Follow your nose

Katy was thrilled to be given this magic Medieval direction finder with instructions to follow where it leads...

...it certainly did lead us to many adventures and fun experiences on our way out of the Festival!

Hat and mittens necessary purchases as we underdressed! Lulled by Fahrenheit again into a false sense of warmth...

On our way out..,

Time seems very island in the Renaissance Festival! Everyone seemed to running late! So we were disappointed that we did not find Twig the (Celebrity) Fairy (Katy has her book - a gift fromAunt  Arlys).

But we did have fun talking with the thief Adrian Quinn after Mother admired his coat. Katy was very disapproving of his thieving lifestyle. 

Later, knowing Katy has for many years need afraid of thieves and nervous about then breaking and entering into our house while we are away, Mother tried patiently to explain to Katy in the car that he wasn't a real thief but just playing a character. Katy replied equally patiently that "yes, but it would not be respectful of him if we did not treat him seriously as a thief" as he had obviously put so much effort into his character. Out of the mouth of babes!

We had a rest stop in the sky chairs lounge!

And then we found the practice sword and shield kits!

We got a set for Katy with shield and one for mummy or daddy to practice with her! We had second thoughts getting sets for cousins with siblings...

The shows were many and awesome but what I really loved about the Festival was the non commercial feel to the while thing. I loved that it was a bunch of amateursin the literal sense of the word - passionate (and usually witty) enthusiasts who were good sprorts and generously loved sharing their passions with everyone at the Festival. The thief Adrian Quinn was not a performer or official festival character but just an enthusiast who loves to come to the festival to hang out.

I also loved the structure of the festival with a really low entrance fee and then you give to performers as though they are busking. So in the spirit of Festivals.

Feasting

Giant smoked turkey leg.

Giant cream puff with the works!

There were actually a lot of food options and quite a few fun ones. Horrendously expensive but fun!

Barracking for Sir Marcus Desmond at my first joust!

1 2 3 4

The naughtiest Princesses declared a bum war!

It's basically backwards sumo wrestling with bustles.

The Princess Fairytale Party

Countess Genevieve

The demure and gentle Princesses!

Meeting the fairies of the forest

The Rose Fairy

Loved the game we played with the "cabbage" as Katy called it. You catch the ball and read out the letter nearest your right thumb. Then you pick one of the many tassels on the ring and it asks you a question. The first question was to names mountain beginning with F. Katy immediately calked out Fuji, much to the game woman's surprise! 

Miri the water fairy really made a connection with Katy. She was Katy's favourite experience  of the day. They chatted for quite a while and Miri asked Katy to write to her!

The fairy wing forest was really beautiful and opened up into a gorgeous prairie view. Around the corner and up the hill we were startled to run into a fox fairy! Katy was somewhat afraid even though her uncle and aunt and cousin are redheads too! The fox fairy was very shy also!

We really loved the fairy wing forest!

Meeting the mermaids of the cove!

Waiting in the chill for Renaissance Festival gates to open!

In the swing of school - heading off bright eyed and bushy tailed for NWEA testing!

How do you round off your first day of school?

Kneeboarding on Lake Minnetonka!

I actually really love and appreciate the drive for Minnesotans to get out and enjoy the outdoors...because the weather may turn at any moment!  Very carpe diem.  Or rather carpe tempestas?

First Day of School treat and errands

After picking Katy up from school...(where she was initially trapped inside by the new arrangements for the new year)...

 

 

 Katy patiently allowed me to do a quick photo shoot of her on the first day of school...

 ...before turning the tables on me and insisting on photographing me!


Then it was down the road to Patisserie Margo for a first day of school quiche and morning bun (only because they had run out of chocolate eclairs! :()

 Then we went to pick up Katy's new Brownie uniform!  Super fun!  Katy's Poh Poh was a Girl Scout.  Katy is really excited to be following in her footsteps and joining the Girl Scout sisterhood.

A little visit

After receiving Katy's little note, I decided to head back to school to drop off a note for her, together with her gym pants and some extra fruit that had been forgotten in the first day rush.  Some school Mummy friends persuaded me to join them for coffee...followed by brunch and Bloody Marys at Hazellewood!  That cheered me up a lot!  We have a really lively, active bunch of Mommies at school and as a network throughout the whole district.  There were Mommies from a lot of different schools at brunch.  It was a very loud brunch

I dropped in to school just before lunch and snuck in to leave my own little lovenote, some watermelon, and some gym pants in Katy's school bag.  So cute seeing her in class!

 Luckily Yan Laoshi is used to me taking photos left right and centre!

Back to School

 

No back to school jitters at all!  Couldn't wait to get in to see her friends.  Katy's class is looping so same kids, same teacher.  It was a very relaxed and happy and exciting day for them all.

Katy was so excited that we didn't have time to get too sentimental...until I got home and found this little note on my keyboard!  Got a bit teary after that.  Katy is growing up sooooooooo fast!