RenFest

This past weekend, I had a last minute photo shoot cancellation and Brad had gotten free tickets (through his work) to the Texas Renaissance Festival. So we decided on the spur of the moment to take the girls for the afternoon and enjoy RenFest on such a beautiful day. We hadn't been since the girls were born. Not huge fans...neither of us really. But, it was free (except for food and expenditures and gas) and we thought the girls might get a kick out of it a tiny bit and it was something to do. They got to learn about the Renaissance time period, see the people all dressed up (including the crazies), watch the shows, see the jousting and experience the culture, along with the food (more on that in a minute ;). It was fun. But I'm good for another several years now. ;P

Here's some pictures from our day...

What's really kinda sucky (in my opinion) about The Renaissance Festival is that once you pay to get in (and remember, we didn't. We had free admission)...which isn't cheap (like $20-$25 depending on where you buy tickets!)...you still have to pay for nearly everything inside. The shows and entertainment are free. But the rides, activities, all the goods/services and of course, the food and drinks all cost money! Ugh. That stuff adds up! Brooke's favorite thing was the dragon swings. The swings that are on pulleys that you have to pull the rope to make your swing go - higher or lower. She wanted to do it over and over again. Yea...sorry kid. 2 times was the max at $6/ride!

Brenna did it too, but preferred the pony rides....pretty typical for her. This is gonna be our horse girl. ;)

We spent a lot of time walking and looking around. We watched a few of the little short entertainment shows - the street entertainment, for lack of a better word. The guy walking on glass, juggling knives, comedy sketches, silly stuff. But then we also watched the jousting, of course, too, while snacking on our delicious kettle corn! Yum!

However, I must stop here and say, before the kettle corn, we did eat 'dinner' there. I got grilled pork chops on a stick and the girls shared it. Brad got fried alligator. Yes. I'm serious. Blech! But.... he offered it to the girls as "chicken". Looks like chicken??? Right??? Well, they accepted it, tasted it, chewed it and swallowed it. Then later, we told them what it was. LOL!! Neither girl was a fan of it honsetly (even before we shared what it was), but at least now they can both say they have eaten fried alligator! Ha!

Brooke had been eyeing a bunch of 'cool' stuff she wanted to buy. We limited her to one thing. Man... that was hard, trying to choose! There was lots of cool headpieces and butterfly wings and fairy stuff. But she landed on this hairpiece...

It is pretty cool. And I liked that it wasn't temporary. Its actually a metal wrap that we can use again and again and it's functional! It keeps their hair out of their face, if used correctly, like a clip! So what one kid gets, the other covets... So Brenna, had to have too of course. :)

They really wanted their face painted. Brad isn't a fan. So we opted for the cheapest designs and only spent $5 on that. I think it was a really good face paint job for only 5 bucks! Complete with jewels and glitter and everything. And it stayed on really well (lasted two days!).

All in all, like I said, we had a pretty good day. It was a fun little afternoon. But definitely not something I would want to spend money on. The girls got to experience it and had fun! I wish I had gotten more pictures of some of the people, besides our kids....because man. That in itself is an experience! Ha! Anyway, the girls can't wait to get to school and gross their teachers out by telling them they ate fried alligator! :)