11 posts tagged “family”
I've never lived in a place where there is a festival going on EVERY weekend in the Spring/Summer/Fall. However, Wisconsin seems to be the land of festivals because it seems like there's a festival every weekend. Personally, I think it's just an excuse to drink beer and eat cheese... but what do I know as a newcomer to this foreign place?!?!
So to prove my point, I give you "Exhibit A" that contains some of the festivals around this area:
- Mustard Festival - I kid you not!!! (There is even a mustard museum in WI. For those of you who love mustard, come on over and we'll go check it out someday. I can't say that I count myself among those who love mustard, but curiosity has captured me to go to this strange little place someday.)
- Pumpkin Festival - okay, that sounds kinda normal
- Cheese Festival - also a no-brainer for WI
- Gourd Festival
- Strawberry Festival - oooh, that sounds yummy!
- Port Fish Day Festival
- Rendezous Festival - actually this is about Native American Fry Bread
- Oktoberfest - aka: beer fest
- Bastille Days
- Hmong Summer Festival
- Childrens Festival
- Gitchee Gumee Brew Fest - I don't know either!
- WI Film Festival - actually, that one sounds fun...
- Polka Fest
- Horse-A-Rama
- Home & Garden Show
- Craft Fairs - oh so many craft fairs...
- Apple Festival
- Family Festival: West Africa
- Wildwood Film Fest
- Kids Expo
- Central Wisconsin Concertina Festival
- Fox Cities Book Festival
- UW Milwaukee Latin American Film Fest
- Between the Bluffs Beer, Wine, and Cheese Festival
- Great Midwest Alpaca Festival - confession: I actually went to this one last year because friends of ours raise Alpacas. They are really cute!
- Portage County Cultural Festival
- Springtime Polka Fest - It kinds scares me that they have more than one polka fest!!!
- Cinco de Mayo Springfest
- Festival of Blossoms
- Apple Holler It's a Bloomin' Festival
- Redbud Festival
- Waterford Family Fest
- Spring's Wings Bird and Art Festival
- Gays Mills Spring Festival
- UW Milwaukee Italian Film Festival
- Festival of Spring
- Raggae Festival
- Microbrew Fest
- Wisconsin Micro-Brewers Beer Fest
- Mushroom Festival
- Syttende Mai Folk Festival
- Janesville Renaissance Faire
- Wisconsin State Polka Festival
- Ringelspiel Days
- Strawberry Craft Fest
- Maifest
- Chocolate Festival - Anybody want to come with me??? :) :) :) (MEMORIAL DAY!)
- Yesteryear Days
- World's Largest Brat Fest - ONLY in WI!!!
- Blues Bash
- Gathering of the Arts Festival
- Wisconsin AirFEST - no idea what that's about... celebrating air?
- Apple Holler Asparagus Festival
- Eleva Broiler Festival
- Oshkosh Irish Fest
- Cattail Trail Days/Amery Festival of Lakes
- Dragon Art Fair
- Annual Baby Bison Fest
- Greek/Serbian Festival
- Polish Palace Pig Out
- Osceola Dairy Days
- Willow River Blues & Brews Fest
- Bluegrass Festival
- Great Wisconsin Cheese Festival
- Dairyfest
- Isthmus Jazz Festival
- Fine Arts Festival
- Gardenfest
- Harley Fest
- Port Pirate Fest
- German Fest
- Eagle River's Great Northern Beer Festival
- Open Air Festival of the Arts
- Lupine Junefest
- Cambridge Pottery Festival & US Pottery Games
- International Bayfest
- Pride-fest
- Greek Festival
- Sparta Butterfest
- Darlington Canoe Fest
- June Dairy Days
- Harbor Fest
- Summerfest
- Food & Music Festival
- Midsummer Swedish Festival
- Polish Fest
- Czech-Slovak Festival
- Aquafest
- Butter Festival
- Clayton Cheese Days
- Fyr Bal Festival
- Porterfield Country Music Festival
- Darboy Chicken Fest
- County Fair with a Norwegian Flair
- Freedom Fest
- Country Fest
- Musky Festival
- Heidi Festival
- Festival Foods Salute to the Fourth
- Heritage Days
- Cheese Curd Festival
- Rainbow Valley Christian Music Festival
- St. Anne's Polka Fest
- Oregon WI Summer Fest
- Festival in the Park
- Monona Community Festival
- Pow-Wow Days
- Boscobel Fireman's Festival
- Altrusa Polkafest
- Riverfest
- Sawdust Days
- Watermelon Days
- Strawberries & Cream Festival
- Fish Creek Fest
- Riponfest
- Jefferson Street Festival
- Brews 'n Blues
- Art & Music Festival
- The Great Circus Parade Festival
- Strawberry Shortcake Festival and Family Celebration
- Belgian Days - (in Brussels, WI of course!)
