Family Vacation Idea

I think I ran the idea by most everyone of having a family vacation every other summer so that everyone could be there.

As expected, Dad had an "idea" which I, personally, think is a pretty good one...here goes!

Time of year: Feb - March

Place: Lake Havasu (bear with me)

Pros:
Usually we are willing and looking for a way to escape the dark, dull, dreary, rainy days and nights here in WA, while those in CA wouldn't have to travel far at all!
Cheaper to vacation during that time of year vs summer.
Ken Marsh...yep, I said it! You know he had to come into play eventually! We could take advantage of his toys such as a few waverunners, "party" boat (one of those flat ones that holds like 15 people), come and go from his pool, etc, etc.

**The thought is to attempt to locate a "monster" house on or very near the lake that could handle us. I know this might sound impossible, but you never know.

Here's where you all come in: I need to know how many people are interested in entertaining this idea and then dad and I would start the research should there be enough. Let me know your thoughts as well and other ideas you have.

Gla :)




okay, to add to this and maybe tweak your interests, check out this "example" of a retreat we could all get away to. http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p174552 For those of you that like the math done this would cost us $3500 for the week and breaks down to about $175/adult. Just an idea....

Christmas in DuPont

5 giant cans of popcorn

4 games of Scrabble

singing reindeer in the kitchen hallway.

Family Time

At the end of August we will have several siblings in town so I thought we should all get together at some point. My thought is to plan something for Saturday, August 29th. This date seems to be the day that allows everyone to participate. So, hanging out in Nupnop would be fine, but I thought it would be even more fun to get some ideas about what we could do for that day. So, post your ideas and we can all decide on something!!

At any rate plan to be with your delightfully wonderful siblings et al on that day!

guk :)

YES, THERE REALLY IS A JIMMY YOSHIDA!

Going to Costco with mom.

SAMPLES!

hold on to the cart.

8 gallons of milk

5 pounds of pretzels

400 loads of Tide

STILL, THE PIERCE COUNTY LIBRARY

VHS:

-Mouse and the Motorcycle
-somethin somethin and the Stamp Collector
-The Great Race
-Laurel & Hardy
-Abbott & Costello

16MM PROJECTOR. PIERCE COUNTY LIBRARY

-Soup & Me
-The Super Duper
-Jooooooooooeeeeeeeey
-Srawberry Shortcake & the Professor Pieman
-the never-ending donut-making machine where the rich lady loses a diamond ring..??
-the Peanut Butter Solution



Popcorn would be popped in that old popcorn popper with the yellow, transparent top.
A white sheet would be tacked up somewhere in the living room.

Tang or something similar would be brewed.

The Marshes would visit.

The "flap flap flap" of the reel as the movie comes to an end.

The Story of the Customized Apple Tree Branches...or, How Not Sparing the Rod Can Be Eco-Friendly

by Joel

Once upon a time, whilst I was near 10 or 11, I discovered the secret of how the 'switches' used on our bottoms (and legs when we would twist despite many warnings not to do so) were so smooth yet so similar to the knobby branches sprouting from the apple tree in our front yard.

The mystery was unraveled when I spotted someone carefully peeling the little knobs off the branch with a steak knife so as to minimise the welting-effect. This was kind and thoughtful, I rationalised. I don't recall exact circumstances, just knew that I was not intended to see said activity but I knew immediately where those 'whistling petes' were coming from. Never ate those apples the same way again. And I pounded into that tree lots and lots of those 12-penny (3 inch) nails to hold the various boards/steps as payback for what that tree contributed to me.

Years later I find out that the actual 'trimming' technique was learnt via shared knowledge from one of our favourite neighbours up on Barksdale.

Now I am a parent...and fortunately that little sapling in my front yard is still a good many years away from sparing any branches for the cause.

Next...Chapter 2: The Jose Canseco Model or, How the Threat Hanging Over The Top of the Fridge Can Be More Effective Than the Act Itself

AROUND THE HOUSE

MAMA'S VAN.
LOTSA LOTSA KIDS.


