Lisa n Tom (n James n Joseph)

Lisa writes: This is my dad back in the good old days. Aaaa, nothing better than an Air Force tour through Thailand during the Vietnam war to leave you fit, tan, and smiling. P.S. I think that guy in the background has shorts on. I hope he does, anyway. This is a family-friendly blog.

Lisa writes: 1976, St. Louis, Missouri. Little Lisa is in the green shirt; little Lori is in red t-shirt. The other two are neighborhood girls whose names I've long forgotten. The first thing you'll notice here is my amazingly intense biker cred. Training wheels? Bring it on, baby! Bring it on! But what I really want to you take note of is the two-tone banded madness that is my little sister's hair.

Lisa writes: And this one may require a bit of explanation. Dad is a dentist. You know that. Fourteen years ago I had braces (done by an orthodontist, not dad) and like everybody else who ever had braces, wasn't super-de-dooper faithful about wearing my retainer. I fact, I think I sat on it. So, over time, my teeth have drifted and I finally begged and whined enough for Dad to hook me up with Invisalign . So that's what we're doing in that first picture. The middle picture is Madison, who after watching the hotel dentistry, wanted to ask Dad's professional opinion about why all of her baby teeth are two years behind all of the other kids in her class. Dad's professional opinion? "Because you are a runt." (He means that affectionately.)

Lisa writes: Click on the collage to see it bigger.

Lisa writes: Sunday morning in Park City, Utah. That big pole sticking up out of my head? I get fantastic reception. Back row: Tom, Tim, Mom, Dad Middling: Lori, Benjamin, me, Christi Front: Madison, Christian, Breanna, Taylor

Lisa writes: It's 1985. It's a rainstorm in Hawaii. Here we are out on the lanai in the rain. My three-year-old brother is wearing a full life jacket. We are nowhere near an open body of water. It's 1986. It's a park in Hawaii. Here we are having a picnic. My four-year-old brother is wearing a full life jacket. We are several hundred feet away from the beach. What does this mean? This means we did not trust that kid at all !

Lisa writes: She's a brave, brave girl, that Madison. Here we have photographic evidence of Madison's near-death experience. We were making Hawaiian pizza for dinner, and that? That is an onion. And she TOUCHED it. And lived to tell the tale.

Lisa writes: A couple of scenes from Mike and Madison's visit. Mike, doing his best "dead deer" imitation at the National Museum of the American Indian. We know a lot about how to tan a deer hide now. Probably a lot more than you want to know. But I'll give you a hint: it involves brains. Tom, thinking about deer brains. Madison haggling down the "3 for $10" t-shirt guy. The shirts she wanted were supposed to be $4 each, so $12 for three. But she talked the guy down. She got 'em for $11. The minimum age to get into the interactive tour at The Spy Museum is 12 and Madison is still 11. So we had our OWN interactive spy tour back at our house. Mike looks awfully guilty to me. Thanks for visiting us!

Tom writes: On Memorial Day, my mom, Lisa and I looked for the longest possible way to get into Arlington National Cemetery. We found it, waiting in line for the better part of an hour to get into the park. But once inside we got to park near the columbarium where my father is interred. The wait was certainly worth it, both to see the huge number of visitors as well as the effort that someone had gone through to decorate the sites with flags. We took a look at the markers, trying to figure out the different symbols on them. We figured out some of them, but not all of them. Perhaps you can help... 1. Roman Catholic (my dad) 2. Episcopalian 3. Methodist 4. Mixed marriage: Catholic and Jewish 5. ??? 6. ??? 7. Church of Christ 8. Shinto ??? 9. No apparent religious affiliation 10. Orthodox 11. Latter-Day Saints 12. Atheist 13. ??? 14. ??? 15. ??? 16. ??? 17. ??? 18. ??? 19. ??? 20. ??? 22. Protestant 23. ??? And this person was a Pearl Harbor survivor.

Tom writes: I am usually oblivious to the natural flora and fauna wherever I go. But sometimes, it is really hard to miss. Like when a bright streak of pink flashes by you. We managed to get some of it on film, but have no idea where it came from, how it got that way, or where it went. If you have any ideas, please let us know. The best we can come up with is the Doritos scene in "Over the Hedge." P.S. Lisa insists that she had no hand in this.

Lisa writes: My shoe. Madison's foot. She's 11.