WARNING: snakes at the Ren Fest!

So, a blogger I follow once posted that she promised to always *say* when she posts a picture of a snake, so as to not unduly scare her audience.  Now, it would be bold of me to claim an "audience," but, I do know at least one of my audience will be happy for this blogger's suggestion, without which I'd never even think twice about posting a picture of a snake (and a Giant One, at that).  So, without further ado, please join us on our visit to the Renaissance Festival this year, keeping in mind that the last picture is of:  a Very Large Snake, with My Precious Daughters Precariously Close Thereto.

(taken after we pet said snake.  ahem.)  You're welcome, Cary!

(and now, said snake:)
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This was near the reptile and amphibian society area, I think he was trying to get somewhere to curl up and rest.  They would move him farther away, and he'd just keep trying to go back to wherever he wanted to go.


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We enjoy the Ren Fest, but the location could not be farther away and still be in the "same town" as us, and we've had serious issues with parking/traffic.  (This year was no better with the traffic part, but that was no fault of the Ren Fest this time.)  Because the weekends are so incredibly busy there, we've chosen to go on the only Friday of the fest a few years now, and really enjoy the quieter, more laid back fair.  This year the tickets were even cheaper for all of us Friday, and we enjoyed shows and places we don't usually see with the weekend chaos.

Plus, with the lack of crowds, it's all the more likely you get chosen/ dragged up on stage to "help" with something... apparently this young magician thought the not-in-coustume-this-year (Greta wore my chamise as a dress) mom in the second row behind her kids would be a good foil for his card trick.  He probably wasn't expecting me to actually play along - if I had time to think about it I would have been nervous, but being surprised I'm actually pretty good at ad lib in front of a crowd.  Anyway, I wouldn't chose to do it again, but it was fun.  (And I think I know how he did the trick, too, though I had to think about it a bit.)  I'm not sure why I'm slouching in the picture;  probably I felt uncomfortable being taller than him.

Notes: 
~  my huge chemise costume undershirt = adorable dress for Gret. when cinched at neck and belted
~  do not let Kaatje wear boots even if "she wears them all the time and they'll be fine!"   ...our last hour there she was barefoot (but not complaining, dear girl).
~  don't bother looking picking out food from the online list before Festival Friday, all the good food places aren't open
~  bring a waterbottle to fill at the port-a-potty area sink.  there's a drinking fountain there so we assumed the water was potable (it was) and didn't have to pay $3 a pop for a 16-oz water bottle.
~  note the Grand Canyon of the Renaissance Festival? (pic 1)  poor them, they might be moving in a few years... that will be... odd.

welcome, indeed.

Summer has really come when Saturdays are two-shower days:  first to wash the morning's run off, then before dinner to scrub the knees of dirt and the hair from sweating in a hat all day.  Jeff's working up in the porch when he's not at the home improvement store, but after some on-and-off rain in the week, then helping the girls makes skirts for dolls Saturday morning (while I'm on the phone, why always when I'm on the phone?!), the rest of the day was outside with garden:  planting out more veggies, cleaning up, and running through the sprinkler with the girls.  At the end of the afternoon I sat outside happily with a Reed's Extra Ginger, and called the day good.

The start of the summer *has* been good.  Following a trip out of state for more than a week with a week of leading crafts in VBS was a challenge, but oh those kids do love their VBS.  (Please note Greta's class actually had close to 30 students, she and cousin and friend were at the overflow table.)  Jeff and I finished that week with going out for our anniversary at the local tea-shop-gone-restaurant-in-historic-home.  Closer to 20 than 10! 

This past week was our first "real" week off, we celebrated by continuing to get the girls up on time (to get them to bed on time), cleaning the front porch entirely, sending K to basketball camp, Gret sewing her own new skirt, finishing a scarf (older than many of my nieces and nephews) to send away, then throwing in the towel (literally?) by heading to the beach Friday afternoon.  (Thursday night I said to myself, "Myself," I said, "It's finally summer.  What do we need to do to get through the upcoming 6 months of winter??  Sun and water and sand, as much as possible.")  (Aside:  why do 12-year-olds balk at absolutely every thing?  Then proceed to enjoy themselves.)

