We went to the Renaissance Faire
the lizards and snakes were there?
You never know what or who you are going to find at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire. We’ve seen celebrities, run into friends and had the joy (or horror) of meeting some of the people who travel from faire to faire. And yes, we also have to put extra ‘e’s on everything. (This whole thing could be written in ye olde style so be content because I can do it, if pressed)
It seems a bit more tame since moving to the new location and the more family geared atmosphere and distance of about 10 minutes makes it hard to miss. Especially when a nice grandma gives you
free adult tickets. It might just be that we paid more for parking than for admission since Anna was sill free.
The change in location drops the average temperature by about 15 degrees too which makes for a much more pleasant experience. Beautiful, clear sky, cool breeze and early enough for a very little crowd made it pretty near perfect. It had been two years since the girls’ first visit and they were too small to remember much so there was a great deal to amaze and interest them. Other than two men who talked like pirates and sent Anna scurrying, there was nothing too scary. Well, some of the attire scared mom, but that’s different.
A snack of soft pretzels and lemonade (pink, thank you very much) gave us the energy we needed to explore. Hallie tried her hand at doing medieval laundry with the washer women and both girls played with bubbles, swung the mallet to ring the bell and rode on the giant swing.
After exploring the rest of the wares, tableaus and activities, the girls decided to befriend some exotic creatures. Anna was first and chose lizards. She was fine with them until one tickled her so that was removed and more sedentary scalies were brought out. Passersby were amazed by such a tiny person being brave enough to balance the collection of reptiles. A bit later it was Hallie’s turn and
she chose snakes - the max which was 7. She did very well and, considering,
the amount of movement on her neck
and arms, it was impressive for someone of any age. Dad chose to be proud of her along with Anna and the rest of the crowd outside the fence.
There wasn’t much left to top that and, as we wound our way out of the faire, the girls were talking about which things they would chooses next time. And of course, for bravery beyond their years, the girls had to be rewarded with lunch after the faire.
It's been crunch time for Mom with her seemingly endless homework and projects so each Saturday has been a day for Dad to take the girls on adventures. Thanks to the chatter on Facebook, we were alerted to the annual Open House at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena.
JPL is and amazing place that, apparently, is not only a great place to work but a great place to play. What an incredible community service event this open house was! Fantastic 
equipment and artifacts on display, scientists and engineers around every corner to answer questions, simulations and free goodies for the kids. Experiences ranged from having a ‘moon rover’ run over you to visiting Mars and having the 3D image emailed to you. Dad and girls had a wonderful time becoming ‘space-experts’ and were excited about bringing Mom back with them next year.
