We’d Blister in the Sun…We couldn’t wait for Night to Come

Another beautiful mid-summer week has been put in our rearview mirror as the kids enjoyed what was left of their summer vacation. It was a bit of a slow down for us, which is of course just the calm before the storm. Luke only had a pair of football practices. Abby only had a pair of Pirateers practices and even Matt’s work schedule was lighter this week. Keith & Rosie made a quick stop on their way to Cedar Point. And Gigi celebrated a birthday. But the big news around here was (besides the tragic international airline issues) the NASCAR boys returning to Indy. …And that meant lots of celebrity sightings in the area: Dale Jr blowing up stuff at Camp Atterbury, Smoke Stewart racing at his hometown Columbus fair and one of the Wallace brothers & Kenny Schrader racing at the Seymour fair.
On Monday Matt, Ann & I returned to work on a bright, hot & humid day. Molly rode with me to get gas in the car that morning while Ann got ready. As we pulled out of the subdivision, we saw Gigi out on the front lawn of the station taking sunrise pictures. She was able to snap off a great picture of us going by with the sunrise behind us and Molly’s nose to the wind. I went back to cardiac rehab and talked to the girls about ending early and they were cool with it. So I will finish up this week and next and call it good. That means that I need to accelerate my goals, so they really pushed me this week. Luke had basketball practice that evening at the Fieldhouse and he is too is making good progress.
Abby had Pirateers practice at the high school on Tuesday. Despite some early rain showers, it cleared up nicely and Luke & I met with Bryan & Drew at North Park for our first official football practice. We only had 8 kids show up, but I know that will pick up. The 8 kids we have are an awesome 8 kids, so we have a great nucleus to build around. We met up with Ann, Matt & Abby at Maryann & Sandy’s house for dinner with Keith, Rosie & Megan. We enjoyed a huge dinner…but I was a good boy. We hung around for a couple hours before heading home. Keith & Rosie were on their way to the rollercoaster heaven called Cedar Point in Ohio, early the next morning.

On Wednesday the girls at cardiac rehab really started pushing me hard today. I was actually tired and sweaty when I left for work afterwards. The humidity started to clear that had blanketed us early in the week. Not only that, but the temperatures also started coming down as the day progressed. It was a quiet night that allowed us to catch up on our DVR’ed shows. Ann made salsa chicken for work and we got to enjoy the fruits of that labor. It filled the whole house as it cooked overnight in the crock pot. I woke up hungry the next morning!
We enjoyed gorgeous weather on Thursday as temps leveled off in the 70s with no humidity. I could take this weather year-round. We actually opened the house up and turned off the air for the first time in a while. Abby had Pirateers practice while Luke & I headed out to football practice. Abby’s best friend Megan was in town and went with her to practice and then they went out to played putt-putt golf at the park. We have a bunch of new social media pictures this week: Abby and friends; Ann, Dee & baby Grace; Aunt Sharon; Mindy who celebrated 16 years of wedded bliss this week; Barney in Cali; Lynz, Jack & Olga during a European vacation; Nick & Connor with Barney in Cali; Chris & Jason in a wedding; Connor & Bethany looking good; Rick with Jimmy Johns and his Harley; Robert Plant’s new LP; Leila’s senior pictures; the Nobles; Robbie Hummel signed with the Timberwolves for 1 year; images of Comic Con in San Diego with the real Darth Vader Hot Wheel car and the Homer Dome; Ann getting revenge on Abby; more of Jack & Lynz in Great Britain; Walter Payton would’ve been 60 this week; the ‘Cool Bus wrapped up its summer tour this week; Grace Potter & the Nocturnals were back in the studio, recording their next record; Ryan & son in Brookville; another senior pic of Leila (Tammy’s girl); this fall there will be a crossover episode of my two favorite TV shows: The Simpsons and Family Guy; and finally a couple wonderful panels of my favorite comic – Calvin & Hobbes.

