Taste of Egypt

There's a beautiful church two blocks from our house and when we drive by it my granddaughter, Chloe calls it the big green castle. Yes, it has a green roof and it is large enough for a child to think that it really is a castle.  We would always correct her and tell her no, it's a church. But she continued to call it a castle.  Sometimes she would say "Let's go there." And we would again tell her, no, it's not a castle, it's a church.  In fact it is called St, Mary & St, Antonious Coptic Orthodox Church.

With the church's celebration, the Taste of Egypt coming up we decided it was the perfect opportunity to get a tour of the beautiful building and show Chloe that it really wasn't a castle, just a church.  Little did we know how much we would learn. According to the scripture, the only country Jesus traveled to was Egypt. The journey was chronicled in books and the Egyptians celebrate Jesus' time in country throughout their church. It is a beautiful account of history.

After our tour of the building, we experienced the food. Jeff had something called schwarma which had lamb and beef with a relish-like condiment on it that he said was so delicious. He wants to come back tomorrow for more! It is that good. The people running the event were so very friendly and inviting that it wouldn't surprise me if he did come back tomorrow.

Of course the girls saw the tents full of the children's activities and Chloe instantly wanted her face painted.  So we did that right away. They had a bouncy house set up and the girls spent the afternoon jumping while we watched.

It was a beautiful day to sit and relax and meet new people.

Milwaukee Irish Fest

We volunteer at Irish Fest every year. Over the years we have come to know that some things are constants.  The people here drink lots of beer. The people here are very friendly and they are still friendly even when you run out of beer. And I've never met an unhappy Irishman. Unless you run out of beer for more than 15 minutes.

We work at the Miller bar, usually bar number 4 or 5. We get to drink beer while we serve beer. It's the best volunteer job ever.

Another constant is that we will run into Bob Donovan sometime during our 4 hour shift.  We see him every year and he is a very nice man.  He is one of those politicians who likes to shake up the system.  I don't always follow the news and what he is up to but I do know that he is an alderman who is loved by his constituents. So I always thank him for his service to the community when he comes to our bar.  This year is a little different for him because he is running for mayor. So I couldn't wait to get a photo with him...he might be more famous some day than he already is.

Madison Farmers' Market

We took Chloe to the Dane County Farmers' Market in Madison today.  It was a gorgeous day and we thought we would head out early to beat the rush.  That didn't work very well, we got there later than expected and it was so crowded that it was making Chloe crabby. She was in a stroller and couldn't see anything because of all the people.  We rushed through the market when we came across a magic show on State Street.  So we got her some chocolate milk and sat on the curb to watch the magic show. Chloe saw some kids with balloon animals and she wanted one. Luckily, the balloon animals were being made right next to the magic show... there would be no need to wind our way back through the crowd.  She asked for a pink giraffe and the street artist made it just as she wanted. Her crabbiness lifted and she was back to her happy self.  Even though we were only gone for about 4 hours, it felt like a long and eventful day. Now we know that this farmers' market is probably not the best place for her.

Jelly Belly Factory Tour

My granddaughter, Chloe loves to spend time with me. I am thrilled that she does.  I kept her overnight last night and in the morning I googled things to do with kids and came up with a website that had photos of about 10 things to do that small children like.  I showed here the photo and asked her if she would like to do any of those things in the pictures. She immediately pointed to the Jelly Belly train and said "I want to ride that train." OK, then we will go!

The Jelly Belly factory is in Kenosha which is about 25 minutes away.  We had some breakfast, got dressed and we were ready to go. The only problem was that the factory opens at 9 and it was before 8. It's hard to explain that to a 4-year old. So I distracted her by getting her to help me clean out my car before we left.  She was into it so the distraction worked. We got to the factory 5 minutes before it opened.  There were already two families ahead of us. That made me feel less silly about showing up for jelly beans at 9 am.

The tour was a simple ride on a cute little train that made stops along the outer walls of the factory warehouse where they played videos of the jelly bean making operation and told stories of the history of the jelly beans. We were not going to see any actual making of the jelly beans here, just towering shelves loaded with boxes of jelly beans. Chloe didn't care. She is too young to pay that close attention and she was getting a train ride. That was all that mattered.

After the tour, we were escorted through the jelly belly candy store. It was a child's heaven. The displays were beautiful and bright and Chloe didn't know where to start.  She picked out a lunch box, a stuffed jelly belly character, a bag of Disney Princess sparkling jelly beans, some orange slices, and a bag of jelly beans for her sister.  She also got a jelly belly paper hat and a sample bag of jelly beans just for taking the tour. It was a fun day for a four-year old.

Garden Harvest

Yesterday Bailee picked our first red cherry tomato from the garden. It never occurred to me to look for tomatoes that are ready, it seems a bit early for that.  When she picked it she mentioned that there were many more that were close to red and almost ready.
I thought I should pay a bit more attention to my garden! I checked all the plants and discovered that there were two peppers that were so large on a single plant that the weight of the peppers was pulling the plant over.  So I picked the larger one, leaving the other one to grow some more.

I also picked some kale and dill that was ready for harvest.  I washed the kale off, making it look a little limp in the photo but I'm sure it will perk back up when it's dry.

I am so excited to start picking vegetables!

Bailee's 33rd Birthday

Today is Bailee's 33rd birthday and to celebrate I made her favorite lasagna dinner complete with a Simma's cheesecake.  Of course I added a salad and garlic bread so the meal was complete. We invited her friend , Shawna to join us along with her three children and had a small celebration. It was nice for Chloe and Avery to have other kids to play with and the weather was perfect.

I asked Chloe what she wanted to buy her mother for her birthday and Chloe said balloons. What an adorable response! So I picked up a balloon bouquet for her to give her mother.  Unfortunately Avery broke all the balloons before I could take a photo, but at least the girls had fun with them. Dinner was good, 5 kids in the house was crazy but I think everyone had fun.