‘Twas The Night Before King Richard’s Faire But What Could We Possibly Wear?! By: Meghan Our family began going to King Richard’s Faire when my daughter’s were 5 and 3. Now that they are 9 and 7, going to the Faire has become a Fall tradition. As soon as school starts the girls begin asking when we’re going to the Faire? It’s never soon enough for them. They love how it feels as though you have truly traveled in time when you enter through the Carvershire gates. There is an assortment of sights and smells that bring them so much joy and excitement. We had this year’s visit last weekend, and it did not disappoint! This is the last weekend of King Richard’s Faire in Carver and you should go!! It’s so much fun and there is nothing else like it happening near here the rest of the year, so if you can go, do it! I urge you to dress up when you go to King Richard’s Faire. It may feel silly and you (or your kids) may worry they will be the only ones dressed up, but when you arrive it will enhance your family’s feeling of inclusion within this special time and place. Truly the ones that stand out as different are the attendees that have not dressed up. How often do we have opportunities to go all out and be someone (or something) different then our every day selves? We love costumes and it doesn’t take much to convince us to dress up. It doesn’t have to be a big effort either, maybe a cape you have laying around from a Halloween past, maybe a left over pair of fairy wings. Maybe you have a lovely dress that makes you feel like a princess, perfect! Go full steam ahead and pile on your jewelry. Add some hair pins to each end of a necklace, pin each end on opposite sides of your head and let it drape down your forehead – instant crown! The last month has been a struggle in our family. Sometimes things can be hard, challenges more intense, and harder to overcome. That’s how it’s been for us recently which means even though we’d been looking forward to the Faire, somehow getting our costumes together slipped through the cracks. Suddenly it was the night before and I realized I never got my act together to create the vision the girls had described (in detail) to me weeks before. All I can say is, thank God for Pinterest! I was able to find a way to make fairy wings with things I had at home, I used one flat bed sheet cut with a hole in it for a tunic for my husband which he belted and use one more bed sheet to make a cloak for a friend that was attending with us (it’s made exactly the same way as the gray one in the picture of my hubby below that I made last year) Here is the link where I found the amazing fairy wing directions from Griffin Street Productions on Instructables.com: http://www.instructables.com/id/Cellophane-Fairy-Wings-in-under-2-hrs/ She uses some other materials in her instructions but I cut it down to what I had on hand:
I made the easiest cape ever which was super fast to whip up and all I needed was:
Rain from liveabout.com made a fantastic tutorial that you can find here: https://www.liveabout.com/how-to-make-a-cape-1106051 After a night (and a few early morning hours) of work, we had costumes! We were ready to go to the Faire! If that all seems like too much, you’re in luck because you can still have a costume to wear at the Faire thanks to the lovely artisans at Seams Like A Dream where you can rent costumes for as little as $10 –up to $65. More info here: https://kingrichardsfaire.net/costume-rental/ and here: https://www.facebook.com/seamslikeadreamcostumes/ Each year I wonder if the Faire will be able to top our previous year’s visit but it always does! I think the fact that the girls are getting older creates a different experience for them every year because they’re seeing things from a different perspective as their knowledge grows and interests develop. I love how they’re starting to make connections there with things they are reading in books or learning about in history or hearing in music classes. It’s a wonderful way to bring learning to life! Our favorite knight, Sir Geoffrey, was not there this year. But a new (younger and quite handsome!) knight, Sir Daniel, was competing in his place. He complimented the dress of one of the young ladies in our group and seeing this 12 year old, composed sweet girl blush with happiness was one of the highlights of the day for me! It’s always a thrill to see the joust and the horses are so beautiful! Another highlight this year was the Big Cat show, this is always a favorite of my girls but this year the show has really improved. The Mistress of Ceremonies was dressed appropriately for the Faire and not at all in a revealing outfit as in some of the year’s past and was very knowledgeable, relatable, and engaging. The cats were amazing and so fun to see at such a close proximity! The girls are always allowed to pick one souvenir and for the 3rd year in a row they picked a dragon from My Dragon Pets who have created wonderful dragons that I’ve never seen anywhere else. Check them out here: http://www.mydragonpets.com/
Some people worry that the Faire is not appropriate for kids, but as a cautious mom with very sensitive children, let me reassure you that it is very family-friendly! I hope that you take advantage of this last weekend of King Richard’s Faire for this year and go make some great memories in Carvershire!
