Special places to Grandma and Grandad White in Ohio

 Here is a list of places important to Grandma Kathleen and Granddad Jerry in Ohio, in their own words:

Amelia.  Population was 550 when we were growing up.  No traffic signals, Rte 125 was a two lane road until 1951.  HS basketball games were the major social event.  Places of interest:

• Wallace Music Shop.  Grandma's home.  Where her dad sold and repaired musical instruments.  Later run by your great aunt Janet.
• Little green house next door to the West.  Owned by the Wallaces, where Janet lived, after her marriage,until she moved into the Music Shop.
• White Acres.  156 acres.  I think it is now all homes, it's called Quail Creek, except for a small commercial area on Main St.  Big house with really high ceilings, a grand staircase.  Other buildings.  Two barns, one for horses, one for cows.  Groom's House.  Combined 3 car garage, tobacco stripping shed and hired hand's two tiny rooms, and a two-hole outhouse.  Tenant house next door (It once caught on fire) and another tenant house about 3/4 of a mile back from the road.  A long walk to a highway.  The tenant house was later moved to front on 125.

White Acres House

 

• Amelia Elementary School.  This was the HS in our time, our elementary school building was torn down.  You might be interested in how small the school was.  Also the gym where Granddad was the hero in two straight basketball games where we won by three and one points to keep our home streak winning alive at 46 and 47 games.  He scored the winning points in the last 30 and 5 seconds respectively.  He was carried around on shoulders after the last game.  Ex girl friend cheer leader kissed him and professed her love while Grandma looked on.  NOTE: Both Grandma and Granddad walked to school.  See how close they lived to each other.
• Wallace Restaurant.  About a block in distance to the west of the Wallace Music shop (where the old CG&P railroad crossed 125).  Was next to a gas station, while the lumber yards were across the street.  NOTE:  CG&P stood for Cincinnati, Georgetown and Portsmouth.  But the railroad never got past Georgetown.  Ran through White Acres.  Granddad remembers seeing the cars.  Abandoned circa 1940.  When the road was abandoned the ties and rails were removed.  The railroad fill was used by White Acres to get across a small stream.  Prior to that we had to go through the stream.  There were times our truck got stuck and had to be pulled out by our horses.  NOTE: Granddad was driving the tractor across the fill when he lost his steering.  The tractor went over the side and started to tip over when the front wheel got to the bottom of the fill and the tractor righted itself.  He was really scared.
• Granddad's best friend, Jack Francis, lived on Cleveland Lane.  Granda and his brother Jock occasionally rode work horses to get there.  We took the back route through our farm.  Usually Jack picked us up on his bike.  I rode on the crossbar, Jock on the carrier on the rear.
  
