We are the mundane
We had an awesome trip to Chicago! Could only have been better if UncleLar had been there.
• All the cousins were together
• Some of us saw The Waco Bros. and ate “Slingers”.
• We skated at “The Bean”
• We went to Shedd Aquarium
• The kids & I went rock climbing
• And Lex returned to the scene of the crime, “The Assault of the Portal” and cursed the gate with his middle finger
I hope. For those of you who weren’t able to make Gary’s 50th birthday party, we gave him what may turn out to be just that gift. We gave him a $25 bet that the Yankees would win the World Series (oh well), and another $25 bet that the Giants would win the Super Bowl. What I don’t recall is the odds…I think either 30 to 1 or 40 to 1. Funny thing is, Gary isn’t sure where he put the ticket. At this point, he has decided not to look for it so as not to jinx them. I agree, but I certainly hope he’ll have to look for it after the game.
Five years ago I was in Arizona at a business conference. Archie Manning was the motivational speaker at one of our meetings. At the question and answer session, one of my co-workers asked Archie which son was a better quarterback. Surprisingly he said Eli! He stated that Eli had better control than Peyton. He certainly seems to be showing that control in his last few games. Hopefully it will continue.
Wish Gary and the Giants luck!
I had planned on posting pictures of Blake’s first birthday, but we’ll have to wait a little longer for that. I can’t find them! I thought they had been uploaded to our new computer, but they aren’t. Steve is in Hong Kong & India on business and has our camera with the disk, so…blah, blah, blah. Instead, I’ll post my favorite picture of Blake…he was all sweaty with his hair slicked back but he looks so cute. By the way, Larry, you’re probably the only family member who doesn’t know this, but Dawn is pregnant again. She’s due March 3rd with another boy. How about some Penn State memorabilia if the baby is born on your birthday, the 2nd? Chris’ family has bombarded Blake with University of Illinois stuff and Dawn really wants to get the competition going. Can you help?
Better late than never. October is such a busy, fun-filled month for us; Steve’s father’s birthday, Steve’s birthday and Blake’s birthday so we’re having a party and even a play ground for the kids from www.softplaydesignandinstallation.co.uk. But best of all this year, was getting together with family to celebrate Gary’s 50th. My pictures are a little out of focus (hopefully Kenny & Gary have better), but I thought my few pictures might get the ball rolling with others posting theirs.
The first two pictures are from our evening at Havana’s. The third is a shot of the Neshaminy Creek in Chalfont from the bridge (remember when it was an old wooden bridge?). The last is one of the covered bridges we visited.
Sunday afternoon we met Natalie (via cellphone navigation) in Central Park. She, her friend Kati, Nancy, Lis, the kids and I had brunch together at The Boathouse, a restaurant located in the park on a small lake. We did a little strolling before we ate and a little after, too.
It was great to see her. The kids got a real big kick out of it… really starting to sink in now just how much family they have. I don’t think Lex knows yet that you can’t marry your cousin, but that’s OK for now.
We decided Nat will come back for the summer, live at our place, and babysit.
Not much more, really. Basically just some photos. Not enough time to compose an eloquent essay of our trip. We had a really great time. The kids did too. They seem to appreciate seeing family. (Maybe Shannon or Marilyn will tell about Lex’s spontaneous hug of Shannon.)
And we loved checking out Shan’s piece of America. Nice choice, Shan.
BTW, Sorry for the long loadtime on this post. The blog isn’t working correctly (making corrupt resized images) and I had to tweak the html manually to get these posted. If I have time I’ll fix it.
I was down the Tavern Saturday night (like virtually every other Saturday night) when the bartender, Kevin, told me I should hang around later than usual because one of the waitresses, Brianne Kepler, was turning 21 at midnight and was going to stop into the Tavern for her first “official” drink.
Bri’s mother is Anne “Rip” Herpel, one of my ex’s, so I decided to hang around. I’m sure some of you remember Rip, we went out back in the early 70s, and I know she made at least one trip to Chicago. Rip was a Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority sister of Pat Driscoll, who was my roommate Pat Daugherty’s girlfriend (and later first wife) when I got out of the service in Dec 1970. Rip and I started going out around a year later.
Rip and I had an off and on thing for several years. I can remember being down at the Tavern one time sitting at a table with this older couple, Don and Betsy, who had dinner there almost every night. Betsy started giving me grief about Rip saying I really didn’t treat her well. All of a sudden, out of the blue, their son George who was my age and happened to be sitting with them that night, suddenly chirped up “I agree with Mom. Anne’s such a wonderful woman, I’d leave my wife for her.” I’ll skip some of the details but, sure enough, a year and a half later, he did. Needless to say, George is Bri’s dad.
Well at about 11:45 in come George and Anne to surprise Bri (not as big a surprise as Steve, Gary, Ronnie, and I showing up for Shannon’s 21st but a nice surprise for her anyway). Bri showed up right on cue a couple of minutes after midnight and was very much surprised to see her folks there. Here’s a photo of her having her first official drink (some special shot combination that the bartender made up for her) with Pat, Rip, and me (her dad didn’t join us at the bar for some reason).
Speaking of ex-girlfriends – I was recently sent this photo which I thought Marilyn would enjoy seeing. It was taken in St Martin in the Carribean. The woman on the far left is Diane Wooding, an ex of mine and an old roommate of Marilyn’s. Pat Daugherty owns a vacation home down there and invited Diane and a few others down for a vacation. The woman in the back right is Pat’s current wife Ruth.
The girls up front are some of my “nieces”. On the left is Natalie Berrena, whom I have talked about many times on the blog, the one in the middle is Lindsay Werner, whose father worked with Pat and me at the Tavern, and the one on the right is Kiley Campanis, whose parents I don’t know (at least I don’t think I know them). The girls all worked together at the Tavern (the other two women however are unknown to me).
Lindsay now works in NYC and emailed me the photo telling me about how she met one of my ex’s and got to hear Pat and Diane tell “lots of Larry Fall stories” (Given how one of Pat’s favorite sayings is “Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story, I can only imagine some of the things she must have heard).
Diane is now retired and living part time in Florida near her mother and part time back in Philly.
I get to feel old every time I run into some ex girlfriend or old friend who’s now retired or who has a kid starting college or turning 21, etc. Of course, one thing that I have successfully avoided that would make me feel really really old would be to have a grandchild (how’s that making you feel Steve B?) 🙂
Had a nice visit and small BBQ party with Marilyn and Steve yesterday. A few friends, a couple kids, lots to drink and more Pulled Pork.
Bocce and croquet, too.