As I mentioned in last week’s post, my parents “got” me in July 1974, and then headed off to Walloon Lake two days later for our annual two-week summer vacation. This year, the typical three-family core was sharing the cottage: Goudies, Bakers, and Dunns.
Let’s get one thing out of the way:
I was a damn cute baby
Yes, we’re all wondering what happened since, but let’s focus for a few moments on what a good-looking (and happy) baby I was:
At this point, you’re probably wondering how I coped with all this cuteness, happiness and attention. The answer:
Other things happened in early August 1974
Those of you old enough to remember might recall this incident, which happened during our stay at Walloon, and which my dad decided to document in appropriate style:
There were other people at Walloon
Though the previous group of pictures only hint at the presence of people other than me, I was far from the only one at Walloon that year. Each year, usually towards the end of the trip, we always did a stair picture with the whole group on the front steps of the cottage.
Many years there was also a kids picture like this one:
There’s a parent behind me for safety – see the hand? lol
And keeping with the theme of boating safety from previous Walloon mentions, this:
The days were filled with typical kid fun each year at Walloon:
So you say there’s a lake at this Walloon place?
Why yes, there certainly is.
There was also plenty of boating
Many years, we rented a pontoon boat for at least one outing, some years there was a ski boat, and we always had a sailboat as well (this year, the Sunfish, coming soon: the Wayfarer).
There were other sports as well
For those who knew me growing up, you probably still remark on my stunning abilities to catch a football. I must have picked it up from my mother:
Wait, that can’t be right, it was probably from my father:
Well, damn, maybe I wasn’t that good at catching all along and now we know why. The camera doesn’t lie, Jan and Bill.
Yes, I participated as well:
There were nighttime sports, too
In this next sequence, I think Jim is using a bubble wand, but with great intensity:
These next few pictures are of questionable association to the word “sports”, but I think you’ll agree with me that they belong here.
Now, I’ve actually been quite selective about the “nighttime sports” pictures that are in this post. Kids, if you are about my age, and your parents denied having any fun when you were young, that may not be completely true.
Are you wondering where the energy for nighttime sports came from?
I offer this:
Next up: Fall 1974
My Life in 35mm is a series of posts with the story of my life as recorded on the slides of my dad and other family members. This series is updated weekly (mostly). To get email updates of new posts, subscribe at the bottom of this page.
You can also view all posts in the My Life in 35mm series.
