Harry and Bess loved the great outdoors and were troopers about teaching their kids to do the same. Especially Bess (was a trooper!) She eventually had nine babies and was still game for hi-jinks like this! So sit back and imagine yourself in the mid-1920s, Montana--the Big Sky Country. What do you do for fun, with a passel of kids?
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| It's the Griswold family vacation! LOVE the tent tied to the fender. Wish I could hold my baby in the backseat. |
Harry's mother was an amateur photographer with her own darkroom. His brother Hi was a war photographer (cRAZY!) who took shots across enemy lines in WWI. Harry picked up a few skills and so we have an inordinate amount of photographs of this particular family with their cute kiddos. Of course, I always think My Grandma LaVonne is the cutest.
Not sure if this is dinner? You can see a Dutch oven on the fire and a tent to the left. Back before established campgrounds with picnic tables, firepits and outhouses. (These pictures were labelled with LaVonne when she was still living, but I wonder if the baby above is actually her older brother Ray.)
A later trip, but you can see what they liked to do while they were out in the woods. There are many fishing pictures in the collection.
LOVE this picture of Grandma Bess, wading with her little boys. She easily could kept her skirts on and sat with the baby, but here she is cooling her feet. What a great mom.
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| Of course, this was something Harry had already discovered she had a weakness for. (Aren't they so darling?) |
This photo appears to be behind a house, not camping, but I wonder if they brought the dogs, too?
They liked to go with their extended family, as well it appears.
What a great Twenties-era sundress! Perfect for a day in the great outdoors. I think she is leaning against the tire. She needed a camp chair.
Sometimes they went to the lake.
Harry with his string of fish. Later in life, semi-retired, I think he worked as a game checker in Augusta. Are all these fish regulation size?
Not sure where this is, but it looks like fun.
Fishing with cousins means you get a LOT of fish. (These are Harry's sister Marie's kids, the Schnee's, sitting with Harry and Jack.)
The cousins lived close to Glacier park. At least I think that's where this is.
Jack, Ray, Harry and LaVonne. Loving the overalls.
Once again, this may be baby Ray, not LaVonne.
Ok, there's the dog.
The camping and fishing remained an important part of the Van De Riet children's lives and with their own families.
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| Here is LaVonne as a young mother. Hubby Jack Haynes and sister Normie Van De Riet are behind the table. (They have picnic tables by now.) |
LaVonne with a string of fish of her own.
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| And LaVonne and her hubby Jack took their grandchildren fishing, and to the mountains, and to the lakes. |
And it culminates in a campground of "our" own! I remember this night. (I'm in the striped sleeves). This is a great place, right close to the airfield. Maybe i will leave this post a little open ended, and add some more camping and fishing through the Van De Riet generations as I come across them, so Check Back Later for more goodies!
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