Funny Family Stories

I saw the Blog post of "Do you Remember" with a list of stories. So I thought it would be cool to "Tell YOUR Funny/Interesting Family Story."

I will begin: Some of my earliest and fondest memories have to deal with Grandma (Marian Neuhaus) especially since she lived in the apartment behind my house. Christmas Morning Brunches with her and Grandpa (Herbert A. Neuhaus Sr.), Grandma's World Famous Grilled Cheeses which she would make for me whenever I stopped by for a visit (which was quite often). and Granny's Pancake Shapes with Mickey Mouse and Snakes.

Funny Story: Melissa and I were in Grandma's car waiting to go on a trip and so we were doing what kids do and were messing around and accidentally kicked her car into neutral where it started to roll down the driveway. Melissa decided to bail and jumped out the window leaving me to "Go down with the ship" as the car rolled into our house. And who gets in trouble. Me.

Do you remember...?

The other evening a couple of us (Lori, Herbie, Bobby, Cathy, my mom (Aunt April) and I) got together in the chatroom and had a great time "remembering." How many of these do you remember?

• Picnics at Bryce park
• "Light as a feather" in Brick
• The rope swing
• Summer rec at Allenwood School
• Canoeing
• Aunt Robin's special hugs
• Uncle Herb's wild turtle ride
• Cooking lessons with Gramma (Marion)
• Gramma's (Marion's) softball rules
• The Easter Egg Hunts
• Halloween at Aunt April's
• The Mini Winnie camping trips
• Herbie's pony
• Kelly and Sandi's bear
• "Out! Out! Out!"
• The Easter bunny on a motorcycle
• Sledding on Lakewood Road

Please feel free to add to the list, or to tell the REAL story of any of your favorite memories!

Anyone want to chat?

Some of us have been having fun using the tag board, but it can get annoying -- in order to see the new comments as others add them, you have to keep refreshing your screen. So Bobby suggested that we add an actual chatroom. It was a good idea, so I added one. You'll find the link to our private room at the very bottom of the page (just keep scrolling down!).

We decided to leave the tagboard as well. This way, if you're around and want to chat, put a message (with the day and time!) on the tagboard so that others will know to join you in the chatroom.

I still think that Charlie had a great idea to plan a regular chat time in advance. So please leave a comment letting us know what days/evenings would work for you.

Hurricane Rita

This is a easier way for me to tell everyone, Aunt Leslie left Louisiana this morning, there trying to find a campgroung inland, there in the motorhome. Kelley is staying at work, cause they need nurses. where she is , is safe, and shawn is taking the boys inland away from Galveston. I will post more when I hear more

Estremera's Finally Putting in an Appearance

Nyssa and I figure it's about time to post a picture of us. This was taken on August 19th at the One Night Event Orlando & I chaperoned. The band that was performing (Starfield) is one of Nyssa's favorite bands. We took her to see them in May for her birthday. After the show, when they were doing autographs, the guys sang her "Happy Birthday". This is Tim the lead singer. When we asked for this picture, he recognized Nyssa and which concert she had been at and that they sang for her. Well, she was in 7th heaven and her 10 friends now think she's the coolest person.

The picture of Orlando was taking last year after the 2nd hurricane came through our area. We had a bumper crop of grapefruit but lost almost all of it. They all split open from the wind. We had 3 trash cans full that we had to toss. It was a real shame since that was probably our last year growing citrus. The state has flagged our trees because someone in the next development has citrus canker. We're not sure when they'll be cutting our trees down, but the state has told us that they are cutting them down. Last year Orlando and I got up on the roof to do some repairs...I thought Grampa must have been laughing looking down on me. If I can locate a picture maybe I'll post it so everyone can have a good laugh.

Where on earth is everyone?

Click on the photo for a larger view.

Send me your location and I'll add a dot for your home town.

Thanks to Bobby, Cathy, & Gail for the help! And thanks to Sandi for suggesting names in the labels.

Herb in Colorado
hjneuhaus@hjneuhaus.com

Anyone use or heard of Skype?

Sounds like a bad thing but it's not. Skype is a program that allows you "call" and talk with other Skype users over the internet. It's alsolutely free. You need decent internet connection (DSL or cable is fine) and a headset. To get started you just download the installer and then create a free account. Skype does sell some services for money, but you do not need any of those extras. For example, it is NOT free to use Skype to call a regular telephone number. But Skype-to-Skype calls are completely free.

