Medieval Times

Hear Ye, Hear Ye: The Jones family had another fantastic day filled with food, laughter, and fun.

After Mikie finished reading THE MAGIC TREE HOUSE book #2 titled THE KNIGHT AT DAWN, we spent the following week reading the research guide: Knights and Castles. We learned about castle life, armor and weapons, and the festivals and fairs of the Medieval Time Period. On Friday night, we watched The Sword In The Stone and told Mikie that we had a surprise for him when he woke up on Saturday. While looking on ITT's website for Disneyland tickets, I came across discounted military rate tickets for the Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament in Maryland. PERFECT! Now Mikie could see with his own eyes what we had just learned in the books. And as it turned out, this was indeed the most perfect experience at the most perfect time. As if it couldn't get any better, just 2 days before our scheduled field trip, I was working on my Bible study when the Lord reminded me of Ephesians 6:10-18 The Armor Of God. WOW! This is such a fitting scripture to discuss with my son while we were already studying armor. I can't tell you how long I had goosebumps after feeling the Holy Spirit tap me on the shoulder and place that scripture right in front of me. What an AWESOME God!

Michael & the boys in front of the castle.

As you enter, you are assigned a color, receive a crown of coordinating color, and instructed that you will be cheering for that knight. Go Red & Yellow, Knight!!!!

We had time before the show to view the armor and weapons on display. We saw the shield of faith, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the shoes of peace, and the sword of the spirit.

We took our Magic Tree House book with us and got the signatures of the dungeon master, the winning knight, and our waiter (the serf). Here's Mikie with the dungeon master after we examined his helmet and compared it to the one in our book. We could have went into the dungeon, but Mikie absolutely refused and I didn't push it because there was a sign out front which warned of graphic displays inside.

The one thing Mikie wanted was a strawberry slushy. I was thrilled that you could buy a non-alcoholic one in a gold ceramic knight mug. However, Mikie was insistent that he wanted to be able to see his pink drink and therefore we ended up with an empty knight mug and his slushy in a clear plastic cup.

Once inside the arena, we were served tomato soup, garlic bread, roasted chicken, spare ribs, a seasoned potato, and an apple strudel for dessert. It was all so very yummy and I was full for the rest of the day. The best part was that they didn't have any silverware so we all ate with our hands. I think Mikie really liked seeing Mommy and Daddy being messy for a change since we are always reminding him to use his fork at home.

Our knight won a lot of the games they played as they practiced their horsemanship skills. After receiving several carnations from the princess, he proceeded to throw them into the audience. Of course, our adorable boys caught his eye so he threw them a red flower.

Zachary really liked smelling the flower and would say "mmm" each time he took a whiff. He also made sure everyone else had a turn to stick their nose in the petals.

"Brubur" it's your turn

At the jousting tournament, we saw all the weapons we learned about in our book: the lance, flail, mace, swords, and battle axes. In the end, the red knight was the winner. Mikie promptly told us that next time we come he is going to be on the red team. I guess we'll be cheering for the red knight in 3-5 years when Zachary is ready for his book #2 field trip.

The boys with their souvenir light up swords. I didn't have any cute clothes for Mikie, but I just happened to have a dragon shirt for Zachary (thanks Mom).

Daddy in his dubbing ceremony performed by King Zach.

We had a wonderful time and both boys were so super good! Mikie liked watching them joust (especially when the lances broke) and Zachary enjoyed all the horses (especially the black horse). Of course my favorite parts were all the teachable moments when the pictures in our book matched the real life objects or events right in front of us. I just love seeing the light bulb click on above Mikie's head and experience these fun things through my child's eyes.

Oh, and as soon as we left the castle I told Mikie that he could now read book #3 MUMMIES IN THE MORNING to which he replied: "And when we're done we can come back here and watch the Mummy show." Well.....no...but we can visit the Egyptian display at the National History Museum in DC.....field trip!