• Coffey's store.  A few homes east of grandma's house.  Doug and Peg went there for candy when we stopped at Granny and Gramp's house on Main Street after they moved from White Acres.
• New Richmond, Ohio.  Granny and Gramp lived on Front St. before moving to White Acres.  The last we knew the big homes were still there.  It was a great view of the Ohio River.  Granddad had relatives there when he was growing up.  Great view of the river and towboats moving along.  There was a ferry that White Acres horse truck used to get across to fairs at Germantown and Alexandria.  Later the ferry closed at 6PM.  Once our family was going to Clermont County from Frankfort and we tore along the roads to get there in time.  However we were just a little late getting there.  We raced down the drive blowing our horn.  Thankfully the pilot was a nice guy and came back and picked us up.  Otherwise we would have had an extra two hours drive.  NOTE:  The Ohio used to flood enough every few years that the homes on Front St were flooded.  Granny said the secret to the clean up was to sweep out the water and mud as the water level dropped below the level of the floor.
• Ohio River.  That was our primary place to water ski.  Initially we were at Varnholdt's marina on Front St.  There was about twice the difference in elevation compared to our Lake Anna home.  It was all steps.  Granny Jo and her boys used to camp in pup tents on a deserted beach at Point Pleasant.  We tubed, especially when a big stern wheeler went by.  There used to be a Dam just below New Richmond.  However it was eliminated and the water level is now higher eliminating almost all the beaches we used to visit.
• Coney Island.  Entrance at Kellogg Ave and Three Mile Road.  Really clean.  It was the big amusement park in southwestern Ohio.  Where your Great Uncle Cecil played in Clyde Trask's band at Moonlight Gardens.  He made a lot of money as a teenager.  Coney had at the time the largest swimming pool in the world with circulating water.  There were three coasters plus a very steep descent in a boat on Lost River.  There were a lot of other rides.  Than Coney developed King's Island and closed just about everything but the pool.  Since then they reopened some rides; how many we do not know.
• FYI.  The Island Queen used to transport passengers from the foot of Broadway to Coney.  It also made trips to places like New Orleans and Pittsburg.  There was a huge dance floor and Trask's band played on the Queen.  While tied up in Pittsburg, Cecil was watching a welder when he decide to go uptown.  The Queen blew up just a little after he left the boat.  Probably caused by the welder .  Coney opened up for orphans once a year before opening to the public.  They would board at Broadway and ride the Queen both ways.  Rides were free.  Granddad's Aunt Marie worked with the orphans.  So Jerry joined in with the orphans for their ride on the Queen and Coney's rides.  Granddad and his friends spent a fair amount of time at Sunlight Pool.  Coney is on US 52, just up from the Circle Freeway.
• TP White Funeral home.  TP White originally had funeral homes in New Richmond and Mt. Washington.  AS TP passed the homes on to his sons, the ultimate result is the MT. Washington home was owned and operated by the Croxtons and the New Richmond one by Sumner Powers.  He later opened a 2nd funeral home in Amelia.
• Clermont County Fairgrounds in Owensville.  The County Fair ran almost a whole week.  Granddad Cliff was on the Fair Board until he moved away and he was replaced by Granny Jo.  Granny Jo was always the Secretary of the Horse Show.  Granddad used to be at the fair every day it was open.  He got to sit in the Judges stand by the announcer.  While White Acres showed Registered Saddle Horses, he always liked the Hunter and Jumper classes best.
• We have no knowledge of the house Frank Gruppenhoff built, nor where Granddad Cecil studied music.

Young Cliff, Jo, and boys

Jerry, Jo, and Jock (Roger)

Cliff White - sometimes called "June" for Junior

Another of Cliff "June" White

Jerry and Jock

Jock and Jerry

Jerry and Jock

Jerry

Life at White Acres (and more) with Grandfathers Cliff

A few months ago, I asked Granddad Jerry about his father, my great-grandfather Cliff. In the process of the interview, I also learned a lot about Granddad Jerry's youth and what his grandfather Cliff (my great-great-grandfather) was like. Here are the notes from the interview:

1. What did he look like? He was short--about 5’4”--with dark hair. He looked like Granddad Jerry. He was relatively trim until he reached his 50’s.

2. What did Clifford W White's father do for a living? Clifford L White (my great-great-grandfather) had a delivery business in Wyoming, OH and in Michigan. He was not a farmer. When Jerry lived with him, Clifford L was primarily a tombstone salesman.  Granddad Jerry would ride with him all through the county as he was making his sales. During WWII Clifford L acquired old buggies and rehabilitated them to beat gasoline rationing (smart!). They sold buggies and tombstones by roadside as well.

3. What did he do for a living? Clifford W White was mainly a businessman. He started out as a stock broker (you can see that on the censuses), then he was a manager at General Electric, and then later worked at furniture plant in Baton Rouge. Cliff started businesses – Chicken on Call (Louisville) -- it was like KFC but with delivery. The restaurant used Crosleys (miniature car, like a smart car) and 3-wheeled motorcycles to deliver. Unfortunately, the business didn't work out. Before the business failed, Jerry had the opportunity to deliver for the restaurant while he was visiting his father (with his friend Clem) while he was in his late teens (17 or 18). At different points during his life, Cliff also tried his hand at running a gas station, a car dealership, and a real estate business selling lots and homes in vacation places. Cliff also did some farming – he raised saddle horses, but it was more of a hobby than a business.

4. What kinds of things did you (Jerry) do with him?  Primarily sports; and of that, baseball. Formed the first little league team in Clairmont county. Some basketball, some soccer, some football. On a side note, there were 3 Jerry Whites in Amelia (a very small town!). Cliff liked to play bridge, but Jerry didn't play with him much.