- State Fairs, County Fairs, Art Fairs - too many to list
- Agricultural Fair
- Fun Fest
- Hodag Country Music Festival
- LIFest Christian Music Festival
- Door County Folk Festival
- Viroqua Bluegrass Festival
- Gospel Bluegrass Jamboree
- St. Albert's Fest - that one is in the town where I live
- Owen Old School Arts Fest & Marketplace - hey, at least they are upfront in the name "old school"!!!!
- Chalk Fest
- Pigs in the Sky Ribfest
- Karner Blue Butterfly Festival
- Garfield Ave Blues, Gospel, & Arts Festival
- Arts Demonstration Festival
- Summer Harvest Fest
- Acoustic Fest
- Paperfest
- Northland Mardi Gras
- Festa Italiana
- Apple Holler Cherry Festival
- Colby Cheese Days
- Rock Fest
- Old Fashioned Festival
- Holland Festival
- Carnival Days
- Prairie Fest
- Messy Fest
- Northern Highlands Music Festival
- Pig in the Park Summer Festival
- Hometown Festival Week
- Pulaski Polka Days
- UFO Days
- Waunafest
- Blueberry Festival
- Armenian Fest
- Brat Days
- Pigs in the Pines Rib Fest
- Starving Artist Fair
- Classic Wooden Boat Show & Festival
- Rail Fest
- Hamburger Fest - not to be outdone by the Brat Fest!
- Augustfest
- Feel Good Festival - as opposed to the "feel bad" festival, I guess?
- Corn & Brat Fest - okay, see... someone is concerned about us eating our veggies!
- Arab World Fest
- Scandinavian Festival
- Children's Day Festival
- Utica Festival
- YesterFest
- Irish Fest
- Fireman's Catfish Festival
- Little Bull Falls Logging Festival
- Fuddfest
- Luxembourg Fest
- Pioneer Days
- Crazy Daze
- Coffee Break Festival
- Big Bull Falls Blues Festival - that's a mouthful
- Sons of Norway Norsk Fest
- Barefoot Charlie Festival and Barefoot Brew-Ha
- Catholic Parish Festival
- Voices of Peace Gospel Music Festival
- Corn 'n Tater Festival
- The Oconomowoc Festival of the Arts
- Holmen Kornfest
- Maritime Heritage Tall Ship Festival
- Paul Bunyan Fest
- Rutabaga Festival
- Venetian Festival
- Pepper Festival
- Falls Fest
- Sweet Corn Fest - also in the town where I live
- Festival in the Pines
- Lumberjack Days
- Apple Holler Peaches and Cream Festival
- Festival of Flavors
Okay, really the list goes on and on and on and on and I just don't want to list them all. If you are curious you can check them all out at www.travelwisconsin.com for an event directory. Basically it seems that they are celebrating the fact that there is no snow on the ground during the months when the sun decides to warm up the state of Wisconsin. Thought you'd get a kick out of the land of festivals!!! If you are ever in the mood to go to a crazy festival or two you now know where to come!
(Click on the pictures to get a closer look at them and scroll through.) Hope you enjoy them. It was a very fun week.
In July, my family all got together for a week in Wisconsin for a reunion/vacation. It was so fun to hang out with mom, all my siblings, and their families. We went to a beautiful lake where we rented a lodge. It was nice to have the place all to ourselves. Here's a picture of my family. I'll put a lot of pictures in my next blog, but I wanted the group shot to be larger so you could see everyone better. The order from left to right is: me, mom, Janeen, Tim, Neal, David, Ethan, Stacey, Caiden, Jon, Nancy, Lydia, and Steve.
Mom, Nancy, and Lydia came down for a weekend at the beginning of June (May 31 - June 4) since Steve was away on his two month trip. It was so fun to have a girls weekend together. Although, Steve, you would have been welcome too if you were able to come!!! :)
On Friday night we went to the Monrovia Farmer's Market. There were lots of pretty flowers and craft booths as well as the typical fruit and veggies that you find at a farmer's market. They also had lots of activities for children. Lydia is still a little bit small for those activities but we had fun walking around anyway. She was learning how to wave. It actually looks more like she's waving you to come to her instead of waving goodbye, but it's close! I was waving to her before we went to the market and she waved back to me. It was very cute! However, when we were at the market, she initiated a wave to a complete stranger. It was adorable. The lady was so thrilled that Lydia waved at her and when we told her it was her first time to wave at someone that made her day.
