Waxahachie

We went to Waxahachie's Scarborough Renaissance Festival today as a very, very early birthday gift for me (my birthday is in June, after the Faire closes).  C has been there before for two school visits, but this was a first visit for the rest of us.  Here are some notes:

• so hard to get into the parking lot!  so far from the entrance!
• C wore her purple flower wreath from a previous visit to the Faire, a purple shirt, carried a purple foam sword, and eventually picked out a purple painted parasol
• almost no cell phone looking!
• so much smoking!  
• This was a Celtic theme weekend, so there were hundreds of kilted men, including lots of men in the famous Utilikilt (it's like a hybrid between Dockers and a traditional Scottish kilt).  
• lots of great Renaissance costumes with a sprinkling of non-Renaissance costumes
• jousting
• iffy toilets (they told us to put the toilet paper in the baskets, not the toilets--eww!)
• I spent a lot of time shuttling myself and Baby T to the bathroom. 
• We saw a falconry show
• C and Baby T rode a camel together
• C and D did bungee jumping (they've wanted to try it for years)
• C and D enjoyed fried ice cream
• there were also a number of impromptu battles between the kids, as we brought along our foam swords--they got pointers from a kind stranger

I was keeping a particular eye on the musicians, as C has a particular interest in Renaissance music, and there's a possibility that she could eventually play at the Faire.  Going in, I was wondering about what kind of instruments are typical.  I'm not sure if this was typical (it being a Celtic weekend), but I saw a number of harps, modern guitars, a mandolin (?) and a ukulele.  I didn't see an actual lute, as far as I could tell.