December Update

Since I managed to make only one posting last month, I thought I'd better get a jump on December! Unfortunately I don't have any new photos to share, so will be featuring pictures from earlier in the year, as well as some from last Christmas. I don't think I published any of these on the blog yet, so they should be new to you! This first picture was a fun shot of me pre-pregnancy, taken near Bragg, West Virginia during our trip to see Susan and David this past summer.

Anyway... hope all of you are in good health and coping adequately with our cold, snowy winter. I know this has been a hard time for Laurie and Mark, so want to extend my sympathy to them after the recent loss of their beloved Roxy. We just received their Christmas card today, and see it was a snapshot of them with all their pets, before the accident. Laurie and Mark are both wonderful animal lovers and definitely put my impatient attitude toward pets to shame. It's too bad this had to happen...

I know Bob and John have been struggling in Madison with all the snow and ice. I talked to both on the phone a few days ago, and heard they had been dealing with long hours, equipment breakdowns, and unforgiving customers (besides the hard crusty snow). John has been assisting Bob with his winter snow removal business. Hearing their stories brought back a lot of memories of Jon's foray into winter snow removal. It was always a mix between lack of snow (and what to do for income in between) and too much snow. Everybody wanted their driveway done first, but nobody's neighbors wanted Jon out running equipment too early. Complaints came from every direction, but the pay was slow to come in! Ah yes, memories...

Jon is working in Conover right now. They're working six days a week (at least up until Christmas), so he's been coming home one night a week. The brief time home is frustrating, and since so much travel time's involved it's also not very relaxing for him, but he seems to like the new job otherwise. Now that the power line's done he's part of a crew working at a sub station. This job might last a year (if nothing else closer to home comes up in the meanwhile). But he's able to stay in a nice little two bedroom cabin that's right by a lake (it doesn't cost him much, either). So he brought his snowmobile and ice fishing gear along. He loves it up north and has commented he wouldn't mind retiring up their someday. (Photo of Jon with neice Beth Bragg).

Meanwhile the kids and I have been keeping busy with work and school. Last night Jonathan came over and babysat while I went to a Parent Advisory Council meeting. It's a two hour meeting I have once a month, and it's nice having Jonathan babysit because he knows how to handle the kids and can drive himself to and from our house. (Our teenage babysitter doesn't have a license yet, and seems to be losing her interest in babysitting now that school's started).

One more week till Mikey's ninth birthday! It falls on a Tuesday, which also happens to be a Girl Scout meeting day, so he has graciously consented to let us to have a Girl Scout Christmas party that evening. I plan to get him something extra special for his birthday, to make up for the girl-party thing. He's a trooper! (Photo of Michael in November of this year).

This past weekend Michael had a basketball game (his team is doing very well this year) on Saturday, and Emma went to two different birthday parties on Sunday. The two kids who invited her were both good friends, and their parties were at different times of the day, so it was possible for her to attend both. Jon and Mikey stayed home and watched the Packer game, and I got Mikey's birthday shopping done.

This Friday I'm meeting my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law for lunch at Olive Garden. We're having our annual Secret Pal reveal. Last year we exchanged names, and each person became someone's secret pal. The idea was to give them little surprise presents during the year, at different holidays and their birthday. It's been a fun thing to participate in-- especially finding something mysterious on the doorstep every now and then.

Here's a photo taken last year in December, at Jon's sister Sally's house. I believe the occassion was Bud's 80th birthday party. This is Jon with his brothers and sisters. From left to right: Brent, Ann, Mark, Sally, Eric, Phil and Jon (the baby brother).

Mom called last night and said that her and dad were planning a trip to Eau Claire on Saturday. Maybe we can have a little early birthday party for Michael that day. It's always tricky finding time to celebrate his birthday, since it falls so close to Christmas. But I already had told both kids: no birthday parties with friends this year (just family). They've had parties with friends all through their childhood, and we think this should be more of a special thing and not a regular occurrence.

Well, I'll sign off here. I'll try to post later this month with pictures from this Christmas. This year Jonathan will bring Susan and David over Christmas morning (as we typically do) and we'll have our present opening, then at 2 o'clock we'll head over to Phil and Jill's for a big Hurlburt family party. After Christmas (we haven't set an exact day yet) we'll head over to Rhinelander. We want to time it so that we see Don and Hope and family while they're there (even though I already gave their kids Christmas presents-- I hope they remember those and won't be waiting for more from us. At the time I gave them I didn't know we'd be seeing Don and Hope at Christmas).

Take care, and season's greetings!

It's a Girl!! Also, Visit With Susan and More!

Yesterday I had a second ultrasound, and we finally were given the news we were waiting for regarding the sex of our baby: it's a GIRL! The nurse took a bunch of measurements and said it looks like I'm at 23 weeks, with a due date of March 29th. The baby's about 1 lb., 2 oz. and very active; during the ultrasound the position of the baby's head changed from my right side to my left. I can feel her movement now... it's like butterflies most of the time, but sometimes I experience a bit of a sudden jab. Jon had the day off from work, so he was able to come along and be a part of the whole thing, too. We're very excited and glad things are progressing well so far.

Mom and Dad were able to watch the kids for us while we saw the doctor. They stayed overnight at our house after Thanksgiving dinner; brothers Bob and John stayed over, too. While they were at our house, Mom and Dad got calls from each of their other kids as well; Laurie called in the morning, before heading over to Van and Judy's with Mark, Don called in the afternoon after the Packer victory, and Bill called right before we ate, from France. Jonathan came over as well. We had a big evening meal, followed by naps and karoake (Jonathan took off rather suddenly after the karaoke started... wonder why?).

Last weekend we spent in Madison, visiting Susan. Jon's oldest daughter was able to catch a ride with friends from West Virginia all the way to Madison, so the kids and I met her at Laurie's house. We stayed there three nights in all and had a very nice visit. We played lots of board games, had coffee and conversation, and had a fabulous meal at Morel's Saturday night (brother John met us). We also did some shopping and saw a movie. Susan has really developed into a warm, caring, mature young woman. She got down on the floor and wrestled with Michael, let Emma brush her long hair (and gave Emma a beautiful French braid Grandma Jane would have loved), and showed us a picture of David's girlfriend on the computer (yes, David is 17 now and has a very pretty girlfriend he met in drama). At age 19 she is about 2 1/2 years away from completely her physician's assistant program, and will have a master's degree at the end of the program. The program she's in is very rigorous; to remain a student there she must maintain a B average and not flunk any tests (if a student fails a test they have only one opportunity to retake it and pass; if they fail a second time they fail out of the program). This happened to a good friend of hers recently, so Susan is well aware of the pressure she's under. But she is very bright and seems unusually disciplined for her age. She will make an excellent doctor someday.

This posting is definitely not in chronological order, but I also wanted to include some cute pictures from earlier this fall. I took photos of the kids in their Halloween costumes-- they had a costume parade around their school, followed by classroom parties. Emma was Casper the Ghost (a costume made by her Aunt Ann for daughter Allison years ago), and Michael was Death.

I was glad my flexible schedule allowed me to see the parade and go to their parties, though I had to do some running back and forth between rooms (each of their classes had a different party at the same time). In the picture of Michael in his costume, note that his black teeth are NOT part of the costume; he'd just gotten done eating some kind of black frosting that temporarily colored his teeth. Yuck.

