What do Maypoles, elf ears, Princesses, pets in costume, jousting competitions, falcons & Girl Scout badges have in common? They were all part of our second day in Atlanta.
My lovely Mother & Step Dad helped me plan a surprise for the Lady Brandt's on day 2. They were heading up to South Carolina and brought the one and only Ava Relli with them so she could join us for our Saturday adventure. Ava loved making a big show of jumping out to surprise the girls & they were equally glad to see her. Once we retrieved our special guests, we headed to the Georgia Renaissance Festival for the day. I'll be honest, I had SUPER low expectations for this shindig, but it turned out to be a really fun day!
The Ga Ren Fest is semi permanent running from April thru early June. The buildings and shops are all designed to look very "Renaissancey" and from the moment you walk in the doors, the workers are in full time period character. I would describe the "character" commitment level to that of Disney workers. It was that serious. We rented the girls each a Princess costume of their choosing, and they were curtseyed to and address as "ladies" for the rest of the day which thrilled them to no end. I wasn't down for wearing a costume worn by an unknown number of adults, but I did agree to some Elf ears. The girls were NOT impressed at all & suggested me removing them immediately. With this knowledge, I of course wore them for the remainder of the day.
Note the elf ears
Lady Heaven
Annabelle waived to her townspeople the WHOLE ride
All of the exhibits and rides are things that *could* have existed in the Renaissance period. All of the rides were man or animal powered, which I thought was pretty neat. I think the girls favorite however was they maypole led by the "fairies" .
The girls and the "Fairy Queen"
We also attended several shows including a "fire whip" show (in which Annabelle was chosen as a volunteer), a magic show (which all 3 of the girls were chosen as volunteers), a pet costume contest, and a Birds of Prey show that the girls earned a Girl Scout badge for attending.
This dog looked miserable. The whole time.
1st prize winner
Captured by the magician
Showing off their badges
Annabelle and the Fire Whip Guy. The Fire Whip Guy weirded me out most of all I think....I mean, you have to practice for YEARS to get that good with a whip. Who decides to devote years to whip training?? This guy apparently.
The girls also went thru official Princess training. The "Queen" gave different lessons in various Princess type thing like curtsying and evaluated each girl before graduating them as official Princesses. They received graduation certificates and everything.
We ended up staying at the Festival until closing time & finished the day with a little souvenir shopping & jousting. Yes, jousting.
The girls and their magic animals (their magnetic and move via a clear tube that when cleverly hidden makes it appear they're moving on their own.)
My mama's so purdy
Marko was attacked by a stranger. No really.
Heaven's souvenir of choice was this umbrella....
They all needed Princess hats, Obvs
Papa & his girls
Yup, still wear'n Elf ears. I have no idea what Ava's doing in this one.
I was thinking that after the long day we'd had, I was thinking the girls would pass out in no time. This was not the case.
We still owe Annabelle 2 more AR trips so yesterday I thought I'd escape the "hurricane" madness of Pensacola and cross one off our list. We decided to give Auntie Jenny a visit in her new apartment in Mobile (AU Pharmacy Program...GO JEN!) and let her show us around for a while. We drove around campus for a bit and grabbed lunch at Hero's, which is close to her apartment. It has a very "college" feel to it, and Annabelle felt very "cool" to be out with the ladies. After lunch we headed over to the Explorium to waste away the rest of the afternoon. I love the Explorium, because they change their main exhibits our pretty regularly, so no 2 times are ever the same. Plus, it actually attempts to help the kids LEARN something while they're playing....vs just running around like mad heathens. Annabelle really liked the kid science area & the "matter" exhibit they have. Especially the soap bubble cloud maker. The poor worker re...
After feeding and watering the dogs for 6 weeks, Annabelle earned herself a fish today! After much debate at Petsmart, she decided on a pink "dragon scaled" beta & a mermaid themed tank. She has named him Poseidon (we're a bit into Percy Jackson right now...for better or worse) though I personally pushed for King Tritian (I mean HELLO it's a mermaid tank!!). She could not wait to get home and get it all set up. Because we (I) underestimated how big the tank we selected is, we set it up in the girls room...as there is no where else to put it. He has lots, and lots of pink decorations...so hopefully he's not too much of a manly man fish.
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