Posting directly from Picasa seems to cut off at 4 photos. no idea why.
In this case, it is to burst into a little giggle to remind me that he is still the happiest guy around.
I know that I have not had an update for a while, but all I can do is beg mercy. Work has been extra time consuming these days as I started a new job at HP and in typical huge corporate fashion, my old job has not yet been filled. So.... I have to cover both as well as I can until the replacement is found and hired.
Of course, afterwards, he was mad at me. I dont remember what I did to bring on this big emotional rollercoaster.
A short while later, you can see he is even bigger and still in good spririts.
In this photo I think he looks like he is singing.
Here is one of the more high tech cars racing down the street, they got up to a pretty good speed going along there.
Recently our street was closed for a soap box derby racing day. I had no idea that such things still went on, but as the day approached, it was clear that they still have quite a good following. Our neighbourhood is on quite a long hill, so it is an ideal location for this sort of thing.
Here are some of the cars with their crews. There were all sorts of constructions, from the fancier end of things where they looked quite high tech, to the lower end where the cars did look like they were held together with duct tape. 
The start of each race was gravity driven. no pushing or other help given to the cars as they got rolling. 
Full commentary provided by these two fellows on the back of a hay wagon.
So to close out the series on “Ritterspiele” I will show some of the other fin things that were going on at the fest.
First of all, we had to have a good lunch. As with every single outdoor activity in Germany, there were a variety of booths selling food. I asked Liam what he was in the mood for, and he decided on a sausage. We picked this booth from the many at hand.
Liam went for the “Ritterwurst” which was a big red sausage wrapped in bread. It was neat, they put the bread dough on the sausage and baked it all together into a nice self contained hot dog. Most of the food was called Ritter-something… 
I went for the “Ritter bowl” which was a bowl made of bread, then some chunks of meat, vegetables and a sauce all thrown together. It was similar to a kebab, but not quite the same.
The booth next to ours was cooking an entire pig in an olde tyme oven. This also looked quite good, but I was satisfied with my bread bowl.
After lunch we had a walk around to look at the other attractions. Right near our food booth was a falconing demonstration. Liam did enjoy the birds, but it did not last all that long.
There were some games for kids of course, and Liam was too much of a chicken to try this one out. The kid had to run really fast, and hit the target with the halbard, then keep running by fast enough so that the weight did not swing around and smack them in the head.
What ended up being the highlight of the whole fest for Liam was the carpentry exhibit. At this stall, the carpenter let him put on a a leather apron and work on some wood. He sat here and carved wood for at least half an hour. I think he would have stayed all day had I let him. Opa would be proud of his wood working skills.
The next event on the agenda was yet another race and yet more fire. Similar to Ye Olde Hydrogene Balloone Pop, this time the knights rode with flaming spears and knocked over some poor guy holding a shield. The shield was covered in something flammable which burst into flames on impact.
I thought this event seemed a little brutal. It showed the brave honor of too knights as they each raced to see who could first knock down and ignite an unarmed, unmounted opponent. Truly a test of bravery.
After this one, we finally got some actual jousting, the knights did a proper fight, riding at each other with lances, which shattered on impact in a very fun and impressive manner. Liam liked this a lot.
After knocking one another down, the Black Knight and the White Knight continued the fight on foot.
Here is a little film of a joust.
After all these events, of course the good guys won, but there was a final attack by the baddies. The only way to stop them was to finally use the catapult to great effect. This was another highlight for Liam.
And that wrapped up the tournament. It was all in all a very fun time and I think I would take Liam again if he wanted to check it out.
Now that the characters had all been introduced, there was some blah blah story that Liam was completely uninterested in. Then, at last, the knights started smashing each other.
The First event was pretty great. The knights each took a flaming spear, and then had to charge down a balloon filled with flammable gas. The first one to hit his target won the round. I really felt like I had been transported back in time to the days of latex balloons filled with hydrogen of yore.
It did look really good though. I also made a little film so you can see the fireball.
Oh, I forgot to mention, the evil Black Knight arrived to make trouble and generally be evil. Look at his evil….
Next up was another race-type joust, this time, the knights had to charge in with lances and hit the targets. First one to hit it won this round. 
This event was notable because the Black Knight won it by cheating. He started before the herald blew the horn. This was met with much booing from the crowd.
Next there was some unmounted combat. Three good guys in white against three baddies in black. They traded wins until the goodies came through with their last man and managed to get a victory.
That will do for today, One more update of knights should wrap up the games. Stay tuned.
