The day after our beach adventures, we went another crazy adventure, this time to the Renaissance Festival with Greg, Renita, Ben, Caitlin, and the girls. I had never been to a renaissance festival before and walking into that place was like walking into another world. Even the walk from the unpaved parking lot, surrounded by people dressed in corsets and armor, and seeing an elderly bearded man wearing a burlap sack and yelling, "Mud Show!" while handing out flyers made me feel like I was walking through a portal back in time to the Middle Ages(minus the part about the flyers, of course).
The entrance to the unbelievably vast festival grounds was a tall brick wall with castle-like towers on either side, and the moment I walked through the gates, I was struck by what could only be described as "culture shock." There were old-fashioned shops and tents set up everywhere. The buildings all blended with the Medieval Times atmosphere. Everywhere I looked, there were men and women dressed in fur, armor, chain-mail, leather, and elaborate dresses. Within seconds of walking through the gates, I was met by a busty woman wearing a very snug corset and handing out vouchers for frankincense and myrrh, who addressed me as "m'lady." I suppressed my giggles, but before I could fully recover from that little encounter, an argument broke out between to flyer-passer-outers right in front of me. It was a good-natured argument, but I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped in amazement as I listened to them yell odd insults back and forth in their (fake) thick accents and address each other as "m'lord" and "m'lady."
At the entrance (there are a surprising number of normally dressed people in this picture. I swear it seemed like everyone was in costume!)
This pony had a little blanket on its back that said, "Samson the War Horse." Later, during a parade, the same blanket was on a huge beautiful black draft horse.
We went straight to meet Greg and Renita at a show called Clan Tynker Family Circus. I think it was somewhere in the middle of the show that my 'culture shock' faded and I stopped being so weirded out and uncomfortable with all of the craziness and weirdos around me.
The show was put on by 5 brothers and sisters. It was pretty entertaining...
The canopy of branches and vines over the stage and seating was so cool!
This guy had some hat!
Three-way fire juggling. Pretty sweet.
We rode an elephant. Luke hated it. He was especially upset when he spotted his daddy way down on the ground.
Such a sweet face
Poor Luke. At least everyone else enjoyed it.
Luke didn't want to ride the alpaca either. It turns out he was hungry and Luke isn't really up for anything but eating when he's hungry.
As intense as these guys looked, they were not very good archers.
Uncle Ben gave Luke a ride on his shoulders.
We went for a walk in some beautiful gardens. I couldn't believe how HUGE the property was! It went on forever!
There were lots of random sculptures and things along our walk, including this cute elephant.
Yeah, Luke was still hungry at this point.
Lily Pads!
We went to get some lunch after our walk. I got a grilled chicken sandwich and some frozen yogurt from one food vendor and like everyone else at the festival, the girl taking my order spoke in an accent and addressed me as m'lady. It's a little more weird when they are looking you in the eye and talking to you one on one, especially when we have to wait for my sandwich to be made and there is no one else in line so the girl and I carry on an awkward 5-minute conversation - me speaking normally and her never breaking character, but clearly feeling a little silly.
Luke finally got to eat! Jeff shared his massive turkey leg. And I didn't get a picture of it, but we got Luke a foot-and-a-half long sausage that was about 3/4 of an inch in diameter and he ate the whole thing (minus the two bites he shared with Becca and Bethany)! It was insane! He's a growing boy!
The parade! Oh my goodness, the finest people-watching I have ever witnessed. Just about anybody could be in the parade so it was really long and full of all of the people who took all of this the most seriously. Look at these two holding up their sword and dagger so resolutely. There were a lot of people doing this throughout the procession.
Yikes
Yikes again!
Yikes one more time!
There were so many more picture-worthy people in the parade, but I resisted so my blog wouldn't be full of pictures of strangers.
Luke would much rather push his stroller than ride in it.
The bird show. Jeff and I sat in the back with our rambunctious child so we couldn't hear a word this guy said about the birds, but we had fun watching them and pointing each one out to Luke anyway.
Adorable.
This owl always looks mad.
So creepy. That eye reminds me of The Secret of NIMH.
Also terrifying. With those orange eyes.
Watching the show
Giggling and pointing as the owl soared by us.
This is almost as good as having eyes in the back of your head!
