Josh Bayer's Wedding

Well, it's the last day of September and definitely feels like fall around here.

Last night the kids and I walked up to our neighbor's farm to get a bale of hay and some apples. Michael pulled the "big" wagon, while Emma attached two ribbons to the little wagon so her and Leila could both pull it (prior to that there'd been  "debate" as to who would get to pull the little wagon).

We made a scarecrow for the front of the house. He's kind of goofy-looking and I don't think he scares many birds, but he does seem to have taken a liking to Leila and Emma.

There's a story behind that big pumpkin Michael's standing on.

Emma and I went to a farmer's market in Colfax. We fell in love with a big round pumpkin that seemed a steal for only $8. With help from a couple of teenagers at the market, we were able to load the pumpkin onto the open trunk of our car. I say "onto" because it was too big to actually fit inside the trunk, so we wedged it in there pretty good and crossed our fingers that it wouldn't fall out on the way home.

We had just about made it to our driveway when there was a big thud... the pumpkin had fallen INTO our trunk. At first I was just glad it hadn't smashed into a big orange mess on the road, but soon realized that it's presence in our trunk was now a problem... because how could I possibly lift that big pumpkin out by myself?

The kids and I spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out how to get the pumpkin out. Jon could have easily done the job, but he's still in Colorado and won't be home for a few weeks yet. I had visions of the pumpkin rotting in the back of my car. I even wondered if I should chop it up with an ax so it could be taken out in pieces.

I racked my brain... who do I know well enough to call and ask for help? Who's strong and doesn't have a bad back yet? And then it hit me... Jonathan-!

I made the phonecall, and Jonathan came over after work, still wearing dress clothes and a tie from his new sales job at AT&T. He easily lifted the pumpkin up out of the trunk and helped me position it in front of the house. We fed him supper and he played chess and catch with the kids. As you can see, Michael was very pleased with his big brother.

Jonathan and Lindsey found out a few weeks ago they're expecting a boy. The baby's due the end of January, so Susan and I are talking about co-hosting a baby shower for Lindsey in December, when Susan comes home for Christmas. Stay tuned for more info on that!

This weekend I took the kids over to my sister-in-law Sally's house in Holcombe. She had agreed to watch them for me so I could attend my cousin Josh's wedding in Wausau.

Josh's parents are my Uncle David and Aunt Mary Pat. Here they are at right, with their grandson Jude. Jude is their daughter Jenny's son.

Uncle David is my mother's youngest brother, only sixteen years older than me. He was always the "cool" uncle. It was a lot of fun catching up with him and his family.

Here's me and Uncle David with his other grandchild, Claire. She's only three months old and cute as a button.

The wedding was held outside, and luckily the weather cooperated. It was a beautiful fall day. As we sat and watched Josh and Hilary say their vows, we could look around and see blue skies, colorful leaves and rolling farmland.

 Josh and Hilary were married under a white gazebo in a simple and personalized ceremony. A violin and cello provided the music. We were very impressed with the young relative of Hilary's who did a reading at the wedding.

My brother Bob, sister Laurie, and brother John, as well as my parents, also attended the wedding. It was good catching up with them as well as seeing other relatives from my mom's side of the family that we haven't seen very often in recent years.



Here's my mom with her brother Don. Something about his eyes in this picture reminds me of his nephew, my own brother Don.



At right is my cousin Mitch and his wife, Mary. Mitch is the son of my mom's brother Jim, who passed away a few years ago. It was really great talking to both of them. Mary suggested that next year we have a Bayer family reunion at their house. I hope we do; it's so easy to let the years fly by and lose touch with those special people we share memories with.

 

Another cousin we saw at the wedding was Mitch's sister Christy. Here's Christy and her husband.

 

It was great talking to Christy, too. I don't know if we've ever really had a conversation; she's a bit older and not someone I'd gotten to spend much time with while growing up. But at the wedding I realized she was very warm and interesting to talk to, and that we have things in common. 

 

I should mention that before the wedding started there was a memorial for the people from Josh and Hilary's families who'd passed away; Josh and Hilary wanted them there in spirit. Different people from each family were asked to carry up a flower for the deceased relative. It was a really nice touch that added a lot of meaning for the families, I think.

One snappy little detail from the wedding was that the groom and his attendents wore hats (though not during the ceremony). I thought it added some old world charm... you can definitely see the Italian charisma in Josh's sparkling dark eyes, black hair, and olive complexion.

Of course, he's also part native American on his mom's side, so we can't take all the credit for his dark good looks!



After the wedding we headed back to Rhinelander, to spend the night at Mom and Dad's. It was a good opportunity to see their fall color; they're always about a week ahead of us in seasonal changes, so the color was glorious. We tend to be more rusty and golden, here in Colfax, with all of our oak trees, but Mom and Dad have lots of red maple and yellow birch, so the colors seem more dramatic.

John, Laurie, Mom and I took a walk in the woods and snapped lots of pictures of the fall color (and each other). Of course, John always has to ham it up a little.

Well, I'll end on that note. Happy Last Day of September!!!



September's in the Air...

It's hard to believe, but September's already half over. The kids and I have slowly settled back into our school routine. We wake up while it's still dark outside, and on cold mornings I make a fire.

Fall is coming... the leaves are turning colors. The mosquitoes have more or less vanished (weren't they terrible this year??). And there's a definite chill in the air. We haven't had a frost yet, so I am still picking small amounts of green beans, tomatoes, and peppers from the garden. Most of the squash we've left unpicked, waiting for that first frost to infuse them with their full sweetness.

Last weekend Jon and the kids filled the greenhouse up with firewood. I was glad for the help, because Sunday night Jon left for a month-long job in Colorado. 