So the weeks ahead look like lots of work upstairs, tired kids, thick gardening, more camps, sneaking off as much as possible for a swim, and going through a half-gallon of whipping cream with all the berries our yard will give us.  Bring on humidity and bugs and that tingle on the shoulders that says I should find some sunscreen or a t-shirt over my tank...and let's plan that vacation!  (welcome, summer!)

piano recital and a visit with llamas.

So nice to be finished with more busyness, as the girls' piano recital marks the end of another seasonal class.  They had fun with their duet, and both did a great job playing.  We're so proud of Greta, who finished Suzuki Book 2 this year.  (And we're quite happy to listen to a different CD!  Bring on book 3!)  Long story short, we'd love if Kaatje chose to continue, but at this point it's up to her...

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The Sheep and Wool festival used to be Mother's Day weekend, so I thought we missed it, but was glad to find out we hadn't!  We girls enjoyed visiting with the animals and looking through the many yarn and spinning booths, whilst Jeff worked on the upstairs porch and met with window contractors for bids for such.  Oh, all. the. windows. in this house.

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Being down-and-out sick is so strange;  one day we're homeschooling and cleaning and getting things done, finishing up with a run before dinner, the next I need a hand to sit up and can only stand for a bit before needing to lie down again.  I missed being down-and-out sick last year (wait - I didn't *miss* it, I just wasn't ever that sick), thought I might this year, too, but I guess not.  It has stages:  stage one hurts too much to do anything but rest in a dark quiet room, but by evening I could watch Netflix.  Yesterday I read The Eyre Affair from start to finish, but by evening was back to watching documentaries to distract from feeling so poorly.  Next step is apparently being able to be on the computer, I suppose since doing something that can cause headaches isn't helpful when one is fighting aching eyes and head.  I always know when I'm fully recovered when I feel like knitting and a cup of coffee sounds good... that's the last to come back.  Jeff kept asking if I wanted to go get checked out, but I'm feeling like this is just a terrible terrible cold, not even influenza-ish, and getting better by the day.  I'm just so happy for this holiday weekend, though any plans we may have had are for naught at this point.  So thankful for the hour early they let Jeff out today, that he can take the girls to the park (and get groceries) in this beautiful weather.  ...time to go rest again...  maybe find another documentary.

out and about and out and about

One Friday:

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And the next:

We've been enjoying our Fridays out.

Friend Amy found out that homeschoolers can sign up ahead of time with the Minnesota Zoo and visit for the school group price, including "free chaperones!"  I was so busy, she set up the whole thing, we just had to show up!  With all seven of us sharing a vehicle (there's a per car parking fee) we got in for a song.  Well, a song compared to the alternative $12 and $18 each we'd be.   The girls had so much fun, especially with her oldest being Greta's age, so we all enjoyed showing the zoo to the littlest ones.  There's nothing quite like seeing zoo animals through the eyes of a one-and-half year old, with everything so new and exciting! I forget that Greta hasn't been to that many zoos, either, with all of the zoos I have in my own memory.

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Early the next week I was watching the afternoon news, while running at the gym during our four straight days of incessant rain.  They highlighted a local event, the "Festival of Nations" which I'd heard of over the years (along with "You have to take your kids to this!") but never been due to one busyness or another.  This year I realized we had a free Friday during the Festival and could take a day to go.

I'm so glad it worked out to go now, the girls being older.  Not sure what they'd think, I was happy to hear how much they liked visiting and all the things going on, from demonstrations to bazaar booths to "passport stamping."  The food, like all fairs, was deceptively expensive ($2 for turkish delight?  Okay!... wait - that's for two slightly-large-than-dice-size pieces?  sigh.  No fears of the White Witch around here.).  But we had fun eating some (unusual for us) foods.  Jeff needed to be there so we could try more of the dishes and meats together;  we're already thinking next year he could join us.  We had fun meeting people whom English was certainly their second language (or maybe even third), to those whom you'd never notice weren't from America.  We informed the Dutch lady working her booth that Kaatje and Greta are 11/16ths Dutch, she was amiably amused.  I told Jeff she reminded me of Every Dutch Grandmother I've ever seen or met.

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May and June are packed full, finishing some things in May and starting new ones in June.  The end of May will bring a sigh of relief around here!