Summer Fun ~ Trips ~ Sharing Photos & Classmate`s News....Page 3
 
 
 

7-Up Club has exclusive following
     The 7-Up Club - Harry Williams knows being a grandparent allows you a perspective on life you didn`t have as a parent.
     His wife, Marge, is a grandma who knows the value of camaraderie and the feeling of family.
     Credit those two things - and an ample dose of creativity - for the 7-Up Club.
     The Williams, who live in Kent, founded the 7-Up Club eight years ago.
     You won`t find it in any listing of local organizations.  Its membership lists so exclusive, even Bill Gates couldn`t get through the door.
     The bottom line?  It`s who you know who gets you in - and who you have to know is Harry and Marge Williams.
     You also have to be one of their nine grandchildren - and at least 7 years old.
     The "club" got its start when the couple packed up their two oldest grandchildren and took them to the Iron Springs Resort on the Washington coast.
     Call it the birth of a tradition.
     Ever since then, the Williams have been packing up all their grandchildren who are 7 or older and taking them to Iron Springs.
     It`s a grandparents-and-grandkids-no-parents-whatsoever-allowed outing that takes place each July.
     The numbers have grown along with the grandchildren.
     In July, they rented a 15-passenger van to transport seven of their grandchildren on the annual outing
     The oldest?
     That was Gavin Hobbs, now 16, of Maple Valley, who was one of the two on the initial trip.
     The youngest?
     That was 8-year-old Tamara Purrington.
     Since there were no new members of the club this year (the two remaining grandchildren haven`t reached the magical age yet), the couple invited a "mystery guest."
     That was "Jim," a 15-year-old doll all the children have played with at their grandparents` home.
     And, yes, Jim shows his years.
     "He`s a little worn around the edges," Harry said.
     "He`s gotten a lot of love - kind of like the Velveteen Rabbit," Marge offered.
     There are rituals that go along with the annual outing.
     The travel decked out  in their 7-Up Club T-shirts and hats, two items that arrive in a package each year along with a disposable camera and a newsletter.
     (Also included in the package: an invitation to submit a "gag list" for the food each youngster doesn`t want to see on the menu.)
     Before they leave, Harry wrote the names of all the children on a tire.  The child whose name comes up at the top at each stop wins a prize.
     Besides singing songs and playing "car bingo" on the drive, 7-Up Club members also participate in activities ranging from slug races to spam carving to a talent show.
     One thing never changes: That`s the annual cousins photo, taken at the same spot on the beach each year.
     "On the way home, we stop in Aberdeen or Hoquiam to have lunch and turn in all the film at a one-hour development place." Harry said.  "Then we look at the pictures on the ride home."
     And Marge coughs up a little money.
     "If there`s any bad ones of grandma, she gets them," Marge says.  "I used to say they`re worth a quarter.  Now they tell me they`re worth a dollar."
     The best part of the annual outing?
     That`s the bonding that goes on between them and their grandkids, and among the grandkids, they say.
     "It`s amazing how they look forward to going - and how easily they integrate," Marge said.
                                        Written by:  Mary Swift (South County Scene)


Members of the 7-Up Club pose for their annual photo at Iron Springs Resort.  The members are grandchildren of Harry and Marge Williams.  From left to right (top row) are Tristan Purrington, 12; Gavin Hobbs, 16; Caitlyn Williams, 12; Colton Anderson, 11; and Teegan Purrington, 15.  Lauren Williams, 9, left and Tamara Purrington, 8. are in the front row.


                                   Harry and Marge Williams
   

Harry Williams

 
 

 

           
 
     I may have spent most of my life living in the Seattle area but without question my heart and soul reside in the Alps; Austrian, German, or Swiss.  Any of them make for a wunderbar experience for even the most jaded of spirits.  Our volcanic peaks are unique but the rest do not compare.  Generations of Americans have tried, starting with Mark Twain, to describe and/or photograph the Alps.  No one totally successful
so far.
     My first destination was to Rosenfeld, the village of my Grandmothers birth.  There to meet, until now unknown, 1st and 2nd cousins. 
Today it is still a part of the farming area in the Black Forest.
     I cross the Donau (Danube) river where it is no wider than the creek in my back yard at home and then an ancient, yet charming and beautiful, farming community with friendly people are awaiting me.  The arrival in town was exhilarating after a drive through truly beautiful countryside.
     No mater what your ancestral heritage, I strongly urge you to visit the area from which came your immigrant forebears.  I was fortunate to have leads to a  few off-spring of Oma`s siblings; but whether you do or don`t I guarantee you will have a sense of familiarity with "your" place.  Even better when you meet even distant relatives and find them to be instant friends, irrespective of any language barrier.  Do it!  You`ll be glad you did.  Nick Yotz

 

My Grandmother`s village town square, with beautiful Fachwerke style architecture.   

 
 

Bernese Oberland of Switzerland.  You will be charmed and awe struck by the dozens (52, I was told) of water falls, some over 2500 feet in height, and the two villages which cling to tiny ledges thousand of feet above the narrow valley.  As impressive as are the mountains, so too the people who live and work in them.  Imagine a daily life building fences and farm houses, cutting hay, and tending cattle all on 45 to 60 degree slopes!  I spent the most time there in these mountains.  SPECTACULAR!!!!!!!

                                                                        

Another scenic drive to a beautiful area, Lake Constance, a place I would have no trouble adopting for home.  It is still not the Alps but they are temptingly visible across the lake to the south.  Switzerland is a wonderland to visit:  Compact, clean, friendly, with spectacular scenery in every direction.
                    
 








There is a wealth of things to do by car, foot, or public ferry, train, bus, cog railway, cable car or gondola--everywhere.  Visit a WW 11 underground fortress only decommissioned 10 years ago; take the worlds steepest cog railway to the top of Mount Pilates, Luzon's back yard mountain, and look straight down 4500 feet to the city itself, ride the gondola cable car combo down nearly to the city center and enjoy the ferry boat ride "back home".
 

Impressed by its history, I walked over a small mountain into Germany to a view point for King Ludwig`s famous Neuschwanstein Castle.
 
 

    

The Tirol and Salzkammergut mountains of Austria.  This truly was a Spiritual Journey.  Nick