Summer Fun!

We wanted to do something different for the Memorial Day weekend this year, so while the rest of our neighbors in Wisconsin were picnicking, swimming and camping, we went to the mall. But not just any mall - we went to the Mall of America. It was a fun day at the Mall, shopping, and lunch at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Factory, watched Shrek 3 (or was it 4) at the theater, and walked our legs off! That evening we ate a burger place new to us - Smash Burger. Yummy food.




Fortunately we got back in town Sunday so that we could go to Brat Fest on Monday, Memorial Day. This is a really big deal here in Wisconsin - where brats, cheese and beer are staples of life! They did break the record, 209,376 brats were sold over the long weekend, beating last year's record by 624! Something new this year was the ketchup and mustard ice cream. Not really condiment-flavored, the ice cream was colored red & yellow. A novel idea.

It's cookie dough ice cream, colored to look like ketchup & mustard. It's for the discerning palate.


June is Dairy month - as everyone knows. I know - you're seeing a pattern here. It really looks like this post is more about summer food, than summer fun. Hey, we're old - what do you expect, bungee-jumping and horseback riding? Nope, not us. Anyway, one fun weekend in June, we had Cows on the Concourse, around the state capital. We had to go and try the grilled cheese sandwiches and plenty of cheese samples.

We thought about petting them, but didn't want to knock any small children out of the way!

The worlds largest grilled cheese grill (or so they claimed - who am I to argue?)

I was sick over the 4th of July - and you don't want any pictures of that!! Actually, just before that, we went to Circus World, but that's another post.

The end of July we ventured down to the capital to shop at the Farmer's Market. Then we walked over to Monona Terrace - there's a wonderful walkway leading from it, running all along Lake Monona. We thought it was going to be a nice day for a walk, but suddenly the sun started beating down, so we didn't stay out there as long as we'd planned. But - hey, no food was involved!

There were several people fishing - this man caught a blue gill just as we were passing him, so we had to watch the magic as he reeled it in, then we took their pictureWho doesn't love ducks? Or are they geese?
Along the lake, many people use the bike path, or like this family on the right, the dad fished with two of the kids, while the 3rd one was trying out her skateboard.