Son-shine and Son-flowers

Didn't get a chance to blog last night because after I finished a nice senior photo shoot – including a sunflower field – my son-shine came home.

Just a quick visit to say hello, eat, sleep, and goodbye. Haven't seen him in over a month so I took today off to spend time with him. Made sure he visited Grandpa and Grandma, too. So wonderful just to have him here and huggable. 

He's so cooperative with photos, too. Took 23 years to train him.  Ha.

He left mid-afternoon and hubby and I headed down to De Soto, which is south of La Crosse, for Assumption's first football game. Jim does stats so I rode along to take pictures. Can't turn down a game mostly in daylight. 

Ended up losing 34-31. Had some good things going. Just couldn't execute those 2-point conversions.

Heading home now so I better close and watch for deer!!

Watch for Deer

Did you know that when we say goodbye and end it with "Watch for deer!" it's the Midwest equivalent of "I love you"? Yup.

And make sense. There are certain times of year – like right now! – when they are what stands between you and a safe ride home. 

The picture above was my view at a stop sign tonight. I saw one standing there and put my window down to take a picture and as he or she was jumping back, I suddenly spotted 3 more. Wow. Stay there, deer family!

I'm extra paranoid after totaling my car a year ago when I met a deer unexpectedly on the interstate. Not fun. Not worth repeating. So my drive home at dusk tonight was a slow one (which is not easy for Leadfoot Robyn) but I made it home safely.

Somebody must love me!

Be careful out there. Watch for deer! XOXO

Appreciation Day

So like every day it's some sort of national holiday. So happy Black Cat Appreciation Day! Since Sylvester is black – if you round up her black percentage to 100 – we will sort of observe the day.

Since it's obvious she really doesn't want to be appreciated by this human, I'll give her 20% of love and let her favorite human give her the other 80%!

And I just found out that there actually is a Tuxedo Cat Appreciation Day. So tune in Nov. 29 and you'll hear me waxing poetic about the princess! 

In the meantime, hug your black cat if you have one – and aren't afraid that Friday the 13th was a mere 4 days ago!

The Repeat Button

My Alaskan vacation is on repeat. I've put a in a hours lately trying to get my digital scrapbook done and it's wonderfully like re-living our adventures!

In my mind, I had Labor Day weekend as a self-imposed deadline since I am pretty sure they'll have one of their "unlimited extra pages for free" deals. But then Shutterfly surprised me and has the sale right now! I got 10 more pages done this evening but I'm still only on Day 5 of 10. Uff da. 

So these are pages 42 and 43. I better double-check how big my book can be. Something tells me 100. So I guess that's about 6 or 8 pages per day. Hmmm. I'm gonna make this work somehow. 

Even though they extended the current sale to Wednesday night at midnight, I don't plan to even think about trying to make that deadline. Way too many pages left and I don't want to rush creativity. Ha.

All I can say is I'm glad I already sorted through the pictures first AND that I blogged every day. It's fun hitting the repeat button and enjoying our wonder and amazement all over again!

Up to Par - And Beyond

That moment yesterday when I took a selfie after getting my first of two holes-in-one became a distance memory when I set foot on the grown-up sized course today.

My short game certainly didn't carry over! I guess my long game, either.

But it was a nice date with hubby and gorgeous weather in the low 80s again. 

My plan was to get all of my bad shots out of the way today so I'd be good on Wednesday when I'm doing a United Way scramble for work – and Saturday when I do an Assumption football fundraiser scramble. Based on my score – which took a calculator – I think I got plenty of bad shots out of my system. Hope that worked!

Either way, it's all in good fun. For those of us who don't take it seriously or claim to be good, but still try.

Let's not talk about how I still hold a grudge against that darn windmill from yesterday!

Getting Cheesy AND Corny

Had a full and fun family day today. Had to show these Minnesota kids what a good time in small town Wisconsin is all about.

But first we had a few more gymnastics in the front yard – with my good camera...

Doesn't this shadow look like the Air Jordan logo? I think so. And this is what a back flip looks like...

That air time is crazy!!

Then I taught a little photography class with my camera securely fastened on top of a tripod. They each got a turn taking a picture or two of others... Say "cheese"!

After that, it was time to go rural fun and check out the Kellner Corn Fest. Yup, they were convinced we'd just be in the middle of a corn field but the little wide spot in the road known as Kellner had a some games (including BINGO, which we did not win), a dunk tank, some bouncy houses, and... corn!

Caryn was the only one to dunk someone!

Why yes, that is a tractor-shaped bouncy house!

I need some sunglasses! But so nice to have a sunny day with temps in low 80s.

Some of the fundraiser was for the South Wood County Humane Society.

CORN!!

After a grueling round of mini-golf at White Sands Beach, I took them to my favorites spot!

We've got new King Cone fans! Who wouldn't be?

The crew headed back to the Twin Cities tonight. Such a nice visit! Love all the branches of my family!

And this old lady is also exhausted. But a good kind of tired.

Just Hangin' Out

After having withdrawal symptoms from the Olympics being over, we were treated to a gymnastics show in our front yard tonight. Well sort of.

My niece Caryn and her three youngest arrived this evening for a weekend visit. Love getting hugs all the way from Minnesota... IN PERSON.

Makayla is the one who trains at the same gymnastics facility in the Twin Cities that Olympic medalist Grace McCallum does. They got to see her this week so that was pretty exciting for our little rising star. She showed me some of her skills right in the front yard – and at the neighbors' – without any mat or cushion beneath her. That's OK. She didn't need one as she did back flips and aerials and walked on her hands without error. Crazy good. 

After grilling out for supper, we had our first fire in the backyard in ages, it seems. Definitely my first s'more of 2021. Yum!

Of course, all boys like playing with fire. They're making torches!

And us grownups played with it, too, adding some old Christmas lights to add colorful flames via the copper wiring. There was some blue and purple in there, too. Pretty!

There was kind of a fall vibe with the cool temps tonight. Should be nice tomorrow so we can do a few things outside. I'll try to use my good camera and catch some action! 

Right now, though, I gotta hit the sack. I am undertrained to keep up with a 5th, 3rd, and 1st-grader! But I love it.