Renaissance Baby

In one weekend, our little Brianna became a carnival/fair expert as her dad, his college friend, Daniel, and I took her to a local Renaissance Faire and to the Big E (a large carnival located in MA). Daniel was traveling from Arizona on a work conference and was able to extend his visit to visit with us and to meet Brianna. Knowing that traveling to large touristy cities like Boston or New York might be extra difficult with Brianna, Jason tried finding more local events, hence the Renaissance Faire and the Big E (Daniel's idea). So on Saturday, we packed the diaper bag, stroller, and Bree in the car and traveled to Hebron, CT where the Renaissance Faire was taking place. At first, the fair looked a bit on the small size, but once we got inside we realized that it was actually a decent size fair, with multiple booths, games, performances, and eateries. We started first with a knighted joust in which Bree was able to watch a good knight challenge a wicked knight in honor of the queen. Although, I'm not sure how good Bree's vision is at this point, so who knows how much of the event she saw! The joust ended in a tie and a duel to the death was scheduled for later in the evening. In between the two jousts, we got some lunch, shopped a bit, saw some birds of prey, watched a weapon show in which two archers showed us how to shoot with a bow and arrow and how to use a trebuchet. Being the dorky engineers that Jason and Daniel are, the trebuchet was the highlight of the day...ha! We also played several Renaissance carnival games that involved smacking falling rubber rats with a wooden stick, throwing bean bags at a castle, and flinging rubber frogs at lily pads. No thanks to mommy, Daniel and daddy won enough tokens to buy Bree her first tiara and pirate hook. After the games, we returned to see the finale of the jousting competition. The King beat the wicked knight and saved the day (who would have seen that one coming?!?) Even though it was highly predictable, I will say that the joust was a lot of fun to see. Brianna even got recognized by the Queen as she exited the arena, seeing Bree she exclaimed "baby!" After all the excitement, I had to buy Bree her first real princess crown (bright pink with sparkles). And to end the day, Daniel dared Jason into some brave food/snack eating challenge in which Daniel ate a deep fried Snickers bar and Jason ate chocolate covered bacon....yuck! I'm pretty sure Daniel got the better end of that deal! Needless to say, Jason said the bacon was by far one of the worst things he ever ate. I'm sure both of them consumed enough calories in those snacks to last them a lifetime! Nice...ha.

This was our first all day outing with Brianna, and I have to give it to her, she did GREAT!! She whimpered a little in the stroller during the first jousting competition. Both Jason and I gave each other looks that said we might not make it, but after being pushed slowly back and forth in the stroller, she calmed down quickly and fell asleep. She slept until lunch time, in which I was able to change her and feed her after eating myself. She then stayed awake and alert for about an hour or so, quietly looking around at the sights before falling asleep. She only required one feeding while we were there and did beautifully with the outing. So with this, we decided to attempt the Big E the following day. We were only able to stay there a few hours as Daniel needed to catch his plane in the late afternoon. But while there, we looked around and went to the Avenue of the States in which the carnival has several buildings designated for the various New England states. Each building represents a different state and has local vendors and foods being sold inside the buildings. We each got probably one of the best Maine baked potatoes I've ever eaten! And again, Brianna was a gem. She only needed to be fed once and actually fed with me while Jason and Daniel stood in line for our lunch. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. The only downfall of the Big E is that it was definitely more populated than the Renaissance Faire, that and the weather was sunny and a bit warmer than at the Renaissance Faire. We covered Brianna's car seat with one of her light swaddling blanket to protect her from sun burn. She didn't seem to mind and was a giant trooper through the whole thing. We had a blast and have actually decided to take Jason's best friend, Heather, to the Renaissance Faire when she visits next week.


Pictures of the Renaissance Faire:

 

Pictures from the Big E: