When I asked the kids what they wanted to do this summer one of the first things they said was the Renaissance Fair. They loved it last year. July 6th was opening day and I figured it would be crowded but we thought it would be fun to take grandpa with us so we decided to brave the crowds. We didn't know that kids were free on opening day, which was a fun surprise, but I think it also added to the crowds. Trying to move around was crazy but getting in to the shows and on to rides was no problem at all.
We started out at a show we hadn't seen last year called Sirena. It was three semi-naked ladies painted greenish blue singing and playing drums. I think they were Sirens and trying to steal our souls from what I could understand. We were all pretty bored. It is hard to know which shows are good and some of them specifically say that they are not for children so we decided to spend less time at shows and more time playing this year. Our kids insisted on seeing the joust and the acrobats again so we did get to those two shows.
This year Alyssa really wanted to wear her Halloween costume, because so many people dress up for the fair. We tried to talk her out of it and tell her to just wear comfy clothes so she wouldn't get hot but she was pretty excited about it. So then Chloe wanted to dress up and put on Alyssa's old witch costume but it hung down to her navel in the front so Alyssa switched dresses with her. The witch costume must have been stretched out because it hung to Alyssa's navel too and was way too short but she thought it looked cute so we pinned it to a tank top and let her go with it. When we got there we saw lots of girls in Disney Princess costumes and I realized that Chloe's Brave or Tangled costumes both look kind of period appropriate so she could have worn one of those, but oh well.
The kids wanted to ride the elephant but he wasn't there that weekend so a camel was their only option. Alyssa was too cool to participate.
Getting ready for Barely Balanced
Which I quickly realized was exactly the same as last year. Still fun to watch but I put the camera away pretty quickly since I already captured all the tricks last year.
The rides are actually pretty cool because they are all man powered since it is 1599.
Notice Chloe changed her clothes? She insisted she wouldn't get hot and got mad at me for putting a change of clothes in my bag but while we were eating lunch she begged me to change her clothes. Chloe can't ever be wrong so of course she tried to argue that bringing the change of clothes was her idea and that she only wanted to wear the costume for a little while.
For this ride the kids were strapped to these benches and the two attendants ran the whole thing in cricles until the rope wrapped around and around the pole and then let it unravel and the ravel up again using it's own momentum.
The Prince and Princess Joust was my favorite ride. The kids get on the horse and someone announces them like they would in a joust and they ride this horse down a zipline.
We watched about 20 kids go before us and only one got the ring. No one else even hit anywhere near it but as you can see Alyssa is lined up pretty nicely. She managed to snag it and knock it off but could not keep it on her lance.
Chloe was too nervous to look at me or smile. Not afraid of strangers at all, or performing in public, just rides.
When the announcer told us all to yell charge on the count of 3, Chloe yelled right along with us.
She also snagged the ring but could not keep it on.
And Alex followed his sisters and grabbed the ring but failed to retain it. We were born 500 years too late. I think my kids could have been jousting phenoms.
Alyssa always wants a pickle at the fair.
And the other two had monkey tails while we waited for the joust. They also sweet talked grandpa in to wasting $10 on these flags so they could root for our knight in the joust.
We sat in the same section as last year and hoped it would be Sir Max's section again. It was. He is the bad guy but we think he is funnier than the good guys. Alex went to get his flag signed but we didn't have a pen so Sir Max posed with him and asked Alex to come back in case he needed back up in the next joust but Alex politely declined and said that he didn't want to die.
They have a game called RenQuest for ultra
July 7th
I didn't take any pictures this day but it was a nice relaxing Sunday. We went to church, came home and spread out on the couch and watched Oz the Great ad Powerful (thumbs down) and then went to BBQ at the Christiansens and light off the rest of the fireworks we had brought over on the 4th. Their boys had a blast with the smaller stuff on the 4th but we made them save the big ones so we could all watch. They put on a show and the neighbors were shooting off some fancy stuff too so we got double the entertainment.