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![]() By: Meghan It’s almost April vacation and if you’re anything like me (i.e. you don’t have an exotic vacation coming up), you are just now starting to plan for it. Well, I have a fun suggestion for a day trip to fill one of your upcoming vacation days. Recently my girls and I discovered Beantown – no, not Boston – this Beantown is actually in Reading inside of … Jordan’s Furniture and is called BeanStalk Adventure Ropes Course. I have been sadly uneducated in the amazing offering that reside within Jordan’s Furniture. I always thought the only thing to be found there was, well, furniture. I was WRONG! Look at this place! First of all, there are famous Boston landmarks which are recreated in smaller scale throughout Beantown made up of … jelly beans. Get it?! BEANtown. It’s awesome, and basically made us feel like we’d entered Willy Wonka’s magical candy world within his Chocolate Factory. Look at these faces: Since you can’t actually eat the jelly beans in the replica, there is a handy dandy candy store right there with Jelly Belly jelly beans and other awesome treats like Harry Potter’s Chocolate Frogs. The kids were just a little bit excited about this: And did you happen to see the picture up there of that insane-o ropes course? Well that is there to try as well. There is a huge, high, crazy-pants multi-level course with a zip line for older kids, and a smaller, less crazy-pants course for younger ones. All three kiddos I brought started on the insane course but it was REALLY scary! The two 8 year-olds pushed through their fear though it was still really scary for them and I think they may actually enjoy the memory of it more than they were enjoying it while actually participating. But if you ask them right now, they would say it was the coolest ever and even though they were scared they still had fun. Which in its own way (being scared but still having fun or at least still participating) is a pretty important thing to be able to do and know that you CAN do. Now my 5 year old went up there for about 5 seconds and knew immediately it was not for her. She is a tree-climbing, rock-scaling, dare devil, so that should give you a sense of the fear factor here. So she decided to do the lower course level and totally loved it. It should be noted that the entire time they were on the ropes course they were buckled into a harness that was attached at all times to a secure built-in system, meaning there is truly no danger at all of falling. After our time was up on the course, we retired to Fuddruckers restaurant which is also right there at Beantown. So awesome! Did you know they have the World’s Greatest Hamburger? Well they say they do and we all thought so too. The kids also really liked the milkshakes! After that the kids hung out in front of the Liquid Fireworks show, which the kids loved – this really surprised me and reminded me how awesome kids are. They danced up a storm! After all that dancing we then got some yummy Sundays at Richardson’s Ice Cream Shop which is right next to the fountains inside the giant jelly bean banana split sundae. Yum!
