Huzzah!

It was pirate weekend at the Renaissance Festival!

We're starting to run low on pirate costumes that actually fit most of the kids (and it was crazy hot, so I had no interest in wearing a double layer of long skirts.)

The atmosphere was great.

Bug got called up on the stage at the magician/comedy show. As fun as it is to get to participate in a show, I think the best part of being chosen for this was that he was not sitting on the haybales during that time. Apparently the rest of us had been sitting there long enough for some little creatures to find us and we suffered the consequences with mite bites--dozens and dozens of mite bites. It was traumatic and I honestly don't know when I'll have a desire to go back to a Ren Fest again. Or sit on a bale of hay.

But, at the time, we didn't know any of this yet, so we were still having fun.

We watched the joust. Here's our knight.

We cheered him on enthusiastically, but sadly, he didn't make it. There was actually only a little jousting before it turned into hand-to-hand combat.

We had a good time, ate a lot of good food, got really hot, tired, and itchy. We stopped at a couple produce stands on the way home and got 3 for $1 avocados and a few end of the season peaches. Honestly, because of the itchy bug bites, I'd probably have to say the day was a wash. I'm just really glad we got those avocados.

Time Travel Weekend

 

It was closing weekend of the Renaissance Festival and finally a non-rainy weekend with no plans, so Saturday, we got to travel back to the time of knights and ladies, pirates and archers, jousting and crude entertainment. (We did try to avoid the crudeness--it's amazing how many of the shows at the renaissance festival aren't exactly family friendly.) 

 

The getting dressed up and out of the house that morning was not the best experience. But let's be real--when is getting out of our house ever fun? It doesn't seem to matter where we're going, even if it's somewhere we all want to go, we just really struggle. But it all turned around when we were finally there and heading toward the ticket booth.

Actually, we got incredibly lucky and ended up being so glad that we were running 30 minutes late because right before I got in line, a woman came running up to us and offered us 5 tickets that she had leftover from work. Getting in for free kind of made the day for Daddy-o and I :)

 

And then there was all the fun inside. First up, the toys and shops. The kids were pretty focused on finding the perfect souvenirs. They all ended up with some variety of a dragon necklace, although Bug was pretty disappointed when he didn't get a dragon that sits on your shoulder and you can control with a wire. They were really cool, but you either had to pay $25 for an egg that guaranteed some type of dragon, or hope you got lucky with the $5 eggs (or just pay for the dragon, but they weren't cheap). He didn't get lucky this time.

 

Turkey legs (Peanut LOVED the turkey leg), smoked corn, fries, and pastries. We grazed on different treats all day long. And they were all really good. I'm a fan of ren fest food. Probably a lot more so than actual food would have been back then.

The entertainment was fun, too. We watched a juggling show that was very funny.

And an untrained dog show that really wasn't. Except Peanut told us repeatedly that it was his favorite part of the whole day. The dog was cute, and kind of funny, but the owners were obnoxious clowns (literally.)

Some people went on a camel ride. Bug and I went last year, so we skipped it this year.

All 5 of us can now say we've ridden a camel. We'll pretend like it was an exciting excursion and not an overpriced 1 minute loop.

Bug tried his hand at archery. He actually did pretty well and at least hit the target several times, which was a lot better than the ladies I was watching right before him. I overheard them talking about how many mimosas they'd had already, so maybe they had an extra challenge that Bug didn't.

The petting zoo had a bunch of cute, fluffy animals to slobber all over us.

Peanut liked that, too.

And then, the highlight--the joust to the death.

We sat in Sir Maldron's section again, so we could cheer him on.

 

Peanut had no recollection of his short, but intense, obsession with Maldron from 2 year ago, but the rest of us remember his love for Maldron fondly.

This guy was cracking me up. He posed half a dozen times and insisted I take a picture of each new pose.

The tournament was the last of the day.

And after they determined the winner, our scoundrel knight was angry that he'd lost so he stole the prize and started a sword fight that ended with all the knights and their squires being killed except the original winner. It was a lot more gruesome, and exciting, than the tournament we'd seen last time. The kids loved it, of course.

 

We were all so glad that it the weather finally cooperated for us to make it out this year. What a perfect day!

Renaissance Festival

After living about 15 minutes away from the Carolina Renaissance Festival for the last 5 years, we finally went this last weekend.  It was like stepping back in time, into a village full of pirates and knights, queens and jesters.

There were lots of shows to watch--more than we could fit in one day.

Santa and Mrs. Claus were there, too.

One of the many stages around the "village".

We saw the raptor show and really enjoyed the birds' flight.  They're trained to fly low and there were a couple times that we could almost feel their feathers on our heads.

One of the big events of the day was the jousting tournament.

Our knight was Sir Maldron.

It was a good show and it must have really made an impact on Peanut.  The next day, completely unprompted, he said, "My love Maldron."  I'm lucky if I can even get an "I love you" out of him.

With our knight in shining armor.

We let each of the kids have a few dollars to do something fun.  Bug picked the camel ride, and we figured Peanut would love that, too, so I got to ride with him.  Pretty fun to be able to say we've ridden a camel.

Fire twirling--the shows were pretty fun.

Bean picked the "Flying Pirates" activity.  She managed a few front and back flips.

And finally, Bug got to try out archery.

 

This is definitely going to be a day we do again.