On Saturday we went to Santa Monica and I took them to see the Pier and the Third Street Promenade. My roommate Colleen came with us so it was fun to spend the day all together.
I took a lot of pictures of Lydia (as you can see from the few I've posted here) but I'm just going to put a few up. She was haming it up for the camera which was fun because it used to be hard to get her to smile for the camera.
My mom and sister just bought a new video camera so we were playing around with it and I shot a video of her that is super cute. If you want to see it, check out my sister's blog.
It was a fun weekend and it was great to have them come visit me in LA. I think it was a long drive for them because they had to stop quite often for the baby, but they made it and it was great spend the weekend with them! Good thing they came in June because it's pretty hot here now!
I flew out to West Virginia to meet Scott's family over Memorial Day weekend. We had a great time and I really enjoyed meeting his parents, sister and her family. We had a picnic and also went to visit a nearby park. On the drive to the park we saw some deer near the stream. It was a beautiful place with lots of trees and hills. His family is very sweet and kind (just like him) so it was great to be able to spend time getting to know them. Here are a few pictures. I didn't take too many so if I get any more copies from them, I'll post them here.
Here are some pictures from a family gathering around Christmas time.... enjoy!!! Ignore the date on the pictures since that isn't when they were taken! Mom came into town for a week to help me pack up and move. Steve, Nancy, and Lydia were in Iowa for Christmas with his family, then came to visit us for a few days before my move. I was able to schedule the moving truck so that we could still have our family "Christmas" the day before I moved. Since my place was all boxed up, we went up to Wisconsin for our family day together. It was nice to have a relaxing day with everyone together before my big move the next day.
We hung out and played games, talked, and ate some pizza for dinner. Scott came over from Madison to join us for dinner so he's in a couple of these pictures too.
I'll try to add more pictures, but it's getting late, so I'll have to continue this update another time perhaps. At least I'll be up to 2007 pretty soon after these Christmas pictures are uploaded. :)
Here are some more pictures....
Here's some pictures from Thanksgiving, 2006. I was actually in California for more days than I was in Illinois in November because of the youth conference and the vacation to go see my family for the holidays. It was a beautiful thing to be able to spend the holiday with family instead of on my own.
I loved being able to visit because it was my first time to see Lydia again after her initial birth (I was there for her birth and had to leave a few days afterwards to come home). It was hard to leave after just meeting her in September so it was great to be able to come and spend a few days with Nancy, Steve, Mom (aka: "Granny Nanny") and Lydia (aka: "the cutest baby in the world"... no offense to other cute babies of course!).
I think I already posted some pictures up here from Thanksgiving so I'll just put a few up and move on to Christmas! :) Gotta catch up to the present before I get too far behind on putting pictures up. :) :) :)
It has FINALLY sold! I closed on my condo TODAY so that is a huge relief. Thank you to those of you who were praying for me regarding this situation. It was a long time to wait, but God is in charge so maybe he wanted the family who are moving in to have it instead of the last buyer that fell through. Just rejoicing at this news!
Oh, and remember, if you are a "friend or family member" then please sign up for a FREE account on VOX so you can read the more personal blog news. I'll post this for all so that anyone can read it, but most of my posts are for friends and fam only. Thanks! (No need to do anything to your account unless you'd like to blog too.)
I'm going to go to the LA Arboretum tomorrow so I'll post pictures here soon. It's beautiful now that it's Spring and the flowers are in bloom. It was great to go there this winter too, because there are things blooming there year round. It did feel funny to see leaves on the ground (like fall weather in the Midwest) in January/February, but this is California so everything is different here. Like, for instance... the green parrots that fly around near my house and like to make loud noises around bedtime. :) Pretty birds, but noisy.
Do you like my new banner at the top of this blog? Vox gives you design ideas you can use or you can personalize your own. The only negative is that there are words over Peggy's face and I can't change that.
Thanks to Chris McElwee for helping me make it. It's a picture of me with some of my friends at a going away party that Katie gave for me back in December. From left to right: Peggy, Mary Sue, me, and Nancy.
There were two other choices as well but I didn't get those until after I put this picture up. I'll put the other ones here though just in case you'd want to see them. The first one is of family and the other one is a picture of flowers that I took, but they look kind of blurry so that's why I didn't pick that one. Some heads got cut off in the family shot because of the size that the banner has to be so that's why I didn't choose that one. Sorry Tim, David and Lydia! Maybe if I can figure it out, I'll adjust it so that it will fit correctly.
