Back in time

I had such a fabulous day! Our family went to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival today and ate lots of food, watched some great shows and got a little bit dirty (dusty, really). I love the Renaissance Festival - it's fabulous people watching for one thing - and the kids love it too. This weekend I was really pumped to go because it was the Minnesota State Belly Dance Contest. (I think they just made that up) Regardless, they had more dance shows this weekend - including this one where they danced with snakes - and Dahlal Internationale had a booth where I spent too much money buying a couple new hip scarves. The kids brought their little wooden swords and Samzilla got challenged to a duel. As a side note, he has informed us that he officially wants to be called Samzilla.

Pink Baby gets the award for the first ever child to completely undress while on a ride (picture taken before she got naked).

And E found the Hookuh Bar.
The highlight was that Cassandra Shore of Jawaahir (where I take dance classes) was performing! I have been dancing for 2 years and had not yet had a chance to see her. I have read and heard that she is an amazing dancer. One teacher even described her as "the Baryshnikov of middle eastern dance" (except female, I suppose). She was incredible! It wasn't just her performance ability, it was also the way she engaged the crowd and made everything look so easy and just plain fun. I want to dance like that We were tired, we were full, we were dusty, we were happy.