Brendan Susan and Sue

Friday, July 13, 2007

An Unexpected Visitor

Yesterday Brendan and I came home from dropping Sue off at school and found this guy in the house:

It had chewed a hole in the screen on the kitchen sink window to get in, eaten a good third of an apple, and was running around trying to get out again. You should have seen Brendan and me trying to shepherd the squirrel out. We opened the back door, then Brendan went one way and I went another, trying to herd the poor frightened animal. It took us a good 5-10 minutes of "herding" before the squirrel finally found the open door and ran out onto the deck.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Oberlin Reunion

May 25, 2007

I dithered endlessly ... to go or not to go? Finally, on the day of the deadline, I sent in our reservations. We would go, the entire family, to my 25th college reunion at Oberlin.

The 11-hour drive was as uneventful as I could have wished. Little Sue is a very good traveller, Brendan is willing to drive so I can knit, the weather cooperated, and although spending the entire day in the car is not my idea of a great time, it's a lot cheaper than flying.

Oberlin put the 25th reunion class in one of its nicest dorms, Talcott.

Then they put the overflow (that included us) in another of its nicest dorms, right next door to Talcott, Baldwin.

There were organized children's activities, so Sue was entertained, while I wallowed in nostalgia as I dragged Brendan all around town and around campus. When not being dragged around, Brendan found some time to recover from the long car trip:

I hung out lots with Nancy and John. The class dinner was noisy, long, and still lots of fun.

Nancy and I met during freshman orientation, and although we don't get to see nearly as much of each other as we'd like, our friendship is still going strong.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Sue's Latest School Photo

Sue's school photographer has consistently produced wonderful pictures of Sue. This year's school pic is no exception.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

This Little Piggie

Last weekend was the CT Sheep and Wool Festival. I was in heaven, Brendan was bored, and Sue had a good time. This year they had a table set up with toys and games for little kids, and Sue picked up a pig nose. Ever since we got home she's been wanting to play piggie ...

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Soccer

On Tuesday, April 24, little Sue was slated to have her first 'organized' soccer experience. We wanted her to have a little exposure to soccer so she wouldn't be completely lost; she also missed the first 'season' because it clashed with ballet lessons.

Thank God, the dad of a favored schoolmate is the coach and had little Sue put on a team which has two of her friends on it.

So we dragged her to the park the week before to try out her new ball

On the Saturday before, we took her to the park in full regalia. She liked keepin the ball away from us, but was not much interested in her dad's expert instruction on passing or shooting.

She loves her soccer gear, though: the cleats were very good in the woodchips of the playground, the synthetic athletic shorts went very fast on the slide and the shinguards really helped when climbing around the playscape.

When we arrived, coach Brunner took them through a little warm-up...

...and thereafter a few shots on goal and then a free-form ball of kids chasing a ball around the field, with a slightly changing cast of characters as free substitution reigned supreme. (Little Sue is number three in the yellow shirt)