By JANET McGREGOR
Contributing Writer

A constant in the Krakeels' lives has been camping. Many weekends the family would load up their belongings and head for the lake to camp. They didn't have a boat or any of the things many consider standard now.

However, one summer a few years after the family settled in the United States, Jack and his brother had an exceptional grass-cutting season. By the end of the summer they had amassed close to $150 and determined they would buy a boat for the family to use on their camping trips.

After discussing the purchase with their parents, they bought an old boat with a motor. Unfortunately, when there was a problem with the sheer pin of the motor and it constantly had to be replaced. The new pin cost about a dollar, a substantial amount forty years ago.

Finally their father said enough, they would have to do without a motor and row. Seeing the boys dismay, he found a one-penny nail in a tree, modified it to fit and per Jack, “To the best of my knowledge we never had to replace the sheer pin again.”

Forty years later, the boat sits next to Jack's house and is in the process of being refinished. The boat has been passed from brother to brother through the years, although Jack notes, “Somewhere along the line the motor was replaced.”

Jack intends to clean it up once again and pass it on to his son.

For many years Jan made all of the children's toys for Christmas. One tale told by both Catrina and Jack is of the trains he made.

He would build the trains of sheet metal. Once built, he would sit on them. If they couldn't withstand his weight, he knew they wouldn't hold up under the abuse the boys would give them so he'd start over.

A Trip to the beach

During the earlier years in Holland, the family regularly trekked to the beach. Bikes were the primary mode of transportation.

As there were five children, four too young to ride their own bike, Jan built a small cart which he pulled behind his bicycle. Jack, Catrina and Jan would also load up the cart with food, a tent and extra clothes for the day. The tent was to change clothes in. Jack remembers changing clothes 3 and 4 times on occasion as the water was extremely cold.

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