Renaissance Festival

This past weekend we decided to venture out and do something.  After debating back and forth we settled on the Renaissance Festival.  I've always wanted to the take the kids but we never had the extra money, time, or were never in a location to make it happen.  With our Dave Ramsey envelope for "Entertainment", even though it was tighter this month than usual, we ventured out.  We reached our decision once we learned kids 12 and under were free and it was a buy one adult ticket get one free weekend.  We also managed to get the military discount so we had a few extra dollars for snacks or souvenirs.  I hadn't been to one since high school.  Jake and I were making fun of how nerdy half the people seemed, but a lot of it was really very interesting.  We were fascinated by all the skills and trades we were able to observe.  My favorite part of it all was how interactive everyone is, both people who work there and guests.  People played along with my kids pretending to be zombies, they called Mitt a leprechaun, the pirate called JJ out on his eye rolling and called Mitt a monkey, they let my kids drum and play with the catapults.  It really ended up being a lot of fun. 

Charlie was laying on JJ's lap

This was the knife throwing show that JJ wanted to see.  He missed the finale when he had to chase after Charlie. :( He's  a good big brother. 

All these random pictures are me trying to capture his gorgeous eyes. 

Luke and Charlie had a blast being allowed to play the drums with these folks.  They felt so cool it was hard to pry them away. 

Luke thought he was hilarious coming back to life as a zombie

There nothing quite like the first time you expose your kids to wenches, lots of beer, mythical creatures, grown people who dress up and wield swords, knife throwing, jousting, and medieval torture devices.  :)  We are used to the desert.  Which means, we don't go outside when it's hot.  What we didn't know until this experience, is that it gets HOT in Ohio! I brought snacks to save us some money, but I didn't end up getting water ahead of time like I had planned.  We about died!! It was sooooooo hot and sweaty! I almost stopped watching the jousting at least 10 times.  Before it even started.  A lady behind us passed out.  I was sure Mitt would fry in the sun like usual and that one of my kids was going to die of thirst.  We ended up spending our last dollars of the budget on a pickle, and two waters.  It was the best tasting pickle ever.  Why do pickles always taste better when you're hot and exhausted? I always like to get a pickle at Disneyland because it's always the best.  This was like a Disneyland pickle.  And I felt pathetic making my family of 6 all share the same $2 pickle so we could afford to buy water.  How lame.  Lesson learned.  We are now that family that will bring snacks, wear hats, and sunscreen, bring little fans, and bring water.  We missed out on all the other yummy goodies that were there, but it was fun and the $1 slushie at the closest gas station tasted even better!