The pageantry, the beauty… the amazing amount of photographs we took in a half day at the festival! Enjoy the overflow!
Tag Archive | festival
Renaissance Festival
There has been one place I have ALWAYS wanted to go, but never been near one to do so… well today – Sunday, August 26th I finally did it! Ken and I (without the kids) got to go to the Renaissance Festival! In costume (both of us) no less! Although not exactly period in our costume medieval stuff but it is a start! And after going to the festival and seeing what there is to be worn and how people are wearing it my mind is already buzzing with ideas for next year. I am thinking… gypsy or belly dancer!! A costume I can work on creating myself!
Anyway, THIS year’s experience… We made it right around opening so that we could see Shandai (my best friend in high school) dance with her troop… she is also the one who got us the complementary tickets! Talk about a terrific reunion.
There is so much to see even BEFORE you get into the actual venue… I loved the girl with the fire!
And then, right inside the doorway… so many people and things to see!! And this was right at 9am!
What to do after you get through that? Wander, shop and enjoy the entertainment and sights… which we did! Oh if Ken was working right now and I had excess spending cash! There was more than a few things I would have picked up without a second thought… BUT what I did get was… a pretty parasol…
Ken got his fried cheese curds…
And we saw things that would have made Trinity absolutely go crazy in joy! The if only list for ALL the girls in our family is quite long now! There was a pretty mask here, fairy wings there… and entire outfit that I COULD have gotten with 25% down and… yah right. Again WISH LIST!
So we ran BACK into Shandai after we had been travelling rather aimlessly and she took us over to see the mermaids… oh and pointed out her boyfriend who is a real cutie.
We stopped to watch the knife throwing jugglers (and have a chocolate covered strawberry!) who were VERY amazing. They were called The Danger Committee.
At that point we had been there well over 3 hours and it was starting to get hot. So after saying goodbye to Shandai at the booth she works at.. Lady Artisan. With the most interesting bodice chillers ever! And boy do they CHILL. Shandai let me try one out. I figure next year when we plan for the whole day I will maybe purchase one! There were these BEAUTIFUL copper roses I would have loved to have as well at another booth…
So really we came, we saw, we walked… we photographed… we fell in love with the entire experience. My mind is buzzing away with ideas for my costume next year… I figure the safest bet is going to be to make my own top out of a nice bra… OH and to get some belly dancer lessons! Just gotta figure out how to get there (no driving comes back to curse me) and afford them and have the guts to do it in the first place!
And don’t worry there is most definitely ANOTHER blog entry after this one of overflow images… warning though, lots of them!
The Heritage Festival & Seeing Esther Off On Her Great Adventure!
This has certainly been a busy long weekend and we still have one more day! Today started off nicely with everyone getting ready to head over to Nathan and Ada’s to go to the park and ride and head off to the festival.
Actually we parked AT Nathan and Ada’s and then WALKED 8 more blocks to the park and ride. Of course also meeting Chris, Chris and Ted for this mini marathon. But regardless of the walk I (and the boys and Trinity) got our first EVER city bus ride! What an adventure, and even better – the kids were all.. FREE! Bonus!
We managed our bus ride, though Trinity was NOT impressed and cried the whole way. The weather was rather warm when we got to the park and joined the festivities. Luckily we were able to get tickets for food for the people who had been unable to get theirs in advance and then start our wandering. Trinity’s grumpy mood lasted quite a while but a few potatoe pancakes (Ireland) later and her brothers’ sippy cups of water to play with and we were pretty much forgiven, though I think the half a welsh cake (Wales) sealed the deal!
There was tons to see and even more decisions to be made about what to eat. I did manage to get my two DEFINITES on the food list – a beef lemongrass skewer (Vietnam) – a total nom nom nom as Ken would say (he tried mine and then had to go stand in line and get his own), and a can of Pop direct from England (a sweet fruity one). Ken also had $2.00 in his pocket that he gave to me to get some candy at the England pavillion. I got a little bag of aniseed candies (that only Zander managed to finish his) and a bag of barley sweets I have yet to try.
There was lots to see activity wise too. The Ireland pavilion had dancers. The girls were just too cute with their bouncing curls and green dresses and HUGE smiles. I had to stop and take a picture or two!
The Chinese area had some dancers too… my favourite were the little girls with fans. A very greaveful and beautiful dance. The boys liked the giant “dragon balloon” behind them more though.
Another area had dragons. I think it was Borneo. I love watching the dragon dances. We only caught the tail end but the costumes were so bright and colourful.
The Arab pavilion was by far the most creative. The boys even wanted to go in and peek around. You could, for a fee, get your picture taken in traditional outfits and everything! Maybe next year?
At the Thailand stage there were quite a few dancers who even braved the rain to do their pieces. The costumes were absolutely gorgeous! And their food mmm. Ken got their curry and I got pad thai noodles. Both were excellent though the boys absolutely loved the noodles with the peanut sauce! I am so proud of how many new things they tried today! And how they walked so far and braved the rain!
The England area also had a town crier AND Morris dancers! I had read about them but never seen them before. I didn’t get a picture but the German area had a man playing an accordian and quite a few other pavillions had dancers or singers. Truly TONS to see and try.
I have to say by the time we were done… around 2pm everyone was pretty well done in. There had been some rain (explaining my umbrella that so does NOT match my shirt!) and sun and tons of fun.
There were also a lot of people in costumes wandering while not at their areas. One of my favourites were these two ladies in Japanese clothing.
Oh and I can’t forget this sign… for some reason many of the people in our group snickered at it??? Can you figure out why?
Ken used the last of our tickets to get a couple items at the Zimbabwe pavilion and we headed back to the bus. It was at the bus that Trinity FINALLY fell asleep for a few minutes. And then we had to walk BACK the 8 blocks! But it was so worth it! (I even made the treck up to the 4th floor to see Nathan and Ada’s apartment… rather nice place!)
Now for our bit of surprise news – Our lovely Miss Esther is heading off on her very own adventure on the 12th of this month! She is gone for A YEAR to Grenada to get her masters! Of course with such short notice we are a bit frustrated in our lack of ability to give her a proper send off but are VERY thankful she managed to come see us and say some good byes.
With Karyn here I as usual got quite a few pictures, my favourite being this one of the Esther and Karyn together!
Ted came over after he and Ken ran to Ikea to get a slip cover (Ted’s dad is going to be in Edmonton tomorrow for 2 weeks! First time he has seen his day – who is from Ethiopia – in about 5 yrs!). So I got this gem as well…
Of course Ken had to get HIS picture with his beloved sister. I am sure he is going to miss her as much as we are as these two are truly kindred spirits.
Don’t forget the boys! Aunty Esther is a GREAT favourite. They had to get in their moments with her and of course a pose or two for the camera.
Trinity was being her usual grumpy self so I held her and we got her a picture with her God-Mommy Esther anyway. I am hoping that by the time Esther gets back (all educated and nicely tanned) Trinity will be more than willing to sit and chatter along. As it is she amazed her Esther by running around like a big girl!
Just a half a day with our Esther before she left but it was SO worth it! A year is quite the time to be apart BUT as Esther says it goes by fast AND she has promised to do things like write, take pictures, Skype and maybe even use a webcam so we will be kept in the loop! I have not shed my tears yet but I will… and I have to admit am bursting with pride that she is taking this chance and going on her Great Adventure! Good luck Esther we are rooting for you!