We took our annual trip to the Renaissance Festival October 19. The day was amazingly perfect it was in the low to high sixties all day. For the first time since we came to Texas we had a fall weather day instead of a ninety degree weather day when we went to the festival. All three boys had tunics for this affair. Miles inherited the one I had originally made for Liam when he was about three or four years old. Liam and Ian got brand new hand stitched (yep my sewing machines broken) tunics. I personally stitched ever stitch and drew, cut out, and sewed on their awesome heraldic symbols. Ian's is a phoenix and Liam's is a lion rampant.
Our whole family went with Heather (who is currently living with us) and our family friend Chris Dingwall.
There are so many things that we love about going to this festival. We love the awesome shows, the fun games, the day spent outside, and naturally we love the costume and pageantry. The people who actually work in the festival all wear fairly authentic looking renaissance clothing. The ticket paying guests...less so. This years awesomely bizarre costume awards go to: Gumby, Spider-man, Ninja turtle, Game of Thrones couple, the shirtless skirt wearing male fairy, the loin cloth only group, the shirtless teenage boys with free hugs written on their chests, and the overweight female wearing only a multi-colored neon tutu/bra/knee high stockings/crown. The pickings were awesome this year.
Every year Liam gets a turkey leg. They're eight bucks so we only get one and then we end up begging Liam for bites...he's stingy. We brought a tons of snacks and drinks which is a definite bonus if your trying not to spend all of your money on food. We had three different cheeses, two loaves of fresh baked bread, juice boxes, muddy buddies, peanuts, and grapes.
The jousting is always really well done. This year we sat in the Germany section. Our knight rocked it and one the joust. He also was the hero of the Grand Melee that we went to at the end of the day. Go Sir German knight guy! He's the one in blue that you can see Liam fixedly watching. This year was especially fun because both Liam and Ian were so excited about it. Miles was...less so.
I believe the red knight was for Spain. He was the second runner up in the first joust and the villain of the grand melee.
After the joust you could go meet the knights and buy a carrot to feed to their horses. We didn't buy the carrot, but we did say hi to the knights and see their horses. The green knight in the background was the french knight.
In a moment of pure sweetness we found a stand that was offering pictures with this guys pet Capuchin monkey. Liam named her (she already had name; Alice) Dexter. Liam got to hold her on his lap and get their picture taken. Immediately after the picture Liam tapped the monkey owning photographer on the shoulder and said, "Excuse me sir, can I see the chimpanzee now?" For some reason Liam thought the guy had a collection of monkeys and apes just waiting to be played with. All the rest of the day all Liam could talk about was Dexter the monkey.
It didn't take too long into the fair for us to be even more grateful for our wagon. Not only does it tote food and jackets well, but it also holds sleeping toddlers.
While Miles dozed Matt took Ian and Liam on an elephant ride. Why just Matt? Why go when Miles is sleeping? Well at 7 $ a person I try to keep costs down. The kids loved the elephant although Liam was a little nervous.
What do you do after riding an elephant? Well naturally you then must ride the camel.
And Miles continued to sleep. The other kids felt bad for him, but Chris Dingwall was suffering from severe wagon nap time envy.
There is a lovely walk you can take at the festival called the magic garden. It is very pleasant with lots of little grottoes for you to sit and relax in. Ian managed to find an elephant statue and demanded that I take his picture with it.
Ian also found another little surprise. He found a statue...that was a person. It took him a little while realize the second part and when he did; he totally freaked out. Matt could barely get him back over next to the statue girl for the picture. She did however; give Ian a little medallion thing that he decided was a diamond.
By the end of the day we were all worn out, a little sun burned (weird cause it was NOT hot), and thoroughly satisfied with our day. The nearly three hour drive home did remind us why we only come and enjoy this fun event once a year.
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