Katie Was Born

1980 - Year In Review

Pac-Man rolled out into arcades. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back premiered in a theater near you. Tom Hanks dressed up as a woman in Bosom Buddies inside your television set. Robin Williams was an alien on Mork & Mindy. Microsoft partnered with IBM. Also, Apple III came out a day after the eruption of Mount St. Helens. My older sister was born.

Katie Playing Piano

1981 - Year In Review

Films - Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark | MTV Launched | The Fox & The Hound | Mad Max II | The Great Muppet Caper | Tarzan The Ape Man || Shows - The Fact of Life | The Dukes of Hazard | MASH | The Love Boat | Saturday Night Live | Little House on the Prairie | Happy Days || Video Games - Frogger | Galaga | Defender | Scramble | Ms. Pac-Man | Super Cobra | Stargate | Utopia | Mouse Trap | Venture | Lock 'n' Chase | Alpine Ski | Tennis

Ricky Was Born

1982 - Year in Review

My only brother was born | Grandpa Walt Atkins Visited | Aunt Karen & her family visited | Films - E.T. | Blade Runner | Tron: The Original Classic | Conan The Barbarian | Rocky III | The Dark Crystal | Rambo: First Blood | Annie | Pink Floyd: The Wall | Gandhi | Friday The 13th: Part III | Silent Rage | The Toy | The Last Unicorn || Shows - Happy Days | Newhart | Family Ties | Magnum P.I. | Cheers | Knight Rider | Silver Spoons | Bosom Buddies | Fame | Mork & Mindy | Taxi | Giligan's Planet || Games - Donkey Kong Jr. | Dig Dug | Burger King | E.T. | Pole Position | Pengo | Demon Attack | Mr. Do! | Popeye | Megamania | Kangaroo | Atlantis | Super Pac-Man | Deadline | Frenzy || Highlights

Moved to Forest Grove

1983 - Year In Review

We were living in Lake Oswego in the early 1980's as a family | Outline | We moved to Forest Grove, OR. Our parents wanted to live closer to the public Tri-Met bus system. So they ended up picking out a trailer and they moved us to space number 163 at the ghetto Rose Grove Mobile Home trailer-park Community, 3839 Pacific Avenue, 97116-2277. Our phone number was 503-357-0477. So, dad was able to hop on the bus to go to work. Mom ended up having two more babies, that is me and my younger sister, at the Tualatin Valley Hospital in Forest Grove (FG). It was good that we lived closer to that hospital. I can't remember where my older siblings were born. It may have been at that same hospital. I was not born yet until 1985. As a family of six, we grew up here in the 1980's and 1990's. In the late 90's and early 2000's, all six of us began going our separate paths, all of us except for maybe our father | Remembering 1983

Strawberry Short Cake Katie

1984 - Year In Review

Katie was Strawberry Shortcake | We got this toy computer for Christmas 1984 | As a family, we would play at the park | Grandma Ann must have visited that year or around that time | Aunt Karen and her family visited at least one time | Katie and Ricky drank from bottles a few times | Katie's 4th birthday party

Rise of Oatmeal

1985 - Year In Review

I was born. Relatives visited. We lived in Forest Grove. I was the third kid in our family. Mom talks about how she planned the birth of her four children to some extent. She wanted to have 4 children and she wanted them a certain amount of time apart. Her first kid was born in 1980 and the last in 1990. Ricky was born in 1982 and I was born in 1985. Katie wanted a sister. But then I was born. But luckily, after that, she got a baby sister, Crystal, in 1990. We grew up in this trailer park in the 1980's and 1990's. Over the years, that neighborhood began changing in a few ways. As time went on, there was a decrease in how many kids would run around at the park and all over the hood in general. In the 1980's, there were mostly white people in our neighborhood. As time went on, things got darker, pun intended. Reagan was sworn in a second term 22 days before I was born.

My First Birthday

1986 - Year In Review

Three Kids Drinking Bottles | Neighborhood Kids | Learning to Walk | Grandpa Dick came over | Riding a black yellow tricycle | Rick's Blocks Tower | Tickle Oatmeal Joey Time | Swimming Pool | Playing with kittens and dolls | Sleeping on the Couch

The Pilgrim Play

1987 - Year In Review

Pilgrim Play - Homschooling Club - Friday School | Dad has been working for China Man Jack since like 1987 to 2018 and beyond | I remember watching Three Men & a Baby in 1987 | Full House premiered (I remember seeing the new baby, Michelle, that first episode when it premiered or during a rerun | I was probably a sheep in the Pilgrim Play

Seattle Trip

1988 - Year In Review

Mom broke her arm | Grandma Ann's 85th birthday party in Seattle | Riding Horses | The Land Before Time | Police Academy 5 | Big Top Pee Wee | I remember riding the horses with our church. I remember visiting Seattle for the first time in my life that summer of 1988. The biggest thing that happened that year was when a car or truck hit mom as we were crossing the street. My brother saved my life. I was three years old and he was six. This was in Oregon, where we grew up in.

1989

1989 - Year In Review

Tiananman Square | We met Small Wonder star, Tiffany Brissette at the Oregon Zoo in Portland. We got her autograph. In the cinema, we saw movies like Honey I Shrunk the Kid, All Dogs Go To Heaven, The Karate Kid Part III, and Guess Who's Talking. As a kid, I kind of thought I was an alien. Our bunk bed was my spaceship. We saw The Sound of Music play.