There is one more cool feature that we didn’t get to experience, which is an 8 story Imax 3-D theater. It was showing a grown-up movie at the time, so we didn’t visit it, but if it was showing something else, how cool would that be to add in to the day?! We were exhausted by the time we were done, luckily it was an easy drive back home to the Cape and it was such a fun, unexpected adventure. Our trip definitely made me excited to discover more awesome day trips we can do over vacation – stay tuned! What do you have lined up for vacation? Any favorite day-trips that you recommend? Share for me and the other parents looking to fill our staycation or just our weekends. Thanks! By: Meghan One of the great joys of being a parent is seeing the world with the fresh perspective of your children’s vision. Things that were dull before become vibrant as they experience them for the first time. Holidays become sparklier, colors become brighter, trips become adventures. One of my favorite adventures that we take as a family is our annual time travel to King Richard’s Faire in Carvershire (Carver to those of us that live in the 21st century). Though the journey takes us back historically nearly 500 years, the easy drive from the Lower Cape is less than an hour. This year’s visit was special because we introduced dear friends to the Faire and got to watch as they experienced the magic of the Faire for the first time. All summer my kids shared their excitement with their friends and by the time fall rolled around, they were on board for joining us on our visit this year. My kiddos are 5 and 7 and they LOVE the Faire. Beginning in July, they start asking if it’s time to go and begin planning their outfits. Yes, we dress up. All of us (stop laughing!). It truly adds to the experience, bringing you into the realm as you interact in your role with the actual performers. It’s so fun for me … I mean the kids, yes the kids. We were lucky enough to be there for the opening ceremony this year, which is truly a treat. The King, Queen, and various other Royals and court members welcomed the crowd, introducing the characters and storyline that would be woven through the day. As the crowd moved in the Washing Well Wenches hung over the railing saying hello to handsome fellows and requesting cartwheels from men in kilts. My kids were thrilled to be met inside the village by the King, Queen, and the King’s mother. They curtsied beautifully and charmed the royal family with their princess manners. My favorite moment of the day may have been when our 8-year-old friend stood staring in amazement at the Faire’s village and said “I never imagined it like this. It’s like someone took Chatham back to the middle ages!” There were several new acts this year that were truly wonderful! One of those was a fantastic new show at the Dance Stage which is set up among the picnic tables near the food stands. There were huge red strands of silk fabric hanging from the sky above the stage. As we sat eating our huge turkey legs we were thrilled to find out why – the aerial silk show Draiku began performing beautiful aerial acrobatics that took our breath away! The new Big Cat Show is a huge improvement over years past with a lot of educational The jousting tournament was again amazing with gorgeous horses and talented knights showing their yeomanly skills. We love cheering for Sir Jeffrey and always sit in his section of the jousting field. After the afternoon’s jousting match it was time to visit the artisans of the realm. My kids have become enamored of dragon pets that they can only find at the Faire. Every year they add to their growing family and buy a dragon each. It is their special remembrance to get them through until the next year’s trip. Apparently they’re good for snuggling too. It was another wonderful trip back in time and clearly I enjoyed it, but this year I decided that it was time to let my kids have a turn sharing their thoughts about King Richard’s Faire. So fair readers, here is an interview with my tiny time travelers Fiona (7) and Coco (5): 1.) Girls, how do you know that it’s time to go to King Richard’s Faire? Coco: Because you just know! Fiona: Because it’s fall and then we get our costumes and then we get our tickets! 2.) How many years have you two gone to King Richard’s Faire? Coco: 3 years 3.)Can you think back to the first year we went and tell me what you thought it was going to be like? Fiona: I didn’t know actually. I just thought it was someplace kingly and queenly and witchy. Coco: I thought it would be like it is 4.) What is your favorite memory about King Richard’s Faire? Coco and Fiona: Getting our first dragons! 5.) Why do you want to go back to King Richards Faire? Fiona: Because it’s really awesome! Coco: Because it’s really nice! 6.) What makes it awesome and nice? Coco: Because the whole thing is nice, I can’t describe it. Fiona: It’s nice in a way that people want to go every year once they try it. If they go this year they’ll probably go again next year. 7.) What is the craziest thing you’ve seen at King Richard’s Faire? Fiona: The tournament! PS – don’t be scared about what I’m about to tell you, but there is a bit of violence in the tournament. Coco: Yeah, it was crazy when the King said the tournament would be to the death. Yech. (Mom note: There are three tournaments and they get progressively more intense, the 3rd joust is mortal combat. We have actually never attended that one as my kids are pretty sensitive.) 8.) What was you favorite thing about the Faire this year? Fiona: The dragons! 9.) How did it feel to meet the king? Fiona: Kind of weird an kind of nice and kind of freaky, because he’s a king and I never met a king before. 10.) What was your favorite show this year? Fiona: The tournament Coco: The cat show 11.) What was your favorite ride? Fiona: The jousting horse ride, I actually speared the little ring out of the dragon’s mouth when I went riding down on the horse! Coco: The swan swing, it went so high and I almost fainted! 12.) Did you eat any food? Coco: I ate at the kings feast, we had a giant ice cream 13.) What did you think about the acrobats on the silk Fiona: Cool but scary! Coco: I don’t think I could do that! 14.) What about the guy on the tight rope? Fiona: He walked on it with high heels on! I don’t know how he walked on there! Coco: I was freaked out for him! 15.) Did you see any interesting characters Fiona: The Laundry Monster Coco: The king’s mother was there this year! Fiona: I met Tree Fairies too and they can’t talk to grown ups but they did talk to me! 16.) Anything else people should know? Coco: The horses are pretty! 17.) Would you go back?Fiona: Yes!
