Trekker in Training

What?! We Lost?

It's very hard to concentrate on a football game when you're surrounded by two fabulous friends from your floor in the freshman dorms. I know the Badgers played terribly; I know Iowa was more fun to watch; I'm pretty sure we lost... It sure was fun!

Pool Play

Goodman Pool, Madison, WI



When the stars align, you know, a well rested child, an 80 degree day with ample midwestern humidity and some good old fashioned childish curiosities, the pool becomes paradise...

Sensory Safari

Caleb and I spent the morning at Nature Camp! Aldo Leopold Nature Center hidden in Monona, Wisconsin encourages children and adults to "discover and explore the wonders of the natural world". This week we learned all about the five senses...

Sense of Touch


Homemade touch book

Touching plants and dragon fly wings


Sense of Smell

Sniffing hickory nuts

Sense of Sight

"Look! It's a toad!"

Sense of Taste

Tasting bananas, apples and strawberries


Sense of Hearing

We listened to apples crunching, banana peels ripping and birds "yelling". Caleb did his very best to listen to the teacher teaching, but in his full two-year-old spirit tended to lag behind on mini-Caleb-explorations ultimately strengthening his "sense" of independence.

One LOVELY day in Madison 3 - The Children's Museum

The Madison Children's Museum

As if running like mad, devouring sights and sweets and exploring an expansive labyrinth-like government building wasn't enough, we ALSO stopped at the Children's Museum to dabble in a cornucopia of childrens' diversions. Aaaah, what a lovely day...

One LOVELY day in Madison 2 - The Sights

The Capitol Building & Capitol Kids

A day in Madison is never complete without a tour through the capitol building. Okay, so I've never actually been on an official tour, HOWEVER, for whatever reason, our family spends a fair amount of time singing through its cavernous halls, roaming around its winding stairs and gazing into its spacious dome. This trip was particularly eventful because it was our first time climbing the spiral staircase to the "tippy tippy top", the observation deck mid-way up the dome, for a glimpse of the church steeples, landmarks, and lakes of the isthmus.

Did you know that Capitol Kids, a local toy and children's clothing store, hands out free helium infused balloons on Farmer's Market Saturday mornings? Yup they do. And there's a nice little nook at a church nearby so when your child DOESN'T WANT TO GO IN THE TOY STORE, yes you heard me correctly, you have a cozy little cove to discover its playful properties.

One LOVELY day in Madison 1 - Chasing Market Memories

The Dane County Farmer's Market



Look at the masses of humanity streaming along the sidewalk in the background! The Dane County Farmer's Market brings in vendors that encircle the entire Capitol Square and buyers that fill up the sidewalk moving in ebbs and flows as people stop to peruse, sample and buy.

I try to make the endless supply of bright fresh vegetables, fresh cut flowers and various unique vendors (think cheese samples and honey vendors with live BEES) a source of entertainment. However, I usually end up suckered into buying a cookie, scone or a Madison classic like cinnamon rolls and warmed hot cheesy bread.

Today was a cookie and cinnamon roll day.

Regardless of what we buy at the market or how far we make it around the square, we never seem to escape the draw of the Capitol lawn. Good for running, rolling, jumping, and instigating a good old fashioned game of "monster chase", the Capitol lawn is always free of elbow to elbow shoppers. Although we tend to be the only ones running wild, the lawn is often sporadically littered with small groups of very happy people wasting their day away while thoroughly enjoying the weather and sampling their recently purchased fare. It may have been inspired by my two-year-old, but I think the Capitol lawn is now my favorite part of the Farmer's Market. RRROOOOOAAAARRR (monster speak).