Entries from September 2009 ↓

This was the first summer that I’ve visited the Renaissance Festival twice. It’s also the first summer that I’ve visited the Renaissance festival twice in one week (Labor Day Monday and the following Saturday). I’m a fan.

Here are some photos from the first visit:

The hammock chairs in the booth where my friend, Ann, works are very comfortable.

Twig’s career is being a fairy. She’s very good at it.

I must always visit the petting (and sheep-feeding) zoo.

There’s no water, but… “No Swimming, Sharks Have Been Known to Eat Babies!”

Vilification Tennis was very funny. “Your momma is so fat, her first words were NOM-NOM-NOM!”

I love the Chicken and Wild Rice Soup in a bread bowl.

I was taking photos of an elephant will riding on an elephant.

These copper roses were some of the prettiest things at the festival this year and now I have one at home, too. (Thanks to Jason.)

And now some photos from the second visit:

Hannie’s first Renaissance Festival visit! Please note the elephant in the background.

Hannie also touched a snake! She’s brave.

This time I got to see the parade and the King. Huzzah!

Aunt Ann tried on a corset from Felix Needleworthy.

Cousin Jonathan ate some Turkey.

This guy was so hungry. He wouldn’t even look up at me for a photo.

I’ll be eating some camel this next weekend.

While Ann and Mom sampled beers, the rest of the family wandered off to have fun elsewhere.

Belly dancers with tree snakes? Yes, I’ll watch that.

After Karyn, Bryan and Hannie left early and my other family were hanging out with Puke & Snot, I decided to hang out in the shade with some mead (half raspberry, half regular — per Ann’s suggestion).

I really do love the people watching at the Renaissance Festival.

As much as I want to share each and every one of my favorite photos from events over the last month in their own posts, I just simply must catch up. I have some very big and exciting adventures coming up soon, and I need to be ready to update about those as they happen! Details about those are reserved for another post, but for now: on with the catch up!

I visited the Northeast Minneapolis Farmers’ Market. It was smaller than I expected, but very colorful and chipper.

Tiff celebrated her 30^th birthday at her parents’ house on White Bear Lake. It wasn’t the best day for lakeside chilling, but we enjoyed ourselves despite the weather.

Susan and Steve hosted their annual party a little bit later in the summer than usual. I spent some of it chillin’ with Hannie, but most of it playing SingStar.

I went to the Minnehaha dog park with Kristi. We made a couple new canine friends and threw a lot of sticks for Ziggy.

My cousin, Jamie, moved to Woodbury. I joined some other family members at her housewarming party and we ate Rapt Pickles (some people call them Pickle Roll-ups).

I went to a hootenanny, which was nothing like what I expected. (It was better.) There was a girl with a turquoise guitar that I wanted to steal, but she played it much better than I would ever be able to. I let her keep it.

Ann moved to my neighborhood in Northeast Minneapolis. (More excellent people should follow suit!) We watched people roast William Shatner and a disturbing video with Bob Saget.

Kristi turned 27 on a Wednesday. Jared was working at the Minnesota State Fair, so I got to be her date. We went to see (500) Days of Summer and had a drink and chocolate cake on the patio at Pracna’s. The cake was lovely, and I should’ve taken a before photo instead of an after photo.

Jason and I made a proper visit to Sen Yai Sen Lek. We sat outside in front of the restaurant, which was a good choice, I think. The Pad Thai was delicious, and I loved the 3 kinds of chiles that they brought to the table for custom spiciness.

Bertine hosted the most polite clothing swap. Everyone asked permission from everyone else before taking various articles of clothes or shoes. I went home with a pair of shoes and a never-been-used purse.

Finally, I went to a game night at Mary’s apartment. There was a lot of healthy competition (from the boys) and giggling (from the girls).

And, also, Frankie is a cute little man cat.

Karyn brought me to a recent Just Between Friends pre-sale sale in Eden Prairie. It was a mad house that was only open to soon-to-be or recently-new moms and dads, opening to the general public in the next day or two. I’m sure that all items were from consignment, and there was so much to choose from! We were shopping for Hannie, obviously, and had to have several rounds of “to buy or not to buy.”

Overall, I think Karyn got a good haul for my little niece. I even got Hannie a giant beanie baby monkey for $3 (and named it Bryan Two).

I figure I don’t need to buy sweaters like this because I could just as easily make them. In theory.

The digging part of the experience was okay. The waiting in line for the 3 cashiers was somewhat trying.

Aside from the check out situation, it was very well organized and easy to find things that were of good quality. If you go, definitely bring a partner in crime to take turns with bathroom breaks, waiting in line, and holding the bag(s) of goodies to buy.

A parade to celebrate Vermillion’s 150th birthday was scheduled the morning after the informal class reunion. I probably should’ve slept through the parade, but I had been so excited about going all week that I forced myself to suffer through. It was so hot, though. I spent the rest of the day laying around and feeling ill.

Appropriate for September 11^th, don’t ya think?

Also, I think my late-late-late night/lack of sleep caused the slow shutter speed. These photos are oddly blurry, but it’s sort of a neat effect… But only sort of.

That one green building in the background is my dad’s latest renovation project, the recently opened Silk Road.

There were a few floats depicting historical scenes. They were more awkward than awesome, but the intent was nice.

I love how everyone in this parade was all about throwing insane amounts of candy out to the crowds. In Minneapolis, no one throws candy. They hand it out very politely. But only one piece per person. TOO SAFE.

My favorite parade candy is Frooties. They’re like tootsie rolls but not chocolate… they’re fruit-flavored!

It says “Flowering Vermillion for 50 Years” not de-flowering… Just making sure.

This parade didn’t have enough antique cars.

Not enough miniature cars, either.

This is one of Vermillion’s longest married couples (70 years). Vermillion’s longest lifetime resident was also forced to ride in a convertible car in the heat. I believe her plaque said she was 92.

It’s seemed like the Corn Palace Hillbillies might not be able to finish the parade because their car was smoking so much. *cough, cough*

Does Vermillion have a drive-in movie theatre? And since when?

Oh, maybe it’s just a joke. That darn ’70s float.

I’ve run out of words.

When I finally got myself on the road towards South Dakota, it was rainy and boring. It didn’t bode well for the weekend.

It actually turned out to be super hot and humid in South Dakota (though it stayed rainy in Minnesota). I was able to take advantage of Jen’s parents’ pool for a while. Jen and I spent a Friday afternoon floating around and catching up. I wish I had taken some photos—their backyard was bursting with beautiful, blooming flowers (blumen in German).

But, I didn’t. I saved all of my obnoxious photo-taking skills for that Friday night downtown—I may not have attended the official school reunion, but I still got to see the most important people.

Mom even got to show off another very important person (Hannie).

The only proper way to photography Suzanne is portrait-style because she is a million miles tall.

Gee, this is turning out to be a long—but great!—night.

I’m sorry about the next photo. I was walking while I turned the camera around over my shoulder and took random photos of those behind me. (Obnoxious, right?) I wasn’t looking and I didn’t know. When I saw this photo I almost fell over.

Finally we settled at Libby’s house. Though I don’t know who Libby is, it was a great place to hang out.

I think my inner 15-year old will always have a crush on Guthrie.

And then I went home at 4 a.m. The end. (Did you expect a more exciting end to the evening?)