Memory Lane - We Get Out Much, Part 1 (June and July 1987)

June '87 was a fun month. Coming off a relaxing Memorial Day weekend at the family cottage, and nearing the end of Christy's first full year of school, we were ready to rumble. We started with a visit to a small petting zoo near my parents' home in Linwood. It's called Deer Acres.

Small is probably overstating things. Deer Acres had been a roadside attraction along US 23 just north of Bay City ever since I was a kid. In addition to petting-worthy animals, there were several exhibits and activity centers themed around fairy tales. In its heyday it was quite popular. But like many attractions along US highways, Deer Acres faced hard times with the advent of the interstate freeway system. In this case the villain was I-75.

The attraction was closed and re-opened several times over the years, as I witnessed from my regular trips up north. At last look, it appears to be open again. I wouldn't describe it as looking prosperous yet, at least from the road. But someone is giving it a go. Maybe we'll try it again sometime with my grandchildren.

In 1987, it was on the decline with only a few animals and exhibits remaining. I felt I should share this experience from my childhood with my own family while I could. So I did. They were...thrilled. At least a little. Here are a few pics.

In this first one Ted and Christine are posing in the castle turret that adorns the entrance to Deer Acres. Most kids raised in the tri-county area in the 50s and 60s (Bay, Saginaw, Midland) have a picture just like this in their family album.

Pretty mundane in this era of mega theme parks. But in 1987 it got the kids out of the house. And who can poopoo mingling with friendly animals. There were fluffy lambs.

Barn-climbing goats.

And of course, deer.

The adventure was a bit lowbrow, but a good introduction for the kids who were about to widen their entertainment groove significantly. Here we are taking a breather from all the excitement.

Shortly after our return home, we were introduced to a new element of our parenting lives - class trips. This one with Christine's first-grade class to the Detroit Zoo. Being a dutiful parent, and braver than I, Nancy agreed to help chaperone. 

We had taken the kids to the zoo earlier in the year. That trip was about seeing animals. Taking a gaggle of six-year-olds to the zoo is much more. Yes, there were animals. But mostly it's about keeping track of other people's kids while they learn to navigate a measure of freedom. Fun, but tricky. We have a few pics. This first is of the gaggle, a little amped, with our little darling in the middle. 

 

These next two shots are of the very cool ride the kids take deep into the park. Always a crowd pleaser.

And a shot of Christine enjoying the train ride with her buddy Sara S.

Here the two were caught visiting a couple of old family favorites.

In this final shot the chaperones are celebrating their newly-earned membership in the "class-trip survivors club". Good work, everybody.

A couple of weeks after Christine's school trip we went to Cranbrook to see some dinosaurs. This was six years before Jurassic Park, mind you, before velociraptor was a household word. So these life-like giants were awesome, and pretty spooky. At least spookier than Deer Acres and the zoo.

Here's a shot of the kids staring down a stegosaurus. "Nice pussycat."

And here I am protecting the kids from mayhem, a la Alan Grant (in Jurassic Park). 

After our June festival of animal life - tame, wild and extinct - we were ready for some down time. Actually, down on the beach time. So guess where we headed.

Yes, it was back to Avon Rae and Ipperwash Beach for the joint holiday week, Dominion Day for Canada (July 1st) and our Independence Day (July 4th). We were joined for a portion of that trip by some of our Canadian relatives, who were renting the cottage a couple doors down from Avon Rae.

The summer of 1987 began what I refer to as the glory days of our times at Avon Rae. For roughly the next ten years three generations of both the American and Canadian sides of the family would gather together for a week or two of joint summer vacation. This would occur during the months of July or August when the family elders (Rae, Marge, Uncle Ken and Aunt Evelyn) were living at the beach full time. 

In future posts, you will see how family bonds grew over the years through these cottage experiences, especially among the younger generation. But back to 1987. Here are a few pics.

What little recharging the kids needed they sought in the lake. Nothing like wading into the cool of Lake Huron to heighten one's senses. As usual Christine took the lead. Here she is deep in thought assessing the "duck" rating of the day. That is the number of times one has to duck under the water to get used to it, from 1 (warm as a bath) to 4 (too cold for a sane person to swim). I read her facial expression somewhere between 2 and 2.5.

Following her sister's lead, Cathy sloshed her way in without hesitation. Interested more in her form than the water temperature. A girl needs to know how to make an entrance.

Here's a shot of Ted applying his Little League pitching techniques to a game of lake football. 

