Since I've been around the Westra fam, for what seems like forever now, I've heard the same stories over and over.
The one with Allison popping all the balloons because she couldn't handle the sound they made and the joy they brought the children playing with them. (I can relate - I hate irritating sounds, even if small children are having the time of their lives making said noise.)
The one when Grandma Joy wet her pants from laughing too hard while riding the go-carts. (I can relate - I've wet my pants too often to count and I've only had 3 kids, not 9.)
The one when Mark was changing my Sugar's diaper and he stuck the 2 safety pins into the water bed just as he had seen his mother do time and time again (because Grandpa Jerry never changed a diaper.) However the difference between Grandma Joy's actions were far different from Mark's. She would carefully stick the pins into the protective pads on the side of the bed, not the actual plastic mattress. (I can relate because I was always scared that I'd do something foolish like this with my brother's waterbed, which he still has to this day, I'd like to add.)
But one of my favorite Westra family stories is the one with Johnny and the chipmunk.
One sunny day up in the PNW, the Westra clan was enjoying mother nature and all it has to offer up at Lake Kachess. (It was common for this family to drop any and everything if there was a chance of sunshine.) The kids were throwing rocks where a group of chipmunks happened to be and Grandma Joy was not pleased. She asked them all to stop, but Johnny, the rebel that he was decided to just throw one more. Because what harm could it do? They had thrown a ton already and all the chipmunks had remained as happy as they had been when they woke up that morning.
He tossed a rock, much to his mother's dismay and it landed right on top of a chipmunk's head, killing it instantly. His body twitching while dying, grandma Joy crying brokenhearted for the poor animal, and all the other Westra family laughing uncontrollably. (I can relate - I would cry too if I saw a chipmunk shaking and twitching because my child killed it... but my sadness would be because my child disobeyed, not for the disease infested rodent.)
This memory happened here at Lake Kachess, where my John boy, named after this uncle, spent a good deal of the day tossing and skipping rocks. Pretty funny that I didn't see a single chipmunk the whole time we were there.
The Johnny Legend must have been a learning opportunity for chipmunk parents to their young - stay away from Lake Kachess, especially if the Westra clan is around.
My Jack, aka John was named after a few Johns.
Great Grandpa on my Sugar's side - John Westra but he went by Jack
Both grandpas - Gerald John Westra & Joseph John Jones
His uncle mentioned in the above story - John Aaron Westra
This place is really beautiful and it was a nice touch to not have disgusting chipmunks running around everywhere.