Coco: Even if we couldn’t bring our cat we’ll still go back! So there you go! King Richard’s Faire is the place to be! The Faire runs weekends through October 25th in Carver. Check out more information at www.kingrichardsfaire.net. Huzzah! By: Meghan Last year our family had our very first visit to King Richard’s Faire in Carver. Held on an 80 acres forested lot, filled with permanent, fantastical structures, it is easy to lose yourself in the surroundings and imagine you have stepped back in time. Our trip last year was fun and magical, both of my children were young enough (5 and 3) that they were easily caught up in the fantasy. Throughout the year, my daughter spoke about being knighted. My youngest would tell people she had been to princess school. A dragon pet that my oldest bought as her souvenir became a cherished and dearly loved friend, greatly needed as kindergarten presented more challenges than expected. After I wrote my review last year, I did not anticipate how large the Faire would loom in their memories and how important that experience was to them. One of the wonderful aspects of being a parent is seeing the world from their perspective, and as they shared their memories and opinions about the Faire over the course of the year, I began to see King Richard’s Faire from their point of view. As they began to see signs for the Faire and repeatedly asked to return, I knew we would once again be going to “Carvershire.” (picture courtesy of King Richard’s Faire). I was curious to see if it would have the same effect on them now that they are another year older and my big girl especially is moving farther and farther away from magical thinking. However, as we walked through the gates and we were greeted by “whale spit” bubbles practically as large as they; the magic began to take hold. We spent the first hour walking around the grounds and taking in all the sights. And what sights there were! Princesses, fairies, lords and ladies, the king and queen themselves. There were warriors and knights, elves and jesters. We use this time to identify all the rides and games we may want to participate in and also start looking at the amazing wares for sale by the artisans. The girls are allowed to pick a certain number of rides and this time allows them to begin the decision making process on what rides/games they will do. We made our way to the jousting field just in time for the King’s Tournament. There are three jousts every day culminating in a joust to the death. My sensitive girls can’t handle mortal combat so we haven’t seen that show yet, but I hear it is thrilling! Instead we enjoy the more genteel first and second shows which truly show off the tremendous skills these knights have gained. There are four knights to root for and each section of the crowd has their own champion. The horses are beautiful and it’s such a treat to see them put through their paces in this way, this type of action is not usually seen in the riding ring! We all love the jousts, they are truly the top attraction for our family, and my youngest has a special place in her heart for Sir Jeffery, drawing this picture after we had returned home. There he is, Sir Jeffrey and his happy horse. After seeing the King’s Tournament we began taking in the shows and riding on the rides. There is just so much to do and see, I can understand why some people make this a two day affair. My girls were kind enough to rank the shows from their perspective and these are their top three shows: TOP 3 SHOWS FOR KIDS BY FIONA AND COCO 1. The Tale of The Tiger – Big Cat Show – this one ranks at the top of the list for them because they are real deal cat lovers (with an allergic dad, so no kitties at home) and these larger than life cats were amazing to see up close. Also, the girls were so excited that there was a young Liger in the show this year. One of the few disappointments last year was that the Liger was not well enough to travel. The cubs were ridiculously adorable! 2. Vicious and Delicious – These two charming young acrobats put on such a great show that we had to stop and watch them whenever my girls caught sight of their act. Juggling, acrobatics, humor, contortionism, among other excitement kept the girls enthralled. 3. Paolo Garbanzo – the fire breather and juggler, Coco said “that’s not safe mom” but they also couldn’t believe their eyes! He is an award winning entertainer and puts on a great show! TOP 3 SHOWS FOR GROWN-UPS BY ME |
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