Veg Delivery

Yesterday was the first Friday I was at school rather than in the garden, but Dick was kind enough to pack up a beautiful box of veg for me. I set it down on the porch and Madelyn was on it like white on rice!? She took a nibble of just about each individual item in the box!

Last day before school!

Michael went down to Utah yesterday for the test for his final class (hooray!). Jess came over for dinner, and ended up spending the night - poor thing, Madelyn chose last night to be up from 12:30-4:00 am!? She told me around 3:30 that her "mouth had ouchies" (in sign) - maybe those last 4 incisors coming in? Or maybe Madelyn's last ditch attempt to keep my juggling (after asking for food, water, chapstick, books, papa, etc!?)

So, lack of sleep last night made for a very testy little 1.5 year old today...we had to just get out of the house!? Madelyn always seems to be better behaved in public:) We hit the town visitor center and played with the geese for a while. Somewhere in the middle of this clip, Madelyn touches her nose (hard to see) and says "honk!" That's what geese say, you know:) There were some silly tourists feeding the geese white bread - they handed Madelyn some so that she could feed the geese...A bad idea for several reasons: 1. The geese are as big as she is and not exactly friendly! 2. Madelyn decided that rather than share the bread with the geese, she'd pop the whole chunk in her mouth before they could get to it!

Last day before I head back to school (no kids until next Wednesday). I'm setting LOW expectations for the blog-watchers - no more multi-post weeks I'm guessing. You'll have to entertain yourselves with "re-runs" now and then:)

rainy day weeknd

Rainy day on Sunday - Madelyn was climbing the walls so we did some serious fort-building.

Amphitheater Lake!

Lisa, Jean, and Charlotte hiked up to Ampitheater Lake today - quite a huff, but beautiful views of the grand, the Valley, an alpine lake to dip into, ice cream at the end, and great company. Thanks ladies!

Spinning

A new favorite past time!

more pictures from the Art Fair

We eventually made it to the Art Fair with both Maddie and Leah - a good time had by all... balloons, popcorn (!?), music, etc.

Saturday Market

Here are two pictures from LAST Saturday that I meant to post - the knitting community has been kitting and felting flowers for the last few months, and last Saturday they were on the first of what will be a traveling display, tucked away in the antler arches. Kind of fun to see, and they will be popping up around town for the next few months.



And today we caught the end of the Scottish Highland Fest at the Market - Madelyn LOVED the bagpipes, as well as the music that followed. We are playing with Leah this afternoon while her parents play (musically) at the Art Festival. We might stroll both girls down to Miller Park and check it out... always some fun stuff, and so refreshing to see something other than wildlife art!

Jackson Lake

Today Maddie and I headed up north with our friends Jean, Grady, Owen, Hatilie and Tate. We went in search of huckleberries, but after finding ourselves at the lake with sparse pickings, we just sat back and enjoyed the (Wyoming) beach scene instead. We threw rocks in the water, watched boats, played in a driftwood fort... Owen, Grady, and Maddie did a little wading, but only Tate was brave enough to go all the way in! Way to go Tate!

Hucks

A fun time at the Rockefeller Visitor Center today - such a beautifully done space, architecturally as well as with the exhibits. No excessive signage, no cheesy gift shop, only a visual room, an auditory room, and a textural walk with a few quotes on the power of nature here and there. It was fun to watch the visitors take it all in and see the difference between this experience, and the mayhem that exists in many of the other visitor centers. We got out and hiked a short ways and found a few good huckleberry patches to pick. Madelyn was a pro picker, and pro eater (not too many made it into my tub!). There was a mother black bear and two cubs in the area - I felt like we were straight out of "Blueberries for Sal" (which we read in prep this morning:) )

Caught her!

I can't for the life of me get a clip or hair tie to stay in M's hair for more than 10 seconds, but today I caught it on "film"... must have been a full minute, only because Madelyn's hands were distracted with watermelon! And, shortly after, her hair was also coated with watermelon juice:)

A visit with Bill and Meg!

Bill and Meg are in town for Phil and Robin's wedding this weekend - we were lucky enough to lounge with them all day yesterday! So good to see them, catch up on how the East has been treating them, and see them love up Madelyn. We hit the park, lounged some more, and then a little thai food. Today we've got big plans to get ourselves out and pick some huckleberries - pictures to come.
(no, that is not a new scooter - Madelyn was just "borrowing" it at the park!)

Saturday

Hit the Farmers' Market early this morning and were lucky enough to get the strawberries - Madelyn walked around in a state of bliss (when berry in hand) and state of longing when the berries disappeared. And had a beautiful red sticky grin for half the day. She offered to share them with many of our friends that we ran into, but a few of them were pre-licked... no thank you!

We went out to Kelly this afternoon - Mike did some fishing and Maddie and Lisa had fun at the Hoover's homestead... watermelon popsicles, wading pool, fun with the chickens and ducks, garden exploration, hammock time, colored pencils, and 5 little ones under the age of 5! No wonder we were all so tired!

A few random pictures from the week: Madelyn in her Papa's socks, and some crayon time on the side of her box fort. Pretty sure Madelyn is right handed (also, if you click on the picture of her looking at all of the crayons, you will notice a little nibble off the tip of the red...she's been testing me on the "no eating crayons" policy!)