Forgotten pictures

I hate it when I forget to get pictures from Shad's phone for my posts. These are all from our trip to Wisconsin.

These two putting on a show in the music store. Dancy is singing "Roar" by Katy Perry.

Huge pumpkin tower.

Star Wars hair and an Ewok.

Even Darth Maul is a fan of Superman. 

Shad's table spread at Protospiel to entice game testers.

Shad nearly always had a game playing. Very little down time.

Protospiel Madison 2016

Shad spent all day Friday at the Protospiel convention at the Sheraton in Madison. I dropped him off in the morning so that I'd have the van to go places with the kids and get an oil change. I joined him in the evening after I put the kids to bed. It was exciting just walking in the room! Such a positive, excited energy! I only took time to play one game that night, Science!, but it left me eager to return in the morning to play more and meet more gamers.

Aaron and Emily (my uncle and aunt) were soooo awesome to watch our kids for us all day Saturday so that I could attend Protospiel with Shad. I came back to Waunakee for bed time and then returned to Madison to finish the night. We were there until midnight, didn't get to sleep until past 1:00, then woke up at 8:00 to leave at 9:00 to drive 11 hours home. Shad was wiped out the whole week after. 

 Saturday at Protospiel had nearly three times the attendance! Shad was busy all day with people play testing Make a Killing. He made so many modifications to test out suggestions that when he needed me to sit in and play once, I had to be retaught much of it! It was mind blowing. We're still not sure how many of those suggestions to take or leave. Some people were really nice and pleasant to play with, others were arrogant, condescending game designers who thought they would tell Shad everything that was wrong with the game before even starting, and then quit in the middle because that was enough for them and they weren't going to spend any more time on it. Like this woman in the picture. Rude!

I playtested Culinary Clash, which is a restaurateur game of picking up food supplies at farmer's markets and cooking it to win the most prestige. You can serve anything you like to customers, or serve specific requests to critics. The cooking has to be carefully timed to ensure the food is ready at the time it's needed and doesn't get overcooked. That gets tricky when working with multiple entrees that need different cooking times and all have to be ready to serve together for the critic. Really fantastic game.

(Yet it's a little unfortunate that Culinary Clash has been slightly tainted for me because of a couple encounters with the designer later on during the day. He happened to have the same personality as the woman described above...who happened to be his wife. Rude, negative and condescending while playing other peoples' games. "Well, I looked around and didn't find anything better, so I guess I might as well play your game." Yeah, he said that to another designer whose game I sat down to play.)

But moving past the negativity, we met many people who were just so positive and upbeat. This is Jay, the painted thumb guy. He always paints his thumb nails any time he travels. It started as a newlywed thing, missing his wife's blue eyes, but continued because it's saved his life twice. Once he got in an accident and was in a coma for several weeks. The nurses paid extra attention to him because they all remembered and liked his thumbs. A couple years later he returned, conscious this time, and a nurse recognized him because his thumbs were painted. On a second occasion, he was kidnapped in Arizona. The abductors noticed his blue nails and thought he must surely be a musician or artist or something, and people would be looking for him. So they dumped him on the side of the road. I took this picture not just to remember Jay and all his really constructive help he counseled Shad with, but to also teach Tommy that he can make his own choices and not be influenced by what his friends and society tell him is not for boys. 

Jay, who is also a professional game design teacher, was one of the most helpful people we met. He gave several suggestions and ideas to apply to Make a Killing to make it easier, more functional, and marketable. However, he did stop at one point and said, "I'm giving you these ideas but remember this is your game. Make it however the hell you want." That was probably the best advice we got.

Some of our feedback ranged everywhere from "I loved the game, just make it about anything else but killing," to "I love the theme of the game, but just change all the functions." Several enjoyed the game as it was and just gave a few ideas that might help. Having had time to reflect on the feedback we got from everyone the realization came that people's backgrounds, personal preferences, bias, and perspective all played a roll in what they were telling us. A publisher, for example, would likely have a harder time selling a game about assassination to distributors than a game about taking in homeless puppies and kittens (trademark). 

Overall, Protospiel was stressful, fun, exhausting and educational. We would definitely go again.

Village Park and Parfrey's Glen

After picking up our taste of Wisconsin at Mousehouse Cheesehaus, we stopped at Village Park in Waunakee to eat our food and then play.

Samson suddenly decided that he was ready to sit up, and did so himself. All the better to eat the sticks and leaves, my dear!

Willow in the background, happy baby on the grass ground.

Tommy offered to take a picture of me with my baby. He's looking at the picture with me now and laughing, "Ooops! I accidentally got my finger in front of the camera!"