Emma was fortunate to have a second birthday party (the first one was in Rhinelander) at her Grandma Jane and Grandpa Bud's in Cornell. Jonathan attended, as well. We had a nice dinner, angel food cake, and presents for the kids to tear into.

We were glad to see that Grandma Jane is doing well after her eye operation.

On Veteran's Day Longfellow School had a program open to the public. The kids sang songs, did a skit, and handed out hundreds of thank-you cards to the veterans in attendance. Michael and Emma, along with the other Boy and Girl Scouts, wore their uniforms and participated in the opening and closing flag ceremonies.

This last picture is Michael and Emma romping in a pile of fall leaves with their cousins Seth and Malia. Seth and Malia are two of Jon's brother Mark's three grandchildren.

Fall Visit with Laurie and Mark

We were very pleased to have Laurie and Mark come over this weekend for a visit. They are thoughtful guests who notice and appreciate whatever little things are done for them (making it extra fun to entertain them!). And-- busy as they are-- we appreciate the time and effort they take to come all the way to Eau Claire to see us now and then. The kids enjoy their company (Mikey in his quiet, subtle way; Emma more emphatically as she clings to, kisses, and pens love notes to her beloved Aunt Lulu).

Laurie and Mark arrived in mid-afternoon, before the kids were done with school. We had dinner at our house Friday night, and Mark watched his tree stand safety video while we waited for Jon to finally come home. Jon got home late, but the next morning him and Mark set out bright and early for bow hunting.

They didn't see much action in the woods, but had a beautiful clear day outdoors, at any rate. Laurie and I had a leisurely morning drinking coffee and chit-chatting. After lunch we set out with the kids for a "seasonal" experience. First we took her to what I thought was a fall festival, but left that quickly when we realized it was a lame money pit featuring hay rides around the parking lot and lots of attempts to sell us Mary Kay, Tupperware, and other products. Kids were "free", but first you had to walk them past big inflated kid's games that cost $5 to play.

So! We decided to try something else. Beating a hasty retreat, we headed west of Eau Claire to Pleasant Valley Tree Farm in Elk Mound. This is very near the property we hope to buy someday, and it's beautiful, wooded farm land with lots of scenic overlooks. The tree farm itself is typically where we take the kids for Christmas trees in December; you pick out and saw down your own tree, then ride with it in the back of a sled to the main building. They shake it out on a machine (the kids always like watching that part), bundle it, and you pay for it.

But they also do a big fall celebration at the tree farm. They construct hay mound forts, complete with tunnels, through the hay bales, creating look-outs and attached slides; they have a "spooky woods", where you walk along a winding trail peopled with all kinds of funny and ghoulish scarecrows (wearing Halloween masks); they have a corn maze and scenic overlook; a petting zoo (unfortunately, closed when we were there); kids can pan for gold (painted) rocks or pedal pint-size tractors around a track; there's a huge gift shop (mostly featuring Christmas decor) and of course, a tractor-pulled hay ride (but this one pulls you past cows in the pasture and scenic wooded hills, rather than rows of parked cars).

Another fun feature of the tree farm is they have a giant catapult that blasts pumpkins an amazing distance into a nearby field. A bell will ring every 15 minutes or so, and a few minutes later, "whoosh!". The pumpkin travels so far you lose track of it after awhile.

We participated in different activities with the kids, then let them run wild in the play areas while we browsed the gift shop. Each of us bought something-- Laurie bought a small braided rug for their house, and I was drawn to a couple of unnecessary but completely compelling Christmas items.

In the late afternoon, as it started, cooling down, Laurie and gave the kids a 15-minute warning that we were about to leave, then sat on a bench with some hot apple cider.

Before going home we stopped at a store to look at Halloween costumes for Michael (Emma already has a couple of nice ones to choose from that were leant to her by her Aunt Ann). As Laurie noted on her blog, the choices for boys (and girls) were really limited. We decided to postpone the search for another day, when we could spend more time.

We had dinner at a restaurant and then went home to wait for the guys. They came home well after dark, tired but uninjured at least (good thing they watched their tree stand safety videos!).

So, all in all, an excellent visit! Thanks for coming, Laurie and Mark!

PS: The next day I went to four more stores, with the kids, looking for costumes. We finally settled on a "Death" costume (black hooded gown with face covering), which we paid $24 for, but it really felt like we were settling. Next year I'll have to start the costume searching a little earlier, and maybe look around on eBay a little bit. There's got to be better than that out there!

Fall Tidings

We probably experienced peak fall color here in Eau Claire this past weekend. The vibrant reds, oranges, rusts, and yellows really stood out, especially during the sunny interludes we had this weekend.

Sunday the kids and I drove to Cornell, to visit Jon's parents, and even that short distance north noticed there's considerably less foliage and color than we have here. So now we approach that gray, gloomy part of fall that sets the scene for Halloween...

I saw Jon's mother in Eau Claire on Friday. Her daughter Ann brought her to an eye appointment here and, as I don't work on Fridays, the three of us were able to meet for lunch.

Jane has had problems with one of her eyes for years now. She's been taking three different kinds of drops to keep pressure off her eyes and prevent glaucoma, but the specialist she saw this week thinks she already has glaucoma. She's having surgery for it this week (possibly tomorrow; Friday at the latest) to try and prevent things from getting worse. Hopefully things will get better for her; keep her in your thoughts this week.

Jon had to work this weekend but had a few days off last week, due to rain. The positive thing about him working so far away is that sometimes the rain they experience at his work site doesn't make it all the way to Eau Claire, and he's able to get things done around here. The weather cooperated enough where he was able to tear the shingles off our garage roof. Right now there's paper on one side of the roof and tarp over the other; but hopefully in the next week or two he'll get it shingled.

An assessor from the bank came to our house Friday. We want to know how much our house is worth now so we have an idea of what our equity is. We'd like to buy a piece of land in the country (and yes, we have a specific piece of land in mind). We should find out later this week what we're working with. Our fingers are crossed!

I also had a doctor's appointment on Friday. I thought I was having an ultrasound, and even dragged Jon along with me, since he happened to be home. But my next ultrasound won't be till next month... November 23rd, I think. So we have to wait a few more weeks before finding out if it'll be a boy or girl. Very disappointing. I know I knew the sex by this time before, with Mikey and Emma. But both times they warned me it was too early to be sure and they weren't promising anything. Oh well. At least we were able to hear the heartbeat and verify that things are still proceeding normally.

The other day I saved a bunch of photos taken from John, Don, and Laurie's blogs (Bill, I'll get to yours next!!). I saved them on the hard drive of my computer, then burned them onto CDs. Then I had photos developed from the CDs. The photo quality was a little off, but not that bad, and thanks to you guys I have a bunch of nice pictures of our recent visit to Madison and new nephew Stephen. (Our digital camera decided to croak during that visit). So I'm very pleased and have a renewed appreciation for our blog efforts!

We are excited that Laurie and Mark will be visiting us in Eau Claire soon, for a Friday to Sunday visit. Jon and Mark will do some hunting on Saturday, and hopefully we will all be able to do some fun autumn things (pumpkin patch and possibly a haunted house?). Should be fun...

