My Dad....A Super Hero??

Now that my Dad, Adrian VanderHoeven, has a blog, we (his 6 kids) have decided to take turns sharing stories of our memories.

Dad has always been a hero to me, so it's only appropriate to post the only picture I have of him in a super hero cape, although it appears he may have crash landed on the beach. We were blessed to grow up with parents that made their children a priority, and one way they did that was by taking us on vacation.

One of our favorite places to visit was Zephyr Cove on Lake Tahoe. It was only about 100 miles from our home in Sacramento so we would sometimes go on a Saturday. Other times we would stay over night in a local motel where we swam for hours in the pools. I remember how much fun we had and how clear (and cold) the water was in the lake, but how warm the sand was. As near as I can figure, these photos were taken in the Summer of 1965. Pam would have been a year old baby in a playpen hanging out with Mom on the beach and Dad played with the rest of us kids in the lake. He went out to the deeper water and tempted us to walk out to touch his hand. Even though we were in inches of water, notice the life jackets which we were required to wear. Notice how Dad is standing nearby, ready to spring into action if necessary. Ady is on the front of the board followed by Judy, Karen and then Diana.

Somehow, I can vivedly remember this particular day, inclulding how it hurt to walk in bare feet across the pine needles on the way to the beach, standing on the end of the dock and swearing there was a giant piece of turquoise in the water, and the excitement of paying $1 per hour to rent water toys.

We still all love to travel whenever we can. Thanks Dad, for taking us on vacations!!

Love Karen