Fun at the Lake

We got to spend some more time up at the lake when my dad and brother were visiting at the end of August. Dan, Kate & I went up on Friday the 24th, and my dad and Austin got up there the next day around 3. That also happened to be my dad's birthday, so Kate was able to give Grandpa her present! We had lots of fun that night playing cards and just relaxing together. I just wish Dan could have stayed longer than 48 hours! The rest of the week was spent swimming, relaxing, reading and trying out a new restaurant on Thursday (Calderwood Supper Club). It was so good; excellent food and a cute, rustic interior. I'm glad we tried it!

 A view of the beautiful sunset; talk about dinner with a view!

 In her new Cinderella hairclip from Nana & Grandpa

 New flipflops, too!

 Helping Grandpa open his cards

 "Hey, who's that girl on the mug? She looks familiar!"

 "Oh! It's me!"

The Renaissance Faire

On Saturday the 18th, Dan, Kate and I realized that we were running out of weekends to go to the Bristol Renaissance Faire, and the few weekends left in the summer were filling up with parties/vacations/etc. quite quickly! So we decided at the last minute to go to the Faire, and we loved every minute. It was a gorgeous day out; not too hot (mid-70s) and sunny. We had such a blast! We saw several shows, like Adam Crack Whip, Barely Balanced Acrobats, and some aerial silk performer (which was really cool; she had strips of silk suspended from trees, and she worked her way up the silk and was doing all these tricks/flips/etc. high up in the air), as well as the Queen's Parade and a Joust to the Death! And Kate loved going on the rides, including her pony ride, where she rode Hank (who Rori rode back when she was younger). All in all, it was such a fun family outing.

  Meghan and Adelaide came over the day before; Kate loved seeing her friend!

 On the rides at the Ren Faire

 Watching the joust with Daddy; she looks nervous!

Some cool chalk drawing someone had done about the wives of Henry VIII

More Summer Fun!

After we got back from the lake, we didn't have much time before we got back in the car--this time headed for Chicago. On Saturday, we first went to brunch at Sardine, because I had been there a couple weeks before with friends and fell in love with their crab, rock shrimp, and bacon cakes. They were so delicious, that when I went with Dan, my mom, and Kate, we all had the same thing! Well, Kate had a chocolate chip waffle, but she certainly ate her share of my crab cakes, too!

Then we went down to Long Grove and had dinner at Lou Malnati's, one of our favorite places. On Sunday, we hung out in the morning and watched the Olympics before having a delicious brunch, and then my mom, Chris & I went shopping while Dan stayed with Kate, who was napping (he took her to the park after she woke up). Then our little family headed back to Madison on Sunday night, and my mom came back up the next day.

 "Seriously, Mom? More pictures?" At Sardine Saturday morning

 In Aunt Chris's garden

 She still loves to smell every flower and say, "Mmm, that smells good!"

 So determined!

 "C'mon, Ellie, let's play ball" (with Ellie, the elephant we got at the Animal Kingdom, who is by far her favorite pet)

 

 "Ellie, stay focused; no time for sleeping."

 "There you go; good elephant."

 "Hmmm, this is harder than I thought it would be."

 Helping Aunt Chris make brunch