Swedish Days!

The 61st Annual Swedish Days Festival kicked off last night, and the majority of the action is just a block from our front door.

Growing up in Geneva, Swedish Days was the greatest week of our summer. There's a carnival, elephant ears, corn dogs, the kid's parade, the real parade, live music, dancing in the streets and the ice cream shop stays open late! Plus, everyone you haven't seen since school let out is there sporting the start of their summer tans.

As an adult and a mom, I love Swedish Days for the very same reasons -including the ice cream shop staying open late. Except now I also enjoy the sales at all of the boutiques and (pending a babysitter)I have the option to enjoy the beer tents and wine tastings. The Chamber of Commerce and the History Center claim Swedish Days to be the "Granddaddy of Illinois Festivals". I haven't checked their facts, but it is definitely a favorite of our town's festivals. It's named "Swedish" Days as a nod to our towns settlers, and as Geneva celebrates its 175th anniversary this year, it's cause for extra celebration.

Jason has been out of town on business, so last night, Marin and I headed to the festivities with my parents. We all packed on the courthouse lawn with our blanket, lawn chairs and picnics and listened to a Beatles cover band. Marin was in heaven! I thought I might have to be chasing her all around the lawn, but she loved dancing to the music and eating off her small table (after she learned that it wasn't a step :)). She had never been to a picnic before, so the concept of a blanket spread out on the grass was fascinating to her. It's one of those things you don't think about as an adult- you just bring a blanket to a picnic. But to a child who is used to blankets being used at bedtime, or in the winter, it seems really silly to put a blanket on the grass and sit on it to eat. At one point Marin just laid on top of the blanket and giggled. Through out the night she kept going back to the blanket to lay on her back, just kicking her legs in the air like she was the happiest baby in the world.


We have plans to go back to Swedish Days all week. Can't wait to watch Marin take it all in!

Two other ways Marin made me smile this week:

I caught Marin dancing to the new song "California Girls" in her car seat the other day. When we pulled in our driveway I pulled out my camera to catch it on video because it was cracking me up. She was dancing along like she agreed with every word Katy Perry was singing about. Of course, once again, by the time I got the bit on film she had tamed her moves, but you still get the picture. In the end she's more interested in getting her hands on the keys in the ignition of our car than the bikini clad beaches of California.

Marin has really missed her Daddy since he's been out of town. Yesterday she saw a picture of Jason on the computer screen and she went berserk. She got SO excited and was "dadadadadadada"ing all over the place. She started squealing with excitement at the site of his face on the screen and wanted to climb up to get a closer look. When she got up close she started waving and saying, "Hiiiii!!!!! Hi Daddyyyy!!!" I think she might have thought that he was on Skype and could wave back to her. Really the only time she is in front of a computer screen, is when we are on skype, so she was waving and "hi"ing her heart out. It was so sweet!