FORGET THE DOG. BEWARE OF KIDS


YOU TOUCHA DA KEYS
I BREAKA YOUR FACE


WHEN I CHILD IS SILENT
somethin somethin somethin..very sick or in trouble..somthin


Welcome Easter
Merry Friends
Happy Christmas


mom's half-full glass of water on top of the microwave

SMASHIN' PEWS

remember when jordan decided to use the rear pew at ECC to break his pull-up record ? It fell backwards but luckily his upper lip was there to break its fall. dr glen dayo stitched him up as if he was a pig's gall bladder entry-point.

remember when susie attempted to shatter jordan's pull-up record by using that heavy table in the basement of the AICF church? well, surprise, surprise. it, too, fell. fortunately, susie had learned from her big brover to utilize her body to break the fall of that which was being pulled down, smashing her finger into smitherings. (what is a "smithering?") i'm sure everyone panicked and somebody probably even paged jay wiggins, whom was probably standing 33 feet away.

remember when i dropped firewood onto my finger and broke it?

remember when joel, glory, and bethany all broke their wrists?

remember when ben, jordan, charity, and i all blew out our right ACLs?

remember when julie needed her scalding hot chicken noodle soup so badly that she tried to ingest it through her chest and shoulder?

BIG, BLUE, SINGING, SONGBOOK!!

his name was psalty. he was a book. he was a male book. he was blue. and he led human children choirs.
THAT's not confusing.

let's talk about Antsilvania. a story about a disobedient, adolescent, talking ant.

or the music machine. wah-wah, chicka-chicka, bonk-bonk.

NOW YOU CAN BE ME

here's the skinny: i've been rather busy lately and so cannot keep posting new blogs as fast as you'd like. Now i will give you the power to post blogs of memories on this page whenever you please.

Step 1. Login as micahsaxman@gmail.com
Step 2. Password is: passball
Step 3. Click on "New Post"

Be sure to sign your name at the bottom of your post or else all of your thoughts will be attributed to ME.

SUNDAY SCHOOL

why did nobody ever explain to us little chitlins in sunday school what exactly we were singing about?

"Father Abraham, had many sons. And many sons haaaaad Faaaaaaather Abraham! I am one of them, and so are you (Wait, what?? what do you mean "i am one of them?" I am confused..) i know who my parents are. their names are, Mom and Dad. songs like this should be broken down and explained to a kid

more @ 611

i really admire dad's idea for the "fencing in" of the back yard. it accomplishes what he wanted: a little privacy without closing off the yard completely. it's a unique design idea and looks and feels fitting.



on another note, how many visitors do you think there have been over the years that would use our bathroom in complete fear that someone was going to walk right in on them? it's funny to watch the entire routine they all go through:

Miscellaneous unknowing non-saxman: "Hey, where's your bathroom? Could I please use it?"

Any of us: "Sure! It's right over there, across from the bottom of the stairs."

Miscellaneous unknowing non-saxman: "Hey, thanks! I don't mean to be giving out too much information but my stomach has been making some rather peculiar noises. I think that McDonald's Apple Pie your dad gave me was a bit stale. I mean, I was a little hesitant to eat it, at first, because I thought that I saw him pull it out from under his seat in his red truck. "

Any of us: "No prob. Do what you gotta do. Don't worry about any of the 4 toddlers running in circles around the house, they won't bother you."

Miscellaneous unknowing non-saxman: (confused look on face) "Bother me? But how could they...? Hmm, whatever."

Then there is that precious 15 second period when you watch the person walk into the bathroom, find the light switch and flick it on and then swing the door closed behind them. WE all know what is happening on the other side of that hollow door; somebody has closed it and have moved on to the simple process of locking it. They begin by rotating the little locking tab, only to find that the tab...KEEPS TURNING. They fiddle around with it a few times and then either

a). accept this situation.

or

b). poke their head back outside the door and try the knob from the outside a few times before accepting this situation.

Either way, their fate is sealed. It is only fitting that after the 30 second-mark into their "bathroom duty," Ethan, as if he were being graded on his truancy, would, at full sprint, bust through the door for no apparent reason other than to wash his hands.

deliveries

one fine spring day, i was out delivering fliers to every house in DuPont and after about 45 minutes i had decided that i didn't want to deliver them anymore. it occurred to me that the best way to "finish" my job and still get paid that awesome $7 was to dump about 200 fliers in the dumpster behind the city hall. needless to say, mother was a bit surprised to see me back home so soon after i had started and i think i told her that i jogged or something. then, about two hours later, the day had become a blustery one and as a result, about half of my "delivered flyers" had found their way out of the opened dumpster and down barksdale and louviers.

