So it was a pretty cool weekend. Last week was a rough week so Hubby and I decided that this past weekend would be family weekend, wherein we would all try to spend time with each other and try to relax and have fun. Mission accomplished baby!

It was raining cats and dogs on Saturday. To my surprise, Daughter's soccer match was not cancelled. We played in the rain! Or rather, the kids did. It wasn't raining where I live, and so I only had a light sweater. I recommended that Daughter not take her umbrella (since she couldn't use it on the soccer field anyways). But as drove to the local YMCA, realized with dawning horror that I should have in fact, brought an umbrella and probably a decent rain jacket. While Daughter shivered on the field, I, the team mom, had to approach all the parents and ask for money for the end of the season team party.

For one particular girl, did not realize that the coach had asked her mother for $12 and then I asked her stepmother to cough up the $12. Don't know how the relations between the two are, possible uncomfortable scene next week in which the two women are waving the money at me and yelling:

Stepmom: Take the money! Here it is!

Mom: No bee-yotch, she's my daughter! Take the money from me!

So we shall see.

Took the kids to Medieval Times, which is live dinner theater that features real knights and horses and jousting and stuff. The kids loved it. Daughter loved it because our knight (each section roots for their knight of a certain color, ours was red & yellow) threw her a carnation whilst astride his horse.

"I'm going to marry him," she said dreamily (she's only 6).

"Sure you can," I replied. "After you finish college and get a good job."

Since it was Son's 4th birthday celebration, he especially loved the action and the plastic suit of armor he got afterwards.

The whole premise of the dinner theater is that there is this king and his princess daughter. They came victorious from the field of battle. But the king's brother was mysteriously killed under suspicious circumstances. A tournament is held to determine who the new champion of the realm will be. 6 knights duke it out on fabulous Andalusian horses. One of them is supposedly a traitor. As the tournament continues, the sword-fighting gets tougher and tougher (some of it was realistic looking, some was totally lame). Because I am a RPG geek, I am able to explain to daughter about all of the weapons in detail.

"Now that is a morningstar and it's pretty cool, but Mummy much prefers the halbred, because it can inflict serious damage, especially with a +6 of melee attack."

At the end the traitor is revealed and I cringe when they are about to bring him to justice. Even though I know it's not real, it's kind of weird to see him tied up, a length of rope tied to each hand and then dragged about the arena. He refuses to bow down to the "king" and repent for his traitorous deeds.

"Let the audience decide the his fate," the King decreed. "Shall he be executed now or not?"

Most of the audience, totally caught up in the group-think-spirit of the spectacle, either yelled "OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" or something muffled I couldn't understand because I'm an old fart.

I wanted to shout "PROCEDURAL DUE PROCESS!!!!!!" But then I think the drunk guy sitting next to me would have freaked out or something. So I just said nothing instead. In the end he was supposedly shuffled off to the dungeon where he would endure many tortures, like the iron maiden or something like that for all eternity.

So all in all, it was quite enjoyable, though the modern, liberal woman in me was glad that I didn't have to really live in a medieval society.