Owloween + Carolina Renaissance Festival Weekend

This weekend was a full weekend but a fun one. Like most weekends around here, it kicked off at the soccer fields on Friday night where we cheered for Chase as he and his team picked up another win (and another goal for Chase)! We are so proud of them, as they’ve progressed immensely since the start of the season and are understanding formations, passing, defense and positioning in ways that eluded the team in in early September.

An evening soccer game and some excitement surrounding yet another (!!) tooth of Ryder’s that fell out right before bedtime meant a late night for our crew but thankfully everyone seemed to wake up in good moods and not too tired on Saturday morning.

Owloween at the Carolina Raptor Center

After cinnamons rolls, sausage and fruit for breakfast, our Saturday plans took us to the Carolina Raptor Center for their annual Owloween event. We’ve been members of the Carolina Raptor Center ever since our boys began showing an increased interest in birds of prey and Owloween is our family’s favorite event.

Costumes are encouraged and all along the raptor trail, tables are set up with various activities for families to do together to learn more about owls, raptors, falcons, vultures and eagles. Candy buckets are also placed around the raptor trail so kids can go trick-or-treating among their favorite birds which is naturally a big highlight.

(Sweatshirt: Amazon / Long puffer vest: Amazon / Boots: UGGs / Leggings: Amazon / Socks: Smartwool) 

Our boys enjoyed dissecting owl pellets, trying their best to identify smells without sight (the way vultures can from far away), making bird-themed crafts, touching the incredibly light wing of a large Eurasian eagle owl, comparing their “wingspan” to the wingspan of an owl and a hawk and running around outside.

The timing of our Owloween visit seemed to be ideal, as more and more people were streaming into the Raptor Center as we left. I later read it was the Carolina Raptor Center’s best-attended Owloween yet which makes me so happy for the center as they do so much to help rescue, rehabilitate and release injured birds in our area — they help between 800 and 1,000 birds every year!

After Owloween, we knew we wanted to spent more time outside because fall in North Carolina is the best ever everrr so we made the short drive to a local trail head at Latta Nature Preserve.

The minute we saw one of the trails lead to a small creek, we knew our hiking route, as there’s not much our boys love more than searching for wildlife and exploring small creeks and ponds. Plus, the hike to the creek was just under 1.5 miles round-trip so we knew Rhett could handle it. A perk for sure!

We spent more than two hours at the creek with the boys, searching in the water and under rocks, catching and releasing various creatures, making stick art, hiking around and exploring.

Rhett: “Mom! I used the water to make my hair handsome!”

Time outside to explore, get dirty and search for little critters is 100 percent our boys’ happy place and they easily could’ve spent several more hours by the creek had our stomachs not told us we needed to leave and get some food in our bellies.

Ryder: “This leaf is as big as my head!” 

The rest of our Saturday passed by at home in a swirl of outside playtime, chores around the house, much-needed shower time and movie night. We started watching Magic of Disney’s Magic Kingdom on Disney+ (thank you for this recommendation!) and it’s been a great find so far! It gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the animals and the care they receive which is right up our boys’ alley but still entertaining for adults, too.

Carolina Renaissance Festival

Sunday’s adventures took us to the Carolina Renaissance Festival!

(Denim skirt: Target — I have the medium wash / Crochet top: Amazon / Boots: Amazon / Boys’ Costumes: Liontouch) 

Our local RenFest is massive — we’re talking acres and acres of an open-air renaissance-themed market complete with various artisans as well as a variety of shows happening all day long, a jousting tournament, falconry demonstrations, games, pony rides, petting zoos, coin mazes and more.

The RenFest village stay up year-round and is tucked away behind lots of trees so it is not something you’d even know was there unless you attend the festival. I was shocked the first year we attended!

Many visitors arrive in various costumes, dressed up as everything from kings and queens to fairies, dragons, knights, peasants and more. This was the first year our boys went all-in and dressed up as well and they had a blast getting into character, breaking out into spontaneous jousts and soaking up the RenFest fun.

We timed our visit so we arrived soon after it opened and by 10 a.m. it felt like a full-on party was happening inside RenFest! We ended up staying for just under four hours and a highlight of our experience this year was the joust!

The boys cheered and screamed along with the crowd and got so, so into it!

Eventually it was time for us to call it a day and we walked back out to our car, drove home and spent the rest of our Sunday at home, getting organized for the week ahead and hanging out together as a family.

And now it’s time for me to get this Monday rockin’! Enjoy your week, my friends!