Because the rain was relentless, we decided to go to the Gulf Coast Renaissance Faire on Sunday. So everyone gathered at Grandma Myra's house and we had Christmas instead!
Mom and I cooked a big spaghetti dinner for everyone on Saturday night. We had a lot of fun! Just about everyone was here...Grandma, Sommer, Kim, Pat & Matt...we had a great time all together.
Sunday was Renaissance Faire day! We all got ready to go early and drove out to the Pensacola Fairgrounds. It was very temperate at the house, but when we got there, the wind was wild! None of us were really dressed appropriately! It didn't slow us down, however.
The first stop was was an inflatable bouncy castle for MacKenzie. Poor Sommer had to crawl in the castle to get MacKenzie out! She was having so much fun that she just didn't want to leave!
Next was lunch...we filled up on corn dogs, teriyaki chicken & rice, pulled pork and other festival foods!
Then it was off to see Full Metal Jousting from the History Channel show on TV! We were soooooo close to the field...when the knights on their Percheron horses rode by, they almost touched Myra's head! It was kind of like a hockey game- I am not a big fan of violence and folks hurting each other on purpose, however, it was exciting and I was one of the first to holler when the first knight was unseated! We got to meet one of the jousters and his horse named Paladin after the show. Very cool! (Paladins were warriors of Charlemagne's court, by the way)
Then we moseyed along looking at various pseudo-renaissance goodies, until we found Arabia where my teacher from a bellydance workshop that I took a while back in Pensacola was performing with her troupe, SARAAB. I watched for a while: long enough to really start to miss dancing!
We started making our way back to the entrance, and spied an elephant ride. I am never too fond of those either...I don't often think that the animals are cared for well enough. However, I met the man who was offering the rides, and he was great! He has been working with his elephant (he actually owns Judy) and has been working with her for almost 40 years. She responded to him with just his voice. No poking and prodding was needed. You could tell that they had a relationship, and they liked each other. MacKenzie INSISTED on a ride on Judy! So I caved, paid the $10 for both Chris and her to ride, and away they went! MacKenzie is certainly going to think there is NOTHING in the world that she can't do!
We met up with some shady pirates on the way out of the gate. Captain Jack Sparrow and his crew gave MacKenzie a dragon's tear (pretty red gem!)...but she wasn't really sure she wanted to hang out with them! She didn't warm up to them until I started talking about them being hungry for "Grandma's noodle pudding". That's from a book we read over and over and over, called Grandma and the Pirates. THEN she was ok, but she stayed in Momma's arms the whole time, regardless!
We stopped for ice cream on the way back to Grandma Myra's house. Poor MacKenzie slept through the whole thing! Didn't even get a lick! Oh, well...there's always tomorrow...!
Pop Pop & I enjoyed the photos & story while having dinner at Red Robin. I bet you guys are tired!
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