The Schommer family

What is a Leap Year?

Pat — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 02:35:19 +0000

There are many videos like this explaining a variety of things. I really like them.

Florida sun

Pat — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:08:33 +0000

(I should look back and see how many posts are written on the last day of the month. My goal is to have at least one post per month and here we are on the last day of January…without a post. I’ve meant to share some pictures from our trip to Florida, so here goes.)

We were lucky enough to be able to spend a week with my Mom and Dad at their place in Fort Myers right after Christmas last month. The sun shined every day and there was much relaxing had by all.

Gator in the pond right out their back door:

Right idea, but FAIL:

Fort Myers most famous residents (Firestone, Ford, and Edison):

Manatee Park:

Captiva:

Parasailing on New Year’s Eve:

Christmas 2011

Pat — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

As with years past (2010, 2009, 2008), I put together a photo collage to include in our Christmas card this year. If you’re on our “nice” list, you will receive your very own copy this week (if I ever get the labels printed and put on the envelopes).

Without further adieu, here is this year’s collage:

Clarifiers:

We traveled out to South Dakota this summer and saw the Badlands, Custer State Park, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and Wind Cave (among other sights).

We also spent a long weekend in Louisville and made it to the Louisville Slugger factory and museum (Hannah and “Babe”) and to Churchill Downs.

Calling it a career

Pat — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 13:31:53 +0000

Congratulations to Hannah for wrapping up her high school volleyball career this fall. The 2011 team finished 4th in the conference – the best in her 4 years at Marshall. As with most years, there were a couple of matches that could have gone in the “W” column, but maybe they overachieved and took a few that should have been losses. Either way, it was great fun to watch her and the team grow, improve, and come together as a group of outstanding young women. Thanks to Coach Young for helping everyone stay sane during all this “togetherness.”

As far as individual honors, she was fortunate to be voted honorable mention all-conference as a Junior last year, and earned a spot on the 2nd team all-conference team this year – way better than her old man ever did!

There were traditions that we knew about (cow tags, team dinners, big sis/little sis, “do work” chants, etc.), and probably a few others about which the parents knew nothing. Let’s keep it that way.

Good luck to the team in the future. Keep playing, keep improving. Hit it hard – it might just go in.
We’ll definitely be back to watch a few matches. Go Cardinals!

Not to worry, club practices started this past week so there still will be a little more volleyball in our future.

Another driver on the road

Pat — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 22:43:06 +0000

It’s hard to avoid the clichéd “stay off the roads!” and “clear the way!” for any new teenage driver, so why try?

Congratulations to Clare for earning(?) the right to drive on Wisconsin roads with a responsible adult.

It would figure that our first trip to the DMV to get her temps (sorry, PERMIT) ended when I realized I didn’t have her social security number for the form. Of course at that time, there were maybe 3 people waiting and we whisked from one station to the next. Sign here, get your picture taken right away, up to the counter, and…sorry. Come back next time with complete documentation.

Armed with enough paperwork to choke a horse, the next time we went and there were about 100 people waiting. Lines for every station along the way. I didn’t realize that when they say they close at 4:30, that means they lock the doors at 4:30. Everyone who made it into the building prior to that time gets processed before any employee goes home. Hard for me to say, but good for you DMV.

She, of course, hates her picture, but we learned she will be able to get a fresh picture when she passes her driver’s test and gets a real license. Thank goodness.

We’ve been out a few times when the weather has cooperated, and she’s catching on quick.

Homecoming 2011 (Part II)

Pat — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 14:06:00 +0000

…continued from Part I.

Moving on to Saturday of Homecoming weekend.

This year, both Hannah and Clare went to dinner and attended the dance with a group of friends. Apparently, couples are definitely less of a “thing” now.

That afternoon found my house filled with 5 girls getting ready for the evening.
Oh. My. Goodness.
Not surprisingly, I was nowhere near the inside of the house. It was a wonderful day so there was plenty to keep me busy.

Here are some pictures of the happy groups before they left:

Congratulations to Hannah who was on court and was voted queen. Traditionally, the king from last year crowns the new queen. Coincidentally, Juan was last year’s king. Awww.

I also remembered that direct sunlight is not flattering for pictures. People who know photography talk about harsh shadows and now I know exactly to what they are referring.

Homecoming 2011 (Part I)

Pat — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 23:30:31 +0000

Keeping up with my “I –better-post-something-before-I-forget-the-details” streak, I thought it was time for a Homecoming recap. Since it was a 2-day extravaganza, I’ll be bold and create 2 posts.

Let’s start with the football game Friday night. Hannah and another girl (we’ll call her Jamie…because that’s her name) won the drum major battle last spring. For that honor they get to conduct the field show and march out front in parades. They both attended camp this summer to hone their skills as potential drum majors (yes, there’s a camp for that) and Homecoming was the first time for Hannah to show her skills.

The finale is the best part (such that it is). Here’s a 30-second clip:

First day of school, reunited (sort of)

Pat — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 15:35:00 +0000

While September 1st brought the first day of school to the ladies of the house, they headed off in different directions for the first time ever. Hannah, a senior, and Clare, a sophomore, continue their studies at Marshall High School. Monica, meanwhile, begins her tenure as Principal of Park Elementary school in Cross Plains, part of the Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District. (While she actually started in July, this is the first day with a building full of children.)

It turns out principals are supposed to be at school much earlier than the kids, so we weren’t able to get everyone together for pictures in the morning.

Separately, but about an hour apart, here they are:

Sightings

Pat — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 01:38:36 +0000

I finally figured out what to do with Google maps in order to put pins in a custom map. Over the years, I’ve been collecting e-mail messages from Schommer’s around the world and keeping them in a table. I knew you could customize maps, but I never had the time to do anything about it. I still don’t have time, but the Schommer Sightings page has been updated to reflect the new maps.

And they’re also here:

USA

View Schommer sightings (USA) in a larger map

Europe

View Schommer sightings (Europe) in a larger map

Don’t be shy! If you’re a Schommer and there’s pin for your town, send me an e-mail.

Day 8: Going home

Pat — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Our grand plans of taking a little over 2 days to get home was officially put in the trash when we hit the Missouri River near the middle of South Dakota today. We were supposed to roll into La Crosse on Monday, get Monica settled for her (final) class, catch some fireworks, and the girls and I would head home Tuesday morning. According to Google Maps, it would take us 12+ hours of driving time from Rapid City before we reach our driveway. Is everyone OK with that? A resounding “YES” was the answer. Monica would have to drive back up to La Crosse by herself for her class on Tuesday, but she’ll have her own vehicle to cruise the city. OK? OK. Since I had logged every mile of the trip behind the wheel so far and had no intention of being a passenger unless absolutely necessary, it was up to me to finish the job. You may now mark the job as completed successfully.

Overall, the trip home was uneventful (read: boring) for the most part (South Dakota and Minnesota), but friendly and welcoming for the final couple of hours (thank you, Wisconsin). Getting home early allowed us to actually unwind for a while, get the car cleaned up, and get started on the laundry before resuming our normal schedule.

(Sorry to those we didn’t see on Monday for 4th of July festivities, but the last thing anyone wanted to do Monday was to sit in the car and drive.)