I use it all the time in my business - saves a lot of long distance charges. I mention it because we seem to be scattered across the country. (Hey! How about we create a map with dots to show where everyone is located - I can give it a try if someone sends me a list of towns)

Here is a sample of how you would use Skype to find someone. I searched on the name NEUHAUS in the US.....maybe you know some of these folks!

And here is how you place a call. In this case to my wife Debbie.

Hope you give it a try. My Skype name is hjneuhaus.
Herb in Colorado

(you can get the software at www.skype.com)

My Favorite Old Neuhaus Photo

Neuhaus Carriage and Wagon Builders, Newark, NJ

Herbert, Frank, Albert, and Frederick Neuhaus

Contributions for the Family Tree

This is my grandfather - Herbert Neuhaus. My mom (Aunt Kay) and I have lots of info and photos to add to the family tree. We are not sure the best way to share all this stuff so maybe Sandi should get in touch. You can email me at hjneuhaus@hjneuhaus.com

Meanwhile, here are a few photos to whet your appetite.



Matilda Baronowski - my great-grandmother.


A family gathering at Aunt Marion's house. I'm the little boy!

Hope you enjoy.
Herb

Happy Birthday to Mom

Today is Grandmom's Birthday !!! How I wish I could be up in Jersey to celebrate with her and the rest of the family. Happy happy Birthday and Many more. I love and miss you very much.

Grannie turns 87!!

Grandma Neuhaus turned 87 and we had a little get together for her at Herb & Gails. Robin, Renee, John & Justin, Ronnie & Mickie, Charles & Danielle & Cassie, and Herb (III) were all there, it was a good time, the cake was really funny because they had number candles on it, an 8, a 4, and 2 #2's...LOL (one to grow on).... Very creative!

Sandi: "I know I"m being a proud mom, but..."

PJ got his JROTC uniform today, and I couldn't resist showing off how handsome my son looks. It wasn't that long ago that he was just a scrawny little kid -- now he's taller than I am!

PJ is a freshman this year, and is attending a magnet program for the Air Force JROTC program. (In Florida, many public schools offer special programs, called magnets. You can choose to attend a school in a different town for the magnet program you're interested in, instead of going to the school that you live near.) With this program, he has a chance of getting his pilots license his Junior/Senior year. He's very excited about the program, and has already earned a couple of ribbons.

Becky, by the way, is also doing well in school. She's in a magnet program for pre-IB, which is a very demanding honors program. It's not easy, but she's determined to do well. More importantly, she's joined the school band and is learning to play the saxophone. I've been teasing her that she's the next Lisa Simpson!

No updates on Cari -- except that she loves New York City and is very busy with her classes. Hopefully she'll find time to update this blog herself (hint, hint!) or even better, write her mom so that I can update everyone.

A suggestion for chatting

Maybe we could make a designated night of the month/week? This would assure you that someone would be there to chat with you...What do you think?

Anyone want to chat?

I've been playing again, and we now have a tagboard on this site. (You'll find it on the right side of the site, under the CONTRIBUTORS listing.) A tagboard is a private chat area, for just people on this site. This will let us "talk" to each other on this site.

It's very simple. You type in your name, then type whatever you want to say for the message. Click "GO." Your message will appear (almost) instantly on the board. If someone else in the family is on the site, they can answer you right away. We can have as many people as we want chatting together on this tagboard.

One thing I've noticed while playing on the tagboard with Cathy, mom (April), and Aunt Kay Monday night -- you need to either send a message to the tagboard or refresh the website in order to see new messages posting. I'll have to do some research to figure out how to get it to refresh itself. As soon as I get it fixed, I'll let you all know. In the meantime, either talk alot or hit the refresh button frequently. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I thought this would be fun. Some of us are already using AIM (I had a great time IM-ing with you the other day, Bobby! ), but others (like my mom!) may find this a little bit easier.

Let me know what you think. If ya'll hate the idea, I can always take it off...

Family Tree

I have now entered as much information as I can for the family tree. I know that I'm missing a lot of people -- I'm sorry! I need help in putting together the rest of it. Please let me know what I've got wrong or have left out, and I'll be glad to update it.

Chey and Amy checking in!

