Fun at the Faire!

J and I had quite an eventful weekend! So I'm going to tell you about it!

The fun started with a Friday night graduation party. A grade school graduation party for his first cousin, once removed (if I have figured that right). But this was an impressive soiree. Abu Dhabi-style outdoor canopy with benches and tiki torches, and lots of food and drink inside, include some most delicious brisket which I couldn't stop eating!

Saturday J did a 5K mud run in Mascoutah, IL, but was smart enough to take a change of clothes, because turns out they weren't lying about the mud part. After another recreational 6-mile run on his part and some reading on mine, we headed to a birthday party for a 1-year-old. Fun abounded. And cake flew. I tried to avoid the kids, although there was one who thought it was really fun to hit me in the head with the balloon he wouldn't let go of. That was annoying. But there was cake, so I let it go. J just kept feeding me ice cream to keep me occupied.

After an near-derailment, we headed to Sauget to go to a Gateway Grizzlies game. Games like that are fun because you get to sit close and see everything. In fact, you're so close that the players actually look like full size people! Plus, we got 10 pitches each at the batting cage (P.S. I am not good at baseball), a free hot dog/chips/soda dinner, and $10 "Grizzly Bucks" to spend on whatever we wanted. We got more ice cream. And the Grizzlies lost. But there was ice cream, so I let it go.

Sunday held an outing to the Greater St. Louis Renaissance Faire. I had never been to a renaissance fair (faire?) before, and yesterday was the last day, so I wasn't going to miss it. J had been to one before, so he had a better expectation of the amount of crazy that was going to be there. And lemme tell you, now that I have been to one, there is a WHOLE LOTTA CRAZY going on!

Map of the Faire

I should be old enough to not laugh at this, but I couldn't help it!

But that doesn't mean it wasn't fun. We saw a guy called "Adam Crack" who specialized in whip-cracking. With regular whips, he did rhythmic stuff, and broke pretzel rods which he held in his mouth, and other stuff. Then he used a steel chain mail whip to bust in half a soda can, which exploded everywhere. Then he played with the fire whips! The most impressive bit was when he put half the soda can on his head, and knocked it off with a fire whip. Whew, that was close. He doesn't have any hair. I can see why.

We also saw sword swallowers (crazy business, that!) and Molotov the Gypsy, who was basically a comedian/juggler. He made a lawyer joke, something about how they're not trustworthy. Then he started picking people out of the crowd for the audience participation portion of the program, and he picked me! I tried to get out of it by telling him that I'm a lawyer, but no dice. I didn't have to do much actually, just go on stage, be humiliated a bit, and tie a blindfold on him. That was so he could blindly juggle flaming torches. Smart move. (Lots of fire at the fair, I discovered.) But everybody survived, and I got a carved wooden rose for my troubles.

Another thing they have lots of the the fair is strange animals. They had ponies for pony rides (J really wanted to go, but decided against it), camels, a llama, goats, and lots of others.

We saw the jousting, which is one of the main attractions. It was fun to see, although brutally hot because we were right out in the blazing sun. Most of the other stages were set back in the trees, so you were in the shade while you were watching the shows. And worst of all, because it's so popular, you have to get to the joust early, so you can get a seat. So J and I killed time roasting in the sun by eating a giant turkey leg and a funnel cake. Because really, what would a day at a fair or park be without a giant turkey leg and a funnel cake? Wasted, I tell you. The joust was OK too :-)

On our way out of the fair, we stopped to see the Pirate Shantyman and Bonnie Lass, who sang and danced on stage.

They were followed by Moonie the Magnificent, who was the best of the bunch, as far as I'm concerned. He did no talking until the very end, just gestured and whistled and hummed. He was really funny, and J even got to participate!
I'm not sure how thrilled he was about it, but it did gain him yet another compliment on the awesome shirt that I gave him when he got the job in EStL. (I can't find a picture of it, but it says "Visit beautiful East St. Louis" and has 4 or 5 bullet hole images through it. Hehe.) Moonie also juggled flaming torches, but not with his eyes closed. He did, however, do it standing on a tight rope on one foot. Pretty impressive.

We departed the fair (sorry, faire) and - at J's urging, believe it or not - headed a tad further west to the outlet mall in Warrenton (it's more like a strip mall, but that doesn't sound as good). We were shopping at Nike store when one of my contact lenses started acting up. After messing with it for a while, digging around in my purse for eye drops, etc., we had to make an escape to the public restroom eight stores away so I could wash my hands (after the dirty fair) to put it back in. Success. On the way back to Nike, we stopped at Nine West. Shoes I like! Success. Not in my size. Success reversed. Found two dri-fit shirts on clearance at Nike, and J got running shorts. Success. Heading to the car to drive to Gap at the other end of the mall. Keys are not in my purse. Definite lack of success.

We go back into Nike now for the third time! I try to retrace my steps, but it's hard when I've been there multiple times and was all over the place. No luck. I ask the girl at the registers (not the same one we bought our stuff from) if anyone has turned in lost keys. No success. J smartly suggests that maybe I set them on the counter in the bathroom when I was washing my hands. So we hike back to the restrooms to check. No success. Now I am sad. Also at this time, it occurs to us each separately that, since there are not many cars, and even fewer Hondas, in the parking lot, it might be smart for one of us to wait by the car -- just so someone who found my keys doesn't decide to drive off with it.

In the meantime, I've checked back at the Nine West store. No success. Recalling that I really don't think I had anything in my hands on the first bad-contact-lens hike to the restrooms, I think Nike must be where I lost them. But the problem was, I was ALL OVER the store, twice! I was in the fitting rooms, in the shoe section trying on shoes, and dumping out my purse to find eye drops, I was at a t-shirt display table still dumping out my purse to find eye drops, I was playing with the miniature soccer and basketballs.... You get the picture. Then, just as I'm starting to lose hope and thinking I'll have to call K to drive 60 miles to pick us up (it's now 5:30 and the shops all close at 6:00), I turn around to find...SUCCESS! Someone had set them at the register of the girl who checked us out, but she had not been back there to find them, and had not conferred with the girl I talked to. So. Whew!

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We did not let this little terrifying adventure deter us from our Gap shopping, though. I got two shirts and a pair of jeans, and J basically got a whole new wardrobe. Success!!!