Summer nights

What fun Madison is during the summer... the past week or two we've done a bunch of fun things! We've gone to two more evening concerts: Concert on the Square and a children's concert at Olbrich Gardens. The concert on the square was great- Mike had to work late, but Caroline and I met up with his parents and had a ball. She was running around through the picnic blankets, chatting it up with everyone she saw. Also, in one of her finest moments, she stuck her finger in a complete stranger's belly button. It was classic. This guy near us was lying on the ground, raising his daughter in the air. His shirt went up and she just dove right in there. Happily, he was very good natured. We all had a good laugh.

The kids concert was a fellow named David Landau (I think...) in the field at the local botanical garden. We met up with friends Anna, Langdon and Eliza (16 mo), and John and Keri and their daughters Audrey (3 y) and Sophia (9 mo). The concert was perfect for the 3 year old crowd, but even the littler kids like Caroline and Eliza were really bopping around. We had a great picnic dinner and such fun catching up.

We also spent both Friday and Saturday nights this weekend at the UW union terrace, a great spot overlooking the lake, having a few beers with friends, including Mike's old college roommate. It would have been more fun if Caroline would just sit nicely, but nooooo.... she has to run around trying to eat popcorn off the ground, run down huge concrete staircases, and jump into the lake, while I grab her at the last moment each time. Aie! But she also did some fabulous dancing to the jukebox and charmed the heck out of everyone, so I guess we'll take the bad with the good and call it a day :)

The big excitement of the weekend was a trip to Oshkosh on Sunday. We went to visit Mike's brother Joe and family, and to see the big annual airshow. Well, we spent so much time hanging out at Joe's that we barely made it to the show, and decided to just catch the last hour from a field across from the airstrip. It was great to check out Joe's garden- it was awesome and had the best tasting tomatoes I think I've ever eaten. And you should see his pepper plantation... he has 40 plants! We also had a lot of fun watching Caroline play with her cousins. One highlight was when Caroline and Henry were standing in this pop-up fabric train toy when Owen (who you'll remember is just a few weeks older than C) goes charging into them and basically bodyslams Caroline into the ground like a linebacker. The poor thing was more shocked than hurt, but of course she freaked out. Oh, this girl is going to have to toughen up if she's going to keep up with her boy cousins!

And since you all are need your pictures, I've managed to cobble together a few from friends, family and the iphone. Could be worse. I think I've given up on finding the camera. Grumble, grumble.

Caroline and mama at concert on the square
Langdon, Eliza and Anna at the kids concert. What you can't see very well here is the mosh pit of kids in front of the singer. It was awesome because he made them jump up and lie down and they would just do whatever he said. And he made them giggle nonstop.Anna and family had us over for dinner one night this week, and Caroline had a ball with the cherries, as evidenced by her vampire face.
Caroline is becoming quite insistent about what she wants these days. This day, she wanted to wear her galoshes and nothing else. I compromised with a diaper :)

They just finished construction on our street (halleluja!), but Caroline really enjoyed the process while it was going. Here she is in her swing on our porch watching the diggers.

Oh, and while I'm extolling the wonders of Madison in the summer... Let me tell you how we just discovered a student group who gives away free organic vegetables every Friday. Awesome!! We've gone the past couple of weeks. Between that and Mike's mom's garden, we've really been all set for veggies! Now if only our little patch in the backyard would produce something. Darn walnut trees, poisoning everything. But I digress... when we were getting free veggies, Caroline discovered this fountain, which was only half full and therefore at the perfect depth for baby wading. And who can resist a baby who wants to play in a fountain?

In Oshkosh, Mike and his mom with the kids. Sorry- crummy iphone no-flash picture...Sampling the garden treasures. mmmm... broccoli! Lest you think she's the healthiest child ever, I'll tell you that she spit it all back out after chewing it up a bit.