Trip to Madison and... Boy Scouts (gulp)

Well, I'm having to post "old" pictures again-- this time because our camera is not working. It failed on our recent trip to Madison, when I wanted to take pictures of our visit with Don and Hope. Great timing, huh?



It was nice to finally meet Stephen and get to hold him for awhile. What a sweetheart! He was very open to be held by all of us "strangers", and hardly cried. He's an armful! His size and full head of hair make him seem older than he is at first, but he's still just a little guy and needs his head supported and is kind of curled up and snuggly, like a newborn.

Hope very graciously delivered the maternity and baby clothes I'd given her back to me, all the way from Arkansas. Of course, at the time I gave them to her I never expected to need them back. But it was fun rummaging through the box and recognizing items-- especially some of Emma's little dresses and bonnets. She enjoyed seeing them, too. She immediately claimed a couple of baby blankets she "remembered" (even though I've already allowed her to keep three other baby blankets she remains attached to).

We had an excellent meal at Morels Friday night, and a lot of fun having cocktails with Bob, John, Jim, Laurie, Mom and Dad as we waited for Don, Hope, Kenny, Beth, and Stephen to arrive. (My cocktail was seven-up, of course). The food was great and we were spoiled with our own little banquet room, so the kids could run around and wrestle with each other and their uncles.

We had adjoining rooms with Don and Hope, so the kids had a passageway to play between our two rooms. The motel pool was unusual in that it was open all night long, so we let the kids swim until about 11 at night. The pool water was VERY cold, but the hot tub was pleasant.

The next morning we had continental breakfast at the motel, packed up, and congregated at Laurie and Mark's house in Middleton. We had coffee and donuts, and the kids had fun tagging after their Uncle Mark while he harvested a giant edible mushroom from a tree stump in their back yard. It filled a grocery bag when he was done, and weighed approximately 10 pounds. He figured it was equivalent to at least $100 worth of mushroom. I forget the exact name of it, but it had the word "hen". Mark sauteed some in a pan and let us sample it, and it looked a lot like chicken. Very mild and interesting taste.

Well, I better make this brief. I have to get ready for our Girl Scout meeting tonight. Let's hope it goes better than last night's Boy Scout meeting. That was a fiasco. It was the first time this year that I led a meeting all by myself, and without their old leader, Bob, there, things broke down into chaos pretty fast. Apparently I'm not loud and intimidating enough. We have 10 boys, but almost half of them are "special needs"-- 2 unmedicated ADDs, one autistic boy, and one boy who's kind of immature for his age and real wild. I was not prepared for the way the ADD kids got up and walked / played around the room. The situation was further exacerbated by the presence of two parents who sat through the meeting but mostly just stared on in horror rather than helping me in any way. Also Emma and another sibling were there, so it was a full house.

Things were bad: bad enough that after 45 minutes I had to ask another parent to take over so I could leave the room and weep a little. It sounds ridiculous, but I was just not prepared for how naughty other people's kids can be! I'm so used to Mikey and Emma, and things that work with them simply don't work with these high needs kids.

But I'm not giving up and am determined that next time will be different. I've lined up another parent (male) to be present during the meetings and help me maintain order. Also, I'm going to request that the three boys who behaved worst have a parent accompany them and sit by them during the next two meetings, at least until we get some sort of routine established. Third, I'm establishing a discipline policy where each boy gets two warnings, and if they misbehave after that I'm calling their parents to pick them up early. It simply isn't fair to the other half of the boys, who are listening and trying to cooperate and deserve to get something educational out of the meeting.

I don't know HOW teachers do it! I have so much admiration for that profession. And these are third graders... I recall how much worse junior high age kids were.

Optical Oddities

You may recall from an earlier post that Michael received his first pair of glasses at the start of the school year. The eye doctor said that his problem was mild and that he only needed to wear the glasses when looking at the board at school or maybe when watching TV.

Michael's been keeping the glasses in his desk at school and faithfully wearing them about 3 hours a day, during board time. But his teacher had contacted me to let me know that she was having trouble getting him to keep the glasses on. I thought maybe he was embarrassed about the glasses and trying to avoid wearing them, so asked him about it.

During my conversation with Michael it came out that he did not think the glasses helped him see better and that they in fact started bothering him after he wore them a couple of hours. I explained to him that when I first put glasses on as a child, I was immediately impressed by the improvement and could see all kinds of details I had never seen before. Michael said it was never like that for him and that he thought the glasses were helping him in some kind of abstract way that wasn't obvious to him (like taking a medicine where you don't feel immediate results). Since Michael is usually a very truthful and obedient child, I set up a second eye appointment, at a different eye doctor.

This second doctor determined that not only does Michael NOT need glasses, but his vision is better than 20/20. Michael had also passed an eye screening at school last week, as well as passed an eye screening he had at the doctor's office for his physical (I didn't let either of those screenings discredit the first eye doctor, though, because they aren't as thorough and are meant to detect more serious vision problems).

So I don't know if we were deliberately deceived or Michael just gave some misleading answers during the doctor's tests, but Michael has been wearing unnecessary glasses for about a month now. I'm upset about it and plan on taking our eye business elsewhere. I have a sneaking suspicion that the eye doctor was taking advantage of our good eye insurance. We paid $40 out of pocket, but the glasses cost $225 and the exam was over $80. I paid $45 cash for the second opinion, and that was the total cost of the exam (about half the price of the first exam).

Things that make you go hmmm...

Baby Report!

I had my first ultrasound on Thursday, and here's our favorite picture: doesn't it look like he/she's waving hello? It's too early to tell whether it's a boy or a girl, but I'll get another look in October and we should be able to tell by then.

They said I was 13 weeks pregnant, and that my due date is March 31st.

It was amazing to see how active the baby is... I can't feel that yet. But the whole time we were watching the baby moved around and was quite lively. I think this tired old mom better start doing aerobics and prepare for the workout I'm going to get, chasing after a new little somebody. Wow.

Sylvania trip, the "clubhouse", Arnold Days

It's the first day of fall-- here in Eau Claire the day is hot and breezy. Leaves are turning color but few have fallen yet, so the effect is glorious indian summer. This is the weather we should have had on the weekend of the 15th, when we were wilderness camping in Michigan with other members of my family! But it didn't work out that way...

For several years now (five?), we've made an annual camping trip to the Sylvania national forest in Michigan, which is only about an hour away from my family's hometown, Rhinelander. My brother Don, a forester, was the one who discovered the old growth location and promoted and organized the first few trips. He couldn't make it this year, but brother John and I decided we didn't want to miss out, and brothers Bob and Bill ended up joining us as well. It was kind of a last minute thing, this year, though.

The camping was chilly; in fact, several locals let us know that it had actually snowed at our campsite the night before. You would never guess that from the picture below, though, that shows it was warm enough for some in our group to actually take a dip.

Not long after this photo was taken, Emma came back to our campsite and begged to go swimming too. Jon thought we should let her try, as long as we had a warm fire and plenty of dry towels and clothes on hand for the aftermath. A more cautious Michael declined to make a similar request...

So Emma took the plunge. She had to swim in clothes, though, as it hadn't occurred to me to pack a swimsuit for 40 and 50 something degree weather. She had a few minutes of splashing around with her uncles (Bob, Bill, and John-- something tells me Don would NOT have joined them had he been around) and Bob's girlfriend Lisa. But it wasn't long before the swimmers headed back to the campfire, looking for towels and a way to get warm again. Emma was shivering but fine once she had dry things on and got in front of the fire. It was a memorable experience for her, anyway!

