Yea Verily, Merrie We Were

I'm glad to say that I seem (knock wood) to be over the worst of this cold -- feeling well enough to do some catch up here at Mama's Magic. So here's the much-overdue post about last Sunday's second family visit to the Renaissance Faire over at Casa de Fruta.

Last year's visit was fun, and this year's was even better. It seems we have a nice little family tradition developing! Once again, this was a trip prompted by S's secondary job on campus as faculty director for one of the dormitories. He organizes various field trips and events, and this Ren Faire trip has been quite popular with the students. So popular this time that he had to rent a passenger van in order to get everybody there! Which meant I had to drive up separately with BJ and BB. Not my first choice, but it worked out much better than I'd feared it would.

This year, we brought the wagon -- which proved to be a very good idea. As BB's naptime approached and passed, she spent more and more time curled up in the wagon, dozy but not sleeping. And more or less pleasant! She was really a trouper; she usually naps right after lunch, about 12:30, and we stayed until 3:30!
I had to drive home solo with the kids and do dinner and bedtime all by myself, since S had to stay later to get the students taken care of -- but even so, it was worth it.

I'm not sure how much BB remembered from last year, but BJ clearly recalled our previous visit and had notions about what he wanted to do again. Getting hands painted was very high on the list:


BJ also clearly remembered the merry-go-round and labyrinth, which he called "The Fool's Maze."
"Which way should we go, Mommy?"

He particularly liked the dead-ends.


Ultimately, the hand painting was the only big thing that BB got excited about. She liked the idea as soon as she heard about it, and while she nixed the merry-go-round and the maze, she got great pleasure out of sitting in the wagon and gazing at the pink butterflies on her hands. "My favorite color!" (S pointed out that she also really liked listening to the live music.)
As usual, it was great fun to see all the folks in costume.
And this year, S and I both splurged (big time splurged) on costume elements that each of us have wanted for a very long time. I got a lovely blue bodice and he got snazzy black leather boots. So we have elaborate plans in progress for next year's visit -- perhaps even the kids will go in costume as well!

(And yes, the fact that we are both excited by this prospect is further proof that we are a good match. Ya don't stay together as long as we have for nothin' -- and while things like a love of MST3K and an appreciation for good garb are not the sole pillars of this marriage, they have added their share of stability to the foundation. We are both good geeks at heart. Whatchagonna do.)