30th Annual Georgia Renaissance Festival
Last weekend we made a trip to Georgia to attend the 30th Annual Georgia Renaissance Festival. We’ve never gone to the festival before so the kids were very excited when we told them what we were doing. We arrived just a few minutes after they opened and were surprised to see the amount of people that were at the festival. The only traffic we ran into was the last two miles before the festival because traffic was backed up a little as everyone was trying to get in and park. They had plenty of parking and attendants helping get the cars in as efficiently as possible. It had rained the day before so it was a little muddy in a few places, but it wasn’t bad.
We had a great time watching all the neat shows and going through the various shops. The kids thought it was fascinating and were even chosen to participate in one of the shows which was fun. The people performing were very interactive with the audiences. There were a few “adult humor” jokes in some of the performances, but nothing that the kids picked up on. It was Roman and bring your pet weekend so there were lots of dogs which the girls loved. We only saw one cat though!
They had a lot of different food options as well from giant turkey legs, key lime pie on a stick, funnel cakes, and more. The kids thought the funnel cake was delicious! There was alcohol available for purchase, however, with it being a day event most people were drinking casually so that wasn’t a problem. They do allow smoking so occasionally you would have to walk around a group of people who were smoking usually around the picnic areas. Overall it was a great experience, entertaining, fun, and a good family activity.
We got to see almost all the performances throughout the day. Usually each show performs several times during the day so if you don’t catch one time you get another one. We were there close to 6 hours and were able to watch at least part of every show that was performing that weekend. It was neat to see a lot of tricks and talent.
Here are some of the pictures from the shows we attended and really enjoyed:
King announcing the jousting tournament!
The warrior princess to be won in the knights competition
One of the warriors
Karlie and Brina on stage being lassoed by Cirque du Todd on Fools’s Knoll stage
He got a bunch of kids inside the lasso
Having fun in the performance!
Juggling a large knife, garden spike, and jalapeno spam
Cirque du Todd balancing on a board while juggling fire sticks and fire spinning around his head and feet.
Sirena Dog Show at the Garden Cottage Stage
She had a lot of different dogs doing various tricks
Huge poodle that could jump high!
Birds of Prey show, this guy flew over our heads!
The owl is ready!
We had an empty seat next to us and one of the workers would call the birds so they would land right next to us.
He’s got his little helmet on to keep him calm during the performance.
Petting the animals
Wheel of Death act at the Marrakech Mews area
He was walking and doing the jump rope while this huge wheel was spinning way up in the air. Amazing!
Barely Balanced was entertaining on the Halfwit Harbour Stage
Juggling knives over his friend
Now that’s a way to stretch.
He is balancing on a board while she’s on his shoulders juggling the knives. Barely Balance is a husband, wife, and friend who perform together.
She is standing on a large ball while they are juggling the knives around her.
It started the weekend of April 18th and goes through June 7, 2015. There were many more performances we saw while at the festival. Hope this gives you a taste of what you will see while you are there!
If you are looking to go to the Georgia Renaissance Festival you can use this promo code for another few days! Also, next weekend, the first weekend in May kids under 12 years old get in free!
Georgia Renaissance Festival Promo Code Discount:
- Get $4 off Adult and $3 off Child (6-12) tickets! Use Promo Code: “castle” when purchasing discount tickets on our secure website at www.garenfest.com. Tickets are good any day of the 2015 Season (Weekends and Memorial Day Apr 18-June 7). Online discount only. Not good with any other offers.
A special thanks to U.S. Family Guide and Georgia Renaissance Festival for offering a special discount to our readers. Any specific product information was provided by Georgia Renaissance Festival and U.S. Family Guide, however, the opinions expressed in this post are our own. We did receive tickets so our family could visit the festival and share our experience.
30th Annual Georgia Renaissance Festival Promo Code
The weather is warming up and there are a lot of fun activities happening all around. If you will be in the Georgia area any time between April 18th to June 7, 2015 you may want to check out the 30th Annual Georgia Renaissance Festival. I have also included a promotional code for you to use for additional savings!