Hello all. Thanks to Sandi for creating this forum! Amy and I are just doing our thing, enjoying the South Florida sun. I know it may sound odd, but I'm really missing everybody now that I got to spend a little time visiting at Lori's wedding.
As some of you know, Amy and I just purchased 30 acres in Eastern Tennessee, about half and hour east of Gatlinburg. We don't have a cabin on it yet, but I think it would be a great place to have a reunion in 5 or so years after we build one. For the meantime, though, I'm sure Lori will find a great place for us all. On that note, my vote is for either the first or the last weekend in July. I think that should accomodate any school-aged children. July 4th next year is on a Tuesday, so as long as most people are willing to take July 3rd off of work, that would create a nice four-day weekend to spend together. Even if you couldn't take July 3rd off, it would still be a normal two-day weekend to visit with the rest of us. On that note, Labor Day is also always a 3 day weekend.
Finally, just wanted to extend to everybody an invitation to visit us in Boca. Amy and I have a spare bedroom, and we're only 2 hours away from the start of the Keys. We'd love an excuse to get to the Keys, which we don't visit nearly often enough.
Anyway, we both miss all of you!!

Estremera Family Reporting In

Hi, Everyone!
Mom and Sandi are so excited that you guys are so excited and participating with the family blog. When Nyssa & I got home from Youth Group Wednesday night, there was a message to call Sandi no matter how late it was. When I called, she made me boot up the computer and check the site out...it was almost 1 am when we finally got off the phone. Then Thursday night, I called Mom after Nyssa and I got home from the U-Turn Block Party and the same thing happened. (Sorry Mom for keeping you up to almost 1 am viewing the site) Both were a little upset with me because I wouldn't post either night...I just didn't think that anything I typed would make much sense at that hour.

Catch up time - Orlando loves owning our own home. He is in 7th heaven taking care of the yard or doing things around the house. Everyone in the neighborhood calls him Birdman. The birds just flock to him (so do the squirrels). He has caught me 14 lovebirds, 1 parrot, 1 cockatiel, countless bluejays and wrens. (He lets the bluejays and wrens go). It's so funny to watch, basically he opens the porch door and they fly right to him. We've managed to get his cholesterol and blood pressure under control so he's off both medicines now.

Cathy has decided after 3 1/2 years that being Assistant Manager of Chuck E Cheese was more then enough. She is now working in an office as an Admin Assistant for a company. She's loving every minute of it. Both Cathy and Orlando are coaches for the church's Youth Group.

Nyssa is doing great. She's a freshman in highschool. She's taking after her Aunt Sandi and mom by taking 2 Honors Advance Placement classes and 1 college class. She's involved with 1st Priority at school, she's the Assistant Captain for Above & Beyond's Jump Rope Team (first demo is in 3 weeks), leading a girls' Bible Study on the Beatitudes, along with going to as many concerts as she can (at least one a month) Favorite band to see is Starfield (3 times in less then a year) and Hawk Nelson.

I'll try to post some pictures later.

Cathy, Orlando & Nyssa
Joyful (ferrett), Rainbow & Skye (Budgies), Darling (Cockatiel)
Midnight, Starlite, Sunrise, Sunset, Truth, Love, Precious, Cherubim, Angel, Houdini (Lovebirds) and Bully (the squirrel that won't let Cathy into the house without being bribed with peanuts)

Family Reunion 2006

As some of you know, there has been a lot of talk about having a family reunion next year. I think the 1st thing to do is to select a date which works best for everyone. My thoughts were to have it the weekend of either August 5th or August 12th. I came up with this since the kids are off from school & it is a month before grandmom's birthday. Anyone else have any other ideas for dates that would be a good weekend? Once we pick a date, then we can start figuring out the 'where'. Until we have more family on this site, I was thinking of having 1 person be the point person for each family (i.e. Aunt Robin's family, Aunt Leslie's family, etc.) to try & spread the word around & get feedback on the date. I can be the Neuhaus point person, unless my parents want to take over. Our family has grown so much & it would really be nice to see everyone. And I know Grandmom would be thrilled to see so much of us together! Hope to hear back from everyone soon! Love Lori

Hi from Melissa

I finally figured how to get my message in - before i accidently created my own web site thing.... well anyway - this is soooo great because now i'll be able to keep in contact with everyone better. Well I have been in colorado since the 17th of aug. and I am loving it. THis summer I am staying to take some classes. Right now I am a junior at Western state college in Gunnison CO, http://www.western.edu/ - I am majoring in environmental studies and double minoring in geology and geography. the classes are great and I am having soo much fun rockclimbing - I went with the school's wilderness pursuit once and I am going with them again this saturday - I've also gone a couple of times with some friends and I play at the gym on their wall all the time. It's weird having a roommate but she is awsome (miranda) - we have a lot of weird stuff in common. I miss everyone and I wish everone the best.

Love you all

Melissa