Renaissance Festival

This last Saturday we decided to have some fun! I've been working a lot at the barn so my weekends have been pretty much taken up lately! So we decided to go to the Carolina Renaissance Festival

The weather was perfect! Mid 70's, which is very nice considering lately we have been luck to hit 60.

First you are greeted at the entrance by people in character and in costume! Going inside literally looks like you are stepping back in time! It was so much fun and there was so much to do! People roam around in character and talk to you, there are rides, live jousting tournaments (my favorite!), you can even shoots bows and arrows and throw knives. What's not to like, right?

Christian doing the high trampoline bounce! He had a blast! We were surprised he even wanted to do this because he has his dad's fear of heights!
Calinda and the boys with a knight from the jousting competition.
Boys on their "horse" with the wooden swords we bought them (ah, what was I thinking?)
Niels teaching Christian to shoot a bow and arrow. Yeah Niels knows how to shoot a bow and arrow too. Is there anything that man hasn't done?
Here is a pic from the jousting competition. That is the same knight pictured above w/ the kids and Calinda. For those of you that know about horses I asked him what breed his horse was (the rest were Quarter Horses), and he told me he is a Suffolk Punch (rare breed here in the states). I told him I have an Appaloosa and he replied that was a "fine steed!" Yep! (See my horse blog for a video clip of the jousting tournament. I am still having difficulty posting video)
Here is us right after the jousting competition before we left the bleachers. The jousting was really cool because they really involve the crowd. Each side of the arena has a knight (or in the case of one side a pirate) to cheer for. It is a progressive show, we missed the first one, but in the last of the 3 shows the pirate ended up winning. This show is complete with the king and queen that sit high up in the balcony and the royalty and also take part (including a prayer before it started). The king and queen also walk around the the festival with their royalty! There was also a falconry show, and tons of other comedians, musicians etc. Christian really seemed to enjoy the lady that was playing the harp.

It was a very fun day, but very exhausting! Even as we were walking out there is a procession of characters waving hankeys and singing a farewell song! This is a definite repeat for us next year! There is so much to do and the boys really love it! Christian has already planned out that next year he is going to get the wooden axe!