Fun at the Renaissance Festival

The kids, and especially Emily, have been beating me over the head all month to take the to the Renaissance Fair. It’s always tough to find the right time for a number reasons. The first and biggest reason for me is mud. Yes, we’ve had a rainy spring here in middle Tennessee and since the Renaissance Fair is spread across many acres of open field and rolling hills, the mud can potentially be hip deep.

The second reason is simply where the kids are at on any given weekend. That can be tough to coordinate. For example, Dylan was hard at work on set construction for “Bye Bye Birdie” for the first couple weekends in May, while Emily had a special trip planned for her and her mom over the week of May 15th. So it basically took Emily getting really sick and missing the trip with her mom to be able to go to the Fair on Sunday. Strange to think it, but if it weren’t for her getting sick, she might’ve missed it.

Of course, the little girls weren’t going to miss out on the BIG fun of a Renaissance Fair, which is to dress up! And Dylan had a cool new set of camo that Kell bought for him from a real GI. Can you tell that he was in a snit of a mood? On the other hand, how could I not LOVE him with that Darth Vader visage just like his dad? And his new hairdoodoo is truly cool. Emily’s outfit was really pretty. I was impressed that she could put something medieval looking together so quickly. The thing that you can’t see very well in her picture is that she has a little coronet woven into the top of her hair. It looked very Renaissaucy.

The big kids struck off on their own almost immediately after we got through the gates, which set me back nearly $50. The girls and I, however, went to see the Washing Well Wenches. Our entertainers were Pearl and Petunia and they were funny. You can sort’a see Petunia in the picture below. She made the guy in the picture wear a huge pair of very UNtidy whities and then run out into the crowded lane and shout “I can do anything in my MAN PANTS!” It was really funny.

We took in another couple shows – The Birds of the Gauntlet put on by a master falconer and Buccaneer Blades, a silly action/comedy show. The lil girls also got to ride in some cool man-powered rides. I think their favorite was the Sea Horse, as shown here. The poor guy who worked the ride had to swing that thing, made of solid wood and loaded with a half-dozen kids, waaaay up in the air. He did a great job and entertained the girls while they waited.