New-Topic Favorite Family Vacation Stories

I decided to give us a week off. I know everyone is busy. One of the things Mom and Dad have always given us is fun family vacations. I didin't have very many friends that had been to Disneyland more than once. We went almost every year when I was little. When you are little it is magical every time you go to Disneyland. Our last trip to Florida when we were watching the fireworks at Magic Kingdom Grace said, "It's all so magical." That was a great moment.
I remember a trip to Yellowstone and North Dakota when I was in 1st or 2nd grade. Me, Matt, and Jake road the whole way in the back of the white truck. There was a carpet kit in the back and it was like a playground for us. I remember laying on the floor and sliding across the floor when the truck stopped.

Some of my personal favorites- Julie

A lot of the phrases that came to my mind are from mom. She has some good ones and some of them are ones only she and I know:

"You Good Lookin"
"I thought you were speaking smack"
"Me casa is YOUR casa!"
or when she whines "Stee-an! (Stan) they're makin a frun of me!"
and when she kisses me good night, instead of saying "good night" she says "good bye"

Then I thought of cute Gracie and Sammy:
"Super Guyser!"
"Not B Y U, B Y ME!"

Mark had some good ones too:
"And I pinched it on"
"See I didn't poop my pants, I pooped in my underwear."

from dad

It is just not fair since, i am the oldest and have the worst memory and you kids taken all the good ones.

I didn't originate it but I say it often, "winners never quit and quitters never win."

And "If you don't have anything good to say, don't say nothing."

Then there are the many nicknames we have: skippy, bubba, jasper, juju, margie, maynard, one eye willie, etc.

Here is a couple.

I think we all looked forward to Mark saying the prayer during Matt's mission. As if learning Chinese wasn't enough, Mark wanted Matt to learn and teach Spanish as well - "please bless Matt to teach the Hong Kong people Spanish"

We were right in the middle of another big volleyball game out back when someone stepped in a surprise and then Julie said "oh, did you find my pile?"

Marie

When we were on our trip to Florida, and I was listening to Mom and Dad's conversation and I asked, "What are we doing?"

Mom's reply, "There is no We in We're!"
pause...
Mark's two cents, "Yes there is!"

My many words of wisdom that mom is now reminding me of,
"I wanna watch a wovie!"
"Galoon!"
"Goofy Ball"
"Look, I'm jiggling!"
"Whooped Cream"
"hangaberg"
and one of my latest, Whew-pers, instead of whoopers.

An embarrassing long list I know.

New Topic-Famous Yamane Quotes

So I know that the last topic was a hard one. But I am glad we did it because it forced me to remember things that I haven't thought of in a long time. Now we have some memories of Grandpa that are written down so we won't forget them.

This week I thought it would be fun to list some favorite phrases that we have heard over the years. They can come from anyone. Anything that you want to remember or that makes you laugh. For example, from mom,"When cars move, you don't move." 

Remember Dad used to always say, "If you can't say any nice, don't say anything at all."
"544, go shee shee" and the "shee shee shuffle."
Mark: "Somebody come and wipe me!"
And Granny's ever famous, "Now does anyone know some bad words?"

my memories of dad from your dad,

Grandpa Yamane has taken care of me most of my life. Because Grandma Yamane worked at HAFB, when i was old enough i had to go into the fields with grandpa. when he was on the tractor i sometime rode in a tomato box that was wired onto the back of the tractor. when he wasn't on the tractor i would some time play by his pickup.

when i was older and could actually work on the farm, i would follow him around doing work like hoeing weeds in the onion patch, irrigating crops and harvesting crops. most of the work like hoeing and harvesting was not always that fun because we worked long hours in hot or cold temperatures. one thing was no matter how young and strong i though i was grandpa could always out work me. when we irrigated often it was in the middle of the night and we had to stay up and irrigate. but the work to be done during day light hours could not wait for us to get sleep, so kept working. this is when i realize how strong grandpa really was. the other thing is he never complained no sleep or how tired he was. in fact the one amazing thing about grandpa he almost never complains of pain or any discomfort.

over time he has softened up on many things. like i could never imagine he could ever hold a baby [but then who could think i could either]. but he did and has done that.

over time he has compensated for grandma yamane not being with us. he is always generous with what he has and will share with all.

now in grandpa's life things are different. he use to take care of me and now it is my turn to take care of him. it is easy for me to do that but it hard for him to let me since he has been able to take care of himself for over 80 years.

our family is known for a great work ethic. we try our best and work really hard for the thing we achieve. much of this we have inherited from an 89 year old japanese farmer we call Grandpa Yamane. i love him for what he is and what he has taught me.

mom's memories of Grandpa Yamane

This is such a timely moment to record some of my memories of Grandpa. He is living with us now and he is so easy and uncomplaining that other than worrying about his health he is a pleasure to help out.

