The last two months have been jam packed full of visitors, celebrations, home remodeling projects and playing tourist. We are still diligently working on completing small projects here and there in the house while trying not to go crazy or getting stuck inside the entire summer. Here are a few of the fun things we've done in the past few weeks.
DAIRY BREAKFAST
In Wisconsin, June is officially the month that dairy is celebrated, and one of the ways to celebrate is to attend a dairy breakfast. Most of the time, a farm in each county is selected to host the breakfast, but the one for our county held the breakfast at the fairgrounds. We were excited to go not so much for the breakfast itself, but really for the chance to tour a working dairy farm. This year it was held at Prairie Dawn Holsteins Farm. I think the most entertaining part was listening to the people from Chicago on the bus ride to and from the farm. It was like they were waiting for a ride at Disneyland, not touring someone's property. Weird and hilarious.
WALLDOGS
Delavan, one of the towns that borders ours, hosted an event in June called Walldogs. The Walldogs are a group of muralists and sign painters who drop into a town for 4-5 days and paint murals throughout the area, based on that town's history. Locals are encouraged to join in and the result is beautiful! It's such a cool concept; we drove around during the event to watch some of the painting in progress. I think the people of Delavan are hoping to draw more people to their downtown area and the murals might be just the thing to do it.
JANESVILLE ROTARY GARDENS
I'm really starting to love gardening, but I have SO much to learn. What can I plant, when can I plant it, how often do I water it, what kind of soil does it like, etc. So while my Mom was here, I used her visit as the perfect reason to visit the Janesville Rotary Gardens. We oohed and ahed our way through the entire place. Coming from the desert, we both have what you could call an extreme appreciation for anything that grows. While we were visiting, there was a short torrential downpour which my Mom turned into a darling fashion moment. I loved this place so much that I also took my sister when she came to visit. I can't wait to go back at Christmastime because the gardens are filled with lights and based on the photos I've seen, it looks fantastic.
Loved learning about Thomas Jefferson's Monticello gardens. I'm going to try some of his techniques out.
OLD WORLD WISCONSIN
Old World Wisconsin is a site developed by the Wisconsin Historical Society, just 20 minutes from our home. Situated on 600 acres, it's best described as an outdoor history museum. From their website: "Journey back to the past at Old World Wisconsin — a vivid re-creation of the working farmsteads and settlements established by European immigrants in America's heartland." We decided to take Mom to this and again, we had such a great time. I'm pretty sure that this is a place where many a child on a field trip is bored out of his/her mind. All of the kitchens were working just as they did in their time period, with the "interpreters" cooking throughout the day. I really thought that we were going to some sort of cheesy reenactment place with uncomfortable actors and a building or two. Wow, was I wrong. All of the gardens were real, the "interpreters" were working in some of the gardens while we were there. I can't wait to go back here. Being that our house was built in the 1830's, it's fun to imagine that this might be what our house originally looked like inside. There's so much more to this place, I definitely can't even touch on everything that they offer. Learn more here.
Throw in a few flea markets and antique shopping trips, painting, painting and more painting and that about sums up our summer so far. Time to get ready for our next round of guests!