Robert Haan: Central Park to Lost Valley

I've shared these photos previously. There are certainly more photos of Robert to share but these are the easiest to begin with. The first are of our 1964 visit to New York City where Robert bought me a toy boat and helped me sail it in the Central Park boat pond. I was very fond of the boat and it kicked around the house for some years but never found as grand a venue for adventure after its maiden voyage. Robert certainly had a way with memorable vacation projects involving kids. I was always impressed that he gave children his full attention and made you feel very grown up, but maybe the secret was he just never stopped having fun doing kid things. I also love the photos in my previous Lake Charlevoix post, where he has assembled a large child crew to carry out dike construction. No other adults in sight.

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

These photos (the second by Peter) are from Lost Valley in 2000. To relive that happy time together click to browse the set or view the slideshow

Christmas in July

A collection of handmade Stevens family Christmas cards from 1939-41.
(Click to view larger versions)

Artwork by Gracie Age 10!

Inside above card: A Peruvian Poem

"Flutnotes For Our Flends' Fuller Fluency In Flamiliar Funfersation"

Our Shelter Prayer

Steam of Consciouness


(Colors altered from originals as paper had faded)

Chris meets Baby Martha

"Dear Christopher: I saw your Mommy last night and she was feeling very good.

I also saw your little sister..." Click on the photo above
to read the rest of this letter written by Dad to Chris
who was staying in Ann Arbor while I was born.
It's mostly about Chris' dog Fritz. Hey, I'm a little offended!
I thought getting a baby sister would be a big deal!
Instead it seems that I am a mere prelude to the Fritz update.
I'm told that Fritz had had an unfortunate entanglement
with a motorcycle he was chasing. Hence the vet visit.

AK brought Chris back home to Tiffin and snapped these shots
of Chris meeting his baby sister. Chris approaches with caution:

What the heck?

Family portrait

Close up (sorta) of the baby

Ooh! Auntie Eve gets a cuddle! A little more appreciative than Chris, I think.

Four Generations

I scanned this photo to share with Dad as he remembers it fondly. The young man is his Uncle Chris (Christian), his son John on his lap, with his grandfather, Jan Hendrik on the right and great grandfather, Christiaan on the left.

We couldn't quite replicate the four generations in the photo below (unless you count T Rex) but its a nice photo of TerMaat men and its interesting how Dad now looks like his great grandfather.

More about Bluppy

As reported previously, Mom and Bradley had a pet dog named Bluppy. Sorting through some papers I found this account of The Life of Bluppy Stevens:

February 11, 1941

A Pet

My mother and father bought a dog when I was in my mothers tummy. In other words I was not born yet. I think they got it for my brother, Bradley. Maybe they got the dog for brother and me. But I don't know.

The dogs name was Bluppy. He looked like a collie but I do not rmember what my mother called her. I think she called a half collie and half Police dog. She had dark blue eyes and was bery good looking for a dog like this one.

Some times when I was little I could ride on her back. It was fun when I did. Then my father took a picture of me and Bluppy. Daddy took the film to the place where you get the picture in white and black when it come out. He was all - was waiting to see if the pictur of me and Bluppy would come out alright. It did come out alright and Daddy has it in his Album. It is one of y favorite pictures.

Every day Bradley would buy some Red Heart dog food to feed to Bluppy. Bluppy liked it and jumped for joy when he saw it. I di not remember what else we fed him.

When it was warm Bluppy had a place by the side of the house, when it was cold he was in the house.

But that was so many years ago that I can not rmeber half of the story. A long time ago we had to give Bluppy away to some else Because my sister is sensitized to dogs hair. I am very sorry Bluppy had to leave me.

the end

by Gracie Stevens.

Muskegon 1955

TerMaats (with Brad, David and Marc making cameo apperances)
visit the beach in 1955. I'm impressed with Mom's dress, earrings and lipstick!

Peek-a-boo!

Slides by AK

Happy Birthday Chris!

A big hug for you!

(From a slide by AK, color digitally removed)

Garden at 636

Scenes from the garden at 636.

We had an indigo bunting visit our bird bath for a while this spring,
but that was before I decided to try taking pictures
through the sliding glass door. Here is our resident cardinal.
Next year I hope to get a picture of Mr. Indigo.

Here are a couple of my Dandelion Removal Assistants.

A baby bunny. Note that there is a blurry robin in the foreground
that is not much smaller than our little friend.

The lilacs did very well this year.
For more pictures of the flowers and critters in the garden
click here to browse or here to view a slideshow.

Sheboygan 1950s

Here is a collection of snapshots taken in Sheboygan (and one or two in Grand Rapids or Ohio) in the 1950s or early '60s. For obvious reasons, Chris and Richard are the stars of this show, but the fun part is probably seeing pictures of our parents when they were young and skinny. In addition to those shown here be sure to browse the whole set here or click here to view as a slideshow.

Grandma holds baby Christopher while Grandpa holds baby Richard.

Proud parents Connie and Margaret hold Chris and Richard.

Grandpa and Uncle Con help Richard with a toy train.
From another picture in this collection, I'm guessing this was a fifth birthday present.

Little Christopher and Grandpa at the bridge.

Uncle Larry with Beth.

Little Brad and Little Grace at Christmas

Some very old Christmas pictures from the Stevens album.

Bradley checks his stocking.

Ooh! Train set!

Oh the burden of being the first born. Having browsed through many pictures of the large Stevens clan gathering for Christmas, I feel sorry for Little Brad made to carry the holiday all alone on his tiny shoulders.

The xylophone and tinker toys seem like harbingers of creative projects to come, but the proudly displayed shovel? Oh well, I'm pretty sure I'm getting a lawn mower for my birthday in a few weeks--probably part of the same hallowed tradition.

Lucky for Brad, he now has little sister Grace to share in the merriment, though its still looking like more siblings are required to make the celebration more exciting. Stay tuned...

Bluppy

I've just recently discovered that Mom is dog-obsessed. For some reason I always thought that she just tolerated the family dogs, but no, she's been attached to the creatures for much longer than I thought. Here we find her with "Bluppy" -- her toddler name for puppy. She confesses that she doesn't know whether perhaps big brother Brad might have had a different name for the mutt or whether the entire family embraced her bastardization.

Pete in a Tight Spot

I am late in posting this for Pete's birthday, but I thought of this picture when I heard that Little Max had discovered the joys of tower building using these very same 'bricks' supplemented by some oatmeal boxes collected by Grandma. I don't know if there are currently any pictures of Max's 'tawa' building prowess-- or of his sisters walling him in, but I'm sure we can arrange some in the near future. This picture is from 1972.

DeGeus Kitchen 1982

After Hattie passed away I dug through our slides looking for pictures but she was usually missing from the action at family gatherings. Luckily, someone (ahem, yours truly) had the sense to stake out the kitchen. Even our mutt Mickey had the sense to know that this was the place to hang out. And I am sure she was amply rewarded for her naughty begging. These pictures were taken in 1982 when Chris and Nancy were married in Milwaukee. Hattie and Con were kind enough to play host to Grandma and Grandpa Stevens who came to attend the festivities, thus we see Angelyn in one the pictures.