Ye Olde Labour Day Weekende

Yeah, we went to the Ohio Renaissance Festival with the kids today. It was the opening weekend of the yearly event and it sort of felt a bit like old times (olde tymes?) for Lynda and I.

The last time we visited a Renaissance Festival was this very same one between Columbus and Cincinnati, but it was probably 14 years ago, back before we had kids, when we were just a  footloose couple looking to have fun. (But naturally, since we aren't THAT carefree, we still had to do it in the context of taking some kids from our (then) church to have fun on a Saturday.

This time it was our own kids having the fun. (If you're a Facebook friend of mine, you can see the pictures over in that space. You can get there by clicking the WWY Facebook?! link at the top of this blog page.) We ate some food, listened to some minstrels, walked around a bit. I even got to drink some hard apple cider, which was nice.

Of course, Ren Fests are not entirely new to Lynda and I, kids or not, Ohio or not. Our first visit back in time was way back in our college days. My room mate Gerry and some of his friends were frequent merry-makers and they had the garb and swords to prove it. Lynda and I weren't THAT committed, but we traveled down that road a tiny bit--at least I did. See below for the evidence. (These photos came out of my 1992 scrapbook.)

(Yeah, that's right . . . I kept pretty extensive scrapbooks once upon a time.)

The jester's hat was Gerry's. The sweet Macintosh computer was also Gerry's. This was our dorm room above Honors House on the Georgia Southern U. campus. This half room upstairs was later declared a fire hazard. But Gerry lived up there for two years and I lived up there for three. But let's focus on the hat, okay?

The fair maiden Lynda bedecked with her Renaissance Festival hair garland. (There's a ribbon running down the back. The t-shirt is also a Ren Fest souvenir, but you can't get a good look at the design. I think this was taken in the "backyard"area of Honors House, near where the steps lead to the basement.

Here I am all decked out in my full garb. Pants, shirt, necklace. looooong tasseled hat with a fancy pattern and a cute little jingly bell on the end. (This was worn for Halloween one year, so THAT is why I am wearing socks with my sandals. It was late October and cold. Plus . . . my feet are ugly.

Proof that we knew how to have fun once upon a time.