VERCAMMENS and other random visitors

PLAY GAMES, ALL SOWRTS

joel, ben, jordan, and i would play street hockey in front of the house. we would use milk boxes from Costco as goals. I would be the only one to wear roller blades whilst my brovas always found it easier to stop and turn in shoes. whatev, we knew who had all the flair. once, and i think the ONLY time, we got Josh Davis to play with us. He slipped on some loose rocks and fell down on his bum. Not surprisingly, Josh cried, really loudly, yelling, "OWIEE! MOMMY!" and ran home. He even forgot to take his hockey stick with him. Yikes! oh well, he was a dynamo in the sandbox! josh really knew how to dig a tunnel. oh yeah, there was also that thing with him and the blue van. Ben knows more about that than i

NEIGHBORS

I wonder how many of them ever noticed saxman kids, sun-bathing on the roof.

TELEVISION AT 611 LOUVIERS AVE

remember the old television that we had to pull and push the power knob to attempt to settle the vertical hold? that thing would start going crazy in the middle of a MacGyver episode. Just when you'd think Pete Thornton was about to jump into Jack Dalton's plane to escape Murdoch's evil scheme to trap MacGyver's flame of the week, the tele would start flippin' out, spinning up like the wheel on The Price is Right.

Tim the Toolman Taylor became "once-a-week" family time for a short spell.

And so did TGIF. Remember Step by Step? mom thought the "Code-man" was hilarious.

WATER FIGHTS AROUND THE HOUSE

he who got the hose first, was king.
unless someone took the initative to fill a pot and stand on the roof.

-we had a couple of super soaker 50s but it was joel had the cash to go buy a blue supersoaker 100. Adrian Latore had the SS200.

if you bought cheap water balloons at the Little Store, they'd break whilst filling them up in the kitchen sink.

i remember those 1foot deep plastic pools in the backyard. after a day or two of play, they would sit stagnant, full of grass and dead bees. for some reason it would take days until someone would empty it out, leaving a beautiful sun-starved dry grass dot in the backyard.

slip 'n slides were cool. but no one ever wanted to roll it back up.

OCEAN SHORES

free HBO and a 90 degree pool at the Royal Pacific

Camping

MICAH:

I remember camping with the fam. Mom would make a trip to Costco that was camping-specific. -24pack of Dad's root beer.
-24pack of puddings. (i wrote a myspace blog about saxman camping a while ago)

I remember how fiercely mom would guard the peanut M&M's at least until after our first game of C.A.D had been played out. BTW, does anyone know what "CAD" stands for? Is it even an acronym?

I remember how tightly dad packed the pop-up tent trailer. We brought our own firewood. The smell of that yellow, wet, canvas tent with a hint of mold would remind you that you were in the forest before you even opened your eyes in the morning. I can recall Jordan hiding along a trail one night. His plan was to run out from behind a tree and scare the huddle of girls when they came walking back to the campsite from the bathroom. The only problem with his plan was the huge stump that he tripped on, two steps into his full-sprint attack.

I also remember when Ben was once given the floorspace of the very back of the gray van as his bed space. His roommate, however, happened to be Bubba. And when Ben woke up, he stayed in his sleeping bag and pretended to be asleep, patiently waiting for Bubba to get dressed and jump out of the van. Feeling a bit bashful, no doubt, about opening up the back door of the van while Bubba changed, Ben proceeded to fake his slumber. Minutes turned to what seemed like an hour as the air in the van gradually became thicker and stronger as Bubba added layer after layer of perfume, deodorant, and other various Bubba-esque pungent aromas.

This Blogspot's purpose

This blog is intended for the recall of memories pertaining TO the Saxman family, FROM the Saxman family members.

Inspired by the idea for our collection of different memories regarding Grandpa, I feel that, even if I end up being the only participant, this could be fun.

I will post several blogs with not much more than a title and a memory of my own, relative to that title/subject/event. Your job is to add to each blog if a memory, relative to that particular blog, happens to pop into your head.


Cheers,

Micah