"Could you make my boobs 3 times their normal size please?" Was the first thing outta of my mouth, when we stepped into the little booth of the caricature artist. His response was, "Absolutely no problem. Art surgery, is my specialty." And my husband and I had a good time sitting there, while he drew our caricature. Even the rugrats, were fairly well behaved. Tayler actually was an angel as usual, Satan's Spawn (aka; Riley) did pretty good, although his quiet critique of the artist's efforts may have irritated our artist.

It has become our tradition to go to the Renaissance Festival http://emol.org/azrenfest/ once a year. This year was our fourth year, and we always have the best time there! There is so much to see and do there, that no two experiences there are ever the same. This year was no exception.

Kevin and I took my two youngest kids Tayler and Riley. We end up usually sort of splitting up, as the entertainment that Riley loves the best, are anything to do with weapons and violence.(and yes that does concern me) And there is plenty of it there! Tayler and I usually wander off to look at the many booths, while Riley goes from the paint guns to the arch bows, to the paint guns, and so on and so on, and so on. (In other words I can't remember the many weaponry games available to him, but there were tons of them!)

Tayler and I decided to have a Renaissance photo taken, and surprisingly enough, it turned out wonderful. The kids did the bungee jumping trampoline 4 times eacc, as well as the rock climb wall. Tayler beat her brother on that, and went all the way to the top. Riley got tired 2/3's of the way up though, and came down, much to Tayler's glee.

I will put our Renaissance photo's on my photo blog, as soon as I get them developed and off to Rachel at Bitchalicious.

Lunch is usually either steak on a stick, turkey legs, and Riley's favorite mac and cheese on a stick. Or as I'm fond of calling it, heart attack on a stick. Mac and cheese is clumped together, breaded and deep fried, for one big ol' pile of grease. Yes, I let him have it. One time a year shouldn't clog his arteries just yet. As he is the youngest and only one of my kids who would consider eating that mess, I cut him slack on Ren Fest day.

We had a wonderful time, and I recommend that anyone who lives in AZ try it at least once. I didn't think I would like it, and allowed Kevin to talk me into it. Since then I am more excited then the kids for this time of year. It is also a wonderful opportunity to bond with the kids and as a family, and yet the parents still have a lot of fun!

If you're ever coming to AZ, I would choose March (middle March) so you can be a part of this wonderful Festival. It made for a great day, and wonderful week-end with the kids!