Lynden - the farm!

We stopped in Lynden during that trip. I can't remember specifically what we did in Lynden when. The visits kind of blur together. But, boy, did I love Lynden. I think we all did. It seemed like a little piece of heaven. In the early days, I'd get to stay at the farm with my cousin Von and Dan stayed there, too, with cousins Randy and Jerry. We had so much fun. I have lots of stories just about Lynden.

The farm was such an exciting place to be. Von and I would play in the hay loft sometimes. We'd make a kind of "house" by pulling out hay to make a place where we could sit. We'd also play with her friend Sally and we'd sing to her "Koks are the best of the best of the best, infinity best!"

Speaking of singing I remember one Sunday morning when Aunt Lena was teasing Randy by singing, "Randy's having fun being miserable, Randy's having fun being miserable, Randy's having fun being miserable, Randy's having a ball being miserable!" It made Randy so mad. Then when we kids were in the car waiting to leave, Vonnie just hummed the beginning of that song and Randy was out the car like a shot, dragging her out to punish her.

Another time we were sitting at breakfast and heard a bunch of banging from the attic. There were these steep stairs to the attic and these big double doors that opened onto the open floor of it. We heard those doors flop open, then it sounded like someone was careening down the stairs, ricocheting from one wall to the other, then the bottom door flung open and Randy comes tumbling out saying, "Here I am!" I guess he was just having a clumsy morning or something.

I remember after they stopped living at the farm we were once watching family slides and there were some of Randy and Jerry and the cows. Randy and Jerry muttered about how much they hated those cows, and how the cows would always go as far as possible when it was cold or rainy and how stupid the cows were. I can remember hearing Uncle Marv yelling at them to get up when it was still very dark and seemed like it couldn't be morning yet. Not always fun for them. Once at a family reunion, Shelley asked Randy, "How long did we live on the farm?" and Randy said, "Too DAMN long!"

But for me and Dan it was incredible. We loved it.