37 years & counting???

First off, Happy 37th to the oldest Strawn of the bunch here.  After Lars ran up to him and said "Happy Birthday, Daddy!" at the end of church, The Rev announced to the congregation that he was one year closer to being dead.  That's one way to look at it, I guess...

In happier news, we celebrated with a grill out & cheesecake last night with friends and delighted in the warm weather we've been lucky enough to sustain out here.  I know winter is going to come quickly, hit us like a Mack, and it's going to be cold & windy & bitter & probably awful with no snow to boot, but we're holding on to 70 degrees as long as we can!~

I'm a bit ashamed to say I have no photos of last night's party endeavor, but I assure you, there was wine & good laughter from all!

This afternoon, in 73 degrees, the kids & I walked up to the football field for the "Punt, Pass & Kick" competition of the year.  This is an old Bridgeport tradition that apparently ended some years ago and is trying to be resurrected.  The idea is to see how far you can throw a softball, throw a baseball, pass, kick and then punt a football. Not all at the same time, thankfully.

Elia, in charge of the "T"...and the football...

Lars and Eden were in the group for pre-K/K together and I have no idea what I'm going to do when Lars will be in any sort of separate group of Eden.  They stick together like glue.  Eden said to me, "Mom can you find Lars a new friend, he won't leave me alone."  At one point, he was holding on to her shirt yelling, "Don't leave me" and she was yelling, "Lars I'm right here, stand out of my space bubble!"

Eden gets some air on a kick!

She really tolerates him better than I do.

At any rate, all the kids seemed to have fun.  A bee sting ended it for the one other girl in Eden's group, on the first practice for the first event, which left Eden as the token girl for the group.  I don't think she noticed.  She was unhappy, however, that she did not throw the ball as far as the other boys, and only beat out two of them, one being Lars.  She said she'd have to get working on that over the winter months.  I hoped we could practice with snowballs.   But I'm not holding my breath. 

This year's event was coupled with a fundraiser for a local toddler who was burned in a campfire over the summer, and it was a real joy to see her out getting around so well.  Her & Elia, 3 months apart in age, are becoming fast friends. At the end of the potluck, the girl was riding in Elia's stroller, and Elia was reaching for the football she had.  I told them not to worry, they'd get to know each other more before they went to Kindergarten together.  It is, after all, a pretty small town.

In the end, we came home with more than we went with, both in food (candy for the little kickers) & fellowship, having been able to get to know some more of the townsfolk. That's probably my favorite thing about doing community events here, I always seem to meet somebody, even after nearly 5 years.  One woman wanted to know if I made the enchilada's.  When I said that, yes, I had, she gave me her phone number & email, wanting the recipe.  I also got a bowl of hot sauce from somebody else and gave away my Sweet Pickles to somebody who said he normally hates sweet pickles, but loved these.

Good Food.  That's my kind of talk!  Beautiful weather. That's my kind of event!  Friendly people.  That's my kind of town!

Lars gets ready to punt!