While most of the group was swimming, the less adventurous of us observed a porcupine waddling past our campsite. Once sighted it bolted up a tall tree, staying there until after dark when we heard it make its final exit. It must have been a young porcupine, since it seemed small. Coco was down by the water at the time it appeared, so luckily there was no direct contact there.

This year we primitive-camped. We loaded all of our gear (as well as seven people and a dog) onto three canoes and paddled across the lake to our campsite. The canoe I was in sprang a leak within ten feet of the shoreline. Jon plugged the little hole with that most useful of items, duct tape. I monitored the hole warily all the way across the lake (I helped paddle, as well-- please don't think I just stared at the hole). Rather nerve-wracking, but the "repair" held up.

Before crossing to our site, at the check-in, we had to watch an educational video about the rules and ettiquette of the campground; we think the Bennett family will enjoy that new little piece of "liberal" red-tape next time they camp with us :). You aren't allowed to bring glass, aluminum, or tin food & beverage containers, are encouraged to pack lightly and blend in with your surroundings, and must leave no trace of yourselves behind when you leave. They recommend that you tie your food up in a tree at night to discourage rummaging bears. You are also advised to bring your own toilet paper and drinking water; there is no electricity or running water, and bathroom facilities are as minimal as they get. An outdoor latrine is available, located a healthy hike away on the other side of a hill. It's a wooden box, basically, with a hole in the center, resting on top of a pit. The photo says it all. Doesn't get much more "primitive" than that!

Despite the effort involved in packing and hauling equipment, then setting up camp, camping itself is remarkably relaxing. Lots of time was spent sitting around the fire, eating and talking. Michael enjoyed exploring the woods around our site, and before long found an ideal play area in a bunch of uprooted trees. This occupied him for HOURS. Emma played with him a little, but she spent a lot of time playing with Coco and socializing with the adults. We had fun combing the beach for rocks and driftwood with Uncle Bobby and Bill. We went for a nature walk and saw interesting things like this tree burl. Jon found a quiet moment or two...

It's at night time when you find out how appropriately (or not) you've packed... we realized that not all sleeping bags are created equal, and that padding under your bag (and pillows) immensely improve the camping experience. We realized that all Bragg (and Hurlburts) snore. Loudly. We realized that the distance to the latrine doubles with each passing hour, and that some critters like to munch on toilet paper. And if your tent is on uneven ground, it is much more comfortable and wise to place your head, rather than your feet, on the incline.

The next day we tore down camp and packed, loaded up the canoes, paddled across the lake (a slow trickle of water from the duck-taped leak made the trip back interesting), unloaded the canoes, loaded up our cars and drove back toward Rhinelander in exhausted relief. Of course, along the way we had to stop at a local tavern to have lunch and watch the Packer game. Bob found us a small sports bar in Eagle River (imagine-- a bar in Eagle River!). We could have had free food if we'd waited until half-time, but we were starved by then and none of us could wait. So instead we ended up with a hefty bill, and were full when the free food came out.

After getting back, Jon continued work on his new pet project: a backyard "clubhouse" for the kids. He is building it out of cedar posts discarded as work on the state's new power line progresses. The body of it is 6 x 6 feet , but the roof really makes it look bigger. He plans to add shutters and a door and build a little table and chairs for inside. The structure was built on top of a palette so that he can pick it up with a forklift and move it, should we ever make it to another house. The kids are very proud of it and Michael has already typed up a sign with club rules:

"PUNISHMENT: tax 25 cents. RULES: 1. If you enter the club there are 3 levels... Jr. Half Pro. Leader. 2. NO SOCCER! 3. FOLLOW THE LEADER"

Cute!! I think this is very nice of Jon to do for them; it was his own idea and he's already spent many hours on it. I think the realization that we have another child on the way (so the house is guaranteed lots of use) has fueled the inspiration. Jon is a very good father to the kids (despite the occasional grumping that seems to accompany fatherhood).

This weekend we went to Jon's brother Eric's bar for "Arnold Days", a 3 night, two day promotion he started this year. Eric had bands in the evenings and organized popular local outdoor activities like volleyball, a horse race, an ATV mud run, and a horse pull. There was also a small flea market and outdoor refreshments (brats and hotdogs). It looked like he had a good turnout and most of his siblings were there. Michael had fun walking around with his older Hurlburt cousins, Alec, Seth and Sam, and Emma helped Aunt Sally walk her cute little dogs around (Buddy and daughter Lisa's dog Holly). We made purchases at the flea market and visited with Jon's parents and siblings. All the brothers were there and actively helped out with things; Phil helped pull ATVs out of the mud with a tractor and Jon helped measure the distances achieved. Eric's oldest son Josh and stepson Brent competed on 4-wheelers. All the competitors and some of the bystanders got quite muddy. It was fun to watch but got cold fast, once the sun went down.

Did you hear the big news?

Breaking News: Michael has glasses...

Oh yeah... and we're having another BABY.

We already called most of our immediate family with that second tidbit of news, so hopefully no one's hearing about it for the first time in the smart aleck way I just presented it... but it's true. Jon and I are expecting another baby this spring.

I'm not real far along yet, less than 3 months, so it hardly seems real. But the kids are SO excited, and their enthusiasm is contagious. I know they will be good helpers and that our family will be enriched by the experience. I love babies and have fingers crossed that all goes well and we have a healthy, happy baby in a few months. Still, it's a surprise for all of us, and we're still feeling dazed and amazed.

This week Michael, Emma and I participated in the Buckshot Run, a 2-mile race that raises money for Special Olympics. Michael and Emma ran alongside two of their Hurlburt aunts, Jill (married to Phil) and Kristin (Jon's oldest brother Brent's partner). Mikey was very proud to finish before Kristin, though everyone finished before me. I did manage to walk faster than a few people pushing strollers and an elderly guy, though. We were rained on the whole time, but it was still a fun, uplifting experience and I plan on RUNNING it next year.

Jon's sister Sally and youngest son Sam stopped by Eau Claire for a visit Saturday afternoon. Sally asked if she could take Mikey and Emma for an overnight stay at their house in Holcombe. We had talked about an overnight visit with them sometime this summer, but things had never materialized, so it was nice things worked out this weekend.

The kids were thrilled. Their cousin Alec Hurlburt was also invited, so the cousins got to spend time together. Sally lives in a beautiful hilly setting on a hobby farm overlooking woods and the Chippewa River. She has horses (four, now, with Shadow and Macy), chickens, and dogs. Emma loves animals and was in animal heaven during her stay. She learned how to check the chicken coop for eggs, demonstrating the skill for me the next day (note: chicken coopss are smelly). They had a campfire and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows for supper. They also had an exciting "moon walk" in the dark, carrying flashlights around the woods before bed. All the kids and Sally slept in a tent outside the house that night. The kids had a great time, though Sally admitted she had a rough night's sleep on the ground. What a trooper!



My sister Laurie has also asked to have the kids come stay with her some time this summer, but the right time never came up and we didn't make it over. Maybe Aunt Laurie and Uncle Mark will make it over to Eau Claire for a fall visit, again? In previous years we've gone to the pumpkin patch together. The kids are lucky to have such fun and involved aunts and uncles, on both sides.