30th Annual Georgia Renaissance Festival Details:
Every weekend and Memorial Day, starting April 18 thru June 7, 2015 The 30th Annual Georgia Renaissance Festival is a family-friendly event, and a different kind of theme park. Inside this 32-acre recreation of a 16th Century English Village you’ll find hundreds of costumed characters, the Queen and her Court, endless circus-style entertainment on 10 stages, shopping in over 130 artisan shoppes, food fit for Royalty, games and rides for kids of all ages, and the spectacular Jousting Knights on horseback. Patrons are invited to wear costumes and join in the fun too. It’s a whole lotta’ fun, and a little bit of History, every weekend and Memorial Day, April 18 thru June 7, 2015.
Georgia Renaissance Festival Promo Code Discount:
- Get $4 off Adult and $3 off Child (6-12) tickets! Use Promo Code: “castle” when purchasing discount tickets on our secure website at www.garenfest.com. Tickets are good any day of the 2015 Season (Weekends and Memorial Day Apr 18-June 7). Online discount only. Not good with any other offers.
Travel & Vacation: Tubing, Knee Boarding, and Water Skiing at Milford Lake!
Waving as she passes family!
We spent the weekend at Lake Milford playing in the water! It was fun to watch everyone go tubing, fishing, knee boarding (or boogy boarding as we grew up calling it), skiing and more. Thankful for some time together creating memories with our extended family!
Grandma and Zachie hanging out on the boat!
They are having way too much fun back there on the tube!
Karlie tubing with Aunt Megan and Uncle Josh
Karlie got up on the knee board again this year! We knew she could do it!
Working on getting the rope unlatched so she can hold it on her own!
She’s doing it on her own! Way to go Karlie!
Karlie’s first time knee boarding with someone else! She was so excited to be knee boarding at the same time her Daddy was knee boarding! A big thanks to my brother for taking these pictures for us of Karlie and Jake because I was on another boat with Brina!
Karlie knee boarding with Jake! She could live in the water she loves everything about it! So proud of her for doing the knee board by herself. She said it was a lot of fun, but her arms when her arms got sore she didn’t want to stop she was having so much fun!
Megan and Josh on the knee boards!
Lee making it look easy!
Waving to Nicko and Zachie on the boat!
Swinging his way out!
Skiing until the sun started to set! The lake was smooth and beautiful at this time of day!
Weekend Getaway!
Beautiful Day for a road trip with my Handsome Man!
Jake and I were able to getaway for a weekend while the girls were at church camp! It was nice to spend some time relaxing together. We were able to chat and have some one-on-one time without any interruptions for a solid weekend. One of the best parts about where we went is that no cell phones, email, or internet work so there were less distractions! We even had our first couples massage which was so very relaxing!
Drinking my morning coffee while Jake makes breakfast! I am so spoiled. Grateful for a husband that cooks!
My date for the weekend! Love you Babycake!
We rarely take pictures together so we snapped one after our couples massage at the Old Red Bridge in Hot Springs, NC!
Our home away from home for the weekend!
We went to the Hot Springs Log Cabins, it was so nice and peaceful in the rocker on the front porch. The only thing you could hear were the birds!
We know how to bring in the summer and celebrate! It’s going to be a busy one so having a weekend together was a true treat! It was awesome to truly get away from it all! Thankful for opportunities to spend with him. He truly is my best friend and the love of my life. I am blessed!
Life Simplified: Hosting in Our Home
One of my goals in 2011 is to simplify my life more by enjoying the blessings and not wasting what God has given us. I have been sharing with you the successes and challenges on those specific areas in my life as I go through them. One of the areas I am working on is making the best use of my time. While spending time hosting family and friends in our home is important to me I must also make sure there is time on the schedule to spend with my immediate family. The girls are growing up fast and the times we have together are precious. In order to make sure I don’t go overboard I am setting a goal for myself and asking for your help to keep me in line.Here are the current challenges I am working on:
- First Life Simplified Goal: No Grocery Shopping
- Second Life Simplified Goal: Meal Delivery
- Third Life Simplified Goal: Organize & De-Clutter our Home
- Fourth Life Simplified Goal: Hosting in our Home
Explanation of the Goal: As a family of four we LOVE hosting people in our home! We are blessed to have a home to share with family and friends whether it is for a party, game night or just to hang out together. I would probably host a get together several times a week if we had the time, money, and energy to do it. Part of learning how to simplify my life is making decisions on what to do with my time. Hosting typically requires time for cleaning, cooking, prepping, and/or decorating for guests. It is my goal to host at least one other family in our home once a month but no more than four. When I spend time hosting that means I must give up some for something else. Having up to 4 hosting events in our home means that there will be time to spend together as a family of four. I want my girls to have the experience of hosting even at a young age. Sharing our home and their toys is a valuable skill they can learn at an early age, but they like anyone, need a time to relax and refresh.
