Big Guns... & other assorted weaponry

Friday Night:
After a brief outing to the Rugby matches on Thursday, the saline Celtic festival really got going Friday night. We met up w/ Wendy & Pete in Fest Beer Tent for an evening of Murphy's Irish Stout, bagpipe music, & all around debauchery. Stephanie got to be a judge in this year's Mr. Pretty Legs contest & my 1st place finish in 2007 seems to be a free pass into the festival indefinitely. They treat me like a minor celebrity out there. I'm kind of like Timothy Stack on My Name is Earl. We also got to see Tartanic again; they're a fun pipe & drum group we saw last summer in Livonia. Stephanie worked hard to ensure anyone kilt wearers w/ obvious undergarments were quickly disqualified. The tool w/ his kilt on backwards didn't fare too well either... it was clear that he had no idea how to wear it, but I preferred thinking that maybe it was a tribute to Kris Kross (he looked more like he'd be paying tribute to Christopher Cross though).

Saturday:
We were invited to walk in the pre-festival Parade, but it was canceled due to lightening which actually ended & totally cleared up about a 1/2 hour before the parade was scheduled to start. Which was fine w/ me. Getting there that early though, we were able to check stuff out before it got crowded which was nice. I scored a new sgian dubh & sporran on the cheap so I gave my old ones to Aiden... he fancied himself quite the bad-ass walking around w/ a knife. Solstice also enjoyed the vendor area... she scored a new dress & a book. Isaiah loved the animals... sheep dogs, horses, & most of all the birds of prey... & he got a little soccer ball about which he then started saying the word "ball" (or @ least "ba").

Around 3:00ish, Solstice & Aiden left w/ my mom & we hung out in the tent, drank some Newcastle & watched Tartanic again. They covered Iron Man" on the pipes which was pretty cool. Once we got home, we continued our Schwarzeneggerian marathon w/ a viewing of The Last Action Hero. It starts strong w/ a nice self-referencial 1st act, but nose-dives by the 3rd. I imagine that the execs who develop the movie let the kernel of a good idea get washed away under the tide of big-budget ridiculousness. Oh well... we still have The 6th Day & True Lies to look forward to.

Sunday:
Isaiah's Big B-Day Bash
He turned 1 on Sunday so we had the family over for some cake & ice cream. He had a great time & even seemed to understand the concept of wrapping paper... something neither Solstice nor Aiden figured had figured out yet. It's pretty amazing what one can say w/ just 5 words (3 names, ball, & a general animal noise). You'd think there'd be some sort of communication break down, but he's usually pretty clear.