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I didn't grow up on an indian reservation, like my mother did.

Or like many of my cousins and relatives did.

Adapting to the "being native" thing is still new to me.

I grew up attending pow wows here and there, but never participating.

So, this is all recent for me, but it's something special, ya know?

Something I want to instill into my children.

Their heritage and culture.

Can I just say that I am completely obsessed with some of these costumes?

I love mine. It's my first. Hopefully of many more to come.

My AMAZINGLY talented cousin, Lydia made it for me.

Her and my aunt did it all, the beadwork, the ribbons, everything.

In fact, she makes her own. EVERY YEAR!

They are all so extremely beautiful, aren't they?
SO rich in color and tradition and culture...

These pictures are from last week, September 9, 2012.

A local festival called Indian Summer. 

I mentioned in THIS POST that Milwaukee's summers are filled with festivals.

Each one embraces heritage and culture.

Italian, Mexican, Polish, Greek...and so on.
So, this past week, I decided to join in the fun and dance a little for the pow wow.

Really, there were competitions. I have very little clue what I am doing,

but I have fun with my kids dancing the "all nations" dance,

in which they invite anyone out to dance, costume, native or not!

It's a lot of fun!

For more NATIVE HISTORY AND PICS of mine, check out this post HERE!!!

Hey guys! So Summer is just about up.
I'm looking forward to fall! SO BAD!

But before I get into my fall mode, I thought I'd throw one quick "Summer" post at ya!

I'm not really a summer girl, so I don't do these often, but I had the chance to 

guest post for a summer traditions series, and this is what I posted.

Summer Traditions in Milwaukee! Are you excited? Probably!

I thought I'd take just a few minutes to educate you on Milwaukee Summer Traditions.

I come from Wisconsin, so automatically when I say that I am pretty sure people imagine

2 things: cheese & cows probably.

I'm pretty much like you, in that I eat cheese on my cheeseburger or taco, or

the occasional grilled cheese sandwich & the ONLY time I come across a cow is

at the Wisconsin State Fair.

Like every state, that is a story within itself, full of traditions...

ahem... um...cream puff... 

Ok, Ok, let me just show you quick...

because people literally stand in line for like over an hour for one of these at the state fair.

Anyways, state fair and cream puffs aside, let me tell you about a little local claim

we have going on here in Milwaukee.

Every summer is a season of festivals here along the lakefront (Lake Michigan in case you

didn't know)...so we have fests that celebrate different nations...

Germanfest, Greekfest, Festa Italiana, Indian Summer, Mexican Fiesta...etc..

but before all that starts we have SUMMERFEST!

Here is the claim! Summerfest: The worlds largest music festival!

Really Milwaukee? The Worlds Largest? I don't even know. Maybe it's true, maybe not.

So Summerfest, like any festival involves the 3 following;

Food: Which i love to hate and hate to love. It's all just too delicious.

Booze: Mostly I just hate it, because its crowds of people who have no clue whats going on.

Music: Everything from Local to  Katy Perry to Toby Keith to Iron Maiden.

Most definitely HUNDREDS of bands performing. 

Actually I just looked it up. 11 stages and 700 bands in the span of 11 days. Crazy right?

(I'm sure they didnt count the smaller local stages in that)

This year in particular I went to see My brothers & sister in Laws band play...

They rocked that stage, and had a decent crowd too for being "local."

(local, but currently living in Nashville)

Chasing Taylor

We enjoyed the splendid 108 degree heat that day. The insane heat wave we had here 

in the land of Winter. I blame all the people here who threaten to move to Florida,

mid-winter. They brought it on us.

But at least we got some cute pictures out of it, right?

No, I didnt force the kids to "just lay down for a minute and look nice at mommy,

so I can take a picture." Nope, not me. I never do that.

So, that is ONE of our summer traditions. What did YOU do this summer?