July 8th
This was our last day to play and the boys were planning on an early morning golf trip. Seth just bought Alex a set of clubs and now Alex is itching to get out and learn the game. Just what I need, another sport! We woke up to thunderstorms and had to call it off. Bob wanted to drive up the shoreline and we have already done that drive heading south many times so we headed north. When we got to Milwaukee the rain had cleared so we got out at the beach for a little while.
The kids ran the rest of the way down the stairs to this playground.
I watched from up top for a few minutes and then I planned to get up and go down and take pictures of them but by the time I did they were on their way back up.
We decided to try to go to Organ Piper Pizza for dinner. Our friends Mike and Jen loved to go there when they lived in this part of the country but the one time we had tried to go there was at lunch time and we learned that they are only open for dinner. I remembered from our last failed attempt that they don't open until 5PM so we had a couple hours to kill in Milwaukee while we waited. I remembered that the Milwaukee Public Museum offers a deal every year where $45 gets your whole family in for the whole summer so we decided to check it out quickly and then go back and explore some more another day. It is a very nice museum but we have been so spoiled by the big museums in Chicago that are all hands on and interactive and have tons of stuff for kids to do. This was more of the look and learn type of museum and the kids liked running around but I am not sure they will be asking to go back. The only reason I took pictures is because Alex kept posing in front of stuff and asking me to and he didn't want group pics. He kept asking everyone else in our group to move for a minute so he could get his picture.
The butterfly room was actually pretty cool. Seth and his dad had some butterflies land on them.
And this one was huge. I wish I had something to put by it so you could tell. But Chloe was screaming bloody murder so we had to move along quickly. So add that to the list of things she is afraid of...rides and butterflies.
I did like this igloo and all the exhibits about Native Americans. Maybe I will have to go back with a scavenger hunt or something to help my kids learn about the tribes that are native to Wisconsin.
We stayed at the museum until closing time and headed over for pizza. It was about 5:15 when we got there and the parking lot was empty. That is when we learned that it is only open for dinner AND it is not open on Mondays. So we ended up 2 miles down the road at CiCi's pizza buffet because it is cheap and the kids love it and because it is across the street from Krispy Kreme so at least we got to watch donuts being made and took home a couple dozen to make up for the dinner disappointment. One of these days we will get to that darn Organ Piper and don't feel too bad because we ate plenty of good food last week. I think Super in Six is calling my name again.
We had a great week with Grandpa Bob and the kids miss him dearly already. Thanks for coming to play with us Bob, and for letting us drag you around all week. I hope your memories of the week are as good as ours.
3 comments:
OhMyWord, what a disappointment for Organ Piper Pizza! I think we tried on two different occasions to go there with people and ran into the same ridiculous problems. I don't know how they stay open with such limited hours. Lame! Hopefully, you will get to at some point, but then you'll totally not be impressed after dealing with all the lameness of their hours...hahaha.
Now I wish we would've tried to go to Ren Faire at least once while there, but Mike thinks it's so {Insert derogatory term that could get someone fired these days here}. Oh well, if we ever get back to your neck of the woods, then we'll have to try to go (without Mike and his too-manliness-for-the-Ren-Faire). It looks like you guys find lots of stuff to do there for the kids which is what it's all about anyway.
Glad to see you guys had so much fun with Grandpa Bob for his visit. I don't know how he has so much energy to do all that stuff you guys go do because my mother-in-law about died after our trip to the Black Hills and UT with her. She really did struggle and needed to nap after each venture out to do stuff.
I really enjoyed the faire last summer. Abi had a great time and I loved the band Tartanic that performs there.
I think Alyssa's outfit looks really cute. It looks like it is supposed to be worn that way.
I am so far behind on reading everyone's blogs it's ridiculous! Sorry. But this was fun to catch up on today. I love Chloe's face on the ride! I would have been doing the exact same thing. And her cage is great. Butterfly room would have been one of my favorite things. Even the huge one. Alex is so funny to pose with all the animals. Is that great or what? My boys all RUN from the camera! Looks like a really special week with Bob. So glad you have that to tuck into that ever growing bag of good times!
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