Ok, so I held off as long as I could, hoping James would blog about it instead of me, but I guess I'll go ahead and tell my version of the Ren Faire experience since it's been a month! It started off with Amelia's first time in the stroller. We'd actually never used more than an umbrella stroller outside of the neighborhood with either of the girls, but I wanted the big stroller to carry the diaper bag and hide lots of water bottles. That was a great decision, even if most of the day it carried more gear than girls.
Elizabeth very quickly took off on her own agenda of exploring anywhere and everywhere we would let her, not really stopping to look at anything, just going, going, going!Amelia, on the other hand, surprised us by staying in the stroller for quite a while, content just to play with her sister's container of gummy bears and take in all the new sights and sounds.
It soon became apparent that the stroller was only the second best decision we made that day; bringing the grandparents was definitely number one! Having 4 adults for 2 children (and an occasional Uncle Darren) was a great luxury. James and I actually got to watch a couple of shows. Isn't he handsome in a beard?!
Amelia had a great day and loved drinking water from a horn and just generally hanging out with Mommy. She also liked the fact that Mommy designed her costume with a shawl so that Amelia could escape from all the excitement and fill up her tummy.
Elizabeth...where to start? She basically took turns running Daddy, Grandma, and Grandpa ragged. Daddy spoiled her rotten by letting her do all of the "extras" that cost more than the admission price (my siblings will understand how hard it was for me to let him do that!) multiple times. She basically had the run of the place and yet just about every transition involved a meltdown...she's very much a 2 year old! Here are a bunch of pictures.
The END of a fun and tiring day.
6 comments:
I'll add my two pence or so:
Elizabeth had parts of about 4 different turkey legs. Mine, Grandpa's, Grandma's, and even some from some unsuspecting lady sitting nears us (Elizabeth just reached up a grabbed a hunk from it).
We originally thought that we'd leave the festival by 2 PM because the girls would be too tired by then between the early morning and missing naps. Nope! We were there until about 5 PM, with the girls having a blast.
Amelia got a lot of compliments on her garb, including a comment about teaching her early.
After the Don Juan and Miguel show, I realized that I had been attending their shows for about 13 years now, and they always keep them entertaining. I spoke with Miguel afterwards thanking them for all the years of quality entertainment that I'm now bringing my daughters to, and had a candid moment about how they're seeing 2nd and occasionally 3rd generation fans (they've been performing for over 20 years).
Elizabeth didn't run away from the Rogues when they played, so I guess she's grown to like bagpipe music now. She even joins me and Amelia when I play the Riverdance videos for her.
Scarborough Faire has really made efforts to be more family friendly. They have a rating system for the shows, and they have shows for the kids. Elizabeth saw one with a dog doing tricks. Nice clean fun; the jokes were funny without being bawdy (an otherwise historic norm at festivals). The staff are selected and trained to be good with the little kids, especially in the areas aimed at the kids. This isn't a bunch of surly punk teenagers mad about having to work; they took pride and joy in what they did and conveyed that enthusiasm to the kids, helping them enjoy as well.
Overall a very fun and worthwhile trip. We'll keep going as long as we're reasonably close enough and have room in the budget. We're also thinking about the faire held in the fall in Plantersville.
Looks like so much fun! Great pictures & I'm glad you had fun this year- I'd love to go sometime.
You guys all looked like you were having so much fun! Elizabeth looked so cute in her outfit! Oh, and James, Aaron tried the beard thing a couple weeks ago but it didn't turn out to well. It kind of grew in patches and the colors were blonde, red and brown. He mainly tried it out just because he could now that he graduated BYU.
It takes about a month or so before a beard gets past the patchy stage. Mine comes in coppery red, and about as stiff as copper wire, too.
Tell Aaron that "going native" isn't for wimps! But the results are worth it :)
Looks like a lot of fun!
I remember days like that...heck we had a day like that at Disneyland last year. Cute outfits also.
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