Postcards

I have let a week go by with so much to do and little time to blog about it, the result of which I have far too much to share! Here are some highlight "postcards" of our past several days...

On Sunday we met friends at the American Players Theater, in Spring Green, for a production of As You Like It...

After a picnic, we trekked up the hill to the theater...

Eliza was enthralled - she has had an attention span for full-length plays since she was two. Ani was another story; we had to ply her with snack for the entire first act, until the action picked up and she was more entertained.  Regardless, it was magical: as the sun sets, the bats swoop out and through the scenes, the whipporwills call, the crickets saw away...

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 Monday we visited with family...

In the afternoon, Eliza, her grandparents, our friend Teo and I went to the Cave of the Mounds.  Teo, Dan and Uncle Joel all used to work at the cave; Dan was working there 17 years ago when we met!  Anika, in a characteristic moment of self-awareness, decided not to join us - "I can't touch anything, I can't climb on the rocks; it will be too hard for me!", which was just fine, as it gave her some alone time with her papa.  The tour was just perfect for Eliza...

Beautiful ribbon formations, which they also call "cave bacon"

Eliza and Teo

I think our favorite part was "total darkness" - amazing to look with eyes wide open and find no light.

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Tuesday we had set aside to visit one of our favorite places in Wisconsin: Devil's Lake State Park.  It used to be called "Spirit" Lake, which the girls preferred.  We met my cousin and kiddos there for a hike on the western rim.

Then to the beach...and at last to the old lodge, where my grampa remembers attending a dance or two, to get ice cream cones and buy souvenir beaded belts...

 We are truly packing it in, soaking up the things we love about this place, dreaming about one day living a little closer...