Tennessee Renaissance Festival

Welcome Lords and Ladies to the Tennessee Renaissance Festival! This weekend Mr. Cottage took my sister and I along with two of our friends Aubrey and Anna there. We had such a great time! 

We went the last weekend which is the Royal Joust Weekend, and the jousting was amazing! The horses were absolutely gorgeous (Sorry I love horses!). During one of the matches one of the knights got de-horsed during the joust. He fell so hard it bent up his leg armor.  Another knight was hit in the shoulder with a lance so hard he was injured.  

Here they are again with lances in hand.  Look at how beautiful they are.

Then of course ye (wink) can watch the human chess match put on for her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth and her court's entertainment.  

These two ladies were really cool! I have never seen someone fight someone using fans.

And if you have a mind to you can even try your hand at archery. Which my sister did.

 You can also tour Castle Gwen if you want. 

And of course you can get your picture taken with Queen Elizabeth of England! Which is exactly what Brianna, Anna and Aubrey (I took the picture) did while Mr. Cottage was standing in line to get turkey legs. 

Am I really going to share?

But beware of the troll! They eat little children you know, just kidding!  I don't think he knew what he was getting into with this one.  Anna turned around looked up at him and told him that if he bites her, she will bite him back.  He promptly said that is why he was not going to bite her.  LOL!  I think he met his match. 

If you are a maiden who enjoys shopping this is the place for you, with everything from handcrafted jewelry and clothing to armor and medieval weapons. And so many shops to choose from! They even have face painting and hair braiding shops!

Brianna and Aubrey decided to get a Henna body art tattoo done at one of the shops. Don't worry, it comes off! They really loved them. And if you need to rest your feet there are dozens of shows to choose from! All in all we had a great time. We usually try to go every year and it is always so much fun! The TN. enaissance Festival is every weekend in May and Memorial Day, for more information check out there website.

Organic Carob Ice Cream Shell

This one is a Cottage favorite. We've used it on everything from ice cream to cookie dough and it is so good!

Ingredients:

Coconut Oil

Organic Carob Powder Or Cocoa Powder

Raw Honey, Honey or Maple Syrup

Vanilla Extract

Directions:

Slowly heat the coconut oil, carob powder and honey together in a small pan. Stir until ingredients are melted. Add vanilla. Pour warm shell sauce over ice cream or dessert of choice. Store leftover in an air tight container in the refrigerator. Reheat over low to reuse.

Beauty For Ashes

To all who mourn... he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the LORD has planted for his own glory.

We have some wonderful news and we are now able to share it with you.  Our dear cousins,( Carter Lee's mommy and daddy) are now expecting a baby boy.  He is Trisomy free and is expected November of this year.  How glad we are, and how we celebrate in the goodness of God.  A beautiful new life!  

Congratulations Brittany and TJ.  We love you!  Brittany has gone and finished her college education and just graduated with her degree.  We are so proud of her!

If you would like to follow Brittany's journey, her FB page to raise awareness for Trisomy and Carter's story is here . You can also check out her blog Twinkling Stars and Forget-Me-Not's here.

If you would like to know the story of Carter Lee see our blog posts here: Carter Story 1  Carter Story 2