Last Friday one of the other homeschool moms in our group put together an impromptu field trip to Children's Day at the Renaissance Festival at MOSI in Tampa. I had to explain to my kids that we were not going to the actual museum so they were a little disappointed at first, but they got over it pretty quickly after we got there. It was our first time going - I had never even heard of it before. I was a little anxious about going with all the kids by myself, but after Kindergarten they aren't free anymore so I figured this would be the year to go since I only had to pay one adult and one child admission.
The entire festival was outdoors and they had a little area especially for children which is where we spent most of the day. We ventured out to play a couple of games and to find a drink station (we couldn't even take in water which really was a disappointment since they were charging $2 for bottled water). The kids played a slingshot game and Caleb tried the archery game, and later in the day the girls participated in the maypole dance. There were puppet shows, a knighting ceremony, jousting competitions, and even a petting zoo. The girls REALLY wanted to get their hair braided but the cheapest braid was $10... way more for anything they would have wanted. I told them maybe next year we can save up their allowance and get one of the fancy braids with flowers in it.
After the festival, we met Karen for dinner at Acropolis, a greek restaurant in Tampa. I had an amazing plate of spanikopita with greek salad and some baklava for dessert. We got to see the waiters and waitresses dance to greek music and they had someone playing live music while we ate. Delicious and fun!
It was a very fun (and exhausting) day. I am still not sure if I will do the festival again, at least not by myself, but it was a great first experience.
