One LOVELY day in Madison - Intro

Madison, Wisconsin has been our place of residence for a majority of the last fourteen years and a full blown official "hometown" for four. Last winter, we braved multiple concurrent days of sub-zero temperatures and a record season snow fall of 100+ inches. Spring typically brings swarms of blood-thirsty mosquitoes as well as quaint little streams burbling in our basement. Summer humidity levels in our fair city rival those of the ancient Roman bathes. Fall is absolutely lovely, but I'm afraid its gloriousness is shadowed by the lingering mosquitoes who don't die off until winter.

Forget it all.

Life in Madison, specifically on May 30, 2009, was totally worth every extra layer of fleece and every swollen mosquito bite. We live through the chill, the snow, the mosquitoes and the humidity for mostly-sunny 70-something degree days where fellow Madisonians are teeming around the state Capitol, strolling down State Street and gathering at the Memorial Union Terrace.

SWEET!!!!

My mother grew up on a dairy farm outside of Loyal, Wisconsin. As any child toted to the farm would, I have fond memories of cats in the haymow, baby chicks in the coop and cows in the very intriguing but none-the-less stinky barn. But my all time favorite memory of their farm is of Vern's Super Sweet Corn.

My grandpa grew the sweetest, the juiciest, the crispest corn I have ever tasted. My brother sold it in a stand by the side of the road. My grandma and mom would cook it, cut it off the cob and freeze it for winter. Given my age, I had very little to do with the planting, growing, picking or selling of the corn,but as with the rest of my family, I ate it religiously. Right around the end of July almost every meal included a side of freshly picked sweet corn, and undoubtedly there were a few meals that consisted of ONLY sweet corn.

My grandparents moved off the farm when I was still young and have since passed away, but Sweet Corn Season still lives on. I get giddy when the grocery store starts carrying sweet corn again, and despite the fact that I KNOW FOR A FACT that it will not be nearly as good as Vern's Super Sweet Corn, I buy it to tide me over until the farm stands pop up in late July. I will do everything in my power to make sure that Sweet Corn Season lives on, which includes enticing the very young ...

Gosling Games

Our local beach in Vilas Park is home to a plethora of feathered friends. I can't say I'm a big fan of the yard waste that a plethora can accumulate, nor did I appreciate the mama goose who hissed at my two-year-old; however, I called everything even after we spent a good hour enlisting the feathered friends help to play a new rendition of an old childhood favorite.

DUCK, DUCK

GOOSE!

Throwback

We're hoping to encourage the return of 80's style ...

The Rules of Sun

Caleb has fully entered the "I want to do it ALL BY MYSELF" stage. This includes dressing, tooth brushing, seat belt buckling and apparently applying sunscreen to visitors.
Thanks for playing along Maggie ;)

"Musical Sunglasses"

Sneaky Smiles

Today marks our first canoe ride of the season. As all such joyous events should be documented on film with joyous smiles, we enlisted a little help from the tickle monster (see if you can find Cody's right hand).