Anyway, after the visit at Sally's, we picked up the kids and visited with Bud and Jane for awhile (sharing our news with them). We called other family and friends along the way to Rhinelander, staying overnight at Mom and Dad's Sunday night. It was sunny and warm (but not hot) and it was fun to see the fall color emerging around us. We had a campfire (Bill is home for a few weeks before leaving again for France, so we got to see him too) and a picnic supper. Mom and Dad were well and let us know they are happy for us. Their grandchildren will increase by 50% this year! They'll be meeting their newest grandchild, Stephen Bragg, after an airplane ride to Arkansas later this week.



They sent us away with lots of tomatoes, squash, and apples from their garden. We also enjoyed plums from "John's tree" outside the backdoor. I think of that as John's tree because I remember John did such a nice job of landscaping that part of their house, along the fence.

Take care! We'll keep you posted with any "developments".

Our first Brewer game and tailgate party!

We ended up with great pictures from this weekend's Brewer game, so I'm posting a few right away!

The trip to Madison and Milwaukee was a lot of fun. We rode to Madison first with Bill and Jonathan, stopping along the way to have lunch with Laurie, Mark, John, and Mom and Dad as well. Of course we had to eat at the Great Dane, the wonderful bar/restaurant that Mark used to manage before becoming owner of his own restaurant. The Great Dane is very near the capitol building and John and Jim's condo apartment in the city center. Jon and Jonathan had never been to the condo before, so enjoyed being able to see it for themselves.

From there we met up with Jim and his family and friends. We were introduced to a few before joining the long caravan to Miller Park. It was already raining steady, but we had been forewarned (so came with umbrellas). We made our way to the parking lot and found Jim's family already setting up open-air tents and tables between the parked cars. You could tell his family knew how to tailgate! In no time at all there were brats on the grill and all kinds of salads, chips and treats spread out. John introduced us to more Houzners, and the time before the game went fast.

We were worried that Bob and Lisa wouldn't make it, but they arrived just in time to get their tickets and eat a plate of food before the game. Bob's a big Brewer fan and has been to lots of the games, so we were glad to be able to have him along as well.

We were glad the dome was covered, because it never stopped raining outside! But inside, the stadium experience was breathtaking-- very impressive. We were near the top, but our view was excellent. The lighting was good and everything looked sharp and clear. There were birds flying in the rafters overhead and so much to look at. Cheerleaders, someone singing the national anthem, a child throwing the first pitch; there were lots of little rituals to engage the audience and break things up. The kids loved the sausage race at the end of the sixth inning.

And we had a great game to watch! Not only did the Brewers win, but they dominated most of the game. We got to see home runs and lots of action. Every time the Brewers scored a run, their mascot (Bernie Brewer?) slid down the slide and fireworks went off. The whole thing was very entertaining and easy to follow. I liked that you didn't have to listen to a running commentary of the whole thing in the stands, but could still tell what was going on by the scoreboard, stats, and big screen close-ups of players as they came up to bat.

Michael was riveted, but Emma got kind of squirmy by the end. At one point I took her out into the lobby to get a snack and some exercise, and was impressed by how easy it was to leave the stands and find your way back again. The stands were broken up into lots of small parts with their own separate exits, so you weren't blocked in. And all the exits were numbered sequentially, so it was very easy to return. There were different concession stands and restrooms by each exit, so you never had to wander far. And there was a play-by-play of the game in the lobby so you could still keep track of what was going on.

The only chaos came after the game... leaving (or trying to leave!) the parking lot. Not so easily done. We had to wait quite awhile before we were no longer blocked in, and then we lost John (who's car we needed to follow to the motel) right away. I drove in a few useless circles around the parking lot, running over a bag of garbage as well, before John called us by cell and let us know he was waiting for us just ahead. Once we caught up with John we stayed on him like glue.

The rain never let up once. We were all pretty soaked by the time we checked in and found our rooms. The rooms weren't real large, but the motel had nice solid furniture and wonderful feather duvets on the beds. We changed into dry clothes and slept very well.

The next morning we enjoyed our continental breakfast in the lobby, and the kids spent a couple of hours in the pool. The pool room was actually another nice chance to visit with the Houzners. Several of Jim's siblings had young children there, and Mikey and Emma had a chance to swim and play with them. Jim and JoJo got right in the water with the kids and were very good sports about getting splashed.

All in all, it was a great trip, and we'd love to do it next year as well!

Lots going on!

It's been awhile since I've written, and lots has been going on-- most notably the birth of my brother Don's son, Stephen Charles Bragg. The baby was born a month early, emergency c-section, but weighed in at an amazing 11 pounds 4 ounces. He was over 23 inches long. Don reports that mother and child are in good health. For any Hurlburts checking in, Don and Hope live in Arkansas and have two other children as well.

Mom left yesterday afternoon, after staying with us for a 4 day, 3 night visit. Dad dropped her off on Thursday (along with our dog Coco), and the kids were very excited to have her here. We ate out a couple of times, did some school shopping, and went to north side Eau Claire's farmer's market in Phoenix Park. There we bought lots of heavy produce, including two watermelons, so I made several trips back and forth to load stuff up while Mom and the kids ate ice cream and listened to folk music.

Saturday afternoon we visited Aunt Margy. She is doing very well and was as warm and gracious as ever. I always think of her as the perfect hostess, because she seems to genuinely enjoy making guests in her home feel comfortable and at ease. Both kids like her a lot. We chatted for an hour or so and I was pleased when she gave me one of Grandma Bragg's hand-made braided rugs. Also she let me borrow her copy of the newest Harry Potter book. I have to admit it that I started that book yesterday afternoon and have already finished it. I found the ending very satisfying and liked the book a lot.

I will post a picture of my new haircut on the blog. I now have hilights and much shorter hair. The difference in length was shocking, at first, but we're getting used to it now and it is a lot more practical. Still, what a change!

Brother Bill will be coming Wednesday. He's going to stay over a couple of nights and visit before we all leave for Madison on Saturday. Bill and Jonathan will be riding with us when we meet up with John and Jim and convoy over to the Milwaukee Brewer game. Jon's sister Sally has generously agreed to watch Coco for us. We can't wait to experience our first big tailgate party and meet the Houzners. Wish everyone could make it there!

Be glad you're not a tomato plant

It's a hot one! This week has been sweltering, but only today did I remember to water my tomato plants. Oops. I've been watering the neighbor lady's flowers all week while she's away, but for some reason this activity did not get me thinking about my own plants. Still, they're alive and growing despite my attention lapse.

The kids started summer school this week. They have two thematic English and math classes that keep them busy from 8:30 am to 11:45 am. I've been using the free time to exercise and run errands... kind of nice. Tonight they have soccer games. Hopefully it will have cooled off by then.

It's tempting to skip soccer on hot days like this, but good attendance really helps the team. When everyone shows up, no one person has to play the entire game; kids are rotated and have more chances to rest and drink water.

David's West Virginia family picked him up yesterday afternoon. We said our goodbyes but will probably see him briefly Saturday, for the Hurlburt family reunion. Every year the descendants of Harry and Ruth Hurlburt (Jon's grandparents) have a picnic on the last weekend of July. Strangely enough, Jon will not be attending the reunion, but I will. He has to work Saturday, and I'm picking up David and bringing Mikey and Emma as well. I like Jon's family so enjoy these events. Besides having lots of good food, everyone brings items to donate and we have an auction. Money raised goes into a family fund that is used to do charitable things around Cornell. I know one year they bought a city park bench and set up a memorial to Harry and Ruth.

