Flashback Friday

On a brisk May day in 1996, I ran my first 5k. Tomorrow I'm running a 10k so I thought it was a good time to look back. The race I ran back then was the Dino Dash in Milwaukee. The kids came to cheer me on and they posed with a race mascot.

Flashback Friday

I hope everybody had a safe and Happy 4th of July. Here are the Harrisons in Racine in 1994, waiting for the parade.

Flashback Friday

Here's John in the second semester of his senior year of high school in 2008. You'd think I'd remember what this extracurricular was, but it's escaping me. Economics something or other? (This is we used to write things on the back of photos.) Anyway, what I remember is that they had a great outing and were happy with their presentation and now it's 16 years later and these fresh faces are all fully grown taxpaying adults and succeeding at life. 
 

Flashback Friday

We got hit with a good snowstorm on December 2, 2006. This was in Shorewood. As you can see, John and Allie thought it was quite fun. 

 

Flashback Friday

I might have mentioned that when I was at Brad's mom and dad's house the weekend before last, we were looking at a bunch of old photos. I found so many of the Brad and Sue Harrison family that I didn't have. Like this one. It's a rare picture of the kitchen at our house on Park Place in Racine. I don't have a date, but it would have been from the late 1990s. And from the way we're dressed it was clearly summertime. We loved that little house.

Flashback Friday

It doesn't get much better than this in Racine, Wisconsin. Brad's mom and dad visited us in the summer of 1999 and we enjoyed a beautiful afternoon at the harbor.

Flashback Friday

Camp Randall Stadium. September 21, 1996. Stanford at Wisconsin. I think that says it all.

Flashback Friday

In June of 1995, our nephews Dan and Eric joined us for a few days in Door County, Wisconsin. It was fashion sense like John's (above) that caused the older boy cousins to teach their younger boy cousins that it was more cool to wear one's socks rolled down instead of hiked high.

Flashback Friday

It's a double Flashback Friday! On September 20, 1992, we all went to our first Brewers' game at County Stadium. I couldn't decide which of these pictures to put up, so I'm putting them both up. Go Brewers!!!

Flashback Friday

John graduates from college on Sunday. Predictably, today's Flashback is from an earlier graduation. (And as the only child in our family with the distinction of having twice graduated from elementary school, he gave me plenty of choices.) I chose the earliest, which was 12 short years ago at John's "moving up" from elementary school in 2000, which was at the end of 4th grade when he was at The Prairie School in Racine. (Prairie's middle school started in 5th grade, but the following year we moved to Poland where the middle school started in 6th grade, so his other elementary school graduation was in Poland at the end of 5th grade.) We're looking forward to a festive weekend at Tufts with John, his girlfriend Troy, and the entire Harrison family!

Flashback Friday

As I start to think about putting this year's Christmas cards together, I thought I'd look back on a Christmas card photo "blooper." Back in 1993, it was a bit more difficult to get everyone to focus on the camera. (Mary was 1, John was 3, and Peter was 5.) Apparently, they had better things to do. This picture, by the way, was taken at Shoop Park in front of the Racine Lighthouse.  (And no, it didn't make it as that year's Christmas card photo.)

Flashback Friday

With Mary graduating tomorrow, you probably thought this would be a Flashback about Mary, but . . . . .  I'm one step ahead of you.  This is because I figured everybody is and/or will be sick of her by now, so no, this is not about Mary. Way back 19 years ago, towards the end of June of 1992, there was no Mary. It was just Brad, Sue (7 months pregnant), Peter (age 3), and John (age 2).  Days before, we had just moved to Racine, Wisconsin.  For Brad's first Father's Day in Wisconsin, what did we do? We went to a Brewer's game! So here are Peter and John with their dad, at County Stadium, on Father's Day of 1992. (Practically tailgating!)  Notice that Peter isn't yet sporting a Brewer's helmet. (In other photos from this same day he actually is wearing one. You can judge for yourself what it says about him that he's switching out  a Brewers and a Reds helmet at the same game.) But notice that John is already wearing his Cubs helmet. Nineteen years later he's still a fan  . . . .  now that's devotion!  So here you have it, a break from Mary and a very sweet look back at the beginning of a beautiful friendship with the Brewers.  (Except for you, John.)

Wisconsin Winter Weekend

Although we didn't see each other until the weekend was almost over, Mary and I each had a GREAT time in Wisconsin (and Illinois)! It was so perfect that, thanks to a two-hour school delay this morning (Connecticut got a decent snowfall yesterday, thus the delay), Mary was only an hour late to school this morning.

Mary and Molly at Molly's house before the Turnabout Dance on Saturday night. I could be wrong, but I think they were having a good time.

Mary and friends at dinner at Molly's house before the Turnabout Dance.
My Friday Morning Knitting group had a fun Saturday night together (above), and also a Tuesday morning get together. It was so much fun to get to visit with everyone!