5. How did he dress? He dressed well; selling the horses called for a lot of class. Later in life he dressed as a casual salesman.

6. Was he quiet or talkative? Somewhere in the middle.

7. Did he ever meet someone famous? When I asked this question, Granddad Jerry said that he was sure Cliff had met someone famous, but he didn't remember a specific instance or person.

8. What did your family do for Christmas? spoken from Jerry's perspective: We chopped a cedar tree from the farm for the Christmas tree. My parents had left side of house, and my grandparents had the right side. During winter to save on fuel, they’d close down the living room in the left side, but the Christmas tree was there for Christmas. We celebrated at our house in the morning and went to the Grupenhoff's in the afternoon and had Christmas dinner with them.

We had huge spreads for Thanksgiving on my dad’s side. We must’ve had more than 20—25 or 30 people there counting kids. They served pies, veggies, everything. My grandma was a good cook but she didn't like to cook. The kids there were my second cousins, and a lot of them went to the farm while their dads hunted quail on the farm (it was illegal!). I saw them about 5-6 tmes a year. They were a little bit more well-to-do. (side note: I'm assuming that these second cousins on Jerry's dad's side were children of the men who had inherited the funeral home established by Thomas Pinkham White, my g-g-g-grandfather and Jerry's great-grandfather).

Jerry only had 3 first cousins, and they were on Grupenhoff side. They moved to MD when Granddad Jerry was 11 or so. His cousin Dave went to the University of Cincinnati at the same time that Granddad Jerry did. The two played badminton together but Jerry never won. They were bridge partners and they won a LOT. They placed 3rd out of 434 in the Nationals. Jerry's Cousin Lynn Jones was also at the top of the Atlantic division of Bridge.

9. What did you do for Easter? They had an Easter egg hunt – the eggs were medium difficulty to find – some easy, some hard. Jerry assumes his dad hid them. He doesn't remember Easter dinner, but they did dress up a little better for church on Easter Sunday.

10. What did you do for the 4th of July? Fireworks: sparklers and ones that you shoot off. They'd also watch the big fireworks display in the town. You could see fireworks shot off from Coney Island in Cincinnati.

11. Did he go to church? Cliff didn’t really go to church much until about the 50’s. Jerry didn't remember Cliff going to church with his family. Jerry's paternal grandparents didn’t either. He didn't remember which denomination the Whites identified with, but said it was possibly the Methodists. He said they didn’t agree with the Catholic church, which is where he, Jock, and Granny Jo all attended.

12. How are you like Cliff? We both like sports, both play cards, and both sort of like the out-of-doors.

13. Summer vacations? The family used to vacation in Michigan when Granddad Jerry was really little. Granddad almost drowned during one of those vacations. The family also went on vacation to Miami river (it's near Cincinnati) one time for about three days or so.

Teenage Jerry with Cliff Junior

A few weeks before I interviewed Granddad Jerry about his childhood and about Great-Granddad Cliff, I had asked my dad what he remembered about Granddad Cliff. Most of the responses were about the same, but Dad remembered Cliff as talkative, while Jerry thought that Cliff was average when it came to talking.

Cliff (according to Dad):

Short, loved sports, especially baseball, which he excelled in. He was good at golfing (dad was 16 or 17 when he golfed with Cliff). Cliff liked to talk. He loved his family; he was proud of his son and grandchildren. Cliff had step kids with his wife Betty. He suffered from short man's syndrome (meaning he felt like he had to prove himself as a man, I think). Started and failed in business many times. He played lottery at end of life, hoping to leave a large inheritance for his son and grandchildren, but never succeeded.

Clifford L White

Clifford Lee or Levi (I'm not sure which it was) White was a kind and family-oriented man. He took in his son's family and spent time with his grandchildren, sometimes taking them along on rides while performing his job as a salesman.

Parents: Thomas Pinkham (T.P.) White, Flora Jane Nichols
Birth: May 9, 1875
Marriage: June 7, 1899 to Minnie May Winspear. Cliff was 24 and Minnie was 22. Their only child was Clifford Winspear White.
Death: September 23, 1965

Birth record:

1880 Census:

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This census is hard to read, but it shows all of Cliff's siblings as well as his parents. Thomas P's profession is listed as a carriage maker. Cliff was in the very middle of five children.

