Last year I talked about family reunions and the photos from them. About 12 years ago, I inherited a lot of photos from my aunt, Lois Haynes (she was my dad’s sister). I’ve recently been looking at them. I really liked the photos of my grandfather, her Dad.
My Family & Memories
Blogging entries for the Sharing Memories Weekly Challenge and the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge. I will also be using this blog to record various activities, road trips, etc.
Monday, January 6, 2025
Favorite Photo - my Grandfather, Edward William Kludt
Last year I talked about family reunions and the photos from them. About 12 years ago, I inherited a lot of photos from my aunt, Lois Haynes (she was my dad’s sister). I’ve recently been looking at them. I really liked the photos of my grandfather, her Dad.
Monday, December 30, 2024
In the Beginning
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1 KJV.
That was my first thought when I saw the
prompt suggestion. This reminded me of
my very first Bible. I received it when I was 8½ years old as a prize for learning and memorizing Bible verses. It contained
a family tree. Mom helped me fill it in but there were names
she didn’t know. I still have that Bible
and am still using it today. Even though
it is now falling apart.
It wasn’t until about
10 years later that I became interested in genealogy. My aunt (Dad’s sister) was interested in
learning about her family and got me interested as well. We both joined a local genealogical society
in 1981. I still have that application! Wow!
I’ve come a long way since then.
When I started, it was all done on paper. Lots of letter writing and going to various
libraries to do research. Looking at
microfilm – census records as well as church records. Writing it all down in spiral notebooks or
using pre-printed forms. Planning road
trips to go to cemeteries, churches, and courthouses and meeting unknown
relatives. Now, it’s using the internet,
downloading copies of documents, or scanning photos and documents. Using a software package to track the family –
printing family group sheets or family trees.
Using that same software to load the media for each family.
I also had a cousin
(actually, I still have her, but we just don’t get together like we used to)
that was heavily involved in the family tree.
I think we were both just interested in collecting names. I’m now going back over those branches and
getting proof – not depending on published books (that I didn’t source).
That wasn’t the only
mistake I made in the beginning. There
was also confusion over names. I skipped
a generation because I didn’t realize that a child was named after a sister
(and they were only 3 years apart in age!).
In those early days I
was also interested in learning my heritage roots. I knew that I was German from my Dad’s
side. Mom always said she was a Heinz
57. Guess that’s true – DNA shows a lot
of different ethnicities – Irish, Scottish, English, etc. What’s this about Sardinia? Cousin Greg always thought he was
Italian. Guess it’s true.
Monday, December 2, 2024
2024 Week 25 - Storyteller
Is there a storyteller in our family? I think everybody was a storyteller – they all told stories at one point or another in our lives. I’m trying to be the keeper of the stories and documenting them as much as I can. Some of those stories appear here in my blog.
Dad and his sister often told stories about their growing up in the various logging camps – hide and seek; go carts; driving a speeder, a car, and a pick-up truck, and having meals at the logging camps. A lot of these stories are being written in my documentation of the Kludt family.
Mom and her sisters
often tell stories about growing up – stories about their grandfather George,
about their Dad and about their brothers.
Stories about living near a Girls Correctional facility, earthquakes
(and the damage done to a school and having to attend different schools),
walking to and from town either to go to the picture show or collect their Dad.
I heard a lot of
stories when I visited family in Kentucky – especially about my
great-grandfather, George Keesee and his Model A. Also, heard stories about the Reisner family
when my aunt & I visited family in Iowa.
Sunday, December 1, 2024
2024 Week 24 - Hard Times
So many of our ancestors suffered from hard times from the Great Depression, poor financially, and who knows what else.