Mary, Emi, and Nora at Shorewood on Tuesday. Are these girls adorable or what?

On our way out of town, we had a fun dinner at BD's Mongolian Grill with Emi, Nora, Pat, and Tom. Please pass the yak.

Heavy Sigh

It's begun. The movers are on their second day of packing, and they are making fast progress. I have plenty to do, but not as much as I expected. There are only so many cupboards to wipe out and it's too early to start washing floors. It's fun to play frisbee with the dogs in the backyard, but I do hate to have to put them back in their kennels after each time; they are definitely not happy to be cooped up all day, but there is no option. Meanwhile, Mary is on her trip and I see from the itinerary that today's agenda is canoe instruction, poetry workshop, and a night hike. Sounds like fun! Because I have to pick up her bike at school today (the bike riding portion of the trip was Sunday and Monday), last night I got to call to one of the teachers on the trip (otherwise, there is no contact whatsoever allowed between parents and the camp, unless it's an emergency), and I did get one tidbit of information, which is that Mary did the "century" bike ride option. This means she, along with everybody else, rode 50 miles on Sunday. Then on Monday, where there was a choice between 27 miles or 60-ish miles (each ride ending up at the same destination), she chose the long one. I am shocked that a girl who refused to wear biking shorts made it that far on a bike. Ah, youth.

It's Time

Many times, during the darkest days of Brad's job search, I said to him that my happiest day would be the day that the moving van pulled up in front of our house. This was because I was anxious for the wait to be over and to finally be on our way. Well, that day is here. It is a happy day in many respects, because now I know that Brad has found a fantastic job, and because now I know that soon our family will be back together under one roof. But it is also a sad day, because we're that much closer to leaving a place that each and every one of us calls home, and that place, as you know, is Shorewood, Wisconsin. When we moved here four years ago, not once in my wildest dreams did I imagine that Shorewood would so quickly become the home that it has become for us. Each of our kids, as well as Brad and I, calls Shorewood our home. If we had our way, we would live here forever. And so it is with a heavy heart that I await the moving van today. What makes the leaving bearable is knowing that although we will be leaving Shorewood soon, Shorewood will never leave us. The friends we've made and the experiences we've had will stay in our hearts forever. We are incredibly thankful for our life in Shorewood these past four years, and each of us is richer for it. Thank you, all of our dear friends in Shorewood, for bringing us into the fold of this wonderful community. We love you all, and we will miss you more than you can know.

Shorewood Votes

This morning I walked the dogs by our polling place, which is Atwater Elementary School. It was 7:15 a.m., and this was 15 minutes after the polls had opened. I was amazed at the number of people filing in and out the door. I know, it was the people who had to get to work, but still there were a LOT of people! On our way home, we passed by two couples and a handful of individual people who were walking in the direction of the school, clearly on their way to vote. I've known for a long time that today was an important day, but seeing those voters got me to feeling what a special day today was going to be, and it gave me the idea to make a post to celebrate the people who are voting. How I did this was after I voted, I stood outside my polling place and asked people who had just voted if I could take their picture. (At this very moment, I predict that Peter, John, and Mary are cringing.) Everyone said yes and was very friendly. There is a holiday-like feeling in the air today and I hope that the faces in some of these pictures shows it to you. In addition, on my way to vote, I almost ran over a couple of canvassers who were walking past our driveway. They also gladly posed for a photo. So what you see above, in order, are the canvassers, a photo of our polling place, and photos of three sets of voters. (You can't see it in the pictures, but the voters are all wearing stickers that say I Voted in Shorewood.) I can only post five photos at a time, so I couldn't put everything up that I took, but I think this gives you an idea. Oh, and did I mention that it's 74 degrees today and sunny? I don't know what will be more momentous . . . the outcome of this election or the fact that I wore shorts to vote in Wisconsin in November!

Homecoming Parade

It's one of my favorite days in Shorewood . . . the Homecoming Parade. The high school kids march through the village and with the band playing and so many people out on the sidewalk and the trees turning, it's really a slice of Americana. Mary marched with the sophomore class, and she was very proud of their float. Here are a few photos, including a couple of the streets which are so pretty at this time of year. (That's our church in the first photo.) If you want to see more, I have posted all of my Homecoming photos on my Facebook page.

New football field at Shorewood High School

Today was the first football game (actually a pre-season scrimmage) on the brand new field turf that was installed as part of a privately-funded total remodeling of the high school sports field. The overall project isn't complete yet, but the field is installed so the team can have home football games this year. If you saw the old field, you'd never believe this was the same place. It's wonderful! Before heading off to college, John (who took some rare time off from his campaign work) and some of the other 2008 graduates went over to cheer on their old teammates. If you squint, you can see John in the bottom photo in the grey t-shirt and khaki shorts.