Renaissance Faire!

I have never been to a Renaissance Faire. I have always wanted to go. So I googled and found one in CT. Dee has never been to a Renaissance Faire either- so she came along. Usually we do these things without Marc- but even he came along! woo hoo! The 5 of us headed out today to the Connecticut Renaissance Faire. The weather was beautiful today. [A little too beautiful- totally forgot sunscreen and we are all a little cherry red tonight.]

Jessica is in a bit of an in between stage right now. She would really want to do some things but was afraid of appearing foolish or being embarrassed. It began with this sign. Justin loves these signs (Jessica used to be so into them too). So Dee got in the picture with Justin.

Then Jessica acquiesced and joined in the fun.

When you arrive at the Faire you are immediately greeted by MANY people in costume. This was a little off putting (mostly to Dee and Jessica). This is a guy in a dragon costume giving a long spiel about being a princess which ends with Jessica getting a beaded necklace. As we walked away Jessica said, "That guy really freaked me out".

But fairly quickly we got into the swing of the day. The theme for these weekends is Robin Hood, they spent the entire day telling the story of Robin Hood. We would watch part of the story on one stage and then later go to a different stage to see the next part. Soon after they ended Jessica would say, "When is the next one??".

All of us really enjoyed the jousting. They were funny and pretty cool to watch. Marc's favorite part: When one jouster yelled, "Dude you sucketh!". Justin's favorite part: when the guy we were routing for pointed to his opponent and said, "Boo this man!" Justin happily boo-ed him every time. One of the horses got spooked at one point and that was a little upsetting. Of course when one of the knights was cut with a sword and blood was spurting out- Jessica dashed over to me to confirm it was fake. We did not stay until the end of the day when they were jousting to the death- man I hope that was fake.

Here is Jessica watching the Joust...


They had some games too that the kids could play. Justin was quite excited to battle the Scotsman with a sword.

Justin's sword skills in action...


Jessica totally wanted to do it too- but then panicked and backed out. I don't know if she got embarrassed or was nervous after she saw Justin getting smacked around. After some careful thought and a little coaxing she stepped in the ring.

a video of her performance...



Trying out the hammocks...

The characters would walk around the fairgrounds in between the shows. This is Robin Hood and his mate Much (no idea how to spell that). I was impressed with Robin Hood- every time we ran into him he would immediately get down on his knee to talk to the kids. He asked if we had seen the sheriff since they were hiding out from him. After this Jessica was always on guard to know where the sheriff was so that we could warn Robin if we saw him again. Of course she refused to pose with him...

This was Justin's favorite area- the juggling area. They let you try out all sorts of juggling toys- we spent a lot of time here.



In the end we had a great time. Almost everyone I told about the faire would roll their eyes or laugh in a mocking way (Mike Dewey!). They would then begin to describe the faire and what kinds of things happen there and then about half way through they would go, "huh- well yeah I think your kids would probably like it". Well they did like it. Jessica said it was a great day and she was bummed that we left before the end. She admitted later that she thought we were going to an amusement park so that might have been some of her hesitation at the beginning.

I thought all of the performers were so nice and friendly- going out of there way to talk to the kids and answer any questions (yes this is the part that might be off putting to some). I did keep wondering about the other people. You know, the ones that just have appropriate Renaissance wear in the closet for these occasions. There was a band of mauraders- in fur with a viking look- the gang of the faire I think. Who are these people?

That being said, younger me would have loved to have played a role for a few weekends a year- slipping back in time and escaping. So folks- I think we might even go to another one- but not in costume, not yet.

{Dee's favorite part might have been right at the end as we were leaving when Prince John said, in a British accent, "Oh don't go, we will be killing Robin Hood soon" and then Justin kept repeating it- in a British accent.}

Howe Caverns

Over April Vacation the kids and I got out of the house for the week. We were having hardwood floors installed in our three bedrooms, the upstairs hall and the stairs as well as refinishing the dining room and entryway at the same time. This meant that all 4 of us would have to sleep in the family together and that didn't seem very fun. We were very lucky that Grandma and Grandpa gave us a timeshare week, so the three of us headed to the Berkshires for the week.

We had a good time, very relaxing. There were indoor pools, a min-golf course, an outdoor playground, an arcade, and we brought along the Wii too. One day we headed to Hancock Shaker Village. They had a bunch of baby animals that we got to pet.

Another Day we headed out to Howe Caverns. It is not in the Berkshires- but it was a fun day trip for us. We headed underground. Justin loved to walk up front with the guide.


Look! Look! They posed together for me- Look!


This was the end of the tour- the winding way- it was my favorite part.


Mostly we liked to hang out at the timeshare. When we returned home we had beautiful new floors!

Justin's World View

Justin has recently discovered the video mode on our little camera. I delete most of the creations but a few I keep. Like this one...



want to see my new floors? here is a tour from Justin. oh- don't watch if you get motion sickness. AND the video was taken soon after the floor were done so Marc was still sleeping in the family room and all of our clothes from vacation as well as his were dumped in the family room while we set up the rooms- so forgive the mess...

Before and Afters- the Dining Room

Ok, another before and after for your viewing pleasure. Here is the room that in theory should be a the dining room. When we saw the house it was being used as the mother's sitting room or "formal living room" is you will.


When we moved in we turned this room in our study/ dumping room- so lovely- just keeping it real folks.


BUT now that my office is all set up that room (with a door that closes) has become the office/ dumping room. And it was time to tackle the dining room. We needed to get the dining room painted before they refinished the wood floors over April vacation. [This proved brilliant since I had an unfortunate, yet rather comical near fall off a ladder which resulted in primer being thrown all over the room].

Those of you with a keen eye will notice we removed the chair rail. This is because there is a good chance that this room will eventually become where I take pictures indoors in poor weather and the chair rail can cut the background in an unflattering way.

So take a moment and enjoy the view- ahhhh. Starting next week we are going to be relocating the playroom and its contents into this room in order to get that room ready for painting and re-flooring. Yes, that's right- we are not done yet!