Louisiana Renaissance Festival Weekend.

My husband texted me earlier last week not to make any plans for over the weekend, that he had an idea of how to make the girls' Halloween Costumes get stretched a little further.

Little did I know what he had in mind. He ended up taking us to the opening weekend of the Louisiana Renaissance Festival season. And what a fantastic time we had. These are just a few of the highlights from the weekend.

We listened to plenty of fun and festive music.
We ate and drank the tasty things. This particular jug you buy for $6 and has free refills for the remainder of the life of the bottle. The festival made no money off of this family, as it was refilled many times with root beer, creme soda, and wizard wine throughout the days.
There were lots of animals. There was a very dog show for the kids, a fantastic falconry show, horses to ride, and these little tiny little guys that the girls were content with just feeding blades of grass and petting. They looked like they had worked hard enough that day.
We saw jugglers (the Middle Apple's favorite part, as she got to participate in the show)...
And jousting.....

Now, I simply must share this little story about the Middle Apple....because it's just like her, and while I was sort of mortified that this happened at first, I can chuckle about it now. I am also kicking myself because I wasn't taking video of it.

When we arrived at the jousting, the two knights mounted their horses and the audience took sides on who would win. Red and Gold vs. Black and Gold. Naturally, we picked the Black and Gold Team, we are true Louisiana lovers at heart. The Red and Gold knight was doing his speech about how he was going to slaughter the Black and Gold knight, and then the heckling from the audience started. My Middle Apple, caught up in the moment, yelled at the top of her voice as the Red and Black rode towards his corner on his horse "I'VE NEVER SEEN A HORSE WITH TWO REAR ENDS BEFORE!"

I was rather mortified that she had yelled that (but also recognized it as a line from the movie Alladin), but the audience loved it. So did the Black and Gold Knight. He took the stage on his horse, and said "I see that that little girl over there with her plastic sword has more courage than you do! Ha!" *laughter from the audience* Red and Gold replied in a not so friendly tone, "Well give her your sword, sir, maybe she will actually fight...though I doubt she could lift the sword if she tried." *more laughter* At this point, I'm pretty sure the Middle Apple, a girl who will rise to any challenge set before her, would have taken her plastic sword and taken down the knight herself if not for me telling her to stay where she was. Black and Gold appeared to pondered all this for a second and replied "Perhaps she is unable to lift the sword. And that is why I must fight in her place as her champion!"

The jousting ensued, and unfortunately the Red and Gold cheated terribly and our champion was defeated. This was a little too much for The Middle Apple to bear, as she is a little girl that believes in justice and that cheaters never win. I had to explain to the kids that it's all fake and the knights probably take turns winning. The girls seemed to think that was an acceptable answer.

Our other gem of a moment that happened at the Festival was the opportunity to be "knighted" or made "Ladies of the Court" by Queen Elizabeth. My girls, once again attempting to break those gender barriers, asked to please be knighted and made real Musketeers. My darling husband recorded the ceremony, so we have on record the 3 Apples promising to work hard in school, and be obedient to their parents. Thank you Queen Elizabeth!!! You rock!
And for their courage and bravery, the 3 Musketeers, sworn to protect The Queen, they were asked to personally escort Her Majesty in her processional, and protect her carriage.
They took there job very very seriously.

I hope that you all will go to the Renaissance Festival. We had an extraordinary time, and the girls will be talking about it for a long time. They even asked to write essays about their adventures this weekend. And what kind of homeschool mom would I be if I didn't let them?