A Family Weekend at the Reniassance Festival

Well, I guess you might be wondering what the heck this picture is and why I have this strange picture on my blog. It is simple, Friday is Halloween, so the picture is of the Pumpkin King from the Ohio Renaissance Festival. Yes, we went to the Renaissance Festival again this year. It is such fun. Whether you are "into" that kind of stuff or not, you can find something to sit back and enjoy. The shops are great, the shows are funny and the costumes are worth seeing. Last year Mark and I were the only ones able to go, but this year Alex was able to go with us and we spend two days.
The first day was cold, cloudy and misting rain from time to time,the high was 48 degrees, but the turkey legs were still good! We got there about 11:00 and after scoping out the place we headed for the Pirate show. It is a stunt, comedy show. The man with the megaphone is suppose to be William Shakespeare and he is trying to get the pirates to perform his newest play Midsummer's Night Dream. It was full of laughs and stunts, which started our day with a big smile.

Next we divided up for awhile, Mark and I went looking for the shop I got some earrings from last year. I wanted a necklace to match it. On the way we found a skirt for me and a beer for Mark and finally found the shop where I had purchased the earrings. They had a necklace to match and hopefully next year, I can get a bracelet to match too. Next, Mark and I watch a wonderful show of the Scottish Band, mostly drums, but they also had a bag pipe. It was uplifting to watch them men and women play the music with enthusiasm and a true love for the it.

We then caught up with Alex for the afternoon Joust. Yes, a real Joust. It is really interesting to learn how the Joust works. The point system and that they actually had other events that were focused on skills, not just trying to knock someone off the horse. The crowd is divided into two sections and we are given the Knight that we are to cheer for in the event. Our Knight, this year, was Sir Theodore of Lexington. Unfortunately, he did not win, but it was still fun to watch.

After the Joust, we wondered around just looking and watching other events. We left about 5:00 and went in search of a hotel to stay in that night. We were cold to the bone, but still had a great time.

The next day, we arrived about 11:00 and headed straight for The Swordmen's show with Dirk and Guido. Mark and I watched their show last year, but this one was different from last year. Still funny and very engaging.

Next we went to get something to drink, I discovered I like hot Mead(I think that is the way you spell it), and then on to the Theater in the Ground. In other words, the Mud show. Alex wanted to go the productions of Dante's Inferno. Mark and I sat on the 3rd row and Alex joined us just in time for the testing of the MUD in the mud pit. This is done by the "actors" in the mud play picking up a handful of mud and throwing it into the mud pit and see how far the splatter goes... how many rows back do people get hit. Well, Alex had just gotten up to us on the 3rd row when they tested the splatter of the mud pit. Mark got hit a little. I had put my jacket up in front of me as a shield and still got hit as it flew over my head and landed on the back side of my hair, but Alex..... well he.... really got hit. He had mud splatted all over him, from his head to his feet, he had mud splatters. He was not happy...

If you can not see the fun in the pictures, well.... there is nothing else to say. It does not matter who you are you have to admit the above pictures are funny. Check it out for next year if you missed it this year at http://www.renfestival.com/.
A great time of family fun.