Summerfest and How I Almost Fainted

Yesterday we spent a fun filled day at the opening day of Summerfest.  I believe the last time we were there was ten years ago, when my oldest was 3 and I was pregnant with my middle.  Things have not changed much, except the prices are much more pricey these days.  $20 for parking, ouch!  Greg took the day off and we arrived around 12:30 PM.

We saw Bango the Milwaukee bucks mascot, right as we arrived.  They had a "Bucks experience" that started at 1 PM so we decided to do that, BIG MISTAKE that I will elaborate on later.

We started off with Hawaiian shaved ice for the all the boys, a cold beer for my hubby, and a white wine cooler for me.  We then went to the "Bucks Debacle".  They were going around in the crowd getting kids to participate, Cooper was chosen to play "hot potato" with Brandon Jennings, Drew was supposed to be a ball boy for Brandon, and Ben was chosen for a trivia contest.  After numerous problems with their microphones (none of them would work), Cooper finally got to play (he's on the right).  I am not a Bucks follower at all, but I think the kids thought it was cool.

Well after ONE HOUR of sitting out in the blazing heat/sun, they gave up on most of the activities with the kids due to the lack of working mics.  Ben and Drew did not end up doing their activity.  It was pretty lame and we were all baked by this time.  I hope for the sake of the Bucks that they figure this out because it was really a debacle IMO.

At this point it was 2 PM and I had not eaten anything all day except a handful of chocolate covered pomegranate seed for breakfast.  I went to get my must have item at Summerfest, the eggplants strips from Venice Club.  As I was walking back, I really started to feel like I was going to pass out.  I mean it was pretty scary.  Luckily I made it to a spot in the shade and sat down, right there on the ground.  We had nothing to drink so Greg got me a bottle of water STAT and the boys all stood around encouraging me.  It was too sweet.  I guess I learned my lesson that wine cooler + an hour in the blazing sun + empty stomach = TROUBLE.  

We found a picnic table in the shade and ended up having lunch.  I was able to drink some water and eat some eggplant strips and I was back in action.  I was so looking forward to another wine cooler, but at that point I was too freaked out to have another and got an iced tea instead.

We had a nice trip across the Summerfest grounds on the Sky Glider.  Greg was in front with Cooper and Drew and Ben and I rode in next car.  Despite the 90 degree heat, it was very pleasant and there was a nice breeze.

We had a very nice day.  It was not too crowded and we left around 4 PM because Drew had a 7:30 BB game.  It was quite a change from my 20s when I would go to Summerfest multiple times every year.  One summer I even met a guy at a garbage can, while I was throwing something away and we ended up dating for three years (before I met the TRUE man of my dreams, my hubby).  Summerfest has so many great memories for me and it was great to make some new fun memories with my four favorite guys in the world!

What's your favorite summer festival?  We are so busy in the summer with baseball and other sports that it was perfect to spend the day doing something fun and local as a family.