My maternal grandparents were married in 1932. There’s a story that was supposedly told by my grandfather of when he was looking for work. He would go down to the employment line and stand in line hoping for a job. Then he noticed that the men that seemed to get hired were wearing bib overalls (I believe he said they were striped). So, he scraped up the funds to buy a pair and wore them the next time he went to stand in line. Sure enough, he was able to get a job. They raised a family of nine kids mainly living on a farm. I know he moved around a lot. In 1935, they were living in McCleary, Grays Harbor County, Washington (this is where their second child was born). By 1936, they were in Chehalis, Lewis County, Washington. In 1938, they were living in Glenoma, Lewis County, Washington. And in 1940 they were living on the Cline Road in the Big Bottom area of Randle in Lewis County, Washington. Sometime between then and 1944, they moved to Salzer Valley just outside of Centralia. The remaining children (four of them) were born in the hospital in Chehalis. They lived on a farm. They were still living on the Centralia-Alpha Road during the 1950 Federal Census. Sometime between then and 1955, the family moved to Rochester area. Sometime during the 1960’s, the family moved to Albany, Oregon. After retirement, EB and Fern moved back to Washington State to live on the property belonging to their oldest living son in Woodland, Cowlitz County, Washington until their deaths in 1985 and 1990.
Thursday, November 28, 2024
2024 Week 23: Health
Health is very important to me. It is amazing to learn how much of our health issues are inherited from family.
Alcoholism, COPD,
congestive heart failure, diabetes, and cancer are some of the things that seem
to be prevalent in my family tree. I
have learned that diet and exercise can play a key role in reducing or delaying
these illnesses.
Because of alcoholism
and my own experience with drinking, I don’t touch alcohol. My son didn’t even want to take the chance of
having the gene. He became the
designated driver for all his Navy buddies.
My brother was killed in a drunk driving accident – he was one of the
passengers. He and his buddies were out
celebrating 21s and should not have gotten behind the wheel. My maternal grandfather (and his sons) also
had a drinking problem. Did that go
further back? I don’t know.
Some health issues are
related to environment – I grew up around smokers but never took up the habit
myself. I have learned that it had a
major effect on my health. I couldn’t
believe the first winter I lived away from home – no major
colds/bronchitis. And when I was around
smokers, I started to get stuffed up and not able to breathe. That’s when I realized I was allergic to
cigarette smoke. I also have other
allergies like strong floral fragrances, fresh flowers or real Christmas trees
when indoors.
Monday, November 25, 2024
Vacation 2024: Panama Canal Cruise
Panama Canal Transition Cruise
We are using our Future Cruise Credit (FCC) from our cancelled Hawaiian cruise with Holland America (HAL). We will be sailing on the MS Eurodam out of Ft Lauderdale, FL and ending at Seattle, WA. This is a 21-Day cruise. It starts on Saturday, April 13th and ends on Saturday, May 4th. We will be flying Alaska Airlines from SeaTac to Miami on Friday, April 12th. We will spend Thursday night at SeaTac and Friday night in Miami. HAL will provide transportation on Saturday from Miami airport to the pier in Ft Lauderdale. Another shuttle will transfer us when we get back from the Seattle pier to the hotel so we can fetch our car and drive home.
You have to pre-book shore excursions rather than
wait until you board the ship. So, we
have missed out on a couple of them – we’re on a waiting list. I’ve also pre-booked our dining packages for
our sea days.
#FlatMike usually joins us on our trips. But somehow, he couldn't be found after our move.
Thursday, April 11, 2024
We left late afternoon (4:25) for SeaTac. Stopped in Fife and had dinner at the Poodle
Dog Restaurant. Back on the road at 6:20
for SeaTac. Used the GPS to locate our
hotel. Arrived at the Comfort Inn &
Suites on International Blvd at 6:36. I
expected an enclosed area for the car to be in while we were gone. But that didn’t happen (we ended up with tree
sap and bird crap all over the car).
Fitbit Steps = 4,612 steps
Friday, April 12th, 2024
Alarm went off at 4am as we have to catch the shuttle to the airport at 5am. Too early for breakfast at the hotel so will eat at the airport. Arrived at the airport, checked bags, and went thru Security Checkpoint at 5:40 am (had prescheduled it and that was fantastic!). Took tram to N Gates. Stopped to grab a bite to eat at Bad Egg near gate N3. LOWSY SERVICE. Don’t recommend them at all! Although, because they took too long to get our meal to us, we got it for free. Boarded our flight on time (7:19am). They served us breakfast on board about 9am. They also provided snacks – bagged chips and popcorn. Took several pictures throughout our flight. We arrived in Miami at 3:45pm ET. Grabbed our bags and went to the hotel shuttle area and waited and waited. After 2 hours, we discovered that the hotel we are booked for (Baymont by Wyndham – Dorcal Miami) did not have shuttle service (and haven’t for over 2 years!) even though the website said they had it. Ended up using a taxi – very expensive! Checked in at 6:45 pm. Ordered pizza from Pizza Hut to be delivered.
