Monday, March 22, 2010

Memory Monday: Solvang, CA

As I was browsing through my pictures trying to decide which memory to post today, I came across this photo:
After I graduated from high school in 1976 (oh my, I'm telling my age now!) my parents, sisters and I went to California to visit my brother who was living in Oxnard. During that visit we went up to Solvang, affectionately known as "Little Denmark". It is an adorable litlle community made to resemble a Danish town. We had a great time browsing all the quaint little shops and we just couldn't resist the old time photo studio. The shop owners were delighted to have such a big group to photograph and offered my parents a good deal on the price if we would agree to let them use our photo as an example of a large group shot. We had  fun dressing up in "old fashioned" costumes and were joking and laughing as we prepared for our photo shoot.  When it came time for the pictures, the photographer informed us that in most old photos, the subjects were serious, not laughing or smiling. That made the whole situation even funnier as we tried hard to keep a straight face while he took the picture. As soon as he'd get a shot he'd say "Okay" and we'd all burst out laughing again! We attracted quite a crowd of onlookers as other tourists were stopping in to see what all the silly commotion was about. Mama was having a hard enough time getting "serious" for the picture, but when somebody hollered out "Are all those kids HIS?" she broke out with such laughter that she got all of us cracking up too! It was a wonderful trip and a very delightful memory.

9 comments:

  1. Oh Lavon! How sweet is that! I am loving your blog.

    Thanks!

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  2. Oh how cool that one of your happiest memories there was while taking a photo to capture a happy memory, hahaha. Love it!

    And yes, Solvang is utterly charming. I love it!

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  3. I love those old time photos. Great story too. :)

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  4. Awww!!! That's really great Lavon! Thanks for sharing! :D -- Regina

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  5. Cool picture! My hubby and I come from big families, so we get a lot of those kind of comments too! People think we are Amish! But we always have so much fun together- never a dull moment!

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  6. What a great memory! My husband and I have one of those old time photos.
    Bloomfield Beads

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  7. How fun. I love Solvang - so pretty and peaceful. Not to mention all the wonderful shops!

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  8. We have a picture of David and I just like this from our Honeymoon! It was taken in Ocean City! I wonder if we can get one with the kids this year...11 years later. =)

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  9. Yeah, Sis, I love your blogs. They bring back wonderful memories for me, too. I remember that when we got this picture done, we got 6 different pictures (not 6 copies of one picture). We laid them out on Eddie's bed (in his studio aparment) and we all sat on the bed deciding who would get which picture. I remember looking at each person in each picture, starting with my face (on the left) and going clock-wise until I got to Mama's face. Then I would crack up because she had such a funny look on her face in each picture. She had such a hard time keeping a straight face. :) In your picture, Bernita didn't do very well, either. We had such a fun time that day! Thanks for the memory! Love,Kathleen

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