Over 208,000 Brats at Bratfest 2009

Memorial Day weekend is a big deal around here with the annual Bratfest. They wanted to beat last year's consumption of a little over 198,000 brats consumed in 3 days, and they succeeded with over 208,000. It was rather interesting to see so many brats at one time, and the numerous grills they had going. They have a little fair with it, bands, kayaking on the lake, and anything else they can jam into the day. All the profits go to charity, so at least it is for a good cause. Here is the official weiner mobile picture that we downloaded from their site. Samantha had a good time putting magnetic toppings on her pretend hot dog.

Woody hung out in the baby jogger all day and just people watched as usual.

Samantha had to go on the princess bouncy. If there is a bouncy, she will be bouncing!

She rode the Dragon roller coaster with daddy and had a great time. She has no fear and wants to ride anything that we will let her. She rode the spinning strawberry with me, and enjoying going as fast as we could. Ernie wouldn't have let me go that fast if he was with us, so I guess she got that gene from my side of the family.

Here is the enormous grill where they do a lot of the brat grilling. I couldn't get it all in one picture.

Here is Samantha decorating her hot dog. Cheese was the final topping for her masterpiece.

On our way out, Samantha posed for a quick picture. We tried to run her ragged.

My sole purchase was a brat grocery bag. It was only a dollar, and Samantha likes to remind you about Bratfest every time she sees it.

She had a great time and wants to go back every year. Maybe she will eat a brat one of these years.

Mission accomplished, Samantha actually wore herself out. I wish you could see the drool going down her chin. Next year they want to have 210,000 brats eaten in 2010. Wisconsin knows how to have a good time;)

Enjoying the Outdoors!

We get outside whenever we get a chance. We really enjoy going to all of the parks in our area, and downtown. We are still figuring out all of the things to do around here, but Samantha does not seem to mind. She likes walking on walls and anything that involves movement. She enjoyed her natural smoothie sitting in the bus shelter. Ernie went in to Starbucks to get us an iced coffee.

They both enjoy to swing! Woody will hang out in the swings all day, and Samantha tries every stunt imaginable on them.

I try to get Woody to wear a hat, but he has no part of it. He wore it for about five minutes on this day, but then it came flying off.

He looks like a little old man in this picture. Just sitting here eating my cracker!

Madison Sunday

We have gotten into the habit of going downtown on Sundays. Samantha likes to walk to the Capitol, and play drums at the make shift drum circle. Woody always just goes with the flow. Here is Samantha being her little hippy self. She wants to go to the drum circle every Sunday, and we get some very interesting people watching done. Ernie wants to get them to some of the soccer matches, so we will probably be seeing more of the drummers.

Samantha got to pet a St. Bernard on this walk down State Street. I have seen more of those dogs up here than any other place that we have lived. Of course, everybody had to tell us that she should just put a saddle on the dog and ride it!

We happened to find this bike race around the circle, which lasted all day long. One of the workers said that they started at 9:00 in the morning, and a different group went every hour. They ride for 45 minutes, and then finish to see who won. We got dizzy just watching them go around and around and around.

Samantha loves to run up and down the steps around the Capitol. She decided to do a little dance to the race announcer.

Fair Rides

We couldn't hold off Samantha for the Boardwalk, so we stopped by a little fair and let her ride a few rides. Of course she wanted to ride the crazy rides, but she settled on the ones more her speed. We took a picture outside of this concession stand and both children could not take their eyes off of the rides. She said the balloons were her favorite! Ernie and the operator told her just to hold on to the outside of the car, so you can see that she never moved an inch. I wish she listened this well all of the time.

She really liked the motorcycles, especially when they popped a wheely. I am sure we have a daredevil in our future.

Our standard Woody picture: happy and chill. He had a fun time people watching,

The airplane was fun, but I think a little too tame for our princess. Don't get me wrong, she would ride it over and over if we let her. I am sure she is going to have a lot of fun when we make it to Ocean City in June.

Little Miss Helper

Samantha really likes to help in the kitchen now. She has always enjoyed it, but wants to be in the center of the action at all times. We made cookies on this day just to keep her busy. You cannot see all of the cookie dough on her nose. This is her getting caught doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing. She still has not figured out how to be sneaky.

She always has to run to put her apron on before she does anything in the kitchen. This was the reward she was waiting for the entire time. She likes this part more than the finished product.

Testing Round #2

Woody went for testing #2 after the first test just showed that he had reflux. He had to have a tube put down his nose that went into his stomach, which tested his ph levels. I am very glad that we never had to do this with Samantha because she would have had that tube pulled out in a matter of minutes. Woody did a very good job, and never really messed with it too much. He was in heaven because I had to hold him for most of the day. This is a picture I took right after I was able to remove the tube, he was rather happy. Samantha was a very good big sister and helped in every way that she could. She is a little too used to going to the hospital, and thinks we need to go there all the time now.

Here is Samantha being goofy. We are still finding the right places to hang all of the pictures, but she enjoys looking at them.

Here is Woody with his tube. The little velcro things on his arms were supposed to keep him from pulling it out. The nurse called them no-no's. It was a little funny and sad watching him try to operate with them.

He needed some rest when we left the hospital. It had been a very long morning!

He still is happy going to the park, and Samantha is starting to see that he may be able to play with her some day. He just needs to figure out that it might be fun to crawl or walk.

Samantha enjoyed the grass a little more than Woody. Nothing seems to bother her, but Woody will let you know if he is unhappy.