Laurie sent me some fun pictures from a recent trip that she, Mom, John and Bill made to Circus World in Baraboo. I'm posting a few of my favorites, since Laurie doesn't have a blog (yet) to post them on. Enjoy!

We were gypsies!

Hi everybody! Just thought I'd post more photos from Ingrid's wedding, as well as update you on things here in Eau Claire. We're all well. Emma and Michael have been enjoying the company of big brother David, who's been with us four weeks. They like listening to music with him (both now want iPods). David is a reservoir of interesting information relating to a variety of subjects, and Michael loves to listen and learn from him. David has also has been wrestling with Michael (he insists this will toughen Michael up), and the two of them play chess together, as well. David will be very missed when he heads back to West Virginia in another couple of weeks.

All of us went to Chippewa Falls' new Renaissance Fair yesterday afternoon. It's the fair's second year, and this was our first time going. We went with Jon's oldest brother Brent and his girlfriend Kristin. A medieval castle and village were set up inside a large wooded area, with all kinds of feudal entertainments. I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed myself there, though Jon seemed to regard the place warily, as one big medieval money pit. Still, we were reasonably frugal, and in my opinion it was a cultural experience well worth it. We watched two knights joust (one knight was actually a woman), drank mead and ate big turkey legs, browsed in village shops, listened to musicians play lutes and sing ballads, and had a lot of fun people-watching. The fair villagers and many of the paying guests (all ages) were dressed up as lords, ladies, knights, pages, peasants, gypsies, etc. Emma and Mikey tried their hands at archery, and David accepted a challenge to climb across a rope ladder (it was a noble attempt, but it ended with him landing in a pile of hay).

We made our way through a maze and explored shops selling leather goods, glass and costumes. We watched a blacksmith at work. A hilight was visiting the gypsy camp, hearing a good story, and watching the gypsy (women) belly dance. They were really good. It was especially fun because at the end they invited the audience to come up and learn a few steps. Emma went up right away, followed by Kristin (who actually takes belly dancing classes for exercise and fun) and, reluctantly, me. Luckily there are no pictures of that to post here! We made a big circle and they taught us some easy moves. Michael was probably mortified, but Emma and I had a blast.

Camp Nawakwa and Ingrid's Wedding

Sorry I haven't updated the blog in awhile (for those of you who have been checking!). It's been a busy summer. Since returning from West Virginia, Mikey and Emma's soccer schedule started up, we had a week of theatre camp, and Emma and I camped together at Camp Nawakwa. We've also had family get togethers and play dates with friends, along with other outings. More recently we went to Ingrid's wedding, camped at Coon Forks in Augusta, and watched fireworks at Jon's brother Phil's summer cottage on Lake Holcombe. Today's the first good lazy day we've had in awhile.

Going to Camp Nawakwa with Emma was so much fun (for both of us). For me it was all of the adventure of going to summer camp-- with none of the social anxiety or homesickness I remember experiencing as a child. Emma and I shared a bunk bed inside a yurt. There were about 10 girls in our group, with four of the girls and their mothers staying in the yurt with me and Emma. Two of the girls were from our Girl Scout troop in Eau Claire, so Emma had kids to play with right away.

Older girls stayed elsewhere on the campground, for different periods of time. We met girls staying for three days, one week, or two weeks. Besides the yurts there were platform tents, cabins, and canvas tents. Each group was assigned two counselors, who all appeared to be college-age girls. At the time we were there the camp had three foreign exchange counselors: one from England, one from New Zealand, and one from Australia. They were all very nice, fun and active girls; the little girls loved them.

We hiked, swam, made crafts, sang songs, played outdoor games and roasted marshmallows. Meals were communal... we sat eight to a table, with a counselor at each table and all ages mixed. After eating, one girl from each table would scrape and stack the plates, while another would carry a tub of soapy water over to the table. Then one of the girls would wash her table's dishes, and another would carry the dishes over to the kitchen (where they were sterilized). The girls seemed to enjoy the routine and the responsibility. I was impressed with the good role modeling and girl empowerment I saw going on. Next year Emma wants to try an overnight there without me, and I will probably let her (though I would love to go again!).

This weekend we were reunited with Coco, our little Jack Russell Terrier! Emma was very gratified about her return; several tears were shed in her absence. But Mom and Dad watched her while we went to West Virginia, and kept her another two weeks after that. We were hoping she would help keep bears out of the yard, since Mom and Dad have had more than their share of bear sightings lately. Coco did manage to chase one little bear cub out of the yard (without any angry retribution from the mother bear, who was probably watching in the woods nearby), but she missed seeing a big black bear in the woods during a walk with Mom (Mom called her away and steered them back toward the house without Coco noticing the encounter).

Now that Coco's back she seems pretty subdued. I'm guessing she misses the freedom and food treats provided in Rhinelander.

We enjoyed seeing Laurie and Mark, John and Jim, and Mom and Dad in Rhinelander during Ingrid's wedding. The outdoor setting was beautiful, and Ingrid seemed happy and radiant. I'm still impressed that Craig made their wedding bands! The dance was a lot of fun... it was amazing to see Mikey perk up and start dancing the night away as he did. I also enjoyed talking to Ingrid's older sister Karin, who I had not seen since high school. I wish someone had pointed out her husband to me, though! Oh well.

Hopefully John found his camera eventually.

Well, I'll try to write sooner next time, so there isn't so much to cram in! Hope everyone is well!

Tales From West Virginia

We're back in Wisconsin after a 6-day trip to West Virginia, where we visited with Susan for three days before bringing David back with us for the summer. We were fortunate to have some great weather and no trouble with the old red van, which has served us well over the years (we've had the van as long as we've had Michael). The trip was fun for all and we'll definitely do it again someday!

We left Eau Claire on Saturday morning and made it as far as Kentucky on the first day. After spending the night in a motel, we finished the journey to Beckley, West Virginia by early afternoon the next day.

We knew Susan and David lived among mountains, but were still impressed as the countryside changed from Kentucky's fenced fields and horses to the towering cliffs and thickly wooded hills of West Virginia. Every bend of the highway produced views more spectacular than the last! I was very glad to see the state again as an adult, and very glad to show Michael and Emma a place like that.

Susan had a few classes to attend during our stay, but still found time to show us all around Beckley. We met her best friend, Jessie, and the two girls accompanied us on a sight-seeing tour of the area. We went to the caverns in Lewisberg, toured an historical museum, gift-shopped and lunched, and hiked to several scenic overlooks, including a view of am amazing highway bridge that spans a deep river gorge and is actually taller than two Statues of Liberty and the Washington Monument put together. We also saw David's highschool and Susan's college campus. Their little brother Logan, now five, spent a lot of time with us during our stay in Beckley, as well. Michael and Emma had a great time playing with him in our motel pool and also at several different playgrounds around the city.

It's strange not having Susan here for the summer, but we're glad that she's committed to school and working so hard. At age 19 she's half-way through a physician's assistant program. She will be able to start making good money right away after graduation, but hopes to eventually attend medical school in Madison (Wisconsin). She's a very bright, motivated girl, and we're proud of her accomplishments.

