Scarborough Faire

This is one of those "Better Late Than Never" posts, to stay caught up! We went to Scarborough Faire on April 23, the Saturday before Easter. It was a belated birthday present from Alex, as he knows how much I love all things Renaissance. Sadly, I did not wear my beloved custom-made dress this year because I was afraid I would have died from the Texas heat in it, but I plan on making Alex and Dresden dress up with me next year and braving the heat in it again. We also quickly realized that this renaissance festival with a toddler was not actually much about the days of old or the quirky people and costume watching or the falconry shows, but about finding the nearest live animals and either petting, or riding, upon them. My pockets were picked clean by the beverage vendors and the elephant rides. Oh, and poor Dresden stood in an ant hill and was bitten. Luckily, it seems we may now cross "allergic to ant bites" off of our list, so huzzah for that, right?!

Teeny, tiny Dresden, Alex and two random wenches (can I say 'wenches' on this blog?) on an elephant, twice! Dresden probably would have stayed on all day if we'd had $500 to let him!

Instead, we downgraded him to a dromedary unit. 

Let the games begin!

Watching the horsemen intensely

While I was admiring the pretty braids in this one's mane

He was the champion in all the games...pretty sure he'd found favor with the queen. 

That, and it was obviously rigged, haha.

Good King Dresden

 She was obviously displeased with the comportment of her fellow parade revelers

Ever since the Irish Festival, when Dresden sees plaid skirts (even when I tried one on the other day), he says "Bagpipes?! Bagpipes?!" It is so cute. And usually sorely disappointing for the poor lad, as we don't have a set of 'pipes just lying around to play. We've decided he can take lessons soon though; won't Papa love that!? :-)

We further downgraded Dresden from the camel, to a llama. But he loves the book "Llama Llama Red Pajama", so he was quite pleased. And he suckered us into riding it twice, of course!

Saying "One more time!"

In the petting zoo, reacting to the crazy rooster that kept crowing at random times. 

He thought it was hilarious!

Cute little goat

Our very own chicken-herder. So proud!

Probably overcome with excitement about something in this one...

And then, overcome with grief, because it was time to go :-(

It was a fun, albeit long, day, and definitely a very different experience than last year's festival in Denver. Even Alex noticed that you really are treated differently when you are dressed in "normal" clothes. I noticed it when I dressed up last year, that Laura, Stephanie (the two friends I went with who also dressed up) and I were spoken to differently, and more often in character, than the times I have gone in plain-clothes. This year when a man asked if I might "ferry him" across the way in Dresden's empty stroller that I was pushing, I muttered "Tis built for much smaller fare..." and then got flustered and hoped he'd quit talking to me right away, hahaha. I am quite out of practice from my theatrical days when I spoke in almost nothing but a British accent on a daily basis at school. (Yes, I KNOW, I'm a HUGE nerd. But that's just part of my charm, no? :-) )

Can y'all even believe I posted TWO blog posts in ONE day?! And guess what, tomorrow is Dresden's 23-month birthday, so there will be ANOTHER one! Don't get too used to it, lol, but I promise I will keep trying to do better by posting more often.

Love,

Cassie