Memory Lane - Zoos to Hangin' Loose (April to July 1990)

This is my 150th post since I launched Another Day in Paradise in July of 2012. I had just retired after 40+ years of working for Uncle Sam in one capacity or another. I had several goals in mind for retirement. Play more, sleep more, drop a few pounds, eat better, stay active socially, and tackle a few old personal projects that had suffered from a lack of attention. One of those languishing projects was to document our family history. Not just in pictures, but to tell the story. So I started this blog.

I was well intentioned, but in its early days this blog took the somewhat different function of recording how things were unfolding for me as a retiree. There were deep dives into my personal interests and commentaries on my views about how the world works. True, there were some posts focused on particular items from our past, like our vacation travel, our love affair with conversion vans and our adventures with the Canadian cousins. But mostly, the blog turned out to be about me.  

Those early posts were fun and informative for me, as waking up memories often involves some introspection. But I hadn't done much to advance my goal of documenting family history. So in 2020 I started in big time with digitizing our large library of slides and prints. That process has driven my blog content since and will likely do so for awhile. So far I've scanned only half of our 8000+ slides.

I still plan on revisiting past topics through Notes from the Lab posts and every once in a while tackling something new. But for now I'm heading back out on Memory Lane. I'll try to spend most of my time in the express lane, but occasionally I may slip back into cruise for a closer look at a particularly memorable event.    

Last time I made it to the end of March 1990. Fresh off our mid-winter trip to Florida, the family was looking forward to getting back into our groove. Here are some highlights from our spring and summer. 

In this first shot from April we have Christine modeling her spiffy new Brownie threads. Not to say that Cathy's fresh-off-the-slopes look isn't spiffy as well.

Cathy's main interest that April was getting back on her ride and convincing us that she no longer needed training wheels. She may have been rushing the season just a bit. Hard to pedal in snow boots.

Eventually the snow melted, and we fell into typical spring activities. We hit the Detroit Zoo a couple of times. First on our own.

Then a second time a couple of weeks later with my good friend Eric Erickson and his three youngest kids - Natalie, Mathew and Erica.

And we dug in to begin the process of reclaiming our yard and deck from winter's punishment.

Toward the end of April the family gathered at a Bill Knapp's in Flint (talk about memory lane) for my Dad's 64th birthday. A few pics. First, the guest of honor and his bride.

And the fun ends of the table.

The party came off just fine, except for a minor breakdown in restaurant decorum toward the end of the festivities. I think some attention spans were strained.

May saw the end of our spring chores which culminated in an early edition of our spring picnic. Unfortunately, we were lax in the photo department that year, and took no pictures at the actual party. But I did find a few related pics. 

I would like to note that in 1990 our girls were a little young to participate in the spring cleaning ordeal. Rather, they busied themselves with other age-appropriate activities. Like attending birthday parties.

 And catching up on the news.

To their credit, they did make time to help us test the readiness of certain party equipment.

And a final pic from May. Among our guests for the picnic were our oft-mentioned friends from Chicago, Kathi and Tom. I found this picture, not from the party itself but from the afterglow. The two families relaxing on the deck, recovering from the hoopla. Not a chore in sight. The adults from left to right - Tom, Kathi, Nancy and myself. The kids likewise - Laura, Karen, Christine and Cathy. 

The big event in June was my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. It was the most extensive gathering of the clan in several years and offered some rare photo opportunities. Here's a shot of the happy couple getting into party mode.

Doing our level best to keep up with them, in order below, are my bride and I, my brother Jeff and his bride Sue, and my sisters, Cindy on the left and Wendy.

The afterparty at my sister Cindy's apartment offered a rare opportunity for these ensemble photos of the next generations. We four kids, sister Cindy, brother Jeff, sister Wendy and yours truly.

And the eight grandchildren.

The cousins from left to right are Dee Dee holding Jayme, Christine, Melanie with Cathy on her lap, Jennifer with Hali on her lap, and the lone boy Tristan. Dee Dee is Jeff's daughter. Christine and Cathy by now you know well. The remaining five are Wendy's brood. These eight individuals were to take quite divergent paths in the coming years. This may be the last picture taken of them all together. 

This next picture is another classic. Being the free thinker she is, Christine wasn't what we would call an early adapter to classroom behaviors. She spent a year of pre-school in a Montessori center and had embraced their independent approach to learning. With some encouragement she eventually saw the merits of doing in class what everyone else was doing. In fact, she became a stickler for the rules. But we may have gone too far. In the picture below Christine, almost nine years old, is deep into one of her playtime fantasies - reading the riot act to her own unruly class of dolls and stuffed animals. 

I think the individuals piled on the little table to the right are sitting time out.
 

Another high point for me in June was the third edition of the Spinner Invitational golf tournament. Still in its infancy, the 1990 event had 12 players. As I have written previously, the guiding principle of the tournament is to level the playing field so bad golfers (us) have as good a chance to win as good golfers (them). For the full story of why and how this now 35-year-old event began see the original post The Spinner Invitational - The Beginning. The participants, from left to right in each pic.

Ralph Suchyta, Bill Bigby, Pat Rouan and Dave Vegter.

Myself, Al Morrison, Bruce Cooke and Jeff DeNeen (the original 1988 foursome).

And Jim Wyatt, Larry Bergquist, Richie Hannum and Dick Madaras.

Unfortunately the pictures are of marginal quality, but the field was outstanding. 

July began our usual summer adventures in Canada, primarily but not exclusively at the family cottage on Ipperwash Beach. During our trip to the Great White North we did our best to honor the local customs, like dressing for happy hour.

Not touching your neighbor while dining.

And expressing any concerns one may have had about service issues in a tactful manner.

There was also strict adherence to safety rules while operating watercraft, both supervised,

and unsupervised.

 

In mid-afternoon it was customary for the kids to take a break from the sun and retire to the parlor for some intellectual stimulation. The primary stimulation that summer is depicted below. Looks like the game is just getting underway.

Another tradition that was honored during our Avon Rae stay were the pre-happy-hour treks to the park store for penny candy (conditional on good behavior, of course). Here's a shot of the girls (Christine, cousin Heather and Cathy) leaving the store with their booty.

 

Upon their return to the cottage the Burk girls were required to pay a "dad tax" of one piece of candy. Anything but Nose Nerds was acceptable.

One of the kid's favorite cottage activities was after dinner playtime on the beach. No parents to gum up the works. Here's a shot of Christine and Cathy communing with the local wildlife just before sunset. 

During our time in Ontario we took a side trip to the Toronto area. We looked in on the cousins to mooch a meal and party in their hot tub.

On the way back to the cottage we stopped off to see Niagara Falls. I think it was the only time we were there as a family despite having routinely passed by it on previous trips. Here's the documentation.

It was a fun visit, but as I remember the girls were more impressed with the concession stand than the falls.

Back at Avon Rae, we closed out the trip with Cathy's fifth birthday party. First the birthday girl and her homemade-to-order birthday cake.

 

I gather Barbie was in someway misbehaving in this shot of the girls in their party dresses.

In this final pic of the vacation we have the Burk family rested, tanned and ready for the trip back to the real world. The first order of business most likely was to get to work planning our next vacation.

 Until next time.