How Tall Was Grandpa? Grandma Weighed In

 I shared this story with a few of the family members when Theresa and I were visiting this January, but it is one that Theresa and I reference often and a fun story of Grandma and Grandpa interacting.

Some time when we were still living in Hutch (I think), Theresa and I thought we'd hit on a really clever way to find out the truth about Grandpa's height: we'd see what his Army records had said. We assumed they'd recorded his height and those records were more likely to be preserved than, say, an old driver's license. Plus, someone else had probably recorded the measurement so it would be more accurate than just hearing it straight from Grandpa!

We did make a mistake and chose to approach Grandpa directly, rather than checking his old records. At a gathering, I had strategically parked in the rocking chair next to Grandpa's usual chair and Theresa was sitting on one of the blue foot stools when we posed the question: "how tall did the Army say Grandpa was when he went to Korea?"

Grandpa didn't have to give the question much thought before proudly telling us "five-eight." We were both shocked to hear a loud (and indignant?) "You were never 5'8"!" from Grandma from across the room. She'd been in the kitchen and was now standing on the boundary between the dining room and kitchen and apparently had heard Grandpa's usual line. It was really amusing in person, and so characteristic of both of them, that Theresa and I will randomly quote Grandma's response whenever a conversation about height comes up--or any other time Grandma's attitude would be appropriate!

Chicago Shook’s First Half of 2023

Here we are trying to post within the year we were assigned!  It's not the right month, but hey, progress!

It's been a busy 2023 so far.  We don't really do it any other way, and with our recent addition, we've stepped it up a notch even further.  That said, we're starting this retrospective in January, when I took Theo up to Wisconsin for his first taste of skiing.  He took to it more quickly than I expected!  Although I think we'll have to work on stops and turns.  In the Midwest, "french fries and go" is a viable strategy!

We then had Katie's birthday party the next weekend.  With about 20 folks attending and the kids at a grandparents sleepover, it was a welcome change of pace.

In mid-February, we trekked down to Cincinnati to celebrate the first birthday of cousin Bennett (son of Katie's brother John).  It was the first stop in a solid stretch of frequent cousin visits.

At the end of February, Andrew met Mom and Dad in Minnesota for selections with the new house on the lake.  We visited the property and got to see the foundation in place before heading to a day of marathon meetings to decide everything from windows to hinges to countertops.

Throughout this time, Katie was completing her first whirlwind tour with her new responsibilities at work.  She has moved from Catastrophe Modeler (risk assessment in the actuarial department) to take a role as a Associate VP of Client Relations in the business development department.  There are times of the year where this requires her to accompany their client organizations to various hubs of reinsurance to meet with brokers and they just so happen to be international destinations.  Katie was in London and Bermuda in March and returned to Bermuda in April.

In between these trips, all of the continental US based Shook children's families, plus Mom and Dad, met up in Chicago during the shared Spring Break for Hannah, Dad, and Samuel.  Katie's parents were gracious enough to share their house as well to help us all congregate close together (despite a slight fiasco with the boiler at the Van Cleave's).

In April, we experienced our first year of many many to come of being governed by the school calendar and Theo's Spring Break presented the opportunity to travel to warmer climates.  We visited Katie's aunt, uncle, and cousin in College Station TX (where her aunt teaches at Texas A&M) and then traveled to Galveston for a few days where we again connected with cousin Spencer and Hannah and James.  

Upon return, we embarked upon what is developing into "Birthday Row" which kicks off with Natalie's birthday in late April.  Her instructions for the cake were:

    1. Sprinkles

    2. ...

So we got a cake that was entirely covered in sprinkles and it was surprisingly tasty!

The next weekend, Theo and Andrew took an impromptu trip back to Kansas to see Samuel's concerto concert at Southwestern.

May brought about a more local focus as Katie entered the final weeks of her pregnancy.  We took trips to the Lincoln Park Zoo and other Chicago attractions on the weekends.

Theo completed the spring session of his AYSO season.

And of course, Theo turned six at the end of May.  We asked where he would like to host his birthday party and there is only one place that is apparently acceptable with the cool kids: the trampoline park!  So we hosted about 15 kids + siblings from his Kindergarten class plus a few other friends.

Theo completed his Kindergarten year, the first week of June.  There was a talent show and Field Day among the run of activities to celebrate the end of the year.  Theo will let you know that he is already a first grader even though school doesn't start for another month.  

There was one more birthday thrown in there for Andrew before focused turned to the most important birthday of 2023:

Lincoln Albert Shook was born on Thursday June 29th at 6:24pm.  He weighed 8lbs 4oz and was 21inches long.  Siblings met him for the first time in the hospital on the Friday and he came home on Saturday.  After a rough first week, he has been eating and (most importantly) sleeping regularly and we're very interested to see his weight gain at his one-month appointment next week!  He is fitting right in at home and we look forward to the rest of 2023 as a family of 5!

We wish you a happy and healthy rest of 2023 and hope to see you soon!

 

 Hello From the Shooks - Wichita

In January we celebrated Samuel's birthday.  28!

In March everyone gathered in Chicago.  They did not have spring break yet so the rest of us were able to travel there.  We took family pictures since this was the first gathering of everyone since Dec 2018.

We rode the train.  Enjoyed the family room and the trip even though it was really late going home!

Just have to expect that with trains:)

While in Chicago we visited the Botanical garden orchid show and the Lincoln Park Zoo.  Some of the guys went on a run and we built a fire one evening.

In April Tim received his Hall of Fame award and several of us went to the ceremony.    The award is hand blown glass made by an alum of the college.

The next weekend was Samuel's concert with the South Kansas Symphony.  He won the competition at the college level and several people also attended this.

We hope everyone's spring is going well.   We look forward to seeing your activities too.

2023 January - March activities for Randy and Pam

 The first three months of 2023 have been filled with different family activities.  Below are some pictures of these activities. 

January brought helping in Emily's classroom and a quick visit from Mary, Kurtis, and Aurora. Plus time with Adelynn at the zoo with the tortoises. 

February, we had a great celebration for Emily's birthday.  I got to take her treats to the classroom plus a Spidey party for the relatives at our house.

Adelynn and I got to learn about the animals' diets at the zoo complete with pinkies.  It was fun to make them for the animals.

The end of February and first week in March brought babysitting in New York for Aurora while Mary and Kurtis were in tech.  

 

March found us celebrating Ava's birthday, complete with Pam making the cake Ava designed.

We celebrated Auntie's birthday at family dinner.  She chose pie for her cake.  

2023 has brought us lots of good family time and fun!!  

We look forward to more as the year goes on.