Pics from Buckshot, Days Long Past, Fall Kitsch

Now that summer's officially over, I better hurry up and post these end-of-summer pictures (before they become hopelessly irrelevant).

These first four are from late August's Buckshot Run, at Carson Park in Eau Claire. The Buckshot is an annual charity run/walk that we started participating in last year, when Michael was in running club. Money raised goes to the Special Olympics.

Last year we were surprised to run into two of my sisters-in-law there... Jill and Kristin. I remember I was newly pregnant at that time-- I don't think we'd started telling people, yet. Anyway, I walked but didn't attempt any running, last year.

This year I had promised to run, and while I couldn't make it the whole way I did manage to alternate between jogging and walking alongside fellow new mom Shelley.

The effort was facilitated by our mothers-in-law, who were also there, pushing the baby strollers.

This year's run/walk was a bigger family event than last year's. Besides Kristin, Jill, and Jane, my sister-in-law Sally, brothers-in-law Brent and Phil, and Phil's son Jacob were also in attendance. We'd like to do it again next year... I'd like to be able to run the whole distance next time.

Another fun thing we did before the start of the new school year was go for an end-of-summer picnic with our neighbor, Makayla. We couldn't get Michael to wear a bandana, but as you can see in this photo, the rest of us did. We packed a fun, gourmet lunch of home-made bread, good cheese, watermelon slices, and chocolate brownies (along with lemonade). We toted the whole meal in our snazzy new picnic backpack, from sister Laurie (apparently we have more time for picnic-ing than her and Mark do). The backpack kit comes with it's own fancy tablecloth, napkins, wine glasses, dishes, and cutlery. It even has a cutting board and a corkscrew with attachments.

The kids packed their own "necessities" and took turns pulling each other in the red wagon, and we headed down the road. We walked past farm fields and up and down rolling hills, looking for a good shady spot. It was hot that day, but I wanted to make sure we walked far enough for it to feel like a real adventure.

Finally we found some friendly shade along the roadside, at the edge of a neighbor's field. We spread out our blanket and dined in style; even Leila had some bottle. I think a good time was had by all.

I won't claim that there wasn't any grumbling on the way back, and that the novelty of pulling the red wagon quickly wore off once we started having to pull it back UP those scenic hills. Somewhere along the way the wagon became a wearisome burden, and there was grumbling in the ranks. But such is life, and I did my Mom-job by not pulling the wagon and remaining relentlessly cheerful. I did suggest that no one ride in the wagon when it was being pulled up the hills, and that seemed to help.

A couple of weekends ago we visited Bud and Jane at their home. I received these pictures from her in the mail, after the visit. They're a little bit different than the ones I posted earlier (and a little bit better), so I thought I'd include them here. I particularly like the one of Leila, below. She's standing and isn't smiling-- but doesn't she look proud and confident?

Leila seems to be over her cold now. I'm not sure how heavy she is at age 6 months, but she can still wear some of her 3 month size clothes (the outfit she's wearing here was one of Emma's, and is in the 0-3 month size). So even though she had the largest birth weight of my three kids, she's emerging as the most petite in later babyhood.

It wasn't that long ago that Jon had another little girl to celebrate... and this time I'm not talking about Emma. What do you think of this little picture (sorry I couldn't produce it in larger format) of a much younger Jon Hurlburt with a tiny baby Susan in his desk drawer?

This and the ones below are some of the pictures that Susan has posted on her FaceBook page. I can't provide a link for you to that page, because I think you have to be a FaceBook member to see the pics (I recently joined). But anyway, I'll share some of these photos with you here.

I don't know how rare they are, but I certainly hadn't seen them before. At left is Susan with two of her "Hurlburt" cousins, Sally's daughter Lisa and Eric's daughter Brittany.

And here's Susan and David with some jack-o'lanterns... does anyone remember when Susan had this perm?

Of course, here's Susan with Grandpa Bud. He's been doing the grandpa-thing (very well) for almost 40 years now. #1 Grandpa duty: Provide Lap for Sleeping Child.

Here we have Susan with big brother Jonathan and cousin Jacob (Phil and Jill's youngest son-- you can see what he looks like now at the opening of this blog; he participated in the Buckshot).

Yup, time flies. But yesterday was all about the QUALITY of time, for Emma and me.

A while back, when Leila was sick and Emma was feeling a bit overlooked and neglected, I promised Emma that her and I would spend some alone-time together. We finally had that chance yesterday; Jon was home for the Packer game, and willing to keep an eye on Michael and Leila while Emma and I snuck off to Pleasant Valley Tree Farm.

Last year we went there with Laurie-- except it took us nearly an hour to find the place (remember that, Lu??). This year, from our new closer proximity in Colfax (and with the aid of a Yahoo map), we found the place in 10 minutes.

Much more efficient use of quality girl time!

We had such a good time. Very kitschy and candy-corny. We held hands and hiked up the Spooky Trail, and were excited to discover the changes and improvements, compared with what they had last year. Besides the usual cast of characters (spooky scarecrows in Halloween masks, large hanging spiders and rats, "giants" made out of pillows and bales of hay) there was a big slide made out of culvert tubing and a place where you could bowl with pumpkins instead of bowling balls. Along the way there were play areas and look-out forts to discover.

There was a petting zoo, complete with a giant rabbit and beagle puppies. There was a corn maze. Of course, my favorite place there is the gift shop, though I behaved myself and just came away with a few sale items.

We had seasonal treats, of course... hot apple cider and caramel apples. We went on a hay ride, and besides rows of trees and grazing cows, we saw a deer jump out of the woods.

Emma seemed to revel in my undivided attention, and I gave it to her... I know the day is coming when she will no longer want that much attention from me. Someday pitilessly (is that a word?) soon she will find my attention... annoying.

My clothing choices will become, in her opinion, hopelessly 1980's and mildly embarassing (I think we're already reaching that point).

It will become apparent that I'm holding her back, and that I'm a lot more strict than the other moms, with my restrictive and seemingly pointless rules.

My voice in the background, telling her to get off the phone while she trying to conclude her hour-long conversation with a friend she talks to every day, will grate on her ears and intrude on her space.

But meanwhile... she loves me!