Local FunTimes (J.Marathon Episode 9)

Slideshow of some recent memories

It was a crazy couple of hours this Saturday Morning. After our normal Saturday morning routine we headed downtown for the "Food for Thought" festival. We ended up having an amazing sampling of Madison's kid friendly offerings. I wish we would have got snapshots of everything, but we don't so here is a list of a couple of hours of a Saturday morning in Madison.

1. Bucky Bash: A giant 50 foot high Bucky Badger and the UW marching band performing for thousands of fans at the UW engineering courtyard before the Badger game.
2. Fire Station #1: The firefighters were maintaining and practicing with their ladder truck. Jonas got a chance to see the ladder up 100+ feet and talk to the firefighters.
3. The Overture Center was celebrating its 5th anniversary. We stopped there on the way to the Capitol Square and on the way back from the Capitol Square. At the Overture center we enjoyed cake, a violin concerto, a kids karaoke band, a dance contest for kids, full costume for kids dress-up courtesy of the Madison Children's Theater, and many other little things.
4. We stopped to grab some 7-hour old cheese curds at the Farmer's Market on the Capitol Square.
5. We toured the Capitol Grounds running around, observing, climbing steps, smiling, and getting drinks from the funky water fountains.
6. Stopped at the "Food for Thought" festival. We received some free roasted peppers from a local chef. Checked out tons of info all about food. Jonas made a food-necklace, fed some chickens, ate some organic popcorn, cheese-curds, tomatoes, and apples while seeing things such as giant grapes on stilts and peas climbing stoplights. We stopped by many booths and stopped briefly to listen to Michael Pollen speak.
7. On the way back Jonas played horseee on the marble rails of the Capitol and ran around on the Capitol lawn with a bunch of other kids doing the same thing.
8. We listened and watched all sorts of musical performers: Scottish bagpippers, three different guitar acts, banjo players, drumming groups, and flute players.
9. We stopped by an outdoor concert on State Street by a New Orleans Style Dixie Land Band.
10. Of course there were balloon animals and face painting and lots of window shopping.

We laughed a bunch that we were able to do so many amazing things in just a few hours. We are always amazed at all the stuff that Jonas gets a chance to experience. The total pricetag for all this: $4 for the cheese-curds. Thats it!