Category Archives: Family Adventures

Family Adventures, Photo-A-Day

King Richard’s Faire 2021

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The Kids with Pulcinella
Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01015

Today we went to King Richard’s Faire. I did not think that we were going to make it this year because of all the time I have to take with testing for my Black Belt in Krav. However, we were gifted free tickets for the family and I was able to get enough time to take yesterday off so I wouldn’t be completely dead on my feet today. This year we took Eva’s friend Bridget with us. Eva was very excited to have her along. Eva had also made her entire costume for the faire. She designed it, and did all the sewing on it as well. She also made Andy’s cloak. We did not know if we’d see our friend Ryan at the faire but he was there. This year he is Pulcinella, the town crier. It was nice to get a few minutes to chat with him before we went off and explored the realm.

Eva and Andy at the gates

We arrived a little before the gates opened and were able to see the introduction skits that happen before the gates open wide. Then we went in, saw our friend Julie (Thanks for the tickets!!) and also our friend Ryan. Once inside many of the inhabitants of the realm are around the entrance and the kids got to talk with King Richard and Queen Anne and many of the other people. Andy spotted a guy with a giant bubble wand. He was off like a shot trying to pop the bubbles. He had a great time doing that.

Andy and Bubbles

The first act that we went to see was Jacques Ze Whipper. He is one of our all time favorites. He is so funny and great with the whip. This time Andy got to help out with the action. Andy was given the task of throwing a stuffed Barney toy up to Jacques so that Jacques could whip it out of the air. I have some video of that and Andy threw the Barney toy backwards on his practice attempts. Good thing they practiced. Afterwards andy and Jacques posed for some photos.

Andy and Jacques

and Andy says that he doesn’t want to perform. Sure…

The Joust

Our next destination was to The Joust. Eva and Bridget were all about the joust because there is a female knight there and they wanted to cheer for her. We ended up seeing two of the jousts for that very reason. They are always fun to watch.

Andy with Crossbow

this time around we took out some money for each of the kids. They had a certain amount of money that they could use at the Faire. Andy did a lot with his money. He bought himself a dragon pet and a few necklaces. He picked up necklaces for two of his friends in addition to a necklace for himself. Because he had money that he could use however he wanted he also played some of the games. He tried out the darts, crossbows and even the feat of strength by trying to ring the bell on the high striker. He didn’t quite get there but Bridget did and she was made a knight of the realm.

Accidental Acrobats

One o the new acts was the Accidental Acrobats. I was mesmerized by the muscles on the female acrobat. Her arms were so strong. She did some really amazing tricks and at the end shot a bow and arrow with her feet. Incredible!

Eva and Bridget

It was a fantastic day overall. We had lots of good food (I over estimated on the amount of food tickets we would need) saw great shows. Oh, yes, there was also the musical. We made sure that we watched both acts of the musical which was a history of the Richards of the realm and also the villains of years past. All was done to parody music that was amazing. We love these performances and look forward to seeing them each year. This truly is one of our family’s most favorite yearly events to attend. There are still two more weeks of The Faire and it is well worth a visit if yo are interested. You can find out more information at King Richard’s Faire Website.

Family at the Faire
Photo by our friend Julie
Family Adventures, Food, Photo-A-Day

Vineyard Visit and Gabriel Iglesias Show

At Saltwater Farm Vineyard
Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00979

Part of the reason that I had selected a hotel off-site from the casino was that I wanted for us to do some exploring in the area and since Allison is a fan of wines I decided that we should visit a vineyard. I found a few and sent them to Allison to check out and she chose Saltwater Farm Vineyard. This was a really interesting place. It used to be an airport and the airplane hanger was converted into the main building of the vineyard. They do weddings her also. It is also a vineyard that is one the water. The lines of grape vines run from the hanger down to the water.

We arrived and Allison got a glass of wine and we bought crackers and a edge of cheddar cheese with blueberries in it. We went upstairs to a porch that overlooked the grounds. While we were there I overhead someone being asked if anyone famous had ever been married there. It was a cast member from Boy Meets World. I did a search online and I am pretty sure that I figured out who it was and that was very cool to me. I believe that he kept his private life rather private and so I did not get confirmation but I have enough knowledge of this person that I could piece it together.

When we were done enjoying our cheese we walked the grounds and got caught in a light rain. We got back int eh car and went to look for lunch. Since we were in the land of Mystic Pizza I felt like pizza for lunch. Allison discovered a place called Woodfellas and since I am a sucker for a movie and a pun we headed there

Woodfellas

Woodfellas is located in an old velvet mill that has been converted into a bunch of artist studios and funky shops. There is also a brewery on site and much more. The pizza was incredible and the wings were also very good. We ate in a very open area that was not too crowded. After we ate we walked around the mill and looked at the shops. Because it was Sunday there were many places that were closed. I guess that the big days there are Wednesdays. There were tons of pieces of art on the walls.

painting

This place looks like it would make a nice little day trip to take the kids. We could go to the vineyard again and take along kayaks and paddle there. They had a place to put in boats. Eva would love all the shops and Andy would enjoy the pizza and there was a soda fountain, too. I’d like to check out the barber shop for a beard trim and maybe a shave. It reminded me of going to the barber as a kid but it is missing an old Coke bottle machine and a stack of Archie comics.

barber shop in the velvet mills

We went back over to the Casino for the show. We got there a little early and got to our seats. It was not totally sold out and we didn’t feel too on top of everyone but there were plenty of people there. There were two comedians who took the stage before Gabriel. They each did about 10 minutes of material. Gabriel came out and he let us know that this was going to be a different show than most people were used to. He’s always been a fairly clean high energy comic. This past year has been a tough one for him so his show as a bit more raw with some language. Nothing too crazy, just a bit more than people would expect. I enjoyed it very much except for the people in the audience who seemed to think that the show would be enhanced by their participation. I never understand that but Gabriel handles it really well.

At the Gabriel Iglesias Show

We finished off the night looking for some dinner but deciding upon Dairy Queen instead.