The Renaissance Festival!

For the past few years we've gone with Spencer's parents, sister, and future brother-in-law, to the Renaissance Festival.  One of the big highlights for the girls is that they get to play dress-up in public, without it being Halloween! 

They dawn their princess dresses, or fairy wings, and get ready to jump into a world of make-believe.  Where royalty walks among the poor, and you can see anything from adult humor shows (lesson #538: don't take the kids to the Puke and Snot show... it's not about puke or snot, and it's not appropriate for kids) to the Children's Realm where people juggle and dance with fire, and you can walk the Secret Garden path through a forest full of hobbit houses.

This year we had a princess, a belly-dancer/Jasmine, and a Little Man who did not have a costume - poor neglected guy.  Although, he's wearing stripes so maybe a medieval prisoner?

Upon arrival we ran into some friends from the play, who happened to be just pulling in to a parking space right behind us!  What a small world!

This is Johanna, who did a fantastic job as Brigitta in The Sound of Music this summer!  Her mom Crystal who is a priceless pianist, and her dad who I inadvertently cut off, who was a life-saver back stage and a Nazi on stage.  We also ran into Brad from the play who was there to fill in wherever we ended up needing him, he works at Ren Fest, but I didn't get a picture of him... sorry Brad!

After walking through the gates just minutes after they opened up we were greeted by the king and queen themselves, along with their royal entourage!

It's always a big deal to get to talk privately with the royal family, and have your picture taken with them.

It didn't take long to find a ride.  And just so you know, this was the last smile you would see on Babydolls face until after the ride was over.  After this moment, she had a death grip on the side of the ride and her wand.  It was the mildest swing ever, but she was certain it was going to take off and she'd go flying out, so the swing pusher guy pushed much slower, and Sweet Pea - being the wonderful big sister that she is - didn't mind the fact that she was barely moving.  She got a kick out of what a scaredy cat her sister was being!

Pose for a picture!

Aaaaand... help yourself to your nice big sister's giant turkey leg.

We were walking down the street, when we came across a pottery shop with Little Man's real name on it!  Imagine "Little Man's Pottery" without the "little man" part.

Hey Little Man, how do you feel about having a pottery place named after you?

Yeah, that's kind what I thought.

Lesson #539: If you come across a dungeon, and the guy letting you tells you it is in fact stroller friendly, don't assume that that means it is child-friendly. 

It brings up far too many questions, and young children don't need to know about ancient torture devices.

They really don't.

And then we:
Pet some farm animals and looked at some tiny puppies,

Sweet Pea and I rode an elephant.  Babydoll rode a llama.

We tried to get a nice picture of the kids sitting on the toadstools in "Twig"'s shop.

And then my feet hurt really bad and Little Man was getting fussy because he hadn't been able to sleep in the stroller and I had to abandon taking any more pictures.

We left earlier than we usually do, but we had seen most of the things we wanted to, and I honestly didn't think my feet would make it any farther than the car, and like I said, Little Man was cranky.

We had so much fun, again, and we'll be on the lookout for a costume for Little Man for next summer, and who knows, maybe costumes for me and Spence too!