Ravinia

To celebrate John's birthday we went to see Steve Martin this past Saturday. Not many people know it but Steven Martin is a fantastic banjo player and has even won a few grammy's. He plays with a great bluegrass band and is currently on tour. We saw him at Ravinia, an outdoor venue where you can sit on the lawn and bring your own picnic. It is a really fun place to see a concert and every time we go I wonder why we don't go more often. They allow you to bring in whatever you want and so being located on the Northshore (an area notorious for their wealth and extravagance) people go all out. These "picnics" often include huge meals on fancy tables with candleabras and vases full of flowers. It is quite a sight to see and very fun to walk around and look at the "spread". Of course I love this sort of thing and fall easily into the trap of creating the perfect picnic. This year I sprung for a cute little table that Crate and Barrel sells called table in a bag, which works great for picnics. You see many of these at Ravinia. So loaded up with our blanket, table, chairs, citronella candle, and cooler stocked with yummy foods we set off for a night of bluegrass. Joining us for the fun was Becky, Joe and Kari. Despite a little rain, we had a really nice time and I am already trying to figure out when we can go again.

Here is a view of the lawn at Ravinia

Here is a view of our picnic

Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers

Joe really got into the bluegrass music

Anabelle decided to stay up late and dance to the music

Anabelle really seemed to like the concert and wanted to dance and make some noise. She kept us laughing with her sounds of happiness and excitement and bouncing around. Sorry for the darkness on this video, it was taken by candle light and my video camera doesn't have a flash.