Renaissance Faire

Today we visited the Renaissance Faire, an outing that I agreed to with not a little trepidation. (S was organizing a field trip for some of his students, and he suggested it would be fun to make a family outing of the occasion.) I'm happy to report that we had a grand time.


I have a big soft spot for Ren Faires in general, having spent some truly magical times at various Faires across the country. Today was the first time I've gone since becoming a parent, which meant foregoing the costume -- just didn't want the stuff to futz with while worrying about the kids. A very different experience from previous trips, and whatever magic took place had much more to do with glorious weather and perhaps some invisible fairy dust help with keeping the kids happy. Not exactly a relaxing day, but it was lots of fun to see the kids take in everything: the characters and costumes, the fun and games, the knights and horses.





The horses were an especially big hit (though not so much the actual jousting) as was the "merry go round" -- a low-tech spinning swing based on the principle of a maypole. BB had been talking about it for at least an hour before we finally caved and got in line for the ride. She hated it at first, when it was spinning very fast, but loved it as soon as it slowed down.

BJ got his hands painted, which he thought was incredibly cool.

I was particularly impressed by the aerial acrobats, who were the purported king and queen of the fairies.... funny, I didn't know they had spandex in the Renaissance. But they put on quite a show.

The kids painted ornaments -- BB did a starfish and BJ did a baby dragon. Turns out there was more for the kids to do than I would have thought; in previous visits, I'd just not paid attention to such things.

We were all pretty tuckered out by the time the day was over, but both S and I were very proud of how well the kids kept it together in spite of skipping their nap/rest time. Granted, they did both want to be carried a lot, and at times they were quite insistent about who would do the carrying. (S. Bless him.)

BB zonked out in the car on the way home, but BJ chattered away the whole time. They were totally overtired by the time we got home, simply bouncing off the walls, but it was worth it. I'm already looking forward to going again next year!