Cliff and Minnie's marriage record is on the post I wrote about Minnie. You can find links to the following censuses on that post, as well.

1900 Census:

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This is (barely) less than a year after Cliff and Minnie's marriage. We see from this census is that the family is renting their home, and must live in or near town, since they don't have a farm. We also see that Cliff worked at a livery stable on his "own account" (that's what the 'o' means after his place of work). I'm guessing that this job could be related to his father's job as a carriage maker. We also see that both of Cliff, Sr's parents were born in Ohio.

1910 Census:

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From this census, you can see that Cliff Sr. and Minnie were a little bit older when Cliff Jr. was born. In fact, he was born over 7 years after they married! They sure did have a long wait. I'm sure they treasured their only son that they had waited so long for. I remember hearing that Cliff, Jr. was a "spoiled only child," but I suspect that his parents couldn't help it. They had waited so long for this child.

We also see that Cliff Sr. still worked as a "livery man" at a livery stable. If I understand the census taker's shorthand correctly, Cliff Sr. was the employer at the livery stable.

1920 Census:

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In this census, we see that Cliff Sr. is working on his "own account" (OA on the far right) as a manager at a garage. This is probably a natural transition from the livery stable as the country was transitioning from horses to automobiles as their main mode of transportation.

1930 Census:

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At the time of this census, Cliff Jr. had just moved out and married the beautiful Jo Grupenhoff, so Minnie and Cliff, Sr. are empty-nesters. The family owned a radio set, rented their home, and did not live on a farm. Cliff, Sr. worked as a salesman for a "monument co." meaning that he sold gravestones.
1940 Census:

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Here's a big change! Minnie and Cliff, Sr. own their own home, and it's beautiful and spacious. White Acres housed Minnie and Cliff, Sr. on one side and their son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren on the other. Cliff, Sr. was a "monument" (aka gravestone) salesman, and Minnie stayed at home.
Cliff passed away a few months after his 90th birthday. The record of his death states that he passed away in Clermont County at a "long term care facility". I'm not sure if that means a long term facility in a hospital or if it means he was in a rest home when he passed away. I'm guessing that since Minnie was still living at the time of his death, Cliff was not in a rest home.

Roger White

Roger Thomas (Jock) White--younger brother to Granddad Jerry--was loved by his family. He worked hard to help out and was well-liked by his peers. Unfortunately, he died when he was only a teenager. I recently interviewed Granddad Jerry about him, and this post contains the information I learned.

I happened to stumble across Jock's death certificate when looking for records on Clifford Winspear White. It gave details of Roger's passing. Roger was in a car accident when he was only 16 and died soon thereafter from head injuries. The death record says that he lost control of the car due to speeding and hit a tree and a ditch.  It was a poor section of road. (source: Dad) It also shows that the accident happened around  8:15 PM. He died just 30 minutes later, at 8:45 PM, according to the coroner.

This information is from the interview with Granddad Jerry: 

1. What’s your favorite story about him? 3 stories: 

1. How Roger got the nickname Jock. Granddad had toy dog with a red ribbon that said, “My name is Jock”. When Jock was born he was named Roger, but Granddad insisted on calling him Jock. Granddad Cliff would only call him Roger.  By the time Jock was a teenager, most people called him Jock. 
2. Never really fought with Granddad much. However, if Granddad could have gotten his hands on Jock one time he "woulda pulverized him!" There was a long driveway to the house about 150 feet long. Granddad bent over to pick up something, and Jock shot him with a BB gun from about 50 feet away.  Granddad was so mad he chased him to the house but Jock had locked all the doors. Granddad ran all the way around the house to find a way to get in to him -- and Jock did it all just for "fun." 
3. Used to play at Whiteacres a lot. Jerry was usually the youngest kid there. Small town. All kinds of kids played at Granddads – Granddad told me it was like Tom Sawyer where he plays with the Judge's kids down to the Huck Finn-type kids. 

