Las Vegas Renaissance Festival

 John and Helen stopped by for a visit from St. Louis. It was great to be able to spend time with them.  The kids love them also. It was a fun surprise this week.

On Friday we went to the Renaissance Festival in Las Vegas. It is a big deal and people take it very seriously. I was glad we could go this year because we have been reading about this stuff with our school work and it is nice to see it in action. There are a lot of hands-on activities for the kids. It is definitely not a museum. They could touch the armor and hold a battle ax. They were also able to watch a rope-making demonstration, a joust,  juggling, pugilism, play an over-sized game of Jenga, and lots of other things.

Zach especially liked all of the torture devices. Does anyone know where you can buy a good stockade? I think it would come in very handy at my house.

On the other hand, this festival is a magnet for strange people.  I would call it the land of the geekazoids.  Yes, that is my new word. I thought I would give it a test run on my blog. But seriously...every band nerd you know was at this thing.  Strange, strange people.  But they were enthusiastic, though many were scantily clad. Whoa! That is all I am saying. I am very glad my boys are too young to notice. That may not be the case next year.  Good thing we went this year.

 This is Zach with our friend Xander.  We went with his family to get some pizza at Verrazzano's when we were done with the festival. 3 hours was plenty for me and for Xander's family.

Jousting...

The rack!