You know besides being quiet, like his son, I would have to say one of the most memorable things about him is I know of no one, oops other than his son, who is more generous. Right from the start of our marriage he wanted to help us. Dad brought into our marriage a 12in black and white TV. It was all we had. One night we were watching reruns of MASH and dad let me know that all the characters had dyed their hair red and I couldn't see what was so funny until he told me that. Well needless to say Grandpa showed up with a 19in color TV. He was always doing little things like that. He would pay for car repairs or whatever we needed. He never has shown disappointment in me and has always been good to me even if I wasn't sure what he was thinking because he was quiet. What a good man. We can all remember that he raised one of the best people in the whole world. Yes you know him, Your FATHER.

Mitch

Well I dont have early memories of Grandpa Yamane obviously :) But one memory that i do have is when Julie was doing the Miss Syracuse Pageant. I had only talked to Grandpa Y a couple of times and as we all know he is very soft spoken. But that day at the pageant, he was grinning from ear to ear and was talking up a storm. You could tell how proud he was of Julie and how much he loved your family. It was really cute to see.

Grandpa Yamane

One of my first memories of Grandpa, was one time when we were in Idaho he had given me 5 dollars. Well, I thought it would be cool to wave the 5 dollar bill out the car window. Grandpa told me not to do it, but my rebellious nature got the best of me as the 5 dollar bill left my finger tips and into the road. We all know Grandpa is so generous and he gave me another 5 dollars.

Grandpa used to give us skittles and call them "smart pills". The other day at the hospital Mom and I were talking to him about it. Mom misquoted the skittles as "vitamins" but Grandpa still remembers they were smart pills. He's still got it.

Julie

Yeah, Sarah is right. Grandpa was a very different person when we were younger. I remember him teasing me a lot:). Now that I think about it, I can totally see where Daddy gets it:). Grandpa is a regular "Wise Guy." In fact, all my memories of Grandpa are of him teasing me. One time I told Grandpa that I was bored, and so he told me to busy myself by twittling my thumbs cuz that's what he said he did when he was bored. He said he could do it for hours and so I remember attempting to twittle my thumbs for as long as I possibly could. As a 5 year old, I'm sure twittling my thumbs for just a minute felt like hours:). I learned the card game "52 pick up" from Grandpa, and we all know how one teaches how to play that game:). But as a little kid I LOVED it! I remember racing to pick up all the cards and quickly stuffing them back into his hands. The worst fib he ever told me was during Easter, at least I think it was around Easter. Grandma and Grandpa gave me a big stuffed bunny rabbit. All that day I carried it everywhere with me. That is until Grandpa told me that he gone outside his house and shot that bunny to give to me. I remember telling him I didn't believe him, however it had planted the seed, and for the rest of the day I didn't carry it around quite as much. I was such a gullible kid!

New Topic- Grandpa Yamane

So it seems only fitting that we talk about Grandpa this week. I think it is good to reflect on some memories of him. When I was little he was very different. I remember thinking that he was the strongest man in the world. You should have seen his muscles!! He was a good-old-hard working farmer and it showed. He used to joke around with us and even play with us (a little). I remember when we would beg him to show us his biceps that he would always refuse at first. Eventually, he would flex them and we would be in awe! Then he would tell us that he swallowed a tennis ball and it went right to his arm. I remember him always saying, "Try it, you like it." I remember on my birthday, riding in the back of his small pick-up truck into the dirt fields at the farm in Idaho and shooting off the illegal kind of fireworks. And eating banana cremies with him on the porch. At the farm, he made us a giant slip-and-slide out of a huge piece of black plastic. One of my favorite recent memories is off him and Sam. Sam just walked right up to him and made him play with him. I think they were coloring. If anyone has that picture please post it.
Grandpa has always been generous to me. Remember on Christmas when we opened our cards from him expecting $20.00 and getting a check for "Five-hundred dollars!!" To a 16-year-old that was more money than I knew how to spend. I'm excited to hear all of your comments on Grandpa this week!