LORD OF THE FLINGS

We hosted a trebuchet weekend at our home. Our college friends, most of whom have elementary-aged children, got together Saturday morning until Sunday afternoon. The menfolk took the children and stayed at our home for LORD OF THE FLINGS. (The ladies had a girl's night out. They took some kind of dance instruction.)

The fellers along with the kids (two girls and two boys) built miniature medieval siege weapons – trebuchets and catapults – and fired them into the next door neighbor's yard. Huzzah! It was great fun.

The catapult my daughter and I built.

Each child had an adult mentor. My daughter and I built a trebuchet, but it didn't work too well. Our catapult, on the other hand, was dynamite: powerful, fast and it shot wicked far. Smoke bombs are really fun to shoot.

We instructed the children – nay, we warned them – not to walk in front of the weapons, not to enter the war field when it was hot, and not to lean your face over a cocked and loaded machine. Lesson was well learned when one of the boys put his face over the thing then pulled the trigger.

We figured out a new way to knock out an already loose baby tooth. I told him to quit spitting and let the blood pool in his mouth so I could take pictures just for his mother-the-nurse. I'm a dandy like that.

He wasn't hurt, by the way. Didn't shed a tear.
The miniatures don't really shoot hard at all.

We also read a lot of comic books and ate out twice. Then on Sunday the men-children met up with the mothers at the Close Memorial Park to see the butterfly exhibit, which is really fascinating and free. Oh yeah, we also made boffers swords and fought each other. The kids really liked that.

All in all, it was a really fun weekend, but I was tired afterwards. I think the adults enjoyed the time as much as the kids. I know I did.

Two of us purchased our trebuchet kits from trebuchet.com. They worked very well and were not too expensive.