2. What did he look like? 

Dark hair, a little taller than G’dad – maybe 5’9”

3. What kinds of things did you do together? 

They used to play board games in the house. Occasionally they'd play pick-up baseball, sometimes football or basketball. When Granddad was about 16, they shared chores like milking the cow. Jock would milk in the morning and Jerry would milk in the evening. There were sharecroppers taking care of farm when Cliff left, but when Granddad was about 16, Jo bought a tractor. Jerry and Jock would switch off; Jerry’d go to baseball practice when he got out of school, and go to sleep as soon as he got home afterwards. Jock worked from about 3 PM to 11 PM and Jerry would plow the fields from 11 PM to 7 AM. Granddad didn't recall any particular instance, but said they probably did things like haying together. The two would chase the cows around. They rode horses together to get the cows. Jock rode Babe and Jerry rode Gale. Neither were tall enough to get their foot in the stirrup from the ground, so Jerry helped Jock to mount. He would climb hand over hand up the stirrup to get on Gale. The mare would start walking as soon as Jerry's feet left the ground so he had to climb quickly because Gale would start trotting after about 150 feet. Jerry had a friend--Jack--who would give rides to Jerry and Jock on his bike. Jerry would ride on the bar between the handlebar and seat and Jock would ride behind. They also played policemen on their bikes.

4. How did he dress? 

He wore jeans and in the summer went barefoot. Granddad’s jeans had patches on patches, so Jock’s probably did, too.

5. Was he quiet or talkative? He was an average kid.

6. What did he like to do? Didn’t like to read like Jerry did. He liked farming more.

7. Did he go to church? 

Yes, Catholic church with Jerry and Jo. Sometimes they wouldn't go, but they went more often than not.

8. How was he like you? 

He liked sports, was competitive but not as much as Granddad is. He was a starter on the baseball team when he was a sophomore. Was more mechanical than Jerry. Good student (but that wasn't very important for either of them). Jock was relatively popular with his schoolmates. He was also in school government.

Jerry was still sort of living at home when the accident happened, but going to college. His official residence was Whiteacres, but it was his freshman year and he was living at the dorms at UC (University of Cincinnati). He came home on weekends to do farming.

Granddad Jerry and the Grumpy Ram

**This story was previously told with gross inaccuracies. I asked Granddad for the real story, and this is it!

Granddad Jerry grew up on a farm, and he worked hard to keep it up. He had a lot of responsibility there since his father had left and his grandfather was advancing in years. Granddad traded off with his younger brother Jock to make sure the work got done. Jock would come home from school and work all afternoon until Granddad got home from high school in Cincinnati, then Granddad would take over and work until midnight or later until all the work got done. Along with the hard work that the boys completed, there was also more than enough work for the hired hands.

Since there were so many variables in running a farm, some really great stories came from his work there. This one is about an old, mean, and grumpy ram that they kept around as a stud for the ewes.

There was a corn crib in this pasture that people would go to whenever they needed corn around the farm. It could be a tricky business, though, to get the corn, since the ram was very territorial. He would sneak up on people while their backs were turned and try to head-butt them. As soon as you looked at the ram, he'd stop  advancing on you, but you had to always be on the lookout.

Each time that anyone went into his pasture, the ram looked for his opening.

Well, one day as Granddad was doing his work near the pasture, he looked up because he heard some hoof beats. He took the scene in in a moment: One of the hired hands was at the corn crib getting corn, and the ram was charging him! Before Granddad had a chance to shout a warning,

WHAM! 

the ram head-butted the hired hand so hard that he was knocked several feet away, arms and legs sprawled out around him.

And that's the story of the grumpy ram.

Clifford Winspear "Cliff" White

I don't know much about my great-grandfather. Granddad Jerry didn't tell any stories about him that I remember. All I know about Granddad Cliff is that he left his family when Granddad Jerry was a teenager and that he cleaned up his act later and married a nice woman named Ursula. They lived in Florida. I met both of them on a family trip to Florida when I was younger (maybe somewhere between 8 and 10?). All I remember from the time my family spent with them was going to a seaside restaurant and being super excited that I saw a real live pelican fly over the water. I didn't realize then how awesome it was to be able to say that I'd met, talked to and remembered more than one of my great grandparents. So now I only remember one of my great grandparents because I wasn't paying attention then.

Granddad Cliff was named after his father, Clifford Levi White, and his mother, Minnie May Winspear.

