWO AND HALF HOURS was spent trying to figure out ways to ruin their parking lot party. We fiddled with the idea of waking up Emmy, screaming and cranky, and then hanging outside in their group. Tim volunteered to get out of the car, infiltrate their area, fart and then just leave. We all really wanted this to happen. We even thought about blaring one of Emmy's kiddo CD's to drown out their music. A little "Home on the Range" jerks! I just wanted to run a couple of them over with my car, but I thought better of that choice. One thing was for sure, they would not get in front of me when we started moving. There had to be a victory. My passive-agressiveness demanded it!
At first we were annoyed. "I don't think I will be coming back." Tim stated. "Who do we write letters too?" Kristen asked. From the poker games on my Blackberry, to the Meet the Fockers DVD in the car, to the drunks, to not moving an inch for more than 2 hours, to Emmy sleeping soundly in her car seat and Kristen's arms and Kathy's arms, the experience of the RenFest blew up right before us. It had taken 1.5 hours to get there (a normal 20 minute trip), we had stayed for 4 hours, and it took us 3.5 hours to get home. Let that sink in, 3.5 hours. Jokingly at 6:15, when we first got into the line, I had asked where we would spend more time during the day, in the car or at the Festival. I never thought I'd be right!
In the waning moments of our stay in the Festival parking lot, Kristen asked "when do you think this will be funny?" Its going to be a while babe, its going to be a while.
(Our favorite thing about the Renaissance Festival...this goat)
Very memorable. Not to mention that Emmy, Abby and Jackson had a paparazzi section that outnumbered them 3 to 1.
We lit up the night with 4-5 cameras and 2 video cameras catching each moment Abby waited patiently for Emmy, who is not as agile and does not quite understand this Halloween thing just yet, and the moments when Emmy, catching on, would grab a piece of candy from the bowl and then make a mad dash for Mom as if she just had gotten away with something amazing!
The girls and little guy were a huge smash amongst the creatures and parents and others criss crossing the neighborhood streets. We did however enjoy other people's take on Emmy's costume. As you are all aware from the pictures we have posted previously, Emmy was a skunk for Halloween. There really is no question. I'm not sure how you could get the black costume with a white stripe lining the back mixed up with any other animal, monster, goblin, Disney character, etc. Those roaming the neighborhood had other ideas. "What a cute bunny!" said one candy giver as we walked Emmy to his door. A bunny? Seriously? "Look at the cute eskimo!" remarked one small girl walking with her parents in the opposite direction down the sidewalk. To which her sister retorted, "Thats not an eskimo, its a horse." The hits just keep on coming.
So we grabbed the little one and made the trek back to Megan and Keith's house where we surveyed the haul of candy our young daughter had gotten, but cannot eat.
Little does she know that we intend to utilize her cutness factor for at least two more Halloweens in order to get candy for our own consumption. I don't think she'll care. Heck, just give her a Laffy Taffy with the wrapper still on and she is good for the entire night.
One holiday down, several more to come as we make our way towards Emmy's first Thanksgiving and first Christmas. Each will more than likely be more out of control than the next. She's going to love every second as will Kristen and I. Life sure is changing, for the better.
And to close it off, Blake made me add the pictures, so I'm putting this one at the end.. just becasue it makes me laugh.
Blake did the disgusting guts job. We briefly considered roasting the seeds and then thought about cleaning them out of all the goop and said, nah. 
Emmy got her finger in the pumpkin and had a bite. She did the shudder and gag pretty quickly, which is pretty hilarious considering that she gladly munches on dirt and would LOVE to lick that pumpkin stem. From then on out sat and munched on a milk duds box and was quite happy. This is as close as she got to the action.
I tried to take a turn and cut the eyes, but we ended up having to do emergency eye surgery. One of them is stuck on with some kind of nail that Blake dug out of the garage. Carving pumpkins is harder than you think. Blake carved up a gigantic mouth and we decided on no nose this year. Our pumpkin looks a little drunk, but hey, that's ok. 
Today involved two camels (which I REALLY wanted to ride but they took a lunch break) lots of pumpkins, two aardvarks, about ten goats, a baby kangaroo (a joey if you get technical), two pigs, and one very cute skunk! We hit the pumpkin patch with Caroline this morning, the the Fall-a-lujeah Festival at church.. Blake kept thinking we were going to Iraq. (I don't know if that's going to be funny on the blog... Say it out loud....I'm not just saying that by the way, he kept calling it Falujeah..or however you spell it), had a nice glass of wine at the vintage, and then dinner with the cousins. We didn't get a whole lot of great pics but here's the best of what we got....
After all the fall fun we headed to the Vintage to get a glass of wine before heading to dinner with the cousins. Emmy just laughed and laughed at the fountains.You can see all the girls in thier Homecoming dresses taking pictures. Blake and I had a nice long discussion with Emmy that she's not allowed to grow up.
No, we didn't go to Luby's, but in honor of the Seniors among us, we went to eat dinner at 4:30. No carrot and raisin salad was ordered. Emmy got to hang out with her cousins Courtney and Brandon. 
And even though GiGi got many non "Senior" related gifts, I do have to say that my favorite was the IHOP gift card! You can't beat the senior special! Now if my parents make this 4:30 dinner habit, we're going to have to start worrying... Happy Birthday GiGi!
I would say that the hit of the day was the rings. Toe and regular.
The girls had never had their nails painted, so it was a new experience. Hannah held her hands like this for the rest of the afternoon. We went to eat lunch after and she held the fork "just so", so she she wouldn't mess them up. It was adorable.
Then of course, if I'm involved, there was a photo shoot! The girls got super sassy. Ellie especially was hilarious, blowing raspberries at the photographer. It's so funny how a photograph can capture a personality. I would have to say that this IS Ellie =)
This super cute outfit was a hand-me-down from Abby and I was so excited about it. Unfortunately, it makes Emmy look like a poor dejected Orphan boy from a Charles Dickens novel. You should see it in sepia. She looks like she's straight out of Oliver Twist. 
Spiking the pumpkin. Uncle Sean is already preparing for soccer lessons. 
She really did not like this photographer
