Renaissance Festival

My parents leave tomorrow so today was our last day to do some fun things before they go. My Dad loves Scotch Eggs (hard boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat, breaded and deep fried) but apparently it's hard to find them in Scotland now, so it seemed like a good idea to go to the Renaissance Festival so he could have one. Our friends Tanya and "big"* Emily came along to join in the fun.

*Remember, big Emily is not really that big, Fiona just calls her that because she's an adult and therefore taller than little Emily, Fiona's cousin (who is also not all that little).

As soon as we got there Fiona spotted a dragon...

Coincidentally it was Scottish Day, so we saw some Highland Games. Unfortunately what would normally be a much more exciting spectator sport was made very family friendly with the addition of spandex shorts under the kilts so there was no bum flashing. Even without that the hammer throwing was a combination of impressive, and occasionally life threatening when one of the competitors accidentally launched it into the crowd...

Visiting the Renaissance Festival with little kids is a very different experience to visiting without... we didn't manage to watch any of the shows or attend the free wine or beer tastings but we did get to hang out with Fiona who we told beforehand about the prospect of face painting and animals to ride on, and after that she was very, very excited at the prospect of having her face painted and riding on an elephant and that became her list of goals for the trip. We strolled around a little and then inevitably arrived at the elephant spot.

She had such a nice time riding on the elephant... what next? Camels, of course! Oh, to be 3.

After all that fun we took a break in one of the few shady spots and ate some ice cream, then Fiona and Ben went off so Fiona could have her last special treat of the day and have her face painted. While they were doing that Emily, Adele and I checked out the other animals...

Adele really loves animals and found ducks, a Highland Cow, horses and ponies, and along the way I met a sweet talking pickle seller who was definitely my favorite part of the Fair. Yes, there are many pickle related jokes that could be made here, but I'm trying to control myself, it's a family blog after all...

There were lots of fun things to look at...

Fiona came back and was very pleased with her kitty face...

(There was a free wand making craft in the kids area so Fiona and Adele both made a wand too).

We met up with the rest of our party, and by then it was late in the afternoon and everyone was tired and hot so we headed out. It was a lot of fun and Dad even found a Scotch Egg to eat so everyone was happy :-)