Here are some vitals on Granddad Cliff:

Birth: July 4, 1907
Marriages/Children:

1. July 27, 1929 to Josephine Agnes "Jo" Grupenhoff. Cliff had just turned 22. He left when he was about 36 years old.
   Children: Gerald Lee and Roger Thomas
2. About 1958 to Betty. Cliff was about 50.
3. September 1985 to Ursula. Cliff was 78.

Death: May 2, 1997. Cliff was two months away from his 90th birthday.

Census records of Cliff White:

1910 Census:

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From this census, you can see that Cliff Sr. and Minnie were a little bit older when Cliff Jr. was born. Other interesting information is that while Cliff Sr.'s parents were both from Ohio, Minnie's mother came from England and her father came from New York, a city full of immigrants at the time. You also see that Cliff Sr. worked as a "livery man" at a livery stable. If I understand the census taker's shorthand correctly, Cliff Sr. was the employer at the livery stable.

Also of note is that the family rented a house that was not on a farm.

1920 Census:

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In this census, we see that Cliff Sr. is working on his "own account" (OA on the far right) as a manager at a garage. This may be a natural transition from the livery stable as the country was transitioning from horses to automobiles as their main mode of transportation. It's also interesting to see that Minnie was working outside the home, even though two-income families were much less common during this time period. The family now owns their house, but has a mortgage on it.

1930 Census (not even a whole year after he and Jo married):

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Since both Cliff Jr and Jo are in this census, I wrote an analysis of this record on the "General Information" page for Granny Jo. I will also copy the information I put on her information page for the 1940 census. Here's the text:

As you can see, the 1930 census was taken soon after Jo and Cliff's marriage. They were renting their place for $35.00/month. One thing that you don't see here is that their neighbors (the rest of the census page) were mostly all renters and small families, as well. Several of the other small families are also newlyweds. Cliff worked as a book keeper and I think Jo was working as a sales lady at a department store. I'm not sure, though, because the image is really hard to read.

Interestingly, one of the questions asked by the census taker was if they had a radio set. This modern couple sure did!
1940 Census:

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In the 1940 census, you see that Jo is no longer working outside the home, but is a home maker (that's what that long line of "no's" followed by an "H" means). They have two fine boys, aged 5 and 3 years old. Cliff is still working at the brokerage, but now is working as a margin clerk (whatever that is). I included the next family on the census, because I happened to know that that is the family that Cliff came from. How awesome is that?

One thing that I didn't see to make note of in the picture of the census is that Cliff and Jo were renting at $25/month and were living on a farm (this information is in the columns preceding their names). G-G-Granddad Cliff (Cliff, Sr.) was also living on a farm, but he owned his house. I'm guessing that this is White Acres. His house was valued the highest of all the owned houses on this census page.

Granny Jo and the Catnappers

Once upon a time in the land of Ohio, there lived a cat. This cat's name was Snowball, and she was very happy at her farm home with the family that cared for her. She was a beautiful fluffy white cat that charmed all those who saw her. Many people were envious of Snowball's owners because they wished they had a cat just like her.

One day as Snowball was taking a walk in the yard, a sinister-looking car pulled up beside her. Before she knew it, a hand reached out of the car and pulled her within. Snowball was the unwilling captive of a strange family!

Unbeknownst to the catnappers, Jo--the mother of the family that owed Snowball--had seen the car that drove off with her pet from the kitchen window. She was pretty upset that they had taken her cat, and she planned on getting Snowball back!

Every day, Jo watched the cars that drove by her house, looking for the car that had taken poor Snowball away. She was pretty sure that the car belonged to someone that drove by her house often, as she lived in a small town. Sure enough, the car came driving by a few days later.

Jo was ready for them.

As soon as she saw the car drive by, she rushed to her car and began the chase! After winding through country roads and bumping over potholes, the sinister car turned in to a driveway. Jo waited for the driver and passengers to enter the house, then pulled in the driveway, got out of her car, and knocked on the door. A woman answered.

Jo got straight to the point. "Where is my cat?" she demanded. The woman pretended ignorance. "Your cat? We don't have your cat." At that point, Snowball entered the room. Jo said, "That's my cat! Come here, Snowball." Snowball came, Jo picked her up and stalked out the door.