Friday brought us more gorgeous weather in the 70s again. I returned to cardiac rehab where they really cracked the whip on me as they continued to accelerate my program in order to end next week before school starts. This was the hardest workout yet! Luke spent the afternoon with Drew as they went swimming at the city pool, played putt-putt golf at Parkside and then went swimming at the YMCA. Matt helped me load the old huge grill in to the truck and I took it to Phil as a trade for working on our mowers. I had forgotten how heavy that darn thing was! Ann worked late at work. It was popcorn night as we took it easy and ended up falling asleep early on the couch. Matt spent the night with Andy and was still tweeting at 3 am. …ahh to be young again…
It was an early morning on Saturday. It was Sandy’s birthday. But we didn’t get to see her because she and Maryann left town for the day, seeing Dee & Jamie in Cincy as well as heading down south to the gambling boat in Lawrenceburg. Matt let their dogs out and fed them while they were away. Luke had basketball practice and Ann signed up Abby for dance classes at Dixon. It was nice to still have the house opened up and breathing despite the dark, cloudy skies that permeated our morning. Eventually it rained which caused a rebound of first the humidity and then the hot temps (near 90). The kids and I enjoyed the outdoors by trying to fix the basketball goal. Unfortunately it won’t hold water any longer (been hit 3 times) so we decided to put sand in it. Unfortunately the sand we got from Wal-Mart was absolutely soaked and it took about an hour just to get 1 bag of sand in it. So we quit and put 5 bags in the garage to dry and piled the other 4 on top so we could at least play some ball. We played 3 or 4 games of basketball before coming in to cool down and grab some pulled pork sandwiches that Ann had made (yum!)…but not before Abby moved all the cars back in the driveway for us (she just had to take the Pacifica around the block since it was pointed the wrong way). It stayed warm all night and brought thunderstorms all evening and in to Sunday morning. Matt spent the night with his buddies again and Ann & I watched movies until the wee hours.
Sunday was Gigi’s birthday party. We stopped keeping track of her birthdays a few years ago, but I would say it is around #56 or so. We enjoyed cake & ice cream as well as watching the 20th running of the Brickyard 400. It didn’t look good but they got it dried in time and the weather somehow held out. Glad they didn’t have it down here because it rained pretty hard down here. I love race morning for this and the 500. There is nothing like watching the news channels cover it…it still gives me a sense of wonder and excitement. We will have to get back up there for this fine event one of these days… Jeff looked good early and made a spectacular pass on the final restart to bring home his 5th victory in the Circle City. Luke and I cheered as he and his family and teammates kissed the bricks after the race! We did our weekly household chores and Ann made dinner as Luke & Alex played outside and Abby attended a birthday party for the captain of her Pirateers squad. Dad called and we chatted for a while. He sounded very happy. He invited me down for a weekend, so I’ll have to watch for a good weekend to go see him. He just got back from his NY/NJ trip and has a bunch of photos to share with me soon. I am glad to hear that he is doing well and that he is moving on with his life as I am now trying to do as well. Sharon & Rob spent the evening watching the sunset at the Sand Pebble…and yes, we wish we were there… And then to end the wonderful week, it poured buckets that evening and washed out all the kids’ outdoor plans for the night only to have the sun come out and bless us with a lovely sunset to cap a relaxing weekend.

Next up is our favorite segment – the Waybac pictures. Leading off this week, we start in Southern California in 1979: in July/August with my baseball team’s end-of-season party at Shakey’s pizza in Rosemead (I remember all those faces, but the only name I remember is the little white kid whose nickname was “Boo” – his birthday being 3 days after mine) and December in Temple City with Mom on Christmas morning; then on to 1980: in May for Kathy’s graduation party at Aunt Norma & Uncle Ralph’s house with many familiar faces including Aunt Brenda, Grandpaw Brown and my cousins Kathy, Brent , Stephen and Wendy in Lafayette and in December for Christmas in LaPorte (our first Christmas back in Indiana) with Robby under the tree in our big home on Lilly Lake on Kenwood St.; then in 1981 during a visit to Lafayette in August: Aunt Lou (with husband?), Rob & Grandpaw across the street at Market Square, Aunt Midge & High; and an older couple that may have been Dad B’s neighbors as a kid; then in 1982: Easter in Lafayette at Grandmaw & Grandpaw’s house on Elmwood Ave with Mark, Rob & I and Dad & Grandpaw in LaPorte for our first Christmas in our Rockwood St home; then 1983 in Monticello (?) with Great Grandpa Morgan’s 81st birthday with Uncle Keith and Aunt Norma in January; on to 1984: a year late for Great Grandpa Morgan’s 82nd birthday in the Davis Manor retirement home in West Lafayette, Easter on Rockwood St with Rob & large chocolate bunny as well as a classic family photo with Grandmaw & Grandpaw with the four of us (Mom & Grandmaw seem to be the happiest of all of us in this one!) and then Rob & Peanuts in December, waiting for Santa; next we fast forward to another graduation picture of Paul & I at FC in June of ’91; then me later in the evening during our wedding reception in September of ’95; more of our trip to Florida in May of 2002 with Matt & Abby at the Sand Pebble pool in Treasure Island and then in 2003 (we missed that year) with Bob and our other Week 19 buddies at the Pebble in May and Cookies with Santa in Columbus in December with Matt, Abby & Ann; and finally Matt & Rob on Christmas morning in Greensburg in 2004.

Our final segment is our video section with includes one new family video as well as several from around the internet.

Well that does it for this 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, Momma.
Later, Scheu