Renaissance Festival

Yesterday we made our annual visit to the Renaissance Festival in Kansas City.  Austin got to join us this time, he missed it last year because he was too little to go.  We always have so much fun here!  There is good food, shopping, fun costumes, singing, dancing, sword fighting, ax tossing, puppet shows...something for everyone.  We spent over seven hours there and we missed a lot of stuff, but here is what we did.

When we first got there we got something to eat and went to the children's area (The Enchanted Realm) so the kids could play on the playground.  By the time we finished we were watching a fencing demonstration on the stage.  It was great!  Even Austin loved it!  This guy showed Gavin the appropiate place to stab people.

Then the boys watched people fencing.



Then Gavin got to go up on stage and practice fencing with a foam sword.

While Gavin was fencing, Austin practiced his moves with a little wand he found on the bench.  It was really funny to watch him trying to hit an invisible enemy.

Gavin got to be a heroic knight slaying a dragon.

Then we visited a petting zoo.  The sheep were very nice.  None of them bit Austin although I was sure they were going to because he was running all over the place with his arms outstretched like Frankenstein trying to touch them all.

Last, but certainly not least, was the jousting.  What can I say?  Gavin loved it, Austin seemed to find it all entertaining and it was very exciting and dramatic.  Our valiant knight...

Gavin got to try on real chain mail and a real, kid sized helmet.  He did not like the helmet...it was very heavy.  I got this picture just as it was put on and right before it came off.

And, my baby...who never falls asleep in public...took a 15 minute cat nap. 

This guy was there last year too.  He ties one end of a rope to a tree, has audience members hold up the other side, balances on it and juggles fire.  Go figure...