Ok so I am psyching you out just a little… this is the TEASER to the festival pictures!!! I promise I will even jump line and post them before I catch this blog up to date! So for now enjoy the costume picture from the end of our hot and busy day! Thank you again to Shandai for the lovely borrowed costume!!! 

Resting in the shade. I wish I had a picture of using the paper fan, but instead I have some other amazing shots!

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!

A bit more gypsy but there were definite belly dancers wandering too…

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. 

Shandai and I catching up!

There is so much to see even BEFORE you get into the actual venue… I loved the girl with the fire!

A bit fuzzy on her one hand but I love this image

And then, right inside the doorway… so many people and things to see!! And this was right at 9am!

Geese and all!

A wench maybe?

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…

I wish I had taken my glasses off for this pic. But I love the design on this parasol. I don’t think that my next costume would go with per say but I would love to have something inspired by.

Ken thought he was funny

Ken got his fried cheese curds…

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!

Some Princess outfits on display

So much whimsy

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. 

Mermaid

We stopped to watch the knife throwing jugglers (and have a chocolate covered strawberry!) who were VERY amazing. They were called The Danger Committee. 

Jugglers and knife throwers

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…

Stained glass

Dragon Pets

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! 

Ken dressed to impress

And don’t worry there is most definitely ANOTHER blog entry after this one of overflow images… warning though, lots of them!

VERY talented!

I figure one of the best pick me ups ever is time out with a good friend. Wednesday afternoon was my first chance in AGES to enjoy the company of a friend (FEMALE friend) without kids and outside the house. Bree met up with me here at the house in the middle of the afternoon and then off we went to Applebees. A first time in years for BOTH of us. With appetizers half price and a quiet restaurant we were in heaven! 

Gavin sneaking in some mommy time before I headed out

Well over an hour later we drove over to Target to do some shopping and wandering before heading back to the house to say good bye to Ken for his gaming with the guys. Bree stuck around to get to know Echo better and talk to the kids (and beat dinner time traffic). Quite the wonderful evening for us all! AND I was able to get her godmother’s gift we had saved before we drove down. 

Getting to know her American Godmommy

Which reminds me… we got our new Moo cards with this address and current information! So now every letter we send out, package, etc will go with one as well! We figure since we ARE going to be here a while and they had a major deal (no cost just ship which here was 5.00) getting them was not a horrible thing. I am not in any of the pictures and Ken is WAY in the background of one but there are 5 great and varied pictures of the kids. 

Now not to forget about the kids… today we had a nice chunk of our day filled up with HOMESCHOOLING! I am so pleased that we found our math books. Zander dove right in (somewhat willingly) while Gavin opted to work hard on his butterfly cross stitch. His plan is to finish this piece as soon as he can. I am not sure if that will lead him to moving back to the other unfinished piece or start a new one but I am so glad he is this interested in stitching. 

Hard at work

Add to that colouring, talking about Thomas trains and Daddy being in the thick of it and I consider our time a success… of course we topped that off with a family walk around the neighbourhood. It really is a lovely neighbourhood. Though we did find a few mosquitoes. And took a few pictures.

Start em young

The weather was beautiful for our walk and after that the kids went into the backyard to play with the neighbours, and apparently help them garden. Seriously this is a GREAT area. 

Gavin on left

RUN

I am still working on sorting through the last randoms of our stuff. I have found all the school supplies that survived the evil downsizing (seriously in need of UP sizing now… time to watch the sales and hand-me-downs) and my personal craft supplies. Now to make concrete wish lists to purchase once one of these companies pans out for Ken… two or 3 more companies have asked for further information from Ken! 

We ended our day with the adding of Gabriella and Zachary to our already active household.

All the cousins

This weekend is Joe’s birthday so the kids are here potentially until Sunday. Of course we have our own plans as well… Saturday afternoon we are joining the Novaks to celebrate Andrew’s 12th birthday and then Sunday… Sunday Ken and I are going SOLO to the Renaissance Fair. I am so excited about that one! Not much of a spending budget but we are dressing up AND I am taking my camera with!!

Learning something new every day