We'll Miss You Pappaw...

Well Henry and I are here in Minnesota while Laura and Fletcher are in Pennsylvania with the Family... unfortunately they are gathered for a less than happy reason. Laura's grandfather Robert Sandusky passed away on Wednesday night after a long illness. I'm glad that he was able to meet Fletcher. (credit for the picture above goes to Bri...)

Bob was quite a guy. He was born in Western Pennsylvania during the heyday of the coal, coke and steel era... a heyday that came to a screeching halt during the great depression. I remember Bob telling me stories about working even as a kid to help his family. When the United States entered WWII he joined the Army Air Corps and flew B-25 Mitchell bombers across the Atlantic to supply the Allied Armies in North Africa. I remember his description of the uncertainty of every flight... of the crewmembers refilling the fuel tanks while over the middle of the atlantic from five-gallon jerry cans, and of always wondering if the navigator was on track... When the war ended he returned to Connellsville and started a family with 'mommy' - a family that is his greatest legacy. Bob was father to four, grandfather to ten, great-grandfather to four(so far) and was loved and respected by all of his kin by marriage.

I could go on and on, but I'll simply say that he will be missed.

This one's for you Papaw.

October, November, December...

...January, February, March!

Okay! it's DEFINITELY time to post again.

So, what's happened since September 22nd... let's see.

um, well let's see. Canadian Thanksgiving, American Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, New Years, Alan & Dan came to Nashville and worked their butts off, Valentine's day, Canada won hockey gold at the Olympics... oh yeah...Drew finished his PhD and started a new job in Minneapolis. Laura retired from her job in Columbia, we sold our house in Nashville, moved Laura, Fletch and Henry to Minneapolis to a NEW house...

And here we are.

Anyway, 'They Call Me Fletch' is supposed to be about Fletch, so here goes.

Fletcher is almost 11 months old. He is pulling up on pretty much anything, and cruising from one location to the next by hanging onto the coffee tables, end tables, couches, Henry, Drew's pants, you name it.

Leaving Nashville was tough on all of us. I think that this was because of a number of different things, but the biggest part had to be leaving the friends that we'd become so close with over the past few years. It really does seem like they were sad to see us go too, hard as it may be to believe! Kim and Craig had a party for us and invited the whole neighborhood. Kingsley & Jessica, Nicole & Jim (and Caramante), Patrick & Melissa, Chris & Leigh... the whole fam-damily really. What a great send off. We miss them all! Same thing with our work friends and students at Vandy and the MTHAC crew- it's still kind of weird not to see all of you everyday.

On the upside, the transition to Minneapolis has been relatively smooth. The house is SOOO roomy compared to our old house, and actually having storage is awesome. Walk in closets in each bedroom (2 in the master), a finished basement, a pantry, built in book cases and china cabinet... if not for the work that i have to do to take this place to Laura Standard S3.22 R2 (sorry - scientist joke) I'd be ecstatic... but I guess that once I start working, I'll be ecstatic anyway, because let's face it, I like getting dirty.

Anyway, Laura is an administrator now, so no more excuses. What could she possible be doing all day while I'm at work? Hmm? :)

More to come...

D & L

Fletcher Warhol

Okay - it's Laura's birthday tomorrow - here's a sneak preview of her birthday present...

See? Bri and Dave aren't the only artsy ones...

Happy Birthday babe!!

Okay, I admit it...

...I'm freakishly large. But I would swear on a stack of Bibles that nobody larger than an Oompa Loompa would fit in the front seat of the Subaru with that new car seat behind it. There is absolutely no way within this time space continuum that I'm going to be able to shoehorn myself into the passenger seat of the car. Here's the only solution I can think of...

..."Paging Dr Who... Dr Who to the Tardis please."

Remember the Tardis? That amazing space/time travel machine from the 70's and 80's that was an unassuming police box on the outside, but was opulent and spacious inside. It was even the color of the Subaru!!

Here's the inside...

we need this option for the next vehicle... which in true Tardis fashion, will remain stuck in the appearance of a minivan, but be a cool SUV, or even a sports car on the inside. But have a beverage cooler and maybe a DVD player. hmm, maybe that won't be so bad.

Safe travels, whatever dimension they may be in...

Speaking of interesting stuff...

...that's been happening around here, a few weeks ago we went to the Nashville BBQ festival. We agreed that it was a little light on the BBQ, but had plenty of festival.

In a rare, non-humid evening, we had a wonderful time sitting outside and hanging out with the Kennedys. Even the parking situation was pleasant as we found free spots at LP Field and walked across the Shelby street pedestrian bridge.

Craig designed this new building - I thought this was a cool shot...

Here We Go....

...Steelers? Titans?? It depends who you ask!

Laura, Fletcher and I joined the Kennedys tonight for an NFL kickoff party. Kim whipped up some awesome homemade pizzas (barbeque chicken and buffalo chicken)... oh, and then she topped it all off with homemade ice cream. Phew. I'm stuffed.

Fletch & Laura suited up in Black and gold. In fact, he even wore the outfit to school today. I'm surprised that they fed him...

Congratulations Dr. Spencer!

Congrats to Beth on successfully defending her dissertation entitled "Part term word learning in low SES children". Or something like that... After numerous frustrations (typical of these things, trust me) Beth managed to convince her committee that she deserved to graduate. We were convinced all along.

Unfortunately, this accomplishment closes a very happy chapter in our lives, as Beth will be moving to Columbus, OH to start a very prestigious post-doc at 'THE' Ohio State University. She will be working at the Schauenbaum Center, in the area of word and language learning in the low SES child population. We have no doubt that we'll always be close friends, but will dearly miss hanging out on the weekends, ducking to the office next door for an opinion on a study design, grazing at Costco on saturday mornings, playing with the dogs, running sewer pipe, installing siding, painting... I'm detecting a sweat equity issue here, I'd better cut this off... In summary -

Good Luck Beth!! We'll miss you!