In late September, the kids and I drove up to St. Paul to visit Maretta and Kyle for the weekend. Bryan was in New York having a fun weekend with his dad. Saturday was Kyle’s birthday, and Maretta and Kyle took us to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. My siblings have been going to “Ren Fairs” for years and years. They all have costumes and swords, boots, mugs, capes, and jewelry. But somehow, I’ve been absent from every Ren Fair visit. I think they started going just about the time that I left home for college. Anyway, it was my first visit, and it was a lot of fun!
Maretta and Kyle’s roommates, Raderlee and Salsa are part of a fire troupe called the Fandazzi Fire Circus (here’s a video of them from YouTube). We really enjoyed watching a couple of their shows!
Here’s a skit between Robin Hood and Little John. Lots of pole fighting!
Sylvia’s wearing Aunt Maretta’s fairy wings and necklace. Andrew brought his Darth Vader costume just to be silly.
There’s the birthday boy and my sister with her short, lovely hair.
Andrew wanted to take pictures, so I let him…here’s his portrait of Maretta…
…and here’s one of me.
Michael and Lisa drove up for the weekend too, and we met them at the fair. 
All the rides and activities run without power (what a nice contrast to traditional fairs!). On this ride, the Magical Butterfly Carrousel, two people pushed an axle that spun the carts.
Sylvia had a blast!
And we had fun watching her!
Here’s the scene in the games and rides area. I loved all the beautiful wooden medieval buildings! The tower is a climbing wall that caught Andrew’s attention.
Up he goes!
As I was backing up to take this shot, I fell backwards over a hay bale and landed flat on my back. The camera was well protected, and I couldn’t stop laughing. Everyone wondered why I was suddenly on the ground! 
The kids also got to do a pony ride. Andrew’s horse was Bullseye…
Can’t remember the name of this pretty girl. Sure is fun to get a chance to ride on a horse! Anyone know of a place around Madison where the kids could take lessons on a gentle pony?
We ate good food and saw a couple other shows and wondered through the extensive fair grounds.
That evening, we had a great steak dinner with Maretta, Kyle, Michael, Lisa, Josh and Betsy, and their new little babe.
Thanks to Salsa and Raderlee for letting us use their room while we visited, and thanks to Maretta and Kyle for being such fun hosts. Maretta got Lucky Charms for breakfast. Ahh, good times:)
xoxo