Brrr…we started the week in the 40s…not very much May-like weather, that’s for sure. As Luke was showering that morning, I noticed scratches on his nose and knee – but when I ask him what happened, he keeps changing his story; probably did something he shouldn’t with Jeremy while they were staying up past 2 am the other night!!; Ann is still full of hives – not sure if it’s from meds she began taking last week or if it’s viral?. It was a mostly cloudy and blah day today. I got Mom & Sandy’s house mowed by myself (it was nice) and came home and fixed Ann’s friend’s laptop. Abby had her final jazz dance class at Dixon Dance Studios for the year. Matt continued with his weight training for football, followed by free style wrestling practice. On Tuesday, Abby had her first softball game of the season where it was cold and wet (it drizzled all day, in fact); Bu played catcher all game where their team won 7-1 (1-0 on the year) but she went 0-3 from the plate unfortunately. However, we made up for it by cooking out on the grill and had juicy burgers!!
I had Wednesday off to go with my work friends, Kelly and Kevin, up to Indy for the IRL Indy 500 practice session and lunch at one of the suites sponsored by our lobbyists, Krieg Devault (great turkey). It drizzled all day again, but we had a nice lunch and then got to tour the garage where we got to meet two drivers, Scott Dixon and Jay Howard. They were kind enough to sign autographs and take pictures with me (I gave Scott Dixon’s autograph to Kelly for her son who is my little buddy and gave the other one to Luke, my other little buddy). This will be the centennial race – hard to believe they’ve been doing this for the past hundred years- which makes this one a pretty special race. They were promoting it everywhere you looked as well, commenting about how this was the most important race of the century, etc. However, we saw no practice – the only thing on the track that day was the drying crew… Poor Kevin only wanted to see Danica and all he got was a one of the little hand-out cards from her garage. He was bummed, but we did have fun checking out the new Camaro pace cars parked out in the infield. There must’ve been 20 all parked together.
Luke had a baseball game that evening in the cold mist against the 8-yr-old all-star team – losing badly, 14—3 to bring their record to 2-1 for the year. Luke did well, going 2-2 with a pair of doubles and two runs scored. He made several plays on the ball as well, getting 5 assists with a throwing error. We enjoyed Ann’s homemade popcorn for dinner which helped to sooth our sorrows. We watched as Haley kicked major ass on American Idol – especially her seductive version of Led Zeppelin’s, “What is and What Should Never Be??? – despite her fall during the performance (she wiped out hard while running up stairs in heels!).
Thursday saw Matt return to lifting and his final wrestling practice for the year. Abby attended her final dance class at Dixon Studio for the year as well. Later, she had her second softball game, this time against the Dairy Queen team. It was much warmer for this game. Gone were the sweatshirt and Matt’s under armor from last game and was replaced with just her tank top. They were short 4 girls that night (due to dance practice and the spring performance by the choir and band. Everyone had to bounce around to different positions. Abby played left and right field and made a couple good plays but also had two errors on pop flies she could’ve caught. Although her on-base percentage was 2-2, she actually went 0-1 with a walk and a fielder’s choice. She was stranded on base both times. They got beat pretty bad that night and finally the game was called via mercy rule, down by 15 after 4. When we returned to our cars after the game, we were mortified to find Ann’s car had been struck by a stray baseball and had shattered her front windshield! Of course, there was no note and no one around – but she called the insurance company right away and they were going to take care of it the next day (Friday)…
Friday was a much nicer day (mid-80’s); however it was dampened by the news that Randy “Macho Man??? Savage was involved in a fatal car accident down by Mom in Pinellas Co., FL. He and Hogan were my two favorites as a kid. Ann had her windshield replaced at home when she got off work. Abby went with Baili & Amy to Franklin to play at Rascal’s Fun Zone all afternoon where her favorite activities included go kart racing, paddleboats where she got soaked and winning tickets in the arcade to go shopping with for lots of accessories! Luke & I worked out in the yard and Ann made a family favorite – Fiesta Pork – for supper (thanks again, honey!) After dinner, Luke & I went back outside and worked on baseball skills (fielding, throwing, grounders, etc) until dusk when we came in, turned on the A/C and watched Gnomeo & Juliet (produced and chock full of songs by Elton John). On Saturday, Matt rode his bike to the fairgrounds where he participated in a charity fund raiser by collecting money at the gates for a baseball tourney. Ann and I are very proud of him for his community work that he volunteers for…meanwhile, there was something even cooler going on next door at the fairgrounds – a Gold Wing convention! Abby had dress rehearsals that afternoon for her end-of-the-year dance revue at the high school. Luke & I finished work out in the back yard and then grabbed some take-out at Koch’s and worked on his batting skills out in the back lot. I must’ve pitched him at least 6 buckets over two hours (each bucket held 30 balls). He is doing really well…Ann went to Greenwood with her friend to do some shopping and then head down to the boat on the river to do a little gambling (unfortunately, she merely made another donation!). We had Pizza King delivered and chilled out to the NASCAR all-star race in Charlotte.
