The Good Old Days

We took a trip down Memory Lane yesterday. Driving around parts of Seattle, seeing the neighborhoods, schools and businesses through the eyes of my husband and his brother as they reminisced about growing up in the city.

The first house they lived in (in Burien) was torn down and a new home has been built in it's place but they recognized the neighbors houses and knew which lot was their old homestead...

"Remember how we used to borrow the Tonka trucks from those guys and we played in the big dirt pile in the front yard?"

we're not lost.

"That's the lane I went down to get to kindy-garden" (Yes, a time when life was simple and safe and a little kid could walk all those blocks by himself!)

"That hill looks so much smaller than it did when we were kids on a bike!"

"This was the church we attended as kids. I was 7 years old and I asked Jesus to come into my heart." (my heart sings)

formerly Bible Baptist Church

"Remember when the road used to go all the way though? Before they built the freeway? And we would walk from our house all the way to Angel Lake?" (another incredible long walk for little kids with no adult supervision!)

"This is where Grandma and Grandpa's laundromat and dry cleaning business was located." (back before having your own washer and dryer in your home was common place)

"We moved to Seahurst which was a big step up for our family after that little house on 152 Street."

Seahurst house

"The neighbors has lions in their house-- seriously, remember the lion cubs? No I'm not making this up! They had real live lions in the basement and they would bring the cubs out on the lawn to play!" (still having a hard time with this one but they swear it was true. Why the people had lions in their basement, we'll never know)

"Mom and Dad got a divorce. Mom had 5 kids to raise by herself and Dad was gone. We had to move to the projects. White Center." (a scary scary place)

"That house is gone now too. In fact they bulldozed all those houses down and rebuilt the whole area. It's still low income housing but it looks great!" (but White Center is still a scary scary place)

"This was Big Grandma's house. (mom's mom) and just around the corner is Little Grandma's house (dad's mom) And there's the school we attended."

"Every year we had to pose for a family picture in front of Big Grandma's hydrangea bush.'

big Grandma's house

"Remember the sand pit where we'd hang out, ride our bikes, shoot our BB guns?"(at the rocks, each other, airplanes. Crazy kids!)

"I was walking down this street one Halloween and this kid jumped out and knocked me over and stole all my candy. Never liked Halloween after that because of it."



As the boys shared stories, the young ladies listening in (besides myself) were our nieces, They giggled over the stories they heard their dad and uncle share. They took a lot of pictures. They were being exposed to their family heritage and they seemed to soak it up.

Sarah and Kristina catching it all on film.

King Wha's Mandarin Cafe

waiting for our meal

We had a family style feast at a Mandarin Cafe, and took in a farmer's market in Burien.

the air was fragrant from all the produce and flowers

those sunflowers are amazing!

We visited the (in)famous  Fremont Troll

that is a real life VW bug in the troll's hand-- the thing is HUGE!

and finally wound up at the Burke Museum on U of W campus. 

FREE admission on the 1st Thursday of the month!

 

We don't know if Burke is such a common name or not; the chances my husband is related is probably very very iffy. Still it makes for fun pretending.

there is a story about this photo shoot. come back later to hear it...

The trip was part of Kristina's graduation gift. It was a Family Day, a Fun Day, a Day Rich in Heritage, and Memories... both those revisited and those being built.

working it for the camera. oh yah!

Uncle loves his nieces!

~University of Washington~