Personally, I recharged by sitting quietly in the shade and powering down as many sensory functions as possible. I think of it as an advanced form of dawdling, requiring little more than a well-situated lawn chair as my "tune-out" space (see The Art of the Dawdle for a full explanation of this misunderstood fitness technique). A pair of shades to disguise your glassy-eyed stare into space can also be helpful.

The kids found their own tune-out spaces during the week when they felt the need. For Cathy it was communing with her favorite summer art medium. One must be "one" with the sand.

Christine preferred stretching out on a comfortable recliner, swaddled in a beach towel. 

Ted's choice for a little "me" time was atop the new staircase that had been built to accommodate the new seawall. 

Over time, this lofty perch became a favorite spot for me to sneak out for a second cup of morning coffee while enjoying the 180 degree view of the beach. The pic below provides a full view of this architectural beauty. Gathering at the foot of the stairs are the moms, Nancy in the chair and cousin Lynne, keeping an eye on her son Andrew as he explores his new surroundings. 

Here's a better shot of Andrew in his stylish sun hat, contemplating his next move.

And a pic of Christine and Andrew's big sister Heather enjoying the action from the lower decks of the new staircase. 

A major component of these joint family vacations was the late afternoon, multi-generational happy hour. In the beginning, the adults would mix up Manhattans and/or gin and tonics and send the kids off to entertain themselves. But once the kids realized that snacks were part of the tradition, they wanted a piece of the action. So the party was expanded to include a variety of non-alcoholic libations. The kids were happy with any beverage that had a cherry in it. Go figure.

Here are some happy hour pics from this early 1987 trip. First we have Uncle Ken, who along with Nancy's dad Rae were the formal hosts of these gatherings. 

Ken was a prince of a man, and the uncle everybody needs. Friendly, funny, discreet and a great bartender. I think I may have mentioned in an earlier post that it was he who gave me my nickname of Grosse Pointe Charles. I think of him fondly every time I sign off on a post. 

In this next pic are women of family happy hours past, present and future. From left to right Lynne, Nancy, Cathy, Aunt Evelyn and Nancy's mother Marge. On the far left you can just make out Rae fulfilling his co-host duties by delivering a fresh Manhattan to Lynne.

Next-generationers Christine and Heather were making the most of the snack component of the party. Heather looks a little concerned about the paparazzi (that would be me).

After the crowd cleared out, Cathy hung on a little longer working hard to get that cherry out of her Shirley Temple. 

This last picture from the visit is a family classic. It's an image etched in my memory. We have an enlargement hanging in our downstairs play room. 

I call it The Morning Ritual. If you look closely you can see Marge and Rae on the Avon Rae porch enjoying a favorite pastime - reading the daily paper and sharing items of interest with each other. As usual Marge is sitting in her wicker rocker, Rae in his upright wooden rocker. 

The wicker rocker has been a mainstay at Wiser Times since 2005 and has been celebrated in several previous posts. With the passing of Avon Rae out of the family last fall, Rae's rocker now resides here in my hobby lab. About 20 feet from my keyboard. It's a welcome addition. 

At the end of this visit to Avon Rae, we didn't return home directly. Instead, we "widened our groove" a little further. All the way to Toronto. And that's where'll I'll pick things up in my next post. 

Happy Memorial Day everyone. 

Grosse Pointe Charles

Memory Lane - Widening the Groove (January to May 1987)

I have in previous posts likened our family timeline to a groove, cruising along smoothly within comfortable boundaries, confident as to where we were headed. I've also noted certain occasions when the groove has altered. Not so drastically as to jump the track, but enough to accommodate new experiences. 1987 was one of those times.

The year began innocently enough. It was a fairly quiet winter. No extraordinary weather or family incidents. Just the usual. There was the typical post-holiday emphasis on fitness, with some high-tech equipment.

Some experimentation with behavior-management innovations.

Adoption of the winter wardrobe.

There was also a little team muckling.

And work on language skills.

On the creative side, there was mechanical engineering (left-brained).

And what appears to be a fantasy sleepover (right-brained).

Then there was this incident of exploratory interior design (hare-brained), which no doubt occurred during a period of DLS (dad-level-supervision).

And as would be expected of well-bred offspring, the winter months were marked by (largely) commendable sibling camaraderie.

April brought a little more excitement. We took an atypical early daytrip to Ipperwash Beach to check out the cottage. We had heard there had been some changes.

