Lotsa Labbees, Few Actual Labbees - Welcome to Labbees.net!

Oliver and Grandma Inside a Giant Guitar at Seattle Center

June 20, 2008 ~ Photo by Ryke

Putting the finishing touches on the new version of Labbees.net, I was reminded once again that among the youngest generation of Labbees, there’s technically not a Labbee to be found! Even beyond the immediate family, this is true. Grandpa Jack – the Godfather to my generation – has twenty-one great-grandchildren at present, not one of ‘em bearing his last name. Nevertheless, I cannot think of anything more appropriate so am sticking with it for now. Welcome to Labbees.net!

Holland at a Queen Anne Park

May 11, 2009 ~ Photo by Ryke

The initial version of this site was created in 2007 to document the lives of my sisters’ kids. The kid count at the time was three, a number which has since more than doubled. The impetus behind the endeavor was to build a library of photos and media to share with family and friends. When my sisters and I were young, family gatherings were often highlighted by slideshows conducted by Grandpa Hake. We kids loved curling up in the dark and watching images flash by of our parents, aunts, and uncles as children and young adults. Seeing pictures of Mom and Dad together as homecoming royalty was lots of fun. (Dad was the quarterback as well, although as I recall his Wapato Wolves lost by a score somewhere in the neighborhood of 67-0.) So, too, was peering back into our own lives. Beach trips, hikes, birthday parties, outings with our cousins: Grandpa’s collection allowed us to relive moments we otherwise might forget. And so the initial vision behind this site – and the goal even today – involves creating a modern-day equivalent of Grandpa’s collection of family slides.

Owen, Preparing for some Sledding Fun on Coyote Bluff

December 20, 2010 ~ Photo by Ryke

Perhaps the biggest difference between his version and ours – beyond the technology, of course – involves the keepers of the collection. Like grandpa's slides, Labbees.net 1.0 was a solo effort. With the current version, however, the whole crew is involved. With my sisters maintaining blogs, brothers-in-law shooting videos, and everyone taking photos, the site will continue to grow even if I don’t snap another photograph myself. I’m even hoping that as the kids age, they'll contribute as well. All the “hooks” are in place for easily plugging in new blogs, video and photo collections, and more. So Oliver, Holland, Owen, Jack, Lincoln, Silas, and Henry: you get your say too! (Holland, you’re in charge of the next post :-)

Jack, Minutes after his Baby Brother was Born

December 27, 2010 ~ Photo by Ryke

For non-family members reading this post, you’re being introduced to the kids in birth order, oldest to youngest. At present, they range in age from six weeks to just over four years old. As any parent can attest, each is unique. It’s shocking to me how children born to the same parents can have such vastly different personalities, abilities, preferences, etc. Perusing our site, you’re likely to get a good dose of photos, videos, and blog posts involving each of the kids. It will quickly become apparent that there’s one lone girl in the mix. Fortunately, she holds her own amidst a high-octane gaggle of boys and will be well represented here. (Boys, you’re all pretty photogenic, but Uncle Ryke is constantly trying not to include photos of Holland whenever he puts a collection together!)

Lincoln, Celebrating his First Birthday

May 6, 2010 ~ Photo by Ryke

To the kids, I hope you have fun with all of this someday. While it’s just everyday life to you at present, you should know that you’re very fortunate. Your parents and grandparents have been busy since you were born making your lives comfortable, happy, and full. As someone who has seen much of the world, I worry that our generations – yours and mine – too often fail to realize how fortunate we are. I look at the lives we’re documenting here at times and compare them to those lived by children in other parts of the world. We are very lucky, and I’m putting this together in part as a reminder of that.

Silas, Amidst the Apples

October 3, 2010 ~ Photo by Jen

As you probably already know, you were born into a family of fairly avid shutterbugs. I'm not sure we can blame or credit Great Grandpa Hake for that, but your mothers and I have all taken up photography hobbies in one form or another over the years. I imagine you can recall an occasion or two when you were surrounded by cameras. (And Silas, I have little doubt you just happened to be crawling through that beautiful green orchard when your mom picked up the camera. ;-) I had to chuckle at the Christmas pageant this year, where we had as many cameras in the room as pageant participants!

Henry, One Week after Birth

January 3, 2011 ~ Photo by Jen

That said, there’s something powerful in a good photograph. I won’t try speaking for your mothers, but to me the magic of a photograph is its unique ability to freeze a moment in time. Videos are great, but I tend to prefer the way a photograph forces us to pause, take in details, ponder what might have come before or after the moment depicted. I won’t go on too long about this, but to illustrate and demonstrate how fun this can be, I thought I’d share a few shots of some real Labbees:

Your Grandpa and His Family

Late 1960s ~ Photo by Jack?

You see that tall, lanky guy there on the right? That's your grandpa. I'm not sure where this photo was taken or who snapped it, but it's among several dozen slides I scanned when I came across them a few years back. Taken in the late 1960s, it depicts Grandpa with one of his brothers (Don), his sister (Patty), and his mom (Great Grandma Labbee is in the shadow next to Grandpa). When I came across this image, I paused to note the details. Look at Grandpa’s watch. See how he’s wearing it halfway up his lower arm? Made me wonder whether that was the trend in his day. And the paper in his shirt pocket, you think that was the calendar he carries in his pocket today? (I’m guessing not.) Notice the colors, the porch, the clothes everyone is wearing, particularly Patty and Don. (This was apparently a year or two before Don took up body-building with zeal; another of the photographs I scanned depicts him sans shirt, but this being a kid-friendly site I wouldn’t dare show it here!) I don’t recognize the women in pink and red, but judging by the way the woman behind her is holding Patty’s hand, I’m guessing she’s a relative as well.

Fun, huh? Believe it or not, your grandparents grew up in a world before computers, before the Internet, before Uncle Google was born. Today, we’re inundated by images of all kinds. Rarely do we pause to take ‘em in. Here’s another example. At left is a picture of your grandparents. Don’t they look young? This shot demonstrates another element of photography that has largely disappeared. You see those streaks on the image? Today, we have filters and “presets” to mimic this sort of thing, but the streaks here were the result of your Great Grandpa Hake physically creating the print. He had a darkroom with chemicals and special photo paper, and every print he made was done by hand. Looks to me like he made one pass over the paper here with a squeegee, and the chemicals weren’t evenly dispersed. Modern technology allows us to create images left and right without giving ‘em much thought. In the old days, every frame cost money, every print required attention and careful preparation. I love the technology we have at our disposal today, but I sometimes lament that photos don't mean what they once did. It's like a homemade meal. I'm quite happy I can make dinner in three minutes flat these days, but there's something special about having a hand-prepared meal. It's in that spirit and with hope that you too will appreciate at least a few of the details that I put this site together.

With that, it’s time to conclude this inaugural post. More to come later, of course, and do watch for guest appearances and contributions from members of the extended family. I’ll close with a few rather random black-and-white images suggesting this latest generation of Labbee children is well loved. Oh, but before I do, kids, here’s that shot of Great Uncle Don I mentioned above (that’s him on the right; Grandpa is the one diving into the water at left). Don’t tell your mothers what I’ve been showing you on the Internet!

Grandpa and Uncle Don

Late 1960s or Early '70s ~ No Idea who Took the Photo

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