THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 146 JULY 2022
Dear Readers,
Many members of our family have been braving the chaos of our airports: my recent experience, documented in my last newsletter, was obviously not a deterrent to any of my readers!
Bryn spent a few weeks in France and Spain, Kay, Richard and Alex flew to Washington DC for a week over the Fourth of July and the Logue Family spent a week in Daytona Beach where Ava Claire was competing in Dance Nationals Competitions. The Remsburgs drove up from Orlando to visit the Logues at the beach for a few days. Ming-Jon made a surprise trip to Kansas City for Alex’s first birthday and Marc visited us recently!
Lori and Claudia spent time in San Francisco visiting Blake- who is doing a paid internship there this summer before he heads back to Santa Monica to spend a semester working for the company he interned for last summer! I am sure he will be glad to hang out with Uncle Marc and Uncle Bryn again!
Lori and Claudia kept busy while Blake was working, finding vintage clothing shops for Claudia to treasure hunt in, amazing food, ChinaTown and a very meaningful visit to the Mountain View Mausoleum in Oakland to pay their respects to Pau Pau and Gung Gung. They enjoyed diners with Blake and his visits to their place to use the shower! Apparently the water heater was broken in his rental apartment! He suffered cold showers at Marc’s last year too when the water heater died. Seems to be a lot of water woes in California!
 |
| Blake, Lori and Claudia in San Francisco |
Our Kansas City family is looking forward to Lori and Claudia’s impending visit when we can guarantee a very warm welcome with triple digit heat!
The only family members not to have flown since the Covid Pandemic : Sarah and Sean and their three - soon to be FOUR - kids! I wonder why they are not heading to the airport this summer? I can’t imagine that checking three car seats, a stroller for three, multiple suitcases and entertaining a three year old, a two year old, and a soon to be one year old for the duration of a flight would be much of a challenge!
I am predicting that their new baby BOY will arrive Thanksgiving week! Hopefully a few weeks ahead of Emmy Lou’s 4th birthday in December! We already have two family birthdays on June 8th - Owen and Alex - so hopefully we will not be doubling up again!
CONGRATULATIONS TO SARAH AND SEAN
ON YOUR FOURTH PREGNANCY!
I certainly hope that Sarah and Sean’s new minivan will be delivered to them before number four arrives- they do have three rows of seats in their Mazda CX9 but currently have all three car seats in one row as they claim it is too hard to access the back row! It takes months to get a new car now! Uncle Josh also has three car seats in his car’s back seat - I can just imagine what a date would say on getting into his car and spotting that line up! Probably call an Uber on the spot!
Ava Claire and her dance school performed well in the National Dance competition in Daytona Beach and she herself won first place with her solo routine dancing to Aretha Franklin’s “Freedom”. However in order to achieve the level of success that the dancers did it requires at least three days of practice a week, and intensive training over the summer and all school breaks . Ava Claire has decided that she would rather spend her time being a kid, enjoying more time with friends and family and so will only be taking a couple of classes next year and will not be on the competition squad. Her parents will be saving a lot of money on classes. costumes and travel expenses! And of course we all agree that it is too demanding on a nine year old who does not desire to be a career dancer at this point in her life!
Owen, Callie, Ava Claire and Ray on Daytona Beach
 |
| Cousin time ! |
So of course I offered this to the girls for lunch as I always over buy at the grocery store! The girls both had other plans for Friday so would not be eating the same meal twice ! Of course when I pulled it all out on Friday night Sean and Josh noticed that the salads had been depleted and seemed to be absolutely scandalized that I was offering not only a do-it-yourself meal to Marc but one that consisted of leftovers! I thought it wise not to mention that I had actually pulled my Kitchen-Aid out the previous afternoon to make a batch of playdough for Ava Claire ! Frankly I think they were lucky to get anything that night as I had been babysitting Liam and Lochlan all that day - with Ava Claire’s help of course as she had spent the previous night!
On Thursday night Ava Claire and I had decided to inflate the big pool with the slide as well as a regular pool for the kids to enjoy on Friday so I backed my car out of the garage so we could set the pools up in the garage overnight as I didn’t want to risk a strong wind blowing them across Quivera causIng a car crash! Even with the garage door open and the sun no longer burning down on us it felt like being in a sauna!
Marc , Josh, Sean and Emmy Lou pulled into my driveway about four O’Clock on Friday to see their nephews running around naked in and out of the pools and my adult sons were horrified!! I assured them that they had done exactly the same thing at that age which further upset them. I explained that it was good for their little bottoms to be exposed to the fresh air. They questioned what my neighbor’s would think - absolutely nothing as they are all too old to care! I did have a new Peppa Pig swimsuit for Emmy Lou as she would definitely want to be dressed like her cousin Ava Claire!
