The Renaissance Faire Disaster

 We tried to go to a Renaissance Faire recently.  My sister, Kami, made us these fabulous Medieval Scottish costumes and we are studying the Middle Ages this year so it was only logical to go.

 It was freezing.  Literally.  It snowed.  We arrived, paid our money, watched the Bird of Prey show-- which was excellent--and then tried to tough it out until the jousting.

 See the cool costumes?

 Harriet at the Birds of Prey show.

 A jester.

 Some of the vendor tents.

While we were trying to tough it out until the jousting, it started to rain.  A downpour of epic proportions (for Utah).  I huddled in a jewelry tent with five of my children, the tent owners, and some very disturbing jewelry featuring skeletons, and waited for it to end.

We waited.  And waited.  And waited.  And waited--while trying to keep Oskar and Harriet warm enough and the other kids from breaking anything.  Finally, when it started to rain/snow the King (that was his costume and he had knighted someone) came in and said that the jousting was cancelled because it was too dangerous for the horses.

That made the decision to leave really easy except that I had no idea where Miriam was.  This is a normal state of affairs, so I wasn't worried.  I had last seen her by some other tents so we headed into the freezing rain to try and find her in that general direction.  Three steps out a woman stopped me and asked me if I was missing a redheaded girl.  God gave me and Miriam both red hair as a natural tracking system.  He is perfectly wise.

I followed the woman to the tent for lost children, retrieved my daughter and headed to the van.  When we were all inside and the heater was revving up I said to Miriam, "I'm surprised you ended up in the tent for lost kids.  That isn't your style."

To which Miriam replied, "I know!  It surprised me too!"

The girl is hilarious.  Apparently some well-intentioned adult noticed Miriam was on her own, asked her where her Mom was, then hauled her off to the lost child tent because Miriam freezes under pressure and couldn't come up with a coherent answer like, "I've spent 99% of my life lost.  No worries."

The kids were all so disappointed, especially Cowen.  He was aching to see the jousting.  I felt bad so I stopped at Kents on the way home and bought some hot chocolate and whipped cream in a can.  My kids were amazed and overjoyed.  We had bean with bacon soup and a hot chocolate confection to warm us up.  Then I let the kids play with baking soda and vinegar.  I know we did another crafty thing after that but I can't remember what.  Then I popped popcorn and let the kids watch a movie.

Not a complete loss of a day, but a little disappointing nonetheless.