Escondido Renaissance Faire

[WARNING: Picture-heavy post]

You guys. We had the most ridiculously fun time at the Renaissance Faire on Saturday. So much fun that I don't even feel nerdy raving about being at the Renaissance Faire. :)

Johnny's favorite movie right now is Brave, which is about a young Scottish princess who is not into getting married, but very into horseback riding and archery. Thus, Johnny has been obsessed with riding a horse and with shooting a bow and arrow. All kinds of things get turned into bows and arrows: bamboo skewers, drumsticks, branches he find at parks, etc. When I heard about the Renaissance Faire in Escondido was happening this past weekend, I figured Johnny would get a huge kick out of it. I mean, what little boy wouldn't like knights, swords, and pirates?

So we went with my mom. And spent all day there. Seriously. We got there at 11am and left at 6pm. It was crazy. We saw pirates, fairies, fauns, a queen, knights, cabin boys, wizards, and LOTS of cleavage. Of course, once the boys spotted the playground, they bypassed everything else and played there for awhile.

Arriving at the Faire. Hank was sleeping in the car with John.

Trying out a fireman's pole for the first time.

Victory!

The Queen's Parade. Both boys stopped playing on the play structure and watched. They were enthralled by the costumes and music going by. Heck, I was, too!

But by far, the best part of the day, was when Johnny and Hank spotted the archery area. Remember how I said Johnny was really into bows and arrows? He spotted the bows and said, "I wanna try!" My original plan was for John to take the lesson with the archery instructor and Johnny could watch, since Johnny is 3, and therefore not so much into taking direction. But when we bought our ticket, Johnny was SO EXCITED to pick out his bow and try it.

This is what unadulterated excitement looks like. For Johnny.

When we got to the front of the line and met our instructor, Johnny tried out the easiest bow, but he couldn't pull it back. So the instuctor just said, "I can make that work for you," and he walked us back to the farthest target (he said we'd get the best pictures there), where he proceeded to instruct Johnny on how to pull back and shoot an arrow. 

The guy was SO patient with Johnny. Since Johnny is, you know, THREE, he had a little trouble following the man's directions. He would say, "Okay, now let go of the string. Let go of the string. Just let go," over and over and over again without raising his voice or getting impatient. For all seven arrows. The man was a saint.

Look at that face!!! Such excitement.

The kid was stoked.

You guys, it was magical. Johnny has been talking about shooting a bow and arrow since the first time he saw Brave a few months ago and he got to fulfill his dream this weekend. When I uploaded all of the photos, I got all teary-eyed looking through them because just look at the JOY! Gosh, it was awesome.

Anyway. Moving on from the archery. The rest of the day was spent watching the entertainers, listening to music, eating some lunch and more playing on the playground.

Eating some lunch. Fulfilling dreams is hard work!

The handsome hubby

The boys dancing to the live music and vocals of Mister Mac (not pictured)

Watching a juggling show.

Juggling with fire.

Standing on top of five precariously balanced chairs and juggling fire.

It's fun when you run, Daddy!

Playing a "choking on water" game with G-ma. Hank thought it was hilarious.

Watching some play sword-fighting.

Old school teeter-totter on our way out.

It was a little pricey to get in ($17 per adult, 4 and under free) but for a whole day of fun, I thought it was worth it. Especially since both boys SLEPT ALL NIGHT! Whoo-hoo for tired children! :)