NC Renaissance Festival

We attended the NC Renaissance Festival back in October. It is always a fun trip with friends to enjoy medieval times.

Ballet Folklorico de Mexico

The kids and I went to the Peace Center in November to see Ballet Folklorico de Mexico.  It was about the history of Mexico presented in a ballet format.  The ballet troupe was from the Mexico National Ballet and they were absolutely wonderful!  Even though the troupe was based out of Mexico, many of the dancers were from the United States.  Of course, the dancers were of Mexican decent and enjoyed displaying their heritage.

We enjoyed the performance and the Q and A session at the end of the performance.  We learned how hard the group trains for their performances.  Ballet dancers are very gifted athletes.  They run, lift weights, practice several hours daily, and have to have a great memory.  They must know every intricate step of their dance and many other dances they may not be performing that evening.  The Deer Dance, required the primary dancer to practice the dance for years before taking over the role from his mentor. 

We loved the performance and enjoyed the ballet immensely. 

Vicksburg National Military Park

This was on our way back from Texas, in August, I forgot to post.  We detoured to Vicksburg, Mississippi.  We wanted to 'kick' our not back to school year off with a side trip and this was the place to do such a thing.

We toured the visitor center.

Watched the movie about Vicksburg.

Next, we drove the battleground listening to the audio tour.  It was very surreal to see the terrain and imagine what the soldiers went through during the siege.

We enjoyed looking at the U.S.S. Cairo museum for the ironclad ship.  It's history was extremely interesting.

We enjoyed our history lesson about Vicksburg.