They never had a problem with catnappers again.

Water skiing with Granddad Jerry

After writing my post about quilting with Grandma Izzy, I thought it would be nice to make a post about something I did with each of my grandparents. The big thing that we grandkids did with Granddad Jerry--besides listening to fun stories from his childhood--was learning how to, and then actually water skiing with him.

Granddad was very patient teaching us. We'd start out standing on land, holding on to the handle while he taught us how to hold the handle and stand correctly so we wouldn't fall over once we were skiing. Then we'd go out to the boat, and once we got to deep enough water, we would put on the skis and slide into the water. It was fun trying to get a perfect score (smile, wave, no splash).

The beginners would learn how to ski on the barefoot boom. It was easier because you didn't have the extra factor of the rope going slack (and therefore losing your balance) and you could also hear Granddad coaching you, since it was right next to the boat.

Me learning to ski on just one ski. It's a lot harder than two!

Eventually, we'd get a short length of rope tied to the boom to ease us in to skiing behind the boat with the full length of rope.

I started skiing when I was about 8 years old, I think. It took me a long time to finally get the courage to cross the wake--the small wave created by the movement of the boat--but once I did, there was no stopping me. You do get a nice thrill when you cross the wake, especially if you do it fast enough! }:)

The older kids learned how to do tricks--skiing with the handle between your knees (no hands!), turning around 360 degrees, lifting up one ski for the "skier salute", just to name a few. I did a couple of them, but the skier salute was the only one that I felt safe enough doing to do more than once or twice.

One of my favorite things to do was to "double up". We would set up another rope and two people would ski behind the boat at the same time. I think you can see why I enjoyed this so much:

Hannah spraying Seth

When we were done skiing, we'd head back to my grandparent's house. Granddad taught us that we should always thank the person driving the boat. We did every time that we remembered, and would use his special nickname that we had for him--Mr. Nice Guy. One person would remember to say "Thanks Mr. Nice Guy, for driving the boat!" and then there'd be a chorus of "Thanks, Mr. Nice Guy!" as we all tried to make Granddad feel appreciated so he'd take us out again.

Thank you, Mr. Nice Guy, for all the fun times!

Muggins with Grandma Kathleen

Grandma Kathleen is one of the sweetest women I've met. She is very soft spoken, but a great disciplinarian. You know, one of those where the soft, serious voice is scarier than yelling.

She fits the description for the ideal grandmother: she has a stock of sugary cereals just for her grandchildren, a candy bowl, treats after every meal, AND lots of games and kids books. She was always up for playing games with us, even when other adults might find our games childish and tedious.

My favorite game to play with Grandma is a card game called Muggins. I think it's a pretty old game, because they don't sell the cards anymore. I just did an internet search for it, and there were no results for the particular card game I'm thinking of. However, we played the game with cards from the game Flinch:

Picture taken from here

The gameplay is very similar to the game described in this Wikipedia article, except that you say "muggins!" instead of "flinch!" when a player fails to play a playable card. Also not mentioned in the article is that the person who yells "muggins!" gives their top card to the person who failed to notice the playable move. Thus, if you are good at spotting muggins opportunities, then you can get rid of your cards more quickly. There are evidently several versions of Flinch, but we only played one version of Muggins, where we would deal out all of the cards evenly between the players.

Another difference is that playing cards in the middle took precedence over playing cards on other player's discard piles. This made for a fun twist to the game, as well as more muggins-calling, since most players were more intent on giving cards to other players (giving the first player a greater advantage over the second player if no one notices that they should have played in the middle instead).

Grandma had no mercy when it came to calling Muggins on her young grandchildren, but that was part of the fun of it all. We would play Muggins over and over again just to get the chance to muggins Grandma, who was nearly perfect in her muggins playing. If we did catch Grandma and call muggins on her, we would brag about it at the dinner table that night. We also had fund piling our cards on each other's discard piles, pretending that we were doing them a great favor in giving them so many cards. So many fun, happy memories!

PS: if you are interested in trying the game out for yourself, it can be played using regular face cards. Austin and I did so with two decks of cards. Muggins is more fun if you have more than two players, though.