Renaissance Festival

There was a 2 for 1 deal for the Renaissance Festival on Groupon. We had always wanted to go so we bought the tickets. It was a little annoying. You pay to get in and then you had to pay to do anything fun. And then they had the "free" stuff to watch and they would beg for tips. To do any "rides" or anything like that it cost $2, so if we just wanted to walk through the maze, it would have cost $10! I just thought that was ridiculous. As we're walking in, there is a lady with roses. Kaelyn saw her and the lady bent down and asked her which one she wanted. I was thinking that maybe they were free, because if it cost money, what person would tell a child to pick something out without asking the parents? So Kaelyn picks one out and the lady mouths to me "Four dollars." Are you kidding me?

The kids got to watch a puppet show. They loved that. I was taking pictures and I guess the guys heard my camera and the "puppets" would stop and say something like, "Camera!" or "Some one's taking a picture" or they would comment on the bad timing of the picture like when one of them died or something. The kids at it up. (I'm writing this on Feb. 18th. Morgan got a finger puppet theater for Christmas and her and Kaelyn will do that with their puppets. "Camera!" and then pose their puppets. It's hilarious!)

The queen opening the festival.

Gypsy story tellers.

The Drunk Pirates. We asked if it was ok for kids and the guy said yes. Um, NO! At least not for conservative parents. We didn't stay to finish it.

The puppets posing

Kaelyn's really enjoying it.

Jackson staring down these people while they are trying to eat.

We also watched the Birds of Prey. It was pretty cool and the kids seemed to enjoy it. There was one (I think it was a hawk) that would fly to the branch right over our heads. The kids liked that. Looking back at the pictures, it was pretty cool.

We did let the girls ride the ponies. We knew they would enjoy that. And I'm pretty sure this is Morgan's first time to ride any kind of horse. And of course we all know that Kaelyn is obsessed with horses. They really enjoyed and were very happy until it was time to go.

There was no line so we asked the guy if we could bring Jack over so he could pet one and sit on it. He wasn't very interested, but eventually he got on.

The best part was definitely the jousting. The kids weren't really interested. We had been there a few hours and they were kind of tired. But it was hilarious! The red and gold knight was talking a lot of trash talk.

A lot of cheating going on.

The announcer decided to entertain us by dancing on top of his horse....

More Cheating....The Black and Gold Knight is the winner!

Kaelyn didn't want to leave. So I told her that maybe when we were studying the Renaissance time period in history, maybe we would come back. (And be a little bit more prepared with extra money to spend!)