Hear Ye, Hear Ye

Today we went to the Renaissance Festival just a little south of Castle Rock. Let me just start by saying that it was amazing. When I first read about it online I had no idea how big/elaborate it was going to be. The gates opened at 10:00. We got there about 10:05 and already the parking lots were filling up fast and there were tons and tons of people filing in. This is what the entrance looked like.

 Our first stop was to take this picture. It took several tries, and this is the best we got.

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 There was so much to see and do and eat. There were rides, bands, dancers, tons of different shops, lots of different types of food, a lots of people dressed up in all sorts of outfits. I decided there were six main categories of 'Renaissance' clothing. 1.Magical (fairies, elves, wizards, that type of thing) 2. Pirates 3.Video Game Characters 4.Mountain Man/Cave Man (this includes lots of fur accessories) 5.Sultry/provocative/'wench'-like (usually a very tight corset combined with some form of mini-skirt) 6.Clothing that looked like it could have possibly been from the Renaissance. Category six mainly consisted of people volunteering/working at the festival.

The first thing we did once we got in the festival was listen to this Celtic/Rock bank. Both Kate and James really enjoyed the music. Kate kept dancing and James kept clapping his hands.

 Next we made our way to the 'Dragon Slide Maze'. It was pretty much what it sounds like, a big slide shaped like a dragon. However, in order to go down the slide you have to make it through a maze. The kids and I went in and Christian waited at the bottom of the slide with the camera. If you know me well, you probably know that not-getting-lost is not exactly my strength. After about ten minutes in the maze, I found my way back at the start. At that point James and I gave up and Christian took Kate through the maze. About five minutes after we switched, Christian and Kate came sliding down the slide. Kate insisted on riding on Christian's lap because, in her words, she was "worried that the dragon was going to eat me."

Fortunately for Kate, the dragon didn't eat her and we were able to move on to the Jousting event. This was hands down Kate's favorite part of the whole festival. She talked about it the whole drive home.  

James also enjoyed the jousting

 But fell asleep shortly after it started.

 

The jousting area introduced a seventh category of Renaissance wear. Renaissance T-shirts. 

This t-shirt was my favorite.

 I also liked this shirt. It says, "It's just a flesh wound TOUR". I didn't realize that jousters have such a following.

 After the jousting event, we did several other things including pet a horse,

 

*Just for the record, the guy behind me is Nate. I know that because I asked his girlfriend to take our picture and she said, "Hey Nate! Get out of the picture." He must have thought she said, "Hey Nate! Smile for the picture," because that's exactly what he did. 

ride some more rides,

 and ride and elephant. That's right. An Elephant. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of us on the elephant because all four of us were riding together, but that ok. Just pretend like that very tan lady is me, the lady sitting behind her is Christian, and the two kids in front are Kate and James.