Texas Renaissance Festival 2015

We spent the last two weekends camping at the Texas Renaissance Festival.  This our fourth year to go, and we really look forward to it every year. 

 

Here's us the past two years (2012 was our first year and I didn't get any pictures of us, during our 2013 trip I was about 14 weeks pregnant with Matilda, and last year Matilda was about 6 months old):

 

This year, we decided to camp both nights of the weekend to avoid the Saturday traffic.  This was a good idea in theory, but we made the mistake of setting up our campsite in the regular campground (instead of the family side) the first night.  We haven't had trouble the previous years, but this time it was too noisy.  We ended up moving our tents in the middle of the night.  Good thing Jason has gotten so efficient setting up camp!

 

Saturday was pretty rainy, but we were excited to go into the festival nevertheless.  I was especially excited because I got a new outfit this year.  :)  

 

We didn't do too much.  Just walked around a bit and tried to stay dry.  Even though the weather wasn't great, I think it was my favorite day of the festival because almost everyone there was in costumes. 

Also, people loved seeing Matilda dressed up each day of the festival.  They also got a hoot out of the hiking backpack.  It seemed like most people hadn't seen a carrier like that before, which was kind of surprising to us.  We thought it was so much more convenient than a stroller or wagon.

We had German food for lunch (Matilda loved the corn on the cob) and then we headed back to the campground for Matilda's nap.  Matilda didn't make it all the way and fell asleep in the carrier.

 

Jason's brothers met us for a couple of hours after Matilda's nap, but we called it a night pretty early.  We got some sweet potato tots for Matilda to snack on before heading back to the campsite. 

 

The weather was beautiful the next day.  We spent most of our time in the back part of the festival.  First we got some pizza in enjoyed it in the chapel.  Matilda got to play with another little girl for awhile, so she was happy.

Then we headed to watch the elephant and camel rides.

 

And finally we made our way through the Magic Garden.  After the garden, I enjoyed an apple dumpling.  It was delicious.

After that, we headed home.  We got out of there mid-afternoonish and the festival was already packed.

The next weekend was a bit chillier at night, but the days were beautiful.  This time we were smarter and set up camp in the family section.  Jason was pretty upset both weekends because the Masquerade Ball (which was built smack dab in the middle of the family section) played pretty loud music.  I could block it out, but he had issues sleeping through it.

Jason got in a good run Saturday morning, and Matilda and I enjoyed the beautiful sunrise.

After Matilda's first nap, we walked around a bit at the front of the festival, then met Jason's mom, grandma, and uncle who all came in town for the festival.

 

We got some candied almonds while we waited for them, then we all ate Chinese food for lunch.  We only got in a couple of hours before we needed to head back to the campsite for a late nap.  We were hoping Matilda would just crash out in the carrier, but the festival was too crowded and she was too distracted by family for that.

 

Nonna, KayKay, and Boomer stopped by the campsite on their way out to say goodbye.

 

 

Our final day of the festival was short, but nice as well.  I was surprised to find out that my aunt and cousin were at the festival that day, so we watched a jousting show with them and went to see the horses.

 

After that, we met some of our other friends and their two kids for Greek food before heading home.  

 

Overall it was a wonderful two weekends.  Good camping, a great variety of food, top-notch people watching, and some fun time spent with friends and family.  Can you see why we look forward to it every year? 

Halloween

Just wanted to share a few quick pictures of our Halloween black cat.  Matilda enjoyed her outfit, especially the tutu because she liked twirling in it.  I know it wasn't very original, but I made the tutu, ears, and mittens, and I thought it came out pretty cute.

 

 

We didn't really do anything the actual night of Halloween (plus it was pretty rainy all day), but the evening before our neighborhood had a little get together in the park.  

 

Overall, it was a pretty nice weekend.

Colorado Family Vacation

Last week we spent three nights in Colorado.  We rented a little cabin between Lyons and Allenspark (about 1.5 hour northwest of Denver and 45 minutes south of Estes Park).  The best part of the cabin was that it backed up to a little river which was pretty relaxing to sit out next to.

 

 

The first full day we were there we hiked the Ouzel Falls trail which started at the Wild Basin trailhead.  It was about 4.5 miles roundtrip.  It started at an 8500 foot elevation and had a 870 feet gain through the hike. 

 

Here's us getting ready for the hike.  Matilda spent the hikes in our new hiking kid carrier.  She really likes being in it.

 

The weather wasn't nearly as cold as we expected.  We expected lows in the 40s and highs in the mid-60s, but when we got to Denver it was 85.

 

The hike was pretty nice.  Not too steep.  Mostly winded through the forest, with a few nice river and waterfall views along the way.

 

The couple hiking behind us told us that the waterfalls are much more impressive in the spring, but I still thought they were pretty nice.

 

We took a nice break when we got to Ouzel Falls.  We let Matilda stretch her legs (since circulation isn't great in the carrier) and ate our snacks.  The dang ground squirrels kept trying to steal all of our food. 



 

 

Can you see Jason in the second picture above?  Matilda thought it was hilarious seeing him up so high and kept yelling "Daddy!"

 

 

To our surprise, Matilda fell asleep on the hike back out.  We knew we'd be hiking during her naptime, but she never just falls asleep when we are out.  We figured the sound of the river must have reminded her of her sound machine and just soothed her to sleep. 



Matilda hiked the last 1/10th mile or so by herself.  Since she got a decent nap in, we headed to Estes Park for a couple hours to just hang out.  The town is pretty touristy and crowded, so we didn't stay long.  We were surprised by how many elk we saw in town though!  We saw several different herds.

 

The next day we hiked the Emerald Lake trail and the Alberta Falls trail.  Both trails started at the Bear Lake trailhead which was at about a 9500 foot elevation.  Our total mileage for the day was about 5.2 miles with about a 650 foot elevation gain.

 

When we headed to the trailhead, we accidentally took the wrong park entrance much more north than we had planned, so we had to wind an extra 30 minutes through the park to get to where we meant to go in the first place.

It was incredibly windy for the first half of our hike.  The Emerald Lake trail passes by three different lakes, and the second lake looked more like a river because the wind was causing so many waves.

 

When we got to Emerald Lake, we tried to rest for a bit behind a big boulder that semi-blocked the wind for us.  Matilda wasn't real happy at this point.  At first we couldn't figure out if it was because of the wind or because she was really tired, but we finally realized that the new socks I had bought her were cutting off her circulation and her feet must have fallen asleep.  Once we rolled them down and she was able to walk around a bit, she was much happier.

We then hiked back out and to Alberta Falls. Matilda fell asleep again in the carrier, so she was in a pretty good mood once we got to the falls.  We rested for a bit there as well.  Matilda had fun gathering rocks and eating her goldfish.

 

Overall, it was a really good trip.  We had a couple of hiccups along the way (like missing our first plane and Matilda getting carsick in the mountains), but I'm glad we got away for awhile.  Matilda loves being outside, so that kept her happy most of the trip.  I also think this vacation was easier/ more enjoyable than our Maine/ Boston trip because we had a better idea of what traveling with a baby/ toddler was like.