We had a really busy weekend!  Saturday Gavin had a soccer game and Sunday we went to the Renaissance Festival.  Here are some pictures from Gavin's soccer game.

This morning when we got to the Renaissance Festival we had some fun in the children's area.

After some play time, the boys watched a fencing demonstration.

Then Gavin had the opportunity to show off what he'd learned.

Not to be undone, Austin showed off his skills too!

Gavin took a ride on a dragon swing.

All of the rides are hand-operated.  I feel really sorry for the poor guys to have to do this stuff all day.  Some of rides looks really hard to operate.

Gavin got to participate in a fire eating show.

And of course, jousting.  We made the mistake of sitting in Judas the Unforgiven's section of seats during the first joust.  Gavin insisted we cheer for Sir Daniel anyway.  For the second joust we moved to the other side of the seats.

And then Austin's favorite place, the petting zoo...which consists of a bunch of sheep.  Austin even sang 'Baa, Baa Black Sheep' to the black sheep.

Gavin tried his hand at archery.  He did a really good job and shot the target several times (it was only about ten feet in front of him).

Then he got to try the crossbow.

When he was done he wrote his name in the archery book.

Then, Gavin tried his hand at jousting.  He had to ride a horse (that goes fairly fast) and get his lance in a little ring.  He was able to do it on his first try!

Here is the look of determination.

For his efforts, he was immediately knighted, given a badge that said 'Dragon Slayer' and was given a dragon tear (basically a glass marble but it went right into his treasure box when he got home).

Then the guy had the crowd say three cheers for Gavin!

Gavin loves looking at the real armor.  This year they had a kid sized helmet.  It was still heavy, but he was able to wear it long enough to pose with his new bow and arrow set!

As always, we had a great time!  The people who work there are very nice and a lot of them talk and interact with the boys so they always have lots of fun.