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Four Winds Renaissance Festival

April 18th, 2010

My family visited the Four Winds Renaissance Festival yesterday and had a pretty good time. We went on Saturday as they are only open Saturday’s and Sundays. They stay open until 7 pm for a few months out of the year. When we drove in we were immediately impressed with how many cars were there. This place was packed and this was our first time at a Reni Fair so we really had no idea what to expect.

Once in the park a lady directed us to go up the hill where some medieval games were about to begin. We went up the hill and they were playing this Scottish log tossing game. You basically hold this 12 foot log post and run with it. As it begins to fall you fling it up and try to get it to hit the ground on the post end and flip over. I got to give it a try and mine hit the post end and then fell off to the side. Whaah!

After that we went all the way up the hill to this weird contraption called the Crow’s Nest. This thing is a long telephone pole anchored in the ground with a Mary go round looking thing at the bottom of it. There are at least 4 cables tied at the top of the post and threaded into 4 sides of the marry go round. A guy manually grabs the marry go round and cranks it around the pole several times.

I forgot to mention me and a 3 year old nephew got in it and were a little uncertain as it didn’t look like it would hold up and made a lot of creaking noises. The rickety nature of this ancient carnival ride really added to the experience and we came away dizzy but excited. The guy who encouraged us on and spinner us around offered us a free ride but we went ahead and gave him some money for his trouble.

From here we went further up the hill and found some very pretty horses in stables. We had the kids pet the horses and watched them for a little while. From the top of the hill we could see the entire park and decided where we would go from here.

We started back down the hill but took an alternate route. We bought some handmade jewelry and went in to an area where a fire spitter and eater was performing. After that show we watched some sword fighters go at it using real time period swords that had been blunted. Some of these people were part of the same family. I had a good time watching these guys sword fight and you could tell they really practice this art.

Afterwards the sword fighting leader had a history session around a medieval looking table where he discussed ancient medieval culture and history with a twist. He told some PG 13 rated stuff about medicinal type of things they used and some of this stuff was mixtures of things that many time had pot as an ingredient. The kids started getting bored of the lesson and so we left.

We left after this and unfortunately missed the jousting event. We recommend the Four Winds Renaissance Festival to those looking for something different to do in East Texas. There are things to do in Tyler and East TX after all kids!

On your way to the festival you will want to stop at Ribmasters for East Texas best ribs. I think you will find that i am not fibbing. Ribmasters is next to Brookshires grocery store off of 110 in Whitehouse. Bruce Brookshire died on Friday and our prayers go out to him and his family. The Brookshires family has a business with a solid christian family culture. There aren’t as many businesses like this anymore and we just want to say how we appreciate their family and what they are about.

Helpless in Target

March 29th, 2010

Target is one of my very favorite stores here in East Texas. It is one of the best stores to buy clothes and to register for wedding and baby showers. But as I walked through the store to the electronic department I was in a hurry.

I am pretty clueless when it comes to understanding electronics. And I was in need to buy my husband a HD cable. I had no idea what that was. I knew that it was a cable that you stuck into your television. I walked over to the “help” desk and waited for a employee to come to the desk. Two employees walked by the desk and when they saw me, they tried to not make eye contact. Usually I would of just searched the store until I actually found someone that was willing to do their job, but for the sake of this articles, I waited for someone to actually try to help me. Finally a young boy came up to the desk and I asked him to help me. He looked around for someone else to do his job. His lack of excitement to be at work was completely off putting, and to be blunt, annoying.

I asked him where I can find HD cables. He pointed in a general direction and told me they were “over there”. So, at this point I was extremely frustrated with the young kid. I told him that I really had no idea what I was looking for or what kind of cable I should use. He looked at me like I was retarded and told me he was going to get someone to help me. It would take more time to find someone to come over and show me, than to just show me himself. He grabbed his walkie-talkie and asked for some woman to come over to electronics. I asked him if he worked in this department. Apparently you can work in the electronics department but with manly video games and televisions. He grabbed the phone and called an outgoing line right in front of me. I was beyond annoyed by the rudeness of the employee. A woman came up to me and ask what I needed help. I told her that I just needed to be shown where the HD cables were at and which one I should use. She walked me over to the next aisle. About twenty feet. Really? He could not walk me over twenty feet? I grabbed the cable that I needed and left the store disappointed and frustrated. If you don’t know what you are looking for when it comes to the electronic selection, do not go to Target.