I didn't hear exactly how fast this vulture can strip a chicken leg of it's flesh, but it seemed like about 3 seconds! No wonder all of the people on stage seemed afraid of this bird!
Luke spotted a dog. He was a service dog so he couldn't play, but Luke was pretty happy to just stare and laugh and talk to him from a distance while Jeff held him back.
Crazy cool looking bird
The feathers on his back look like they are tied in a bow!
We tried to get Luke to take a nap in the stroller. It didn't work out very well.
Next, we took the kids for a pony ride. While we were waiting for our turn, I asked Bethany which of the six ponies she wanted to ride. At first I thought she pointed at the adorable chestnut one I had my eye on and unfortunately, I knew I couldn't push a 3-year-old out of the way to get the pony I wanted so when the gate opened, I hung back and waited for Bethany to choose her pony. I was unduly excited when she chose the pony right in front of my favorite. I grabbed Luke and hurried over to the sweet little guy I had been hoping for.
As excited as I was to pet the ponies and have Luke ride them, I felt so bad for them! They all looked so depressed endlessly walking in a circle, and it was the same six ponies all day long! Their little ears were all unhappily pointed backwards. The only time I ever saw our little pony's ears perk up was when I talked sweetly to him and stroked the ridiculously soft fur on his neck, but that only lasted a minute before the wheel started turning, our pony started walking, an his fuzzy little ears immediately flattened again. Poor little guy. But we appreciated their service - Luke loved every minute of his ride!
The cutest little guy! Notice his momentarily not-so-sad ears as he is being petted and talked to instead of pulled around and around in a circle.
Both loving it! Luke just laughed and grinned so big the entire time!
Petting the pony.
I wanted so badly to take this little pony home with me! I don't think Luke would have argued.
Cute sisters holding hands
Adorable little Becca
SO Creepy!! Take note of his corset and giant green wings. He was also wearing lots of eye make-up and when I walked by, he was slimily (I know that's not a word. Just pretend!) hitting on a young (probably about 19 or 20) shirtless guy. Talk about heebie jeebies!
Now that's not something you see everyday!
Grumpy, floppy, "I need a nap" Luke.
I wanted some kind of a souvenir from the festival and since I'm not really into the idea of a furry raccoon tail attached to my bum and face painting cost about $25 for anything good, I went with this pretty little flower head band. It has pretty matching ribbons hanging from the back of it.
The last thing on our agenda was the jousting tournament. We got there a little early and sat in the front row. In retrospect, I'm not sure if this was a good decision or not. Sure, we got to see everything right up close and our knight was only about five feet away from us whenever he wasn't jousting, but every time a horse ran by, we got a face full of dust! Maybe we'll sit in the second row next time and use the people in the first row as shields!
While we were waiting for the show to start, Luke walked up and down the fence running his had along it the entire time.
The audience was divided into four sections. We were England. This girl was our representative. She was hilarious! By far the best of the four girls!
Our knight was the most seasoned. But I guess all that experience is the reason he kicked butt!
Suited up and ready to joust.
The jousting was pretty intense and our knight clearly racked up the most points! He was breaking lances on guys left and right!
He flung this guy off of his horse with his lance.
When all of the knights were unhorsed, a sword fight broke out.
I have dust in my eyes! Why are we still here?!
The king and queen.
We were bummed when we found out that the jousting tournaments were two-part-ers. We would have to come back at 5pm to see the conclusion and find out who won. Luke was ready to leave now so we couldn't stay another couple of hours, but even though it wasn't officially determined, it was pretty clear our night was the winner up to that point!
Greg offered to take Luke for one more pony ride on the way out. Who was I to refuse?!
This man didn't speak English, but he very sweetly indicated that he would stay with Luke during the pony ride and I could stand off to the side with Jeff. Notice Luke wasn't paying attention. When Luke looked up and I was gone with a stranger in my place, he freaked out a little. It took me a second, but I convinced him to get back on the pony (my favorite one again) and ride with me next to him.
He was happy he did (Renita took this picture. Apparently she and my mom both struggle from unreliable picture-taking skills. But even though this one was accidentally zoomed way in, I think it's a cute one of Luke's happy little face and crazy hair!)
Jeff took the camera back and captured this pure joy.
Conclusion: Renaissance Festival = Fun! We'll definitely be doing this again next year!
And a big THANK YOU to Greg and Renita for paying our way!
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