We notified our travel agent of the issues with the
hotel and she is going to follow-up with the company that she uses. I wonder if we’ll get some money back?????
Fitbit steps = 3,692
Saturday, April 13, 2024 – Embarkation Day
Another early morning (although,
not as early as yesterday). Up at 7 and
had breakfast at 7:30a. Service at the
front desk was not good. Nobody there
for almost 40 minutes. Mentioned the
fact that we were told there would be shuttle service (per our travel agent)
but NO GO. So, we booked a ride with
Lyft. Got back to the airport at
9am. Met up with the reps for the
transfer to Ft Lauderdale pier at about 10a.
Bus pulled out at 11. We arrived
and boarded the ship at noon. Had lunch
at the Lido Market – not bad. Deck
chairs on our balcony are very comfortable.
Lots of plugins. While David
napped, I wandered around on board – participated in the Sail Away party at 3pm. Ran into a former co-worker from DIS! (Jim
Marsh & his wife). Took several
pictures.
We had to do the usual Safety Essentials – visiting
our muster station and watching a video.
Also took care of our internet access (unlimited). We also took care of our restaurant
reservations via the in-room TV.
Sunday, April 14, 2024 – Sea Day
We woke up about 8am. Showered and headed to Lido Market for breakfast. The Lido is buffet style. However, most items are dished up for you – not very many self-serve. Most of the time, we ended up ordering omelets with toast & bacon from our favorite section – Razzle did a great job! We also ate lunch at the Lido as well – most times it was just a freshly made green salad. Although sometimes we ate from the other stations.Today’s activities on board included Bingo (never
won) and David attended a Military Meet-up.
We went to the Photo Shop and checked out the photos from yesterday
(purchased a package). We had some formal portraits taken before dinner as we
were dressed in our finery. After
dinner, we went to the Captain Welcome Toast then watched the show (Chris
Cherin, Daniel Grest & Company in Song & Dance Hollywood,
Broadway & Beyond). It was good.
When we returned to our room, there was a crab on
our bed! Its eyes didn’t last long. Watched some TV then set our clocks back one
hour. Did 7,866 steps.
Monday, April 15, 2024 – Sea Day
Got up about 8:20.
Dressed and went to Lido for breakfast.
Did our portrait viewing – packages cost $$$$$. Not going to do it. Maybe do one of the others around the ship on
our next dressy night. They took photos
last night at dinner.
Today’s activities included adult coloring before
lunch, Bingo and Trivia. David took in
the Panama Canal show. He learned a lot
about the canal. Had dinner in the
Dining Room. No table mates.
Early night.
Ordered breakfast to be delivered in the morning as we need to be up
early for our shore excursion. Did 4,173
steps.
I took photos of the sunset but they didn’t turn out
– too dark. Probably would have been
better with the cell phone. So, no
pictures from today.
Tuesday, April 16, 2024 – Cartagena,
Columbia
We left the port at 1pm. Played bingo at 3. Ate dinner in the dining room. I did 11,529 steps.
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 – Panama Canal
Thursday, April 18, 2024 – Sea Day
Up a little after 8a. Put together a laundry bag. Ate breakfast. Marcy went to Bingo and David went to the
room. Lunch in Lido at noon. Attended Deal or No Deal. Dinner in the dining room. Did Motown Trivia and Hot Country in
Billboard. David watched Dr No on
TV. Did 4,981 steps. No pictures were taken.
Friday, April 19, 2024 –
Puntarenas, Costa Rica
We arrived at 6am. However, we didn’t get up until later - between 7 and 7:30a. Going to eat breakfast then wander ashore for a bit. No shore excursion scheduled. Another warm day (86-93 degrees F). Bought a shirt and a shot glass. Rode the tram back to the ship. Overheated. Spent the afternoon reading and relaxing. David saw a movie. I think I’m coming down with a cold – sinus has been stuffed up and runny throughout the day. Departed at 5:30p. Did 8,703 steps.