A little background. Through the mid-80s the Lake Huron water level was pretty high. You can see from this pic from '84 that the water's edge was only about 10 to 12 feet from the snow fence. 

And in this pic from '85 you can see that it wasn't that far past the snow fence to the cottage. Maybe 40 feet and about 8 feet of elevation. Way too close for comfort if the lake rose any more or serious storms came along.

To address this concern, in the fall of '86 cottagers along this strip of Ipperwash Beach decided to build seawalls. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

But as fate would have it, or maybe out of sheer meanness, by the spring of '87 the lake levels had gone down. Way down. So far down that the seawalls were probably not needed. Oh well.

When we arrived at the cottage for our visit, this is what we found. We were stunned.

Nancy's parents and the neighbors to the east had built seawalls out of large concrete blocks and vertical poured concrete. The family to the west had built a different style of barrier out of poured concrete set at a 45 degree angle. Clever.

Here are a few more shots of the new look. In this next one you can see the steps that were built into the slanted barrier.

And here's a close up of the large block/poured wall construction. Note how high Avon Rae cottage is above the beach compared to the shots from the previous years. In the coming years the shoreline and beach would change on a regular basis. But never again so dramatic as from '86 to '87. 

After overcoming our shock, we had fun that day exploring the new and very wide beach. 

Note the sand and snow mound about 50 feet offshore in the first two pics. This is a typical spring phenomenon due to constant winds and a shallow lake bottom, but it always looks weird to me. As the winter ice breaks up, it rolls over on itself toward shore, pushing sand ahead of it and creating the mound. It's typically gone by early-May.

Before we headed back to the Pointes we treated ourselves to lunch on the old wooden picnic table at the rear of the cottage. This old soldier was a salvage, having washed up on the beach in pieces several years earlier. Nancy's father Rae cobbled it back to life and put it in service. 

The table long ago moved on to another post. Either that or it gave all to a beach fire. Can't remember which. But I remember it fondly.

Recovered from our international travel, we jumped into May. We started with a trip to the Detroit Zoo. From the pics I found it looks like I took Ted and Christine while Nancy and Cathy partied elsewhere. As you can tell from these first two pics, the kids were pretty excited.

But after visiting some old friends, 

They got into the swing of things.

The chauffeur service helped with the attitude. As did snack time.

We stopped by to see many other friends during the day, too numerous to mention. Except for these interesting creatures that are family favorites. They always seem happy and ready to party. Despite the fact that their knees are on backwards.

Our next adventure was a trip to Linwood to visit my parents. There was the usual reacquaintance with old friends.

And then there was this.

Ted was in his Little League period. So we went with the flow. Here we are squeezed into the crowded Little League stadium (Nancy and Cathy in red). Not exactly box seats.

And a shot of Ted in his station in right field, ready for action.

Actually, it looks like he's tucking in his shirt. It's important to look good when in uniform.

Ted's Little League years were important to him and in the end to his parents. When he was little, Ted liked to win. In everything. Occasionally, he liked to win a little too much. There are stories.

When Ted started Little League, his teams were very successful. If I'm remembering correctly, his team won a championship or two. But in his last year of eligibility, his team wasn't so good. In fact, I think they lost most of their games. By then he was 12, and had matured. He seemed to enjoy his roles (outfield and a little pitching) despite the team's record. The winning thing had become less important.

Back from Linwood, we had a week or two to recharge before heading up to Avon Rae for the holiday. In those days Rae and Marge moved into the cottage for the summer on Memorial Day weekend. It was an opportunity for us to help with opening chores (the cottage having been closed up for the winter) and to get a first taste of summer. A few pics. 

By 1987 Ted and Christine were old cottage hands. Christine was almost always first into the lake. She never seem to mind the cold water. Even in chilly May.

Impressively, she has maintained her disrespect for cold water. There are still days at Wiser Times when Christine will go swimming when the rest of us won't even kayak.

Ted, fresh from his Little League season, liked to work on his swing wherever he could. He was a fierce whiffle baller.

Cathy, now navigating the beach on her own, was just developing her sand-castle skills.  

It takes a while to figure out just the right sand-to-water ratio for this ancient artform.

Fortunately, there were usually experienced collaborators around to offer advice.

The weekend turned out to be very enjoyable and whetted our appetite for summer even more. 

This brings us to the end of May and of this post. While our groove had begun to widen during the spring of 1987 with a couple of new experiences, the pace would quicken over the summer months. And that's where we'll resume next time.

Grosse Pointe Charles