Still... as great as the trip was, we were very glad to get back to Eau Claire and all the little comforts of home.

West Virginia, here we come!

Well, we've added another event to our busy summer schedule: a trip to West Virginia next week! Susan won't be coming for the summer this year (she's a busy 19 year-old, now), so we're going over there to visit her. Also we'll pick up David for his six week stay with us. The kids are excited about the trip, because they haven't done much out-of-state travelling (not to mention we haven't seen Susan and David since Christmas!). We made a few trips to Kansas and Arkansas when Mikey and Emma were younger, but now that they're older they'll have more appreciation for their surroundings: historical sites, cultural differences, and the changing terrain along the way. I'm very excited for them (and me!) to see mountains. That's always a thrill for us flat-landers.

Mom and Dad have kindly agreed to take Coco for the week (longer, if they want!), and we've lined up a friend in Eau Claire to check on our cat and house while we're gone. Mom and Dad can enjoy Coco's watchdog services for awhile; hopefully her barking presence will deter the local bears from wandering into their yard.

This is the last week of school for K-12 kids in Eau Claire. It's also my last week of work for the summer. Friday we expect to see Mom, Dad and Bill here. We'll pack Friday night and head out for West Virginia bright & early Saturday morning. Jon talked to Susan today and is having her check into motels.

There's been lots of local excitement involving Jon's family lately. One episode last weekend was a big pontoon/speedboat collision on Lake Holcombe-- Jon's brother Phil and his wife were on the scene. They weren't actually in the accident, but they have a vacation home on the lake, and the accident involved their next door neighbors (and the neighbors' brand new pontoon).

The neighbors and a group of friends had just left a restaurant on the lake and boarded their pontoon. They had moved away from the dock but were still getting situated in their seats when a speedboat full of young guys from Ladysmith crashed into them and actually came to rest on top their deck. Amazingly, no one was killed, but five of the pontoon occupants were injured (one seriously).

Phil and Jill were across the lake at their cabin, and heard the accident, followed by screams. They took their pontoon over to the scene and provided assistance until medical help arrived (Jill is a registered nurse, so no doubt was a big help). Two of the passengers were actually in the water and were pulled out. One needed to be resuscitated and one was knocked out but came to on his own. The most seriously injured had a broken eye socket and jaw, along with other breaks on his body. He and another guy actually made contact with the boat's propeller and had to be pulled out from under the speedboat.

That same weekend, Jon's OTHER brother, Eric, made the paper, too. A man had just lit fire to his estranged wife's garage and was being pursued by police when he crashed into the rocks outside Eric's bar. The bar was closed, so luckily no one was in the parking lot, but Eric, Jody, and Alec (two years older than Michael) were in the adjacent house. The police tried to get the man to come out of the car, but when he did not respond or comply with their requests to show his hands, they shot and killed him.

The week before Jody had witnessed a serious motorcycle accident in the same location.

Then this weekend there was a story in the paper about a guy in Ruby (home of the Hurlburt hunting shack) who was arrested by homeland security guys for selling stolen military equipment (machine guns and some larger items) to international buyers over the internet. He was a military supply officer on a ship but had been relieved of his duties earlier that year because he was caught ordering items that his ship didn't actually need. Jon didn't know the guy personally, but was familiar with his family's property (distinctive for having an old army tank parked in its front yard).

Lots of goings-on for a small, usually unremarkable part of the world! (Though Jon would never describe it as such).

This weekend, for the first time, we took the kids to the cemetaries where their great grandparents are buried and put flowers on the graves, as a Memorial Day tribute. First we went to Rhinelander (Bill hitched a ride with us, to pick up a car for his new job), and Mom took us over to the cemetary in Woodruff, where Grandma and Grandpa Bayer and Uncle Kenny are buried. We also drove by their old house and around Bayer Lake, where Mom pointed out landmarks of family and friends from her childhood.

We stayed overnight and left Sunday morning. On the way back we stopped at Ladysmith, and found Grandma and Grandpa Bragg's graves, as Dad said, under a bluebird box he set up and monitors. (We peeked, and there was a nest full of baby bluebirds inside).

From Ladysmith we went to Cornell. We had lunch with Jon's parents and then went out to the Cornell cemetary, where all four of Jon's grandparents are buried. That cemetary is very interesting to walk through; it isn't grand or full of beautiful shade trees like the Ladysmith cemetary... it's an open field, basically, by a relatively busy road leading into town. But almost every single grave is still actively tended to by relatives still living in Cornell. There are very few graves that don't have flowers or other tributes for the deceased. Many of them have solar-powered night lights, pinwheels, or wind chimes. Jon knew lots of people in the cemetary... particularly sad were the graves of young people who died in car accidents or killed themselves-- some of them peers of Jon or their children.

We also stopped by Benjamin David Hurlburt's grave... this was Jon's son who died the year before David Benjamin (now 16) was born.

We came home to Eau Claire Sunday afternoon, with good intentions of doing lots of yard work. Instead we lounged around the house and took our canoe out onto Half Moon Lake. We paddled past the Eau Claire Rod & Gun Park, the unromantically-named place where Jon and I were married. Along the way we saw lots of wildlife, including a turtle, a white squirrel, an otter, geese, ducks, and a racoon. Then we let the kids play at Carson Park, and stopped by the Dairy Queen I worked at when I was about Bill's age.

One happy footnote on the computer problem of previous posts: Dell called Jon back to see if the computer problem had been resolved. When he told them that we had finally taken it in to a shop, they said they would reimburse us for the money we spent. Yea!

Computer Wizards Save the Day

Well, you don't have to read about my computer woes any longer! The fix-it guys at Computer Wizards worked out the bugs, so the Bragg-Hurlburt household is back on-line. It cost $75, but for that they also replaced a fan that wasn't working properly, so I consider the price fair. I have no doubt it saved us hours more of frustration.

Monday night we had our end-of-year picnic for Boy Scouts, and last night we had our last Girl Scout event. I must say it's a relief to see things wind down for the end of the school year... now we'll have a couple of weeks with no extracurriculars before swimming lessons and soccer begin mid-June (we'll have to do some visiting of grandparents during this time!). Both kids are going to have a little bit of the summer camp experience, with me and Emma staying overnight together at Camp Nawakwa June 21-22, and Michael doing a Boy Scout day camp the week before. If I can talk Jon into doing overnight Boy Scout camp in July with Michael, his group is doing a 2-night, 3-day stay at Camp Phillips.

The last week of June Michael has theatre camp. That's just a day thing, of course, but it's something Michael was interested in and I'm encouraging, because I'd like to see him develop his ability to work in a group and speak in front of others. Plus it's a creative thing, and he tends to be all factual and scientific-- a worrisome trait, wouldn't you say, Don?

Actually, in July Michael will be taking a science program through the university, while Emma signed up for "Horse Lovers" (also through the university, this program involves some actual horseback riding). Both kids will have thematic English and Math summer classes as well.
In August Emma has gymnastics and Mikey will be in a running club...