Saturday, April 20,
2024 – Sea Day
Sunday, April 21, 2024
– Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala
Got up at 7:30a, ate breakfast, then went to the World Stage to await departure for our shore excursion. Ship docked at 8 am. Our shore excursion was of Antigua – WOW! Even though it was a long day and no lunch provided (or time to get lunch), it was a great tour. Took lots of photos. They did provide some bottled water to drink. We took a bus to a parking lot outside of Antigua, then transferred to another bus to take us into the town itself. It’s just like the name indicates – old. Street vendors all over the place – you had to ignore them. Even then, they were persistent.
We returned to the ship at 3pm (that’s when we had
lunch) and our ship departed at 4. Spent
the afternoon doing trivia and reading.
We had dinner at NY Pizza (Lido pool deck). It was okay.
After dinner was more trivia and the start of the Orange Party (you were
to wear something with orange – some people had shirts with oranges, others had
complete orange outfits). With all the
walking ashore we did in Antigua, I got 10,355 steps in.
Monday, April 22, 2024 – Huatulco, Oaxaca,
Mexico
Up at 8:30. Late morning. Scheduled to dock at noon. No shore excursions planned. We actually docked at 11:30a. Due to a mix up, David went ashore without me. Then later we went so we can have our port picture. We also upgraded our photo package to 20 pictures. Did the 4p trivia. Plan on going to the dining room for dinner. Returned to the lounge for 7p trivia. Did 6,286 steps.
Tuesday, April 23, 2024 – Sea Day
I’m up at 8.
David stayed in bed longer. Did
Bingo twice and trivia twice during the day.
Checked out our photos. Dinner
was in the dining room. Then did another
game of trivia and a Game Show – The Game of Love. That was interesting – it was a take-off of The
Newlywed show. They had contestants
that were fairly newlywed, married several years, then married for a very long
time. No pictures taken. Small number of
steps today – 4,019.
Wednesday, April 24,
2024 – Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
A comfortable day.
No Team Canada for trivia. I
didn’t do well (2 out of 18 & 16 out of 29). We took lots of photos. Had dinner on the Lido deck (Mexican
theme). Did Lightening Trivia with Ann
& Chris (16 out of 30). Went back to
room. 8,362 steps today.
Thursday, April 25,
2024 – Sea Day
The Canaletto was fantastic! Great service. Did another trivia after dinner (topic was
1960’s) then went to the World Stage to watch a musical variety show. Upon returning to our room, we found a
scorpion on our bed. Clocks go back to
PDT. Team Canada excelled in trivia
today! Did 4,167 steps.
Friday, April 26, 2024 – Sea Day
It was Zoo Day around the Pool. Up at 8am.
Not much to report – did Bingo & Trivia. Team Canada did it again! Also checked out our photos from last
night. Did 3,237 steps.
Happy King’s Day. Alarm off at 7:30. Took cell off airplane mode so clocks can set properly. Briefly talked to Nathan. Took some pix from balcony. Took some time to go through customs (this was where people disembarked and new people came aboard). Did shore excursion – it was great. We did a land & sea tour. Took lots of pix. Battery on camera died so it’s now being charged. Used cell phone to take more pix. Back on board at almost noon. Charged camera was used for sail away photos. Did evening trivia – did ok.
Didn’t stay for the Orange Party. Fitbit recorded 8,490 steps.
Sunday, April 28, 2024
– Avalon, CA
Up at 7:30a
Showered and ate breakfast. Today
we use a tender to get ashore. We didn’t
have any shore excursions but had a wonderful time. Took several pictures and talked to
Nathan. This is definitely a tourist
area. We were back onboard at
11:20. While ashore, we bought 2 shirts
and a shot glass (yes, we do collect them).
Avalon is located on Catalina Island, 27 miles off the coast of
California.
Did trivia this afternoon and early
evening. Gale forces are expected
tonight and tomorrow. Not looking
forward to it. Fitbit recorded 5,987
steps.
