Goals
On this blog, I will be sharing my genealogy discoveries. My family loved to visit with relatives and tell stories, and I will include these in my blog posts. By putting this information online, future generations may continue to share these stories. My ancestors lived lives that were challenging and quite different, yet we have a lot in common. We raise children, work, and join in family celebrations just as they did.
I have a concurrent project to digitize the family photos from my childhood and put them online on the “cloud” for sharing. My dad loved to photograph us using his fancy 35mm camera. Then we would view the photos on our slide projector. Does anyone remember those? Going through the old photos reminded me of the good times we had growing up and the strong connections with our extended family.
1964 Family Trip
My mother worked as a teacher as I grew up, and my dad was an engineer. My mom’s schedule made it easy for us to take wonderfully long vacations. Both of my parents loved to travel and explore.
We visited friends and family in Phoenix and Dallas on our first big family vacation, starting from Los Angeles where we lived. I remember my parents planned out trips using AAA maps.
I remember driving into road dips on older highways and saying “weeeeeee” when we felt the sinking in our bellies. My sisters and I had car bags filled with games to play and puzzle books. My mom would lead us in singing songs.
Phoenix Family
In Phoenix, we visited with the Krohn’s, the family of my mother’s brother. From the left in this photo are Pattie’s friend, Pattie, my mom, Mike, Uncle Bobby, Aunt Dorothy, Rob, and Ricco. I am in the pink outfit and toddler Margot is next to me. My mother made us stay still for the photo. I remember running around and playing with Rob and Ricco, they were a lot of fun.
The extended Monashkin clan lives in Phoenix too. Here is my dad’s cousin Sheila, with her two kids, Abby, and Frank. My sister Margot, and I swam with pool rings. My dad took this photo at the Phoenix Jewish Community Center pool. The community center was fancy and new.
Dallas visit
On the family trip, we traveled also to Dallas to visit my dad’s older sister Rita. They traveled down from Oklahoma. For this photo, my dad put his camera on a tripod and set the timer then ran over to be in the photo with us. His favorite older sister Rita, to his left, has the wild white sunglasses. My mom, Diana, has the white headband. My cousin Steven is to the right of my dad. Diane is on the left, David is just behind Rita, and baby Doug is on Uncle Victor’s lap. My sister Margot is on our mom’s lap and I am on my Aunt Rita’s lap.
Train birthday
For my birthday, during the trip, we ate at a restaurant in Dallas that had a model train traveling above the tables near the ceiling. My favorite memory: Future engineer! What a fantastic family trip!
I look forward to diving into the genealogy next and revealing my findings. And I am glad to share these stories with the generations to come.
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