Ridin’ Along in this Big ol’ Jet Plane…

We are broadcasting this entry from the beautiful white sand beaches of Treasure Island, Florida. We are down here in preparation of Robby & Sharon’s wedding! We had a fun week leading up to it as well…

On Monday, Abby had her final track practice. Matt had football practice (strength and conditioning). Abby had opening night of softball that evening vs. the Smith Implements team. They opened up with a huge victory! They won 21-1 in three innings!! Wow! Abby played shortstop and had one error. She was 0-1 at the plate with two walks and a two runs scored. It was a great way to start the year!!

On Tuesday Abby was in early for Student Council. After school, Matt again had lifting and Abby traveled to Sunman-Dearborn for her final track event of this short year. Due to all the bad weather, they only had 3 meets this year, I think. This was the invitational. Abby made the team as an alternate for the long jump. Not too bad for a 7th grader. It looked like rain all afternoon but held off long enough for Luke & I to mow at Mom & Gigi’s house as well as back at our house too. Just as I was putting away the equipment, it started to rain. It rained really hard at the track meet, causing Abby & her team to get home about 10 pm that night. She was cold, wet and hungry when she finally got back to the house.

Matt had physical therapy on Wednesday but did not have Leadership Academy this week. Both Luke & Abby had ball games that evening. It again looked like it would pour at any time that night. In fact, we drove through a big storm on the way home from work. Luke and I played the Devil Rays, which were pretty evenly matched with us. They too have a very young team. Luke was 0-1 with a walk and strikeout. He played first base but I don’t know if he had any balls hit his way. We won 8-5 to even our record to 1-1. Meanwhile, Abby and her team played the Eaton-Day team. After winning by 20, they got smoked by 10 this evening. Abby played shortstop then moved to second and finally ended up on third base. She made one error at 2nd – her first time ever to play in that position. From the plate she got her first hit of the year – a single. She grounded out in her second at bat to go 1-2. I did not get a chance to see even one minute of her game. Ann bounced back and forth between the games. With the loss, the girls dropped to 1-1 on the year. We got home and the girls turned around and went to dance practice (jazz) right away.

It rained hard on Thursday evening. Matt had football but Abby & Luke went with Ann to get haircuts that evening then the girls went tanning and then on to dance practice (tap). Bu’s softball practice was cancelled due to the nasty weather. It continued to rain hard on and off. I tried to go to bed early but we were all up around midnight when the tornado warning alarms started going off. We got up and all sat in the hallway until it was safe to return to bed. Thankfully, we incurred no damage at our house and I don’t think there were any touchdowns in the area…

On Friday, Ann & I had short days; coming home to go shopping for last-minute items, doing laundry and packing up! Matt had physical therapy. Luke’s baseball game got cancelled and that allowed us to have a little extra time to get things done. Ann & I grabbed lunch at Panda Garden and bought a new set of suitcases. We started packing and Matt ran to get takeout. We watched NASCAR as we did some chores around the house. We cleaned out the car and anxiously tried to get to sleep at a decent time, as we knew tomorrow would be a very long day for us…

We were up early on Saturday morning, at about 2:30 to get showered, finished packing and on the road at+
about 3:30 for our 6:30 flight. We got out the door a little late but made great time on the road. It was a good thing we got there early as we ran in to a couple snags at the airport. First we had to repack a bag that was too heavy. We had three bags and they could only be 50 lbs each. So by my math, that means we had 150 lbs total to use, but even though the other two were well under, we had one that was too heavy and had to repack it for whatever reason. Then I got stopped at the terminal checkpoint twice – once for my laptop cooler and once for my Chapstick that I forgot to take out of my pocket. Not sure what they thought I had, but they were very nice and even asked if they needed to repack my bag for me. It was all good and we had plenty of time before we caught our flight. It was a quick flight with a layover in Atlanta. It was in the low 40s when we left Indiana but was in the 80s when we landed in Florida. We rented a car and made our way over to the Sand Pebble in Treasure Island. Our room was already ready when we arrived. We got unpacked, grabbed lunch at Sloppy Joe’s, just up the road. and went grocery shopping. We met up with Dad, Rob & Sharon. Also at the Pebble this week were our good friends and family, including Dan & Sharon; Jake, Katie & their kids; Sharon’s boys Brandon, Brett and their wives; George, Mike, Rose & Austin; Bob & Jackie; two of Sharon’s good friends, Amber & Bridgette; and Courtney & Cassie. We were up pretty late that first night. Actually Rob, Sharon and the boys had been up since Friday night, still partying from the night before! We were able to keep ourselves out of trouble though and had a great time catching back up with everyone. We still managed to get a couple warnings from security that night…
On Sunday we had a couple of prep meetings for Rob & Sharon’s wedding. We ate at Dockside Dave’s that was a little misleading since they weren’t even on the beach – they were across Gulf Blvd! They had good fish, onion rings and local brews. We came back and made a trip to the beach and played for a couple hours in the sun before coming up to hang out around the pool and drink a few cocktails before the big day on Monday.

Now it is time for our video section, including a new family videos and a couple from around the internet.

Our final section is our Waybac section. Leading off, we have several newspaper articles of Grandpaw Brown in the 1950s; then Mom’s Easter baskets in May of ’58; then a few pictures around the homes of Grandmaw & Grandpaw and Aunt Midge’s house in August of 1958; next we have several pix of the family throughout 1959 including Mom, Midge, Grandmaw, Grandpaw, Aunt Marilou & Great Grandma Brown; then a picture of me in about ‘70/’71; Rob in December of 1980 at the old mall in LaPorte; Rob as a 4-year old in 1983; Rob & I w/ Grandmaw & Grandpaw in July of 1986; Grandpaw at his 40th anniversary party in August of 1986; Aunt Norma, uncle Ralph & Grandmaw in May o f’87; me at my high school graduation in June of ’87; Grandpaw with his Army buddies in Vincennes in June of ’87; Thanksgiving dinner in ’87; Christmas in ’87 in LP; Wendy & her friend Marty in Cadillac, MI in May of 1988; Tammy & Brett’s wedding in June of 1988; Mom, Dad & Grandpaw Brown in July of 1988; Dan & Katie in Kokomo in 1996 with Kate was 17 and Dan was 44; the kids and Dad at Christmastime in Greensburg in December of 2006; Sue in May of 2007 during week 19; and Abby at cheer event at the high school on a Friday night in September of 2007…

Well; that wraps up this beach-side edition of the Scheu Family Blog. Thanks for keeping up with us this time out and we’ll catch up with you next time. Until then, have a good one. We miss ya Mom….especially right now, down at the Pebble. It’s just not the same without you here…and it’s hard to believe that it’s been a year since I saw your face last – we love you.
Later, Scheu