Monday, April 29, 2024
– Sea Day
Up at 8a. Still rough seas. Lots of staff suffered from sea sickness. I did okay. We had breakfast & lunch in the Lido. Dinner was in the dining room. Dressy attire. Participated in Bingo and Trivia. Took some pictures of Simon & Nam (our Trivia Host and our regular bar staff – these two are fantastic people and made the days a blast) dancing during our music trivia. Nam works out of the Billboard Onboard next to the Casino on Deck 2. This is where Bingo is held as well. Fitbit recorded 4,576 steps.
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
– San Francisco, CA
I certainly didn’t get up early enough to watch us cruise into San Francisco. You had to be up by 5:30! So, missed seeing Mile Rocks, Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and Oakland Bay Bridge. Or at least I did, David did get some pictures as we went under the bridges. However, we did see some of them later.
Today is a long day in port – we arrived at 7am and
departed at 10:30 pm. My cold came back
with a vengeance! Wish I had my inhaler
(what a thing to forget!)
We went ashore briefly this morning. Did trivia in the early afternoon and early
evening. Ate dinner, then we went ashore
for our sunset tour on a double-decker bus.
It was very cold. Got back on
board at 8:45 pm. Fitbit recorded 7,116
steps.
Wednesday,
May 1, 2024 – Sea Day
Happy May Day! According to my notes, we were up at 8a. Plans were to sort through all of our photos
and pick out 19 (saving one for our final port of call). Today is supposed to be our last dressy day
and our last specialty dining. There is
Bingo at 11am and again at 3pm. Trivia
at 1p, 4p, and 7pm. Then at 8:45 there
was the second chance scratch-off drawing.
No luck in Bingo or in the drawing.
However, Team Canada did win in Trivia (actually, we didn’t win anything
but just the recognition of being the number one team). Dinner was good (we ate at the Pinnacle
Grill, which was a steak and seafood place) – in fact, ate too much. No such thing as senior portions! Fitbit
recorded 3,638 steps. No pictures taken
(not even in the restaurant).
Thursday,
May 2, 2024 – Sea Day
Final sea day. Up about 8am.
Plans for the day include reviewing photos and packing suitcases. Activities for the day include Bingo, Trivia,
and Deal or No Deal. No luck in
Bingo. Team Canada won the 4pm trivia. We did sort through the photos and picked out
19 out of 75 (wow, didn’t realize we had so many taken!). Did not get the suitcases packed. Ate dinner in the dining room – it was
delicious. Fitbit recorded 3,466 steps.
Friday, May 3, 2024 – Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Our last port of call. Got up early to shower and eat breakfast on the Lido deck. We then went ashore for our HOHO (Hop-On-Hop-Off) tour. We met up with our tour guide just outside the ship at 9am. We were supposed to go through customs (again) and we expected to have our port of call pictures. However, our tour guide had us bypass all that to board the bus. We got off the bus in Stanley Park and walked around and took lots of photos. We then boarded another bus that took us through town (we skipped getting off as we were tired). Got back to the ship at lunch time. Brief check-in and could have had our “embarkation” photos taken. Yep, it was another disembark/embark port. Lots of young people got on to go to Seattle. Since there wasn’t a port photo, we had another photo taken at dinner time to get our 20th photo. Spent the afternoon packing our suitcases. Had our last dinner in the dining room. All our Canadian friends had disembarked so no Team Canada for trivia. Placed our big suitcase out in the hall for the crew to take ashore in the morning. Fitbit recorded lots of steps – 11,457!
Saturday,
May 4, 2024 – Seattle, Washington
Disembarkation
Day. We were up at 7am. Ate our last
meal onboard in the Lido. I had
scheduled us to leave at 8:15. Just as
we finished eating breakfast, they called our color. We then returned to our cabin to retrieve our
carry-on luggage then headed to the gangway.
Once ashore, we were able to retrieve our other bags, obtained a porter,
and went out to catch our shuttle to the hotel.
It started to rain. Glad we
didn’t have to wait long. Bus got us to
the hotel, placed our bags in the car, used the restrooms, then headed home –
leaving the hotel at 9:45am. We decided
to stop in Tumwater to do some grocery shopping (10:36a). After shopping, we took the car through the
car wash (it was filthy!!!). Arrived
home a little after noon. Unpacked and
now I’m going to crash! Fitbit recorded 4,795 steps.