Georgia Renaissance Festival

We had such a fun experience two Saturdays ago. On a whim we took the kids and headed about a hour up the road to the Georgia Renaissance Festival. I've always seen these festivals advertised, but never actually made it to one of them. It was so much fun! Brent and I are both history lovers, so we really enjoyed stepping back into time to the Middle Ages. They have a really nice facility at this festival with permanent Medieval looking buildings and everything. We couldn't wait to step through those city gates into the festival grounds. The Green Knight was the very first person we met. He was giving out wishing stones to all the children. We thought he worked for the festival, but in hindsight we've decided that he was just some guy who wanted to dress in full armor and hand out stones to kids. More power to him!
Mother Goose was sitting right at the entrance too. Maura loved her little ducky friend. Mother Goose's goose would actually hug you if you sat down, but that freaked Maura out too badly. She just enjoyed petting the goose.

Tristan just wasn't sure what to think. The goose gave him a kiss! My valiant knight and fairy princess!
Maura loved the petting zoo and laughed when the sheep licked her hands. Even Tristan got in on the petting action. It was an awesome petting zoo with sheep, goats, cows, horses, ducks, geese, roosters, turtles, rabbits, and puppies. We loved the puppies the best!
Then, it was time for jousting. We wheeled the kids down to the arena and waited for the main event. They were both VERY interested. The knight took a few practice runs with rings, then it was time for the battle to begin. We were rooting for the knight wearing purple.
Our victorious knight!! I could have predicted the outcome before the joust began. They set up a David and Goliath scenario. We were happy that our knight won, though! We headed over to watch a sheep herding demonstration. I love watching the sheepdogs work the sheep, and you've gotta love a man in a kilt!
Maura took a ride in a Chinese swing, which she loved. But, have you ever seen a Chinese swing like this?? It was completely man powered! I felt sorry for the poor guys!
Tristan was mesmerized by the action. I had to hand it to him, though. This baby spent the majority of the day in the stroller and never complained. Such a different experience than Disney! They had an exhibit that they billed as the Lipizzaner Stallions, which I was really excited about. Well, this wasn't exactly the Lipizzaner Stallions, but they were some fabulously beautiful and well trained horses.Maura loved getting up close and personal with them.
After lunch, we had an audience with King Henry VI and Queen Ann Boleyn. They held a princess making ceremony.
I had Maura don the princess gown and she climbed right onto the stage to be made into a real live princess. First they had to get lessons in correct princess waving. Then, they had to practice their curtsies.
Finally, Maura was named a real live princess. They gave each girl a certificate authenticating their royalty. Maura completely ignored the one they tried to hand to her, choosing instead to grab one from the basket. Queen Ann said, "This is Princess Maura. She's quite grabby." That's my girl. She loved the event. She started swaying back and forth onstage to make her dress swish back and forth, prompting both the Lady in Waiting and King Henry himself to start swaying back and forth. It was hilarious.
We finally took our poor long suffering son out of his stroller to give him a ride on the swings. He loved it! He's such a giant, though, that I was afraid he would unbalance the swing and tumble out on his head. Luckily we averted any sort of disaster and he had a great experience. My sweet babies, Sir Tristan and Princess Maura.
Easily the creepiest, but most mesmerizing experience of the day was watching this guy play the bells. They had piped in music that he played along with, but he was working the sticks that controlled the bells. (Think Mannheim Steamroller.) He was wearing a creepy gold mask and looked like a cross between a bird and an man. The music was BEAUTIFUL though.
This happy family had had enough of the Middle ages for one day and were ready to head back to modern times with real toilets!! We had so much fun. I would go again in a heartbeat. Maybe someday I'll even get dressed up for it, Medieval style!