Originally posted on 9/14/08…
Poor Lola… Our West Highland white terrier puppy’s hair had gotten so badly matted that we couldn’t even get a brush through it any longer. Granted, she was very cute that way; but the poor thing couldn’t see very well for all the hair in her eyes. So, Ann had her hair and nails done today. She looks pretty pitiful now, but it was a necessary shave. We hope to get her cut next time like the Westies on the Cesar brand dog food commercials or the Black & White Scotch whiskey labels. Ann bumped in to Luke’s pre-school teacher tonight at Wal-Mart. She just went on and on about how smart and well-behaved he was in class. He was polite and friendly and helpful. I had to ask if she was talking about the same child and wondered how we could get some of those behaviors to manifest themselves here at home! Luke has been begging to go stay with his buddy Alex (our ex-‘sitter, Christi’s son) and so we finally set up a date for him to spend the night over there next weekend. Now, he keeps asking each day if he is going to Alex’s house when he wakes up…it’s going to be a long week…
Poor Abby… We tried a couple new strategies this week at practice and during the game. But, it had the same result. One of our biggest issues with Abby’s soccer team is not having enough kids to fully fill a team. We were again down a man the entire game, as two kids didn’t show up this week. The kids that were there gave their all, but just couldn’t hang with a team that was fully manned (again, a Sunman team would not pull one of their players to match our numbers…which makes the nice folks at Sunman 4-for-4 with their hospitality and sportsmanship over the past four weeks). Thanks Sunman! The other coach and I are talking about skipping the tourney (at Sunman at the end of the year), because we just can’t see the point… Believe it or not, we actually play in Greensburg next weekend!! …and you know, I’m not even sure what the final score of the game was today. We actually had a goal for a few seconds today…but they waved it off and said the kid was off-sides. It was a questionable call, but probably the right one…but I just couldn’t understand why they didn’t just count it. It would have had no bearing at all on the outcome of the game and would have helped raise our self-esteem immensely. We have had the same refs each of the last four games there at Sunman, so they know how badly we have been beaten this past month… Needless to say, I was very disappointed that they didn’t just throw us a bone and allow it… Abby ended up staying over at her friend/teammate (and Phyllis & Dick’s granddaughter, Emma)’s house tonight. She is very excited and focused on her 9th birthday (which is this Tuesday, the 16th). All she wanted this year was a Huru Humi and a sleep-over party next weekend. Sssh! Don’t tell, but she got both…
Poor Matt… The Greensburg Jr. High School’s 7th grade football team also got shut out this week. To be honest, they looked lost during the demeaning loss that saw their offense unable to move the ball and left the defense beat-up and looking like a sieve, as they took it on the chin in their first road game of the regular season, 19-0. Granted, it was rainy and half of the kids on the North Vernon team had facial hair, but our kids were also out-hustled most of the night. Add to that the fact that we turned the ball over three times, absolutely killed any chance of beating those goons. Ann and I felt old last night, as Matthew attended his first dance, held at the Armory building. Although he didn’t ask a girl to the event, he said he did actually dance a little (which is more than I can say for myself at that age)! Matt is planning to go to his best friend Brayton)’s house next weekend, to escape the torture of Abby’s slumber party!
OK, time to switch on the Wayback Machine:
Leading off today, we have a picture of the honeymooners in Maine, Sept. ’95. We had driven 21 straight hours to see the coast and stay at our friend Chris Verdi’ house in New Hampshire (and were so exhausted by the time we got there!):
Next we have a picture of Grandmaw & Grandpaw Bryan at their wedding reception. I believe this was held at the 40 & 8 in Lafayette, during the spring of ’78:
This next one was taken in our living room on Rockwood St. in La Porte. I would say this is December ’85:
Here is a picture of Luke and his best friend, Alex, circa spring 2005 in Christi’s backyard:
Here is a funny picture from our last Disney vacation, summer 2004 (I enhanced the photo so you could see the funny faces!!):
Here we have Keith and Ann at the Kanney household in La Porte for Megan’s baptism in 1998:
Next is a good group picture. This is in our dining room when we lived on Main St., circa summer Y2K:
Next up is a sweet picture of Grandmaw Bryan and her boys. This looks to have been taken in our living room on Rockwood St. in LaPorte when I was home for Christmas from Franklin College, December 1989:
Here’s a cute and silly picture of Ann in college, circa 1992:
This is a fun one! The birthday boys, circa 1990 – I’d say. This is in our dining room in La Porte:
Now we’re talking! This is another of my top – 10 favorite pictures of all time. This is a picture of me and my hero at my college graduation, June 1991 in my room at the ??? house:
I love this picture!! Here is Robby, in his bedroom on a custom-made changing table the Grandpaw Bryan created. It was really cool! This was when we lived in Temple City, CA, circa early 1980:
Here’s another top-10 fav of mine, circa 1970:
Here’s a great picture from a lost era. We have Grandpa Scheu, Grandmaw Bryan, Granny, “Little??? Tommy, Mary and Vicki at McCormick’s Creek State Park in July of 1970 (Mom, who took this picture?):
Next we have a picture from a by-gone era of Chad & Deanna, approximately 1993(?):
I’ve saved the best for last this time! Below, we have a hilarious Bryan family portrait, fresh from the backwoods of Kentucky. J This was taken in the front yard of our first house in La Porte, on Kenwood St., across the street from my BFF, Mike. I remember, Grandpaw Bryan let me back the car in to the garage one night and I hit the side, breaking part of the door and putting a dent in our old Olds 98. The really cool thing about this house was that it was on Lilly Lake and had a great hill for sledding in the winter. This appears to have been taken in the summer of 1980:
