Lady of the Lakes Ren Faire
Yesterday we took the kids to their very first renaissance faire. It’s also the first faire I’ve attended since before the baby was born. To get in the spirit, my friends and I opened our costume closets, mixed-and-matched among us, and broke out our sewing needles to make up missing pieces in record time. The results were a lot of wonderful fun!
Our faire-going troupe included three families (technically four, but we went on different dates). With a ratio of four adults to five children, you would think kid-management would have been a breeze. Instead we kept managing to lose one child at a time, and then at least two adults to go after him like Jesus leaving the ninety-nine to go after the little lost lamb! It was helpful, though, to have so many “co-parents” so everyone got to enjoy a little bit of the faire.
Faire-going is very different with little ones than with adult friends. Before, we’d huzzah at the joust, laugh at the jesters, and spend lots of time shopping unusual booths. Faire-with-kids is at once both more frenetic and more relaxed. The frenetic was keeping track of them all, making sure everyone was fed, had potty breaks, etc. The relaxed was the overall pace of the day. The children were so good at entertaining themselves that often we just found a place to park--a blanket, a bench--and chatted while they ran. Then a parent or two could break off to check out something interesting. Towards the end of the day I tried my hand at knife throwing (sticking four in the wood while the rest clanged harmlessly off the bullseye) and archery. Sara was the surprise expert archer of the day!
I didn’t do much shopping but was pleased with my small purchases: a jingly belly-dance hip scarf, a wooden sword for Thaniel, and a last-minute find of three pair of fun knit socks. Despite packing a cooler full of snacks (almost all eaten by the end of the day), I still managed to spend cash on faire food. The one thing Thaniel absolutely insisted on all day was a corn dog, and after standing in line for most of an hour, I determined to buy every food item I could possibly need for the afternoon so I wouldn’t have to stand in line again!
Lady of the Lakes turned out to be a great faire for the kids. It was big enough to be interesting for the adults and small enough to get around the whole thing without wearing the kids to the end of their patience. I thought LOTL did an especially good job at adapting areas for children, such as burying “treasure” in the sand volleyball court. In fact, as we were leaving my three-year-old piped up from the back seat, “We’re going back to the faire in a few minutes!” When I explained that it was closed, he suggested, “Let’s go see if the faire is open!” With that kind of response, I would call his introduction to Ren Faire a huge success!
Full photoset at http://www.flickr.com/photos/audreytoo/sets/72157628068340994/with/6319617908/ and also on my FB. :)
Our faire-going troupe included three families (technically four, but we went on different dates). With a ratio of four adults to five children, you would think kid-management would have been a breeze. Instead we kept managing to lose one child at a time, and then at least two adults to go after him like Jesus leaving the ninety-nine to go after the little lost lamb! It was helpful, though, to have so many “co-parents” so everyone got to enjoy a little bit of the faire.
Faire-going is very different with little ones than with adult friends. Before, we’d huzzah at the joust, laugh at the jesters, and spend lots of time shopping unusual booths. Faire-with-kids is at once both more frenetic and more relaxed. The frenetic was keeping track of them all, making sure everyone was fed, had potty breaks, etc. The relaxed was the overall pace of the day. The children were so good at entertaining themselves that often we just found a place to park--a blanket, a bench--and chatted while they ran. Then a parent or two could break off to check out something interesting. Towards the end of the day I tried my hand at knife throwing (sticking four in the wood while the rest clanged harmlessly off the bullseye) and archery. Sara was the surprise expert archer of the day!
I didn’t do much shopping but was pleased with my small purchases: a jingly belly-dance hip scarf, a wooden sword for Thaniel, and a last-minute find of three pair of fun knit socks. Despite packing a cooler full of snacks (almost all eaten by the end of the day), I still managed to spend cash on faire food. The one thing Thaniel absolutely insisted on all day was a corn dog, and after standing in line for most of an hour, I determined to buy every food item I could possibly need for the afternoon so I wouldn’t have to stand in line again!
Lady of the Lakes turned out to be a great faire for the kids. It was big enough to be interesting for the adults and small enough to get around the whole thing without wearing the kids to the end of their patience. I thought LOTL did an especially good job at adapting areas for children, such as burying “treasure” in the sand volleyball court. In fact, as we were leaving my three-year-old piped up from the back seat, “We’re going back to the faire in a few minutes!” When I explained that it was closed, he suggested, “Let’s go see if the faire is open!” With that kind of response, I would call his introduction to Ren Faire a huge success!
Full photoset at http://www.flickr.com/photos/audreytoo/sets/72157628068340994/with/6319617908/ and also on my FB. :)