Today, we took a trip to the Four Winds Renaissance Faire (I actually don't know if it's still called that. Signs up said Canterbury Faire, but the website still says Four Winds, so that's what we'll go with). I was informed of it nearly a month ago, in an attempt to purchase tickets at a discounted price. I wasn't comfortable committing to a big trip like that so far in advance, so we didn't purchase any advance tickets. We showed up early to meet with our "group"; just a couple of local homeschoolers that like to get together every now and again, remind ourselves we aren't alone on this crazy homeschooling journey ;)
RenFaire day starts at 9 am, and we showed up a wee bit early. Stood outside the gate, waiting for time to pass. Got to chat with a few of the characters that work at the Faire. Quite the entertaining bunch. They obviously love what they do. At opening, there's a loud cannon boom; "Fire in the hole!" My first thought is; imagine being a neighbor. You'd know every day when the Faire was open!
We walk in, and directed almost immediately over to the left; a puppet stage set up with picnic tables for the kids to sit at and watch a classic Punch and Judy puppet show. I'm not really sure what was going on with Little Miss' mood, but she seemed a bit down. Little Man certainly enjoyed it, although it took him a little while to warm up; by the end, he was laughing along with the crowd. (After we left, I learned the puppet show was one of Little Miss' favorite shows, and she had wanted to see it again before we left for the day)
After that bit of entertainment, we sort of wandered around. We found a tent with some souvenir stuff; we browsed a bit, but I didn't want to have a bunch of stuff to haul around, so I promised to remember it for right before we left. Things got a bit chaotic, with Little Miss and Mr. Scarecrow disappearing from my sight, the "group" sort of dissipating, and Little Man suddenly realizing he needed the potty. I sent Miss Artsy to find the two missing ones while I trekked up the hill to tend to Little Man's needs. Finishing up, Miss Artsy was there to inform us that she found the two missing ones at the next show, the magic show! So, we all made the hike back down the hill to the crowd around the magician. Little Miss was most definitely excited about this one, as I knew she would be. Magic is her favorite; she wishes magic was real for real. I walk up to see her clapping wildly at whatever trick had just been finished, and as I joined her she instantly started telling me of all the tricks that I missed, with the magic rings, and something else.
And it was also at this point she made "best friends". (Don't look at me, she didn't get it from my side)
Moving on from the magic show, we had the sword fights. This is where Miss Artsy became enthralled. She loved the history lesson that was interspersed into the sword fighting (which is right up Little Man's alley) and she just could not be pulled away! She kept mentioning things about the Ukraine that she just didn't know before now! Fun fact: women in the Ukraine were treated as equals. (Gasp!) They were allowed to own property, to own land, and were considered "People", not property themselves (in regards to, she didn't "belong" to any man; her father, brother, uncle, husband, whatever man of the house was in charge of her family), she got to choose who she was married to, and she was free to divorce!! Also, if they divorced, she got all the property, except weapons and a horse, which the man got to keep!
After the fighting (with real swords, and no body armor), we were directed to a table that was full of artifacts, and we learned more about the weapons of war in the Ukraine.
After that, Little Man wanted to see what Little Miss was doing, who had wandered off with her new best friends. I walked over there with him, and we watched the girls play for a little while, while Miss Artsy got to finish the demonstration. Little Miss hung out with the girls for a while, and Little Man and I walked a mile for a bottle of water. While this was going on, Mr. Scarecrow had discovered the blacksmith demonstration. (which, by the way, was a chosen topic of research of his a few years ago, apparently the interest is still there). Right next to the forge was a neat little game set up with tiny cannons that shoot off golf balls with the help of Black Cats. I took Little Man over because he was absolutely interested. It took us a little while to get our nerve up to ask, but finally he did ask if he could shoot the cannons.
She taught him to look down the sight of the cannon to aim it at the target he wanted, and then after it was where he wanted it to be, she had him step back, count down, 3, 2, 1, and yell "Fire in the hole!" (of course, he didn't do any of those things, but it was attempted). Then, she would light the Black Cat, and the cannon would shoot the ball out towards the hanging bells and shiny baubles. The point of the game is to hit one and win a prize. I think Little Man just enjoyed the cannons.
Mr. Scarecrow decided that he was going to be the blacksmith's apprentice for the day, and he didn't see anything else while at the Faire.
At this point, it was around lunchtime and everyone was getting a bit cranky; not to mention the humidity was probably 100%, and we actually thought we were going to get rained on for a few minutes, with big fat drops falling. There was so much more that we didn't see; I feel like I walked 10 miles today, but during my walking around, I noticed a fortune tellers tent (which I don't think was open), there was a mehendi art table, there was a "gypsy" tent, where they all gathered around and danced a cool dance. There was a "brig" where you could be locked up, and a stockade. There were multiple building we didn't even go into; I wasn't sure if they were retail shops. There was a performance put on; I saw the tail end of it, had to do with juggling. We left about the time there was jousting going on. Walking around, all the way down and back, there were even a few rides for the kids; honestly, I didn't bring that much money to just spend at the Faire, so we left it without attempting any of those things. I allowed a stop at the souvenir shop before we left, and we headed out the gate about 2 hours before the end of the day.
The day was absolutely amazing. It was almost perfect; overcast, maybe a bit muggy but not sunny and hot, and it didn't really rain on us. There was, without a doubt, something for everyone. I can pinpoint the exact things that each of my children were completely over the moon about. I certainly didn't feel it was a wasted day. That being said, there were a few disappointments for me:
- I think my biggest one is, since it was a "school day", for local area schools to come out, there were a few things not opened, and some other things "watered down." In particular, the archery shooting range wasn't open (which I know Little Man would have loved), and during the fighting, the speaker would allude to the fact that, had it been the weekend, he could expand a bit on some of the things he was saying to get his point across, but couldn't today because it was "school day". Just had the general feeling of missing out, and most definitely needed to come during the weekend to get the real feel of it.
- I felt a little lost. I don't know if that's just because I've never been before, and didn't know what to expect, but I would have loved to have seen a schedule of events, so I didn't feel like, we're going to miss something, what's next, I don't know where to go. They had the shows planned out and spaced out appropriately; I just would have liked to know where we were going next. As we walked out the gate, the lady at the front asked us how we enjoyed ourselves, and told us we were missing the jousting. We were just hot, tired, and hungry at that point and ready to go.
- I was unaware, once again probably because I had never been, about the rides, and the little teeny things that cost money that adds up when you have 4 kids. I would have liked to have been forewarned about that.
- Next time I go, I will definitely bring a bag or backpack full of water bottles.
- They were out of turkey legs, :( We probably could have muscled through to the end of the day if we could have had something like that for lunch.
