Last weekend we were able to go to the North Carolina Renaissance Festival. It is held every year in Huntersville, NC, just north of Charlotte, a mere hour away from us. One of the things we have loved about being here in North Carolina is that events that we would have already missed in Colorado, like baseball and RenFests, are still going on here. We were so busy this summer, traveling, sharing with friends and family, and getting settled into the house, that we kind of "missed" all the summer events. Thankfully, the weather here is mild enough that we can enjoy some really neat "fall traditions" again after being overseas for two years.
The theme for the weekend that we went was Time Traveler Weekend and so we saw quite a few Doctors ;)!
We were so thrilled to also find out that they offer a discount for us AF retired folks, and, the kids were free for bringing in a school supply item each. Being homeschoolers, we have a TON of unopened school supplies laying around...we grabbed a few, dropped them off at the collection site, and got free passes for all three kids. A GREAT way to enjoy what would usually be a more expensive event!
Enjoy the pictures, it was a fabulous day and wonderful weather!
This was the only show we sat and watched. It was hilarious. These guys, their juggling, and their humor had us all giggling.
I loved this guy and the way he responded when the other guy "missed."
They even went with the time traveler theme and would start on their THIRD attempt at tricks knowing that, "if it doesn't work, we can always go back in time and still have 3 tries." They were messing up on purpose and then "time traveling" to the utter amusement of the crowd.
This was the third guy in the group. They had a "juggle off" to see who could do the strangest stuff...he was juggling on one foot, jumping up and down, one handed, pretty impressive.
She was mesmerized by their act.
Juggling on moving objects (they have planks laying on tubes, so they were rolling back and forth to keep their balance) with daggers, fire, and sticks with nails stuck in them!
The joust.
The Queen and her entourage
The lady at arms, aka announcer of the joust
Our knight...had to be the blue and silver one, right?
He did an amazing job.
Very photogenic and good with the crowd.....they sure play up the crowd participation at these events.
Ready for the one-on-one combat.
One of the other knights.
I love how you can see the shield flying and the pieces of the lances in the sky.
After the joust and all the walking around, watching the glass blowers and candle makers demonstration, the kids each wanted to do an activity. Krypto picked the jumping ropes.
Here he is, getting strapped in for his jump.
It was really high and I don't think he realized how high it would be. He was a bit shaken when he got off to be totally honest.
Coming down the slide at the maze.
She found a gold coin in the maze.
Gwangi found a gold coin as well. He chose to do archery, but we had split up because the lines were long at the jumping ropes, so Daddy went with him and I went with Krypto and Sissi. The only picture we got of Gwangi doing his archery shooting was on Daddy's phone.