Sunday was Abby’s big day. It was the day of the annual Dixon Dance Revue. Abby participated in four dances this year. She led off the show as a part of the Tap Star Steppers dance team (all-star), where they danced to Rhythm of the Night. Grace was also there and did a jazz routine. Next up was Abby and Baili’s award-winning jazz dance to Break Your Heart. It was a great version – despite Baili losing her had partially with her summersault. Even though they laughed about it during the dance, they both kept their composure and did a great job. Abby’s tap class finally gave a great rendition of the Route 66 routine. It was the best performance of the year for this group. There was some major drama afterwards, meaning this may possibly be the final year this group stays together. They have been together as a group now for four years, so we hope they can work out their differences since this group has done so well (you may remember a year or so ago, they earned the studio’s first-ever Double Platinum at the ShowStopper competition. Abby’s final performance was as a part of the jazz Star Stepper team (another all-star team). It was a very cool routine to R.O.C.K. in the USA where Abby and others came out of the isles to start the dance…it was pretty cool. For her efforts, Bu was again a runner up for Miss Personality. She did great and we are so proud of her efforts this year…
Here are this week’s three videos as well as several miscellaneous videos from this week…
Leading off this week’s Waybac section, we begin in the 80s: we have the highest of highs for this decade for me and also the lowest of lows – first we have three pictures of my high school graduation party in June of ’87 at our home in LaPorte. This was the pinnacle of my experience in LaPorte. We had such a fantastic summer – it was magical. It was also a blur…it went so fast and we did so much. I remember all the concerts, all the parties and all the friends. This party was very special as it had so many members of our family come up for the occasion. It was really nice. Included in this batch of pictures is Aunt Sharon, Katie, Vird & Belinda, Mike & Laura, Nathan, Julie and I. Next is Grandpaw’s birthday, I assume, still in ‘87. Mom, when was his birthday? Then we move to lowest point of the decade for me – the loss of my beloved Grandmother. I still remember that dreadful call. I was in Franklin, at college, and was living in what was known as the New Dorms. They were very nice, but there was only one phone – located out in the stairwell. It was shared by 20 people and was hard to here ring. This was on a weekend and nearly everyone had gone home (it was such a suitcase college) but someone finally heard the phone and was able to find me…what an awful way to wake up in September of ’88. In attendance, I can make out: Mom, Dad, Rob & I, Grandmaw & Grandpaw, Dorothy & Timmie, Marilou, Kenny & Tammy, Ralph & Norma, Karen, Bob, Brent & Emily, Steve & Brenda, and Kathy & her husband.
Next up is the 90s: we start off with Dad holding 1 year old Matthew at his first birthday party in Columbus in 1997; next are a few more pictures from the Bryan family Christmas in Rossville in ’97 with Mom, Matt, me with my sausage, Ann, Dad and Uncle Dan; next we go up to LaPorte for a ride in Aquaholic on Pine Lake in June of ’98 featuring Matt & I jumping in the water; finally we wind up in the summer of ’99 for a favorite picture of mine of Matt with Mom, Dad & Rob on the front porch of the new Rossville home on the hill they had just built.
Rounding things out, we move in to the 00s where we find me coaching Matt in T-ball at the YMCA in June of 2K; Christmas Day in 2000, featuring a cute little Bu…speaking of which, look those little cheeks bathing in our upstairs bathroom in our Main St home in ’00; then we see Bu with Grandma O and Chuck E Cheese along with Matthew for his birthday party in March of ’01; Rob & Sharon at their new home in TN in February of 2007; and finally Matt’s science experiment out in our front yard – with Abby as his assistant – in March of ’07.
Well that wraps up another edition of the Scheu Family Blog. Thanks for checking in with us and catch you up with more next time. Until then, have a good one.
Later, Scheu