That may sound like lots of stuff, but it actually ends up being only a few hours a day, with nothing on Friday or the weekend. So we will still have time to camp and visit family this summer. Also, because we live in the city, and because so many of the neighborhood kids roam aimlessly, looking for things to do, I think it's important to have some structure and help Mikey and Emma explore the world outside our neighborhood. There's too many loose pitbulls and cars and sketchy characters living around us for me to feel comfortable letting them have the freedom and space to roam that we used to enjoy when we played outside in Rhinelander.

Tonight's the last night of my stained glass class. I can't wait to see a finished piece hanging up in my kitchen window. I've dropped some hints to Jon that I plan to buy a few items for home, so I can continue making stained glass. The biggest purchase will be a glass polisher, which starts at about $70. That's not too bad... and I do need to do some things for myself every once and awhile, or I get CRANKY.

STILL no internet at our house!

Between the two of us, Jon and I spent another five hours this weekend talking to AT&T and Dell technical support (both company's American calls are now directed to India). With their help we made lots of adjustments to our settings and even opened up our computer and moved a modem card over to another slot. That helped us get on the internet, but we only had access to "generic" web pages. We couldn't get onto any page that had security built in to it, requiring a password.

That pointed to our security software. We had old Norton software on our computer, but had not renewed it after our last contract expired. But instead of just not working anymore, it apparently corrupted our files. I uninstalled it this weekend, but after I did that we lost whatever little progress we had made, and weren't able to get on any internet pages. Someone from Dell told us that the old software had probably corrupted our other files, and that we should seek technical help from Norton. But the disk we had didn't have any contact information, and by then my ear hurt from holding a phone against it for hours on end.

So today, during lunch hour, I took our computer in to a repair shop. Cross your fingers!!

Sorry I've Been Off the Radar...

It's been awhile since I updated this blog or responded to my home email, but we've been having "technical difficulties" with our dial-up internet service at home. It hasn't been working for weeks, and Jon and I have spent several hours of phone conversation with AT&T's technical helpers in India, but the problem remains unresolved. I'm ready to change internet providers; it shouldn't be this hard to have internet service!!

The other problem has been that last week I deleted the short-cuts I had on my work computer to get to everybody's blog sites. I actually resigned my job last week so thought I'd better start removing all the personal items I had saved on my work computer. But now I've been persuaded to stay (I got a raise and the hours I wanted for next year!), so am regretting that I no longer have links to the family blog sites.

SO! If everyone could please re-send me links to their blogs, I'll be back in business. Send it to bragghurl@yahoo.com, and I'll be able to read it from my work computer.

Anyway, John, about August 18th! All the above is why I hadn't responded before now. Plan on us being there! I can't say for sure whether Jon will make it, but I know he wants to go to a Brewer game and he should be able to have that weekend off (it's our anniversary weekend!). The kids and I will be able to make it for sure. Please let Jim know (does he have an email address?) and have him send us the details as far as when we should arrive, what expenses might be involved, etc. I'd love to meet some Houzners!

Pinewood Derby, Part 2

We had a beautiful, HOT weekend in Eau Claire, and spent lots of time outdoors. Emma and I planted flowers and spread cedar chips around the house on Sunday morning, while Jon and Michael rototilled and expanded our garden out at the hunting shack in Cornell. Next weekend we'll plant vegetables. There are so many deer in that area that Jon had to build a 10 ft. high fence around the plot to give our plants a chance to grow. Last year he only made it out there to water and check on things a couple of times, but the garden did well on its own, thanks to natural rainfall and horse manure.

Saturday morning we went to the District Pinewood Derby. Michael's car raced against the top cars from our part of the state. Each car runs once down each of the four lanes. Times are recorded with a computer program that automatically compares each car with every other car. So the whole thing went fairly quickly, once everyone was registered.

That was the hard part! The first time Jon and Michael went through the registration line, they were ejected because the car was slightly overweight (we hadn't altered the car one bit from the last race, but the scales must have been different). Jon made the necessary adjustments, and we were good to go after that.

The other boy competing from Michael's school also had trouble getting through registration, though his was a more serious problem... his wheels were illegal. His dad had filed them on each edge, so they came to ridge in the center. This alteration was apparently unobserved during the earlier race. We couldn't help but wonder if Michael's car might have won the earlier race if his competitor's tires were legal... As it was, the other boy's Dad had to race home and get another set of wheels, put them on the car, and go through the line again. But they made the deadline and were able to compete. (This time Michael's car did better than the other boy's).

Michael's car actually beat the other cars he raced with, but he didn't win the overall race. Still, he got a nice certificate and ribbon for his effort, and all of us had fun.

Rock show?

Just thought I'd take a minute or two to write...

This past weekend, on Sunday, I took the kids to Eau Claire's annual rock and mineral show. Emma was disappointed at first when she realized that this "rock show" did not involve music in any way, but both kids ended up having a great time, nonetheless. There were interactive displays for kids, where they could stick their hands in water and find colorful rocks, do arts and crafts projects, and adopt pet rocks (complete with google eyes and fuzzy noses). One guy had a booth where you could select 18 rocks for $1, so I let each kid choose their 9. They were SO excited.

There were lots of interesting things for grown-ups, too! They had informational booths set up showcasing different rock polishing systems-- one guy had a home-made set up that allowed him to produce a polished rock in just over an hour, with relatively little noise. They had displays of all kinds of rare and interesting mineral samples. You could also buy beautiful rock samples that ranged in price from $1 to $70. People sold hand-crafted jewelry, rock carvings, and turned stone bowls and vessels. I spent about $20 and came away with bags full of great stuff, already identified for me.

Tomorrow I'm helping out at the kids' school, during their "Get Moving" marathon fundraiser. I helped with it last year and was able to "man" the 4-square booth. Remember how much fun we had with that game as kids??

This weekend is Round 2 of the Pinewood Derby. As Longfellow's second-place winner, Michael gets to race in the next heat. We'll let you know how that turns out.

Enjoy the nice weather!

Don't Forget Earth Day!

Hi Everyone! Just thought I'd write and let you know what we're up to, as well as toss in a plug for Earth Day on April 22nd. Do something fun and good for the planet! We usually attend Eau Claire's Earth Day festivities at Owen Park. They have educational booths on different conservation-related topics (composting, recycling, alternative energy, etc.), entertainment (folk singers, story tellers, juggling), kid's games, face painting and more. It's a family-oriented, non-commercial event. Usually the city gives away trees to plant, too.

One "green" thing I've begun doing recently is biking to work. It takes just 10-15 minutes, and the fresh air and exercise really gives me a boost.

We attended a surprise 50th birthday party for Jon's sister Sally last weekend. The party was at Jon's brother's place, organized by a different brother, and Sally was genuinely surprised. We played Bingo and had a potluck supper. The weather was nice so the kids played outside with their Hurlburt cousins. I also brought along a cake and things for Jonathan, since his birthday was right around that time too (on the 16th). He's 23 now (the same age I was when I met his dad-- hard to believe!).

This week Friday we're going to another family birthday party, this time for Jon's mother Jane. It'll be in Cornell, at his other sister's summer cabin. We're going to have a campfire and outdoor cookout.

Saturday the kids and I are supposed to pick up bags of food around the neighborhood for the Boy Scout food drive... at 7 in the morning! Then at 9 am Longfellow School is having a run / walk fundraiser for their afterschool programs, so we hope to attend that as well. And at 1 pm Mikey's going to a birthday party. Busy day!

Well, take care and Happy Earth Day!