Renaissance Faire

We recently took some time out to go see the Renaissance Faire in St Louis.

Unfortunately, it was cloudy and gray which put something of a damper on the day, but at least it kept it from being overly hot.  We had to take refuge a few times in various buildings to escape the rain.

We tried a lot of the fun foods they offer at these events.  We ate roasted corn on the cob, pulled pork sandwiches, a fried Twinkie, a fried oreo, and an elephant ear.  We somehow missed the turkey legs this year.  They also had a fried pop tart that we wanted to check out, but we were stuffed.

We don't normally eat like that, but part of the fun of a faire is a good heart attack at the end of the day.

We always look forward to the jousting at ren faires, but unfortunately this wasn't a good day for it.

It wasn't safe to bring the horses out because of the slippery mud so they used toy stick ponies.

But even without horses, the knights kept falling in the mud.
Apparently, it wasn't safe for man nor beast.

So they ended up playing Rock, Paper, Scissors to the death!

Speaking of which, I don't know why I didn't get a picture, but I also slipped in the mud as we were walking down a slippery slope.  I managed to catch myself although I jarred the heck out of my right arm and right knee as I landed.  I was coated in mud and ruined one shoe and Kerry and Ben both looked at me and said, "We can't take you anywhere."

Two peas in a pod, my fellas.

A very nice drink vendor gave me some wet paper towels to clean all the mud off, and I just dealt with achey joints on my right side for the day.

I'm fine.  Really.  Don't worry about me.

Kerry and Katie tried their hand at throwing axes.

The fire eater!

I've always wondered how they do that.  He would pull the stick away and fire would sit on his tongue for a few seconds.  Do not try this at home.  Your face could end up looking like one of those marshmallows after you hold it over a fire.

I was very amused at the show because there was this guy eating fire, and the two little girls in the front row had found a caterpillar that had them completely entranced.

Fire Eater, Shmire Eater - look at this freaking caterpillar!

We also saw a juggling act - Thom the juggler, who was very funny.  We caught the last part of his act and enjoyed it so much, we went back later to see the whole thing.  I don't know why I don't have a picture of him.  His hair alone was worth seeing.

We also saw an amusing version of  Hamlet performed by the troup "Corsets and Codpieces".  Most of it was done in the style of The Cat In The Hat.  I know you can't imagine what that was like.  You kind of had to be there.  They called it "Green Eggs and Hamlet".

This vendor was selling knives and swords (we purchased Ben a sword for his birthday).  One sign said "Please do not be stupid" and the other said "Do not lick blades".  

It's kind of sad that they actually have to put signs up like that, but you know they have them up because people have already been stupid and people have already licked the blades on extremely sharp objects.

Can you imagine?

"Honey, I just cut my tongue off, lets go to the hospital."

Or more likely, "Oney, ah ust ut ah ong off, et's oh oo ee ahpihal."