We have already started working on this goal. We had 3 families of three over in the month of January. February is a busier month in our household not because of Valentine’s day but because we will be hosting the girls birthday party. One of the many benefits to having twins or higher multiples is their birthday parties hit at the same time. Brina and Karlie’s birthday party will be our major event this month and we have at least one other hosting event already on the schedule.
I will share with you the challenges, successes, and updates as I go through this journey so you can keep me accountable or even go through it with me by participating and sharing your story. Taking the extra time to invest in the lives of others is important to our family. I hope that we have been able to host many people in our home without going over board. It is important to me to make time for my family on the weekends as well as the people around us!
Life Simplified is a series on getting rid of the extras in our life while learning how to enjoy what God has given us so we can continue to be a blessing to others. Our homes can quickly start are bursting with “stuff” and if you are like us we just have too much. I am doing a series on ways we are learning to simplifying our food, homes, and lives. When our hearts, lives, and homes get too cluttered we may start missing out on opportunities to serve and bless the people around us.
Photo by MaryTClark
Don’t Leave Home Without: Your Keys
The girls didn’t have school Monday, teachers work day, so I was looking forward to spending some quiet time with them. We spent the morning reading books, eating breakfast, making beds, doing laundry and other household chores that are fun with two little helpers hovering around. We were hurrying through our “to do” list so we could go on a ZoobaLoobaDoo adventure together.
As I ran the mail out and gathered up the last minute items, Brina and Karlie headed downstairs to get buckled into their car seats. They love going on errands with me therefore they were buckled in rather quickly. When I arrived they were patiently waiting for me start the van so we can be off on our adventure, as I buckled in it hit me………Where Are My Keys???
The next 45 minutes was a whirlwind as we bounced around in search of the keys. The first several minutes the girls just watched as I went from cleaning out the van, digging in the trash can, and combing through the house in search of my keys. You have to understand that as an organized person with two kids I have a “place” for my keys. Whenever I need to head out my keys are rarely a concern because I know when I get in the van exactly where they will be. If I am parked in the garage my keys are always on top of the dash. When I am at the store or parked outside the house my keys are always in my purse. At this point in the search I had decided that for whatever reason the girls and I were not supposed to be going out today. Of course, that didn’t go over too well when I told the kids so I promised to look another few minutes then we would have to go back inside and find something special to do at home.
I think the girls were beginning to get concerned that we would not be going on our ZoobaLoobaDoo adventure so they suggested that I call Daddy to see if he rememberd seeing my keys. The weekends are wonderful with the entire family together, however, my keys get shuffled around more because my dear husband prefers to use his keys when we go out and they fit better into his pocket (my key chain is rather large with all my keys, fancy sayings, digital picture frame and so forth attached). Not really thinking he would remember since I am the “organized” person in our family I call…..after a short pause he suggested looking on the key ring in the garage (which I never store my keys on since they are either in the dash or my purse). Well, today they were nicely hanging on the key ring in the garage. Now to make matters more embarrassing the key ring is in plain sight from any where in the garage and I walked past it at least a dozen times in my flurry to locate my keys. The girls were thrilled that Daddy found the keys for Mommy and we were off on our errands!
Although we live in a suburban area it is not easy to go to the store or run errands without keys. Thankfully we were able to locate them so we could go complete the activities for the day even if we were running an hour behind schedule. It is one of those moments when you realize how dependent you are on having the keys to get you where you need to go when leaving the house.
Being organized is awesome! I am thankful for a husband who puts up with my craziness and shares in the laughter when those moments happen. He is the calm in this wild household of women and I love him dearly. Although he unintentionally caused the hiccup in my organized household I know he was only trying to help. Keys really are an important item if you plan to drive somewhere…….so don’t leave home without them!!!
I am a firm believer that you are only as organized as you need to be. Don’t Leave Home Without……is a mini-series of items that you really shouldn’t leave home without in today’s society. Most days I am organized which saves time and energy for the entire family, however, there are times that life gets crazy and items somehow manage to find another location in my home. If something is not in it’s place (even though the spot it is in makes perfect sense) it can cause additional drama, scurried moments, and in the end laughter. Hope you enjoy the humor as I have (later in the day or in some cases later in the week).
