Summer Memories ... add yours!

**kuhio98** · 06-11-2008, 11:10 AM

Jumping off the fishing pier into the Gulf of Mexico ~ Mississippi
Getting chased by water buffalo while collecting tadpole eggs from rice patties ~ Taiwan
The smell of hot dust during a summer shower ~ Alaska

Unfortunately, since we were in the military, none of my summer memories involve relatives. We were always moving halfway across the world during the summer.

**Almita** · 06-11-2008, 02:31 PM

When i was younger, my brothers still living here. We would stay up at night, and leave to go to a fast food place and order food, then we would go on the roof of our house, and just eat.

Also, we would go to Yuma, to visit my family and have parties, getting to see everyone was always great.

Another memory, we would go to san diego, and go to sea world. Which made me love san diego so much!

Miss those days

**moosmom** · 06-11-2008, 03:46 PM

Our family had a small lot on Bolton Lake. All the men in the family built a small garage, complete with a port-a-pottie. We had some WONDERFUL summers there growing up. I go here a lot when it's nice out. I want to go kyaking on it (I rowed in High School). We used to have a sailboat (Sunfish). If only I could go back to that era for one more time. Back then there were no worries (you were a kid!! what is there to worry about at that age??)

Bolton Lake is my all time favorite place to go.

**lizbud** · 06-11-2008, 05:03 PM

I still have great memories of summertime when I was a kid. We lived
1/2 block from a city park & spent many afternoons playing there with
neighborhood kids & also my cousins. It was close enough for us to hear
my mom's call to supper.

My brothers & I loved to play "kick the can" on our sidewalk in the evenings.
When it started to get dark, we caught fireflys around the front porch till
mom called us inside for baths & bed.

**Medusa** · 06-11-2008, 06:02 PM

Probably my favorite memory is that of berry picking when I lived in the country for a very brief time or when I visited my older sister. I especially liked elderberries and my parents would make elderberry jam and pies. Back then, little girls wore dresses a lot, even to play in, and I would carry the berries home in my skirt and, of course, have berry stains all over my dress but my mother never scolded me. (Not for that, anyhow.) Usually by the time I got home though, the berries were gone.

Catching "lightning bugs" (fireflies) and going to the Dairy Queen after dark and Dad would allow me to go in my pajamas are also fond memories. (I rode in the back seat.)

**CountryWolf07** · 06-11-2008, 06:23 PM

My grandparents' old house.

My grandma will be gone for 9 years next month. Amazing how time flies by so fast... I hold so many memories close to my heart when I was a little kid at that house they used to live in.

**RICHARD** · 06-11-2008, 06:33 PM

GRANDMA'S HOUSE!

Got to spend most of the summers there. Dad would drop me off-he worked around the corner at the brickyard! That woman had a green thumb.

There was pomegranates, grapes, avocados, peaches, figs, plums squash, spearmint, morning glories, bird of paradise, african violets and god knows what else growing there!

That was a blast!

**cyber-sibes** · 06-12-2008, 04:19 PM

Originally Posted by lizbud

When it started to get dark, we caught fireflys around the front porch till mom called us inside for baths & bed.

Me & my brothers did that too! I still love watching fireflys.
We lived just a few blocks from the local park & swimming pool, and all summer we would practically live at the pool. Only went home for meals & to go to sleep. They used to have recreation activities for the kids at the park, too. I recall making LOTS and LOTS of gifts for Mom out of pop-sicle sticks!

**lizbud** · 06-12-2008, 04:31 PM

Originally Posted by cyber-sibes

Me & my brothers did that too! I still love watching fireflys.

They used to have recreation activities for the kids at the park, too. I recall making LOTS and LOTS of gifts for Mom out of pop-sicle sticks!

Hey Pat, I had forgotten about the popsicle sticks. Doing crafts at the
park was a lot of fun.

**sasvermont** · 06-12-2008, 04:44 PM

For the first 16 years of my life, I lived on the eastern shore of Maryland, in the upper portion, right on the Chesapeake Bay. Each summer seemed endless. We went swimming nearly every day, from right after breakfast, came home for lunch, back to the bay, and home for dinner. We lived in bathing suits. We never took a bath....well, seldom....we were water logged each day. I swear I could breathe underwater, that is how much time I spent in the water. Our noses would bleed from sunburn and peeling so much. We were guaranteed to get at least one nasty ear infection by summer's end.

We often would have dinner outside, eating corn on the cob and sliced tomatoes with mayonaise. Lots of iced tea or something my Mom would call "belly wash"....grape juice and orange juice with lots of water and ice added..... We would eat without a worry about our faces being covered with corn and butter...and mayo..... Then to top it all off, we would have watermellon. Mmmmmmmmmmm. I think we probably took a bath those nights....as we ate while still wearing our swimsuits....

Sometimes we would eat dinner in our summer PJs because our swimsuits were still wet and not too comfy to sit around in for any length of time....

I remember catching fire flies in cups.....they would all die.....

I remember one of our collie dogs had puppies and one night we (my brother and I) spent the night in a tent with all of the puppies. Boy, that was heaven. We didn't get much sleep!

All in all, our summers were the best. We water skiied, sailed, fished, swam, hiked, played king of the raft, built sand castles, threw jelly fish at each other, had lots of sand fights in the water....lots of splinters, stubbed toes, sun burned shoulders...went "buck bathing" a few times!!

We didn't need to go to summer camp......we lived in one!

By the way, this topic is just one of the best in a long time.... Thanks Karen!

**Karen** · 06-12-2008, 05:07 PM

Everyone mentioning fireflies is making me think of the summer night we really got to know my cousin's brand-new husband. When he grabbed a plastic cup and leapt off my parents' porch, we wondered what was up - but it just turned out he was catching a couple fireflies in a cup to marvel at and then let go. At that point, we decided he was okay!

Every once in a while we have a firefly or two in our back yard here, and it always makes me smile!

**Medusa** · 06-12-2008, 05:25 PM

Ok, now that Karen mentioned fireflies again, it brought up another memory for me. It was dark and my husband (at that time) was still outside, so I thought I'd go find him and when I did, he was standing at the split rail fence taking it all in: there were hundreds and hundreds of fireflies hovering. It looked as though we had lit up the back portion of our property. My now late SIL had never seen a firefly before and when she saw that, she was awestruck! This is a great thread!

**sparks19** · 06-12-2008, 12:00 PM

Spending weekends up at our trailer. So many memories of that place. it's even where I got my first kiss LOL. We had that trailer for 15 or 20 years. it was very sad when they got rid of it

Spending one week a year at a cottage up in HOney Harbor Ontario. all we ever did was fish, swim, eat ice cream, go out on the boat, get poutine at the chip wagon because we didn't want to take the time to cook becuase we were having too much fun, sit by the fire, get thrown off the dock by your cousin in all your clothes... not a swimsuit lol, and when I got... closer... to drinking age lol we would just sit around and play cards and drink when it was raining or bring some drinks to the dock for fishing. AWESOME. We still go up there from time to time but it is hard to do it every year. Hoping to do it in the next two or three years when we can bring Hannah and she can have fun too.