After supper that evening and the departure of my guests I went out to water my garden while Ava Clare started the clean up in the house! She was highly motivated as the faster everything gets done the more time we have to play her favorite games! She loves to use my heated wet mop to clean the kitchen and bathroom floors! She polished the dining room table while I vacuumed up enough dropped food from the children to fill an adult plate! Ava Claire got a brief reprieve from cleaning when my neighbor Charlene dropped by and invited her to take a late evening stroll with her while I tackled more mess!
On Saturday morning we slept in until nine O’clock and then I had to get dressed and head to the Hen House without even a sip of coffee so we could pick out donuts for breakfast and vanilla ice cream for Sean’s cookout later that day.
Marc got to experience the deafening noise his nieces and nephews make when they are together! As usual the babies were all vying for my lap with Alex determinedly pushing Lochlan off and stealing his bottle from him as well! Lochan was soon back for round two!
While Sean was tending to his pulled pork and lamb in the smoker we enjoyed Jeremy’s delicious bruschetta with mozzarella and various meats and cheeses that Sarah had set out for us. Owen spent most of his time playing video games with whoever he could persuade to play with him while the younger kids seemed to run around in circles from one room to another shrieking with excitement: punctuated with blood curdling screams when Liam got too rough with Lochlan!
We all feasted on roasted potatoes and brussel sprouts, Mexican corn, pasta salad, lamb and pulled pork! Emy Lou - with some help from daddy - had made us a Gruffalo raspberry and blackberry crumble for dessert topped with my contribution - store bought vanilla ice-cream! Ava Claire went home with her parents and I returned to my house , enjoying peace and quiet for the first time in days!
Lori recently accepted a reward on Ming-Lees behalf. He was posthumously awarded Purple Wings by Fed EX, not only for his exemplary record as a Flight Captain but for his outstanding leadership too. Here are excerpts from his testimonials:
‘He (Ming Lee) is a paragon of integrity and selfless service to his fellow crew members. When a crew member was crushed between the front of a hotel van and the back of a limousine he was there.
He took immediate action to render first aid and secure emergency services. He stayed by the crewmember’s side and accompanied him to the hospital. He coordinated with the crew member's spouse and maintained contact with the crew member throughout the long sixteen hour surgery recovery.
He has coordinated two honor guards for FedEx crew members who have fallen in the field. In both cases he coordinated the return of the remains, arranged for the families to be present on the FedEx ramp when the remains were returned via FedEx flights, and led honor guards comprised of friends and colleagues of the fallen crew. ‘
Another excerpt:
‘He has served Fedex as a 727 captain and LCA, MD-11 and 767 captain. He is not just a leader but a mentor and servant leader. He is a role model whose Human Factors expertise should be emulated by all crew members. His technical proficiency and consistently demonstrated superlative airmanship have earned the respect of his fellow pilots. It’s his mastery of all things Human Factors, however, which has made him an inspirational role model. Ask any student or fellow officer who has flown with him and they will predictably say the same thing “I want to be like him”. And they do. Not just as a pilot but as a person too. His heart of servant leadership and service to his fellow crew members is transparent. On the flight deck he facilitated an environment that inspired his crew to perform to the best of their abilities. He did this by formulating a team mentality and encouraging the open flow of information.
Off the flight deck he was an inspirational leader who lived to serve others. He was the FDX ALPA Bereavement Chairman for eight years. He served his fellow pilots as the FDX Critical Incident Coordinator. And he was especially proud of his role as Indy Pilots for Kids Coordinator. He served in that capacity for eleven years, arranging for him and his fellow pilots to distribute gifts to underprivileged and hospitalized children in Indianapolis.’
 |
On June 8th Owen and Alex celebrated their seventh and first birthdays. Owen and Ava had a joint family birthday at my house with the family and Alex had two celebrations. One his actual birthday when Kay and Richard invited me and Rchard’s parents to a birthday luncheon where the biggest surprise was Ming Jon ringing the doorbell. No-one knew he was coming to visit so he was fortunate to find the Flaig’s home! It was just in time for the birthday cake! They had had a pizza party previously for other family and friends
 |
| Grandma with Alex on his 1st birthday |
 |
| Kay and Richard with the birthday boy |
 |
| Ming-Jon's suprise visit! |
Mother has wilted in this heat.No amount of water seems able to revive me or my garden. I keep hoping that my extra pounds will melt away : so much sweat drips off my body daily when watering that I do double duty as a drip hose. Unfortunately I need a bowl of icecream to cool me down and a handful - or two - of chips to replenish my salts which is probably negating my fluid loss! Love Mother
 |
| Visitng Pau Pau ad Gung Gung at Moutain View Mausoleum:top |
