Flashback Friday

The men in the family were getting more use out of our family's matching denim shirts at Thanksgiving 1997 in Chicago.

Flashback Friday

Happy Fall y'all, circa 1998.

Flashback Friday

In 2004 we had Christmas at home in Yokohama before we headed to Arizona for the kids' holiday break. If you look closely you can see that Mary's holding everyone's favorite gift that year: a 20gb iPod. Each of them got one with their name engraved on it. I guess in the early years of Apple handheld devices, we thought it was important to differentiate them. I don't remember iPod cases being a thing that early, or if they were we weren't in on it.

Flashback Friday

 Happy Easter, like it's 1999.

Flashback Friday

At the end of the kids' first school year in Yokohama we had two graduations. Peter graduated from middle school and Mary graduated from elementary school. This was 20 years ago, in 2003. I know the kids love it when I post pictures from their middle school years, so here is one to please everyone in the group.
 

Flashback Friday

This is the Harrisons on Easter morning 23 years ago. As I write this, the plan is for the five of us - and thensome - to be together in Denver in the days leading up to Easter. Thanks to a surprise Covid infection of at least one of us, I'm not sure how it's going to play out. But we'll always have Easter of 2000!
 

Flashback Friday

As some of you already know, last week we said farewell to Allie, who was the best family we could ever have asked for. In the last two years she's struggled a lot with the expected afflictions that come with being a 16 1/2 year old dog, but in the last two weeks the game changed and she was suffering so much that we finally knew it would be kinder to let her go. Allie was to her core a family dog, and that's why I'm posting a picture of her with all of us. (She was also a dog who couldn't sit still and was therefore not that photogenic in family pix; I don't think this is the best picture of the five of us but it is definitely her best pose in a group photo.) This was taken in St. Louis, when she was still flying off the deck stairs to chase squirrels and her athleticism was in peak form. We miss her already but we are thankful for all the love and joy she brought not only to the five of us, but also to her extended family and friends. I made a slide show with about 20 pictures that's on her public Instagram page (@allieg_miniaussie) for anyone who'd like to see more pictures of Allie and her family.

Flashback Friday

As we head into the last weekend of the holidays, here's one more festive picture, this one from Christmas of 2007 in Shorewood. Fourteen years later, the kids have all gone home and after a week together filled with lots of togetherness and too much food, I think we're all planning a low-key New Year's celebration. Wishing you all a Happy 2022!

Flashback Friday

These were the days before selfies. I loved the self-timer function on my camera for as long as I can remember, and when all five of us were home all dressed up in our Easter finery without anyone to snap our picture, it came in handy. Though as you can see, it wasn't always successful. This was Easter 1994, when we lived on Saxony Drive in Racine. And as you can see, the contents of the Easter baskets was much more interesting than the picture I was trying to take. Though as I look at it now, I think I got exactly the right picture.
 

Flashback Friday

I don't think I'm the only one who's not in the mood for Christmas this year. (Which is part of the reason we don't mind doing a kitchen remodel over the holidays.) But back in 2004, we were in definitely in the spirit after a December dinner at home in Yokohama with our dog Kia. 

Flashback Friday

Flashing back to Harrisons all blue, circa 1997.  

Flashback Friday

Happy New Year from the Harrisons! We rang in the year 2004 together when we visited the Great Barrier Reef.

Flashback Friday

If everything went according to plan, Brad and I will have closed on our house in Tucson by the time you read this. We've been lucky over the past 33 years to have lived in some really great houses in some really great places. This is all of us in front of our house in Shorewood in 2006, attempting to take a family Christmas card picture. (With dogs, it isn't always easy, as this outtake demonstrates.) We had wonderful memories in that house, and in all of our houses. I'm sure we'll make happy memories in our new house too. Brad is camping there for a few weeks until he comes home for when the family convenes in Southern California for Thanksgiving (with all of our kids and their partners, at our house in Long Beach) and a wedding (our niece), then the first week of December the moving van will show up and we'll go through a drill we know all too well.

Flashback Friday

Today at my gym I learned that a woman I work out with served in the Peace Corps in Palau. So that got me thinking about our family trip to Palau in 2005 and it became my inspiration for today's Flashback! This picture was taken on June 19, 2005 while we sailed around these mushroom islands that are part of Palau (which is at the far western edge of Micronesia). Days after we got home to Yokohama, we moved to Wisconsin.

Flashback Friday

Here we are on Easter morning on Park Place in Racine, 1999. Everybody is showing off their skills at smiling for the camera. Peter is in 4th grade (sporting his best bowl cut), John's in 3rd grade (with his classic Princeton cut), and Mary's in kindergarten. But wait, you say, Mary isn't smiling for the camera. You're right. She isn't. She's gazing purposefully right into it and holding Brad's hand in a foreboding way. You'd almost think she was planning something sinister. But no, we had just gotten home from Paris the week before and I think going to all those art museums must have rubbed off on her. She seems to be doing her best to strike an artsy pose. So I'm calling this one "Rebel Daughter."

Flashback Friday

While Brad and I are having a fun Thanksgiving weekend traveling with Peter and Jessa to Tangiers and Chefchaouen in Morocco, it's time for the last installment of unusual Harrison Thanksgivings. This time it's 2001 and the place we spent Thanksgiving was Zakopane, Poland. As you can see, we had a bit of snow, and we also had a lot of fun on our first visit to this beautiful mountain town in the south of Poland. I hope everybody had a Happy Thanksgiving yesterday!

Flashback Friday

Today Brad and I fly to Morocco and so it's time for another Flashback Friday of a nontraditional Harrison Thanksgiving. The year is 1999 and the place we spent Thanksgiving was . . . . . London! We had a great time doing historical things like visiting the Tower of London, Hampton Court, and Runnymede, as well as doing touristy things like taking a double decker bus ride and going to Madame Tussaud's. We also had fun doing ordinary things like taking the Tube, and visiting churches, gardens, and parks. I'm guessing we'll have a similar mix of historical and ordinary things that we'll be doing in Morocco. I'll blog about our trip when we get home the week after Thanksgiving, but in the meantime I'm pretty sure you'll see some pictures from me on facebook and Instagram!

Flashback Friday

Since Brad and I are having a nontraditional Thanksgiving this year in Morocco, I thought I'd post some pictures of other nontraditional Thanksgivings we've had over the years. This blurry picture is from Thanksgiving of 1997, one of many that we spent in Chicago. A few nights at a nice hotel, a buffet dinner at a good restaurant, and taking in the festive atmosphere of Michigan Avenue on the holiday weekend—all of this made for some memorable, fun, and no-fuss Thanksgivings!

Flashback Friday

Our trip to Kyoto in September of 2004 was something I think we'll always remember. This is at Kinkaku-ji, known as the Golden Temple. It wasn't quite fall yet when we were there, but I still think a golden temple is a good first day of fall picture.

Flashback Friday

It's almost Eastday—which is what happens when you combine Easter and Brad's birthday. Brad got home last night and he'll be here for the weekend's festivities. Here's the whole group of us on Easter Sunday in 1994 on Saxony Drive in Racine. As you can see, it wasn't easy to get everyone smiling in a photo. (Which is why we saw to it that the Harrison kids were provided with years of practice.)