As before when he worked in Colorado, he's not in the scenic, mountainous part of the state. He's in the northeast corner, which is more or less desert. It's flat, windy land with scrub areas that sometimes conceal rattlesnakes and scorpions.



The kids and I will miss having Jon home on weekends, but school and seasonal activities will hopefully keep us busy. We'll probably go to an orchard this weekend and pick apples; the one near our house has a corn maze and Spooky Trail they like to visit in the fall. Then the weekend after that they'll be staying at their Aunt Sally's while I go to my cousin Josh's wedding in Wausau.

On September 11th we went to a parade in Colfax. It was a nice, sunny day and the kids had a lot of fun watching the marching bands go by (and picking up candy thrown to kids along the street).

Marching bands from Colfax and Elk Mound did a nice job; Leila was very impressed with the "princesses" who carried flags and waved at everyone from floats.

Someone handed out flags and Leila got a lot of use out of hers-- waving it and marching around like she was part of the parade.

Well, I'm going to leave off at this point because I am having a bit of a struggle getting this blog to do what I want it to do... they changed the format recently and it just doesn't seem as flexible as it did before. Frustration! Anyway, hope all of you are well...

Susan's Visit and Macey's Baby Shower

Well, it's September and quieter here... the kids are back to school. Michael is now a sixth grader (a middle schooler, if you can believe it-!) and Emma is a fourth grader with her first "man teacher". Both kids were happy to get back to the school routine and their friends.

In August we enjoyed a 2 week visit with Susan and Jay. They came here by train, making a vacation of it by first stopping at noteworthy places like New York City and Chicago. They stayed in hostels, ate at interesting restaurants, and attended concerts (including Lollapalooza) along the way. Jon picked them up in Minneapolis.

One of the highlights of their visit (I'm sure) was helping us catch chickens so we could have them butchered (as a former vegetarian I can't believe I just wrote that).

For those of you acquainted with Pumpkin and Dot and our other egg-laying chickens, have no fear. Those original six chickens will live out their lives with us and never turn up on a plate. But in June we'd gotten a dozen baby chicks from our farmer friend up the road. Tiny peeping balls of fluff when we got them, they grew quickly (in part because they are bred to be voracious eaters). By the time they were full-grown I had to fill their feeders 3 times a day (this was in addition to the bugs and grass they foraged on as they roamed around our yard).

Susan and Jay helped catch the chickens and then hauled them to Dorcester for us, where an Amish couple "took care of business" for $2.50 a piece. The chickens came back to us neatly wrapped in freezer packages (and much quieter).

On my birthday, Jay helped us make "beer can chicken" with one of them, on the grill. We had a second meal the next day by turning the leftovers into chicken dumpling soup. Their meat tasted MUCH better than the skinless boneless chicken breasts I usually buy by the bag.

Raising chickens is work and definitely not the cheapest route for obtaining meat, but we plan on doing it again next year. The chickens had relatively good lives-- better than they would have had on a factory farm-- and their meat is organic and better quality than anything available in American grocery stores.

But getting back to Susan and Jay's visit...

Susan and Jay came "just in time" as far as Michael, Emma, and Leila were concerned. By mid-August, summer vacation had lost its novelty and they were restless for things to do. So playing chess, having water balloon fights, and even just watching TV with their big sister and "Jay Jay" at the end of the summer livened things up quite a bit.

One day the kids made chalk drawings on the sidewalk and played "soccer" together. You can catch some of the soccer game on the link at left...

We also caught up with Jonathan and Lindsey one day at Olive Garden, for lunch. This was Susan and Jay's first opportunity to meet Lindsey. Lindsey works at the Green Mill restaurant in Eau Claire, and is a college student as well. Jonathan recently started a new job at AT&T.

It was fun seeing (almost) all the kids together-- we missed David. (In case you hadn't heard, David is now a college student at MSU and has his first job, at a KFC).

Another day we went to the mall to do some school shopping... and to let Emma get her ears pierced. Emma's very proud of the small silver studs that will remain in her ears six weeks. After that she'll be able to wear different earrings.

Don't worry, grandparents: there will be no eyebrow, lip, or belly button piercings any time soon.

(Can you see the tiny earrings below?)

Another fun event was Shana's baby shower. Jon's nephew Nathan and his girlfriend Shana had a baby girl about a month ago, named Macey May. Jill, Sally, and Grandma Jane had a shower for Shana and Macey at Jill's house. Susan, Emma, Leila and I attended.

There were all kinds of good things to eat at the shower. We sat outside on the back deck until the mosquitoes got too bad, then moved inside for more good food (including a hot dish with crumbled potato chips on top, that Emma was really impressed with). We played a game and watched Shana open gifts.

Below, Emma and Leila cozy up to Macey... who is tinier than many of the presents she received.

Macey is a calm, alert, and friendly little baby. She let us take turns holding her, with never a complaint. Brent and Nathan were at the shower as well, and it was fun seeing them dote on sweet little Macey.

Below: Susan, Tammy, Ann, and Allison, with Emma in the foreground.

It's always fun going to a baby shower and seeing what the newest styles are in baby technology and fashion. My personal favorites was a cute fork and spoon set with Tonka trucks built into the handles. What will they think of next???

At left, Shana admires a miniature sock monkey that came fastened with a bow to one of her packages.

Of course, Susan had to put up with some good-natured teasing about how someday we'll be throwing one of these baby showers for her...

So it was a very good visit with Susan and Jay. We really appreciate the long, quality visit they spent with us. When I said something about that to Susan, she jokingly responded "Oh yes, my time is so valuable, you know." Well, Susan, it is!!! Especially now that you're a PA.

Congrats and thanks again for coming over. We got to know Jay better and see first-hand how happy the two of you are together. Love, Lisa