 And now, because he is learning to read, he read what I wrote and is laughing hysterically. It's actually nice that my kid can now read over my shoulder!

Momma and her boys!

This park had several willows. As previously stated in my Quarry Hill post, I love willows! I've honestly never seen so many before.

I found a willow branch on the ground and Tommy was thrilled to pretend to fish with it.

Seriously, such a gorgeous park!

There were several bridges crossing the meandering stream.

I love it when Samson grabs our faces! That means love!

I seriously never get enough of this boy's face!

On Wednesday morning we set out for Parfrey's Glen. It was a luscious drive of rolling green hills, autumn leaves, red barns and silos, and many twists and turns in the roads. All very different from what we're used to.

The glen floor was a maze of intertwined tree roots.

So many trees!

We were able to take the double stroller until a stream crossing. Thora did a great job walking when she had to abandon her stroller!

Samson is always a good cuddle buddy.

I love how my kids love to help each other.

We saw fun rock formations at the end of the trail. 

"Give her the finger!" --Shad

And a booty shot, of course...

Continuing the path to Mordor...

This was where the trail ended with a sign saying to feel free to proceed and enjoy the rest of the glen, but at your own risk upon leaving the maintained trail. This would be a great spot for a date, or for Shad and I to take the big two...if only we lived nearby! Hmmm...

Some other hikers offered to take a picture of us.

Water running down the rocks.

Shad took Katie and Tommy out onto the rocks a little way.

Best friends!

Seriously, we'd love to come back and explore this more.

When my aunt Emily got home from work that day, we told her we had gone to Parfrey's Glen. She was shocked and wondered why my uncle Aaron hadn't told us to go to Devil's Lake. All the good stuff at the glen is off the trail; until then you're walking in just a forest. I told her that may be true, and to her it may be just a forest, but to us, coming from Kansas, it was a forest! Perspective.

Friends and Family of Wisconsin

My middle and high school friend Kim has lived in Madison, Wisconsin for the past six years, just 20 minutes away from where we were staying at Aaron's house. I'm so glad my brain remembered that to coordinate meeting for dinner with her! Shad counted: we ate Greek 5 times on this trip. Still not sick of gyros.

I didn't take many pictures of my kids and their cousins (okay, so these kids are MY cousins, but when I'm 18 years older than them, it's fine for them to think that my kids are their cousins and I'm the weird relation that is their mom.), but they all had fun playing with each other.

Thora and Sam playing the piano

Dancy and Sam playing the piano

Ian and Tommy watching TV. 

Ian was so funny one day. His sister Rachel, who is a freshman in college, called one afternoon. Ian answered the phone and told her cousins were at their house. "Um, I don't know which cousins they are. (I told him my name is Megan) But their mom's name is Megan." Rachel actually does know me, so this must have made sense to her because Ian didn't keep explaining.

Katie enjoyed sitting up in the loft to have an art space but also watch TV with Tommy and Ian below.

Leaving Sunday morning. Back: Shad and Katie, Samson and Jessie. Front: Tommy, Ian, Dancy, Sam, Thora.

Crossing a river into Iowa. I forget which river and don't care to look it up.

Wisconsin

Shortly after we crossed the river into Wisconsin...

The farmer in the dell!

The farmer in the dell!

High-ho, the dairy-o!

The farmer in the dell!

The cheese stands alone!

image borrowed from Mousehouse Cheesehaus

The cheese stands alone!

image borrowed from Yelp

High-ho, the dairy-o,

The cheese stands alone!

image borrowed from Silly America

Okay, so I had to google these images because I didn't think to take my own, but we really did eat at Mousehouse Cheesehaus near Waunakee, Wisconsin. The food was phenomenal! I had a liver sausage and Mousejack with horseradish sandwich on toasted rye bread. The liver sausage was juicy, soft and melted in my mouth, blending perfectly with the warm, melted cheese. The horseradish added nice contrast in flavor, and the lettuce and toasted bread gave a nice crisp balance to the soft mush of the meat and cheese. Oh, did I mention the lettuce was GREEN? Yeah, we don't see much of that here in Kansas. And the tomato was red! That mouthwatering goodness was a drippy mess all over my fingers and it was delightful! Shad had summer sausage and cheddar with honey mustard on sourdough bread, also with green lettuce and red tomato. I tasted only one bite of his, and it was good but I liked mine better. MHCH also had seasoned meat and cheese curds out to sample, as well as some 20 cheese spreads and toasted bread bites. We sampled a good bit, and came away with a bag of garlic dill cheese curds. Shad and I weren't sorry that most of our kids didn't care for them. We'll definitely eat there again if we get back to Wisconsin!