Thanksgiving Pointe Renaissance Faire 2014

 If you can recall, Kami made all my children awesome medieval Scottish outfits last year.  We went to the Renaissance Faire, last year, wearing them and were SNOWED OUT.  It was freezing.  This year we all got lovely sunburns.  Sigh.  It was worth it though as we had a marvelous time.

 Lads and lassies.  (Oskar's outfit was too small and so was Eli's shirt--these costumes were made for them an entire year ago, after all.)

 The birds of prey show was awesome.  We sat on the front row and were able to see all the birds up close.  My favorite was the largest owl in the world.  I've long since forgotten what it is called, but it is big and beautiful and not pictured on this blog.

 Dance of the Macabre.  I thought this was so clever!  The kids in black are, obviously, the dead dancing.  They should have had more living children dancing with the dead.  If you don't know anything about the dance of the macabre, read Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book immediately.  Or, better yet, listen to it with your kids.  It is a fabulous Halloween choice.

 Barn owl.  So pretty.

Queen Elizabeth holding Oskar!!  I asked her if I could get a picture of Oskar standing by her (my other children had disappeared) and she said, "Absolutely not.  Give me that adorable redhead!!"  I guess she would be Princess Elizabeth here since she's with King Henry VIII.  Bloody Mary was also there, in a black dress, and one of the wives was there too.  I loved their costumes.

 The jousting field.

 My kids and some Nielson kids.  Our friends met us there which greatly enhanced my enjoyment of the day.

 The main jouster.  He's the reigning world champion.  He was extremely annoying to listen to, though.  He thought he was funny but wasn't and he took the opportunity to talk about numerous issues that he cares about that in no way pertain to jousting.  Lame, lame.  The jousting, overall, was a bit of a let-down.  I guess without the music and Heath Ledger and all, it just isn't very dramatic.

 This potter was way cool though.  He does authentic period potting and he showed us the difference between medieval pottery and early Colonial pottery.  Pretty sweet.

 See, we were all interested.

 I'm 96% sure this is Sebastian.

 Next to the potter was a bold knight that the kids could dress up and fight.  Cowen was all over that.

 Nice.

 There was a line so we watched several boys (probably around 10 years old) "fence" with the knight.  They were all a little hesitant about it.  Then Cowen went out there.  The boy is fierce and "aggressive" feels like an understatement.  Plus, Cowen did take fencing lessons for a year.  The knight backed up quite a bit at the first onslaught because it caught him off-guard.  If I'm ever attacked forget my useless dogs, I want Cowen around.

 Emeline was less fierce, but still fun to watch and certainly no pansy.

 Eli had to hold his shield upside down so he could make the left-handed thing work.  He has definitely grown up around Cowen because he didn't pull any punches (sword thwacks?) either.

 The knight "died" for all the kids.  He was nice.

 Miriam, oh Miriam.  She is a pansy.  :)  She mostly giggled.

We did lots of other fun things.  The kids played on a ship, had their faces painted, engaged in many more bouts of fencing, and did a May Pole dance.  I gave up taking pictures after I lost Harriet for the third time.  She takes after Miriam and never realizes she is lost, so she doesn't cry or in any other way alert helpful adults.  Therefore it is really hard to track her down.

Kami's outfits got lots of compliments and we appreciated the family friendly nature of the Faire.  Awesome.  Can't wait for next year!