It’s Summer Week here at Little Romance! Leave a comment all week long on the blog for your chance to win a copy of Mary Balogh’s First Comes Marriage!
…and the weather is hot. Sunny Florida is just that. Sunny, hot, and humid. But I love it. I lived here all of my life, so I guess you could say I’m mostly used to it. I say mostly because high 90′s is pretty hard to be outside in for a long time.
Some of my best memories as a child were the times my parents would wake us up early in the morning and we’d grabbed our swimsuits and head to the beach. My dad would cook breakfast on the grill and mom would have sandwiches made for lunch. We’d spend the entire day playing in the water, building sandcastles, and trying to catch starfish.
Of course I would be covered in sunscreen because I burnt very easy. One year we stayed at the beach for a month and when everyone else was outside in the middle of the day, I would sit on the porch and read. Nancy Drew was my friend. 
The coolest thing I remember doing during that trip was sleeping on the beach several nights. My brothers and sister and cousins (it was a really big house), spread out blankets and stared at the night sky. Back then the stars were easy to see and it was amazing. I can’t imagine doing that today or allowing my kids (even though they’re grown and I guess I couldn’t actually stop them), to do that. Back then we didn’t worry about crime like today.
We didn’t have a pool, but we had sprinklers and I can’t remember what it was called, but it was this swirling thing that when you connected the hose to it, it would stand up straight and swirl water around. And of course, who can forget the slip-n-slide.
We ran the neighborhood all day long and after dinner it would be time to sit outside with the family and play cards. My house always had family and friends over so it was full and there was lots to do.
Okay, one last memory. Homemade ice cream. Not the electric kind either. Hand turned, for seemed like hours. Your arm and shoulder would be so tired you weren’t sure you could make another turn. Then mom would say it ready, you can stop. Falling back on your bottom you sat and waited for the best ice cream in the world.
What about you? What summer memories are the best for you? Do you still do any of them?
WW’s and PD’s,
Vicki
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | Summer Memories, Theme Week
Those are great memories – I have much the same. I rode my bike all over town – the swimming pool, the library, my aunt’s used bookstore – I went everywhere. I am certainly glad summer is here. I love the hot weather (but ask me mid-August – I’ll be ready for fall)
Amy, I with you on the mid-August heat. That’s when staying indoors is a good thing unless water is involved.
I totally forgot about riding my bike all over the place.
Homemade hand churned ice cream sounds delicious. Did you just make one flavor or mix it up?
I’ve got the kids new water thingy for the summer and they’ve already given it a test run. Playing in the sprinklers is a good memory for me too.
I’m with you remembering about bikes. Boy, those were my wings. I rode the bike everywhere. Sometimes went with friends, sometimes on my own, when the bike took me away from people asking me what I was doing and I could quietly ponder life on my own.
I don’t see kids around here riding bikes the way I did. I know my children didn’t! Mainly harassed me to drive them somewhere, as I remember.
Brandy, my mom would mix it up and my favorite was banana. OMG, it was amazing and I don’t like banana’s all that much.
beppie – It’s sad to me that our kids can’t do the things we did. We made up stuff, built forts, and could while away the day just outside in the sun.
I can’t even fault the kids and all the gadgets today, because I wouldn’t want my kids out running the neighborhood like we did. It would scare me silly to no have a clue where they are.
I’m glad we have the memories though. And we did take our kids camping with family members and stuff so at least they could do some of it with us with them.
The slip-n-slide is what reminded me! Most of us grandkids met up at grandma’s house for the summer (7 in all). They have a huge yard with a nice downhill slant to it. One year grandpa got a long roll of plastic (I think it’s what they lay down before painting) and stretched it out on that hill. He handed over a bottle of dawn, the water hose, and told us to get after it!
So much fun. And then the grass started dying under the plastic and grandma said the plastic had to come up (this thing was yards long and several feet wide). We were in the front yard. Still tons of fun.
Keri, how much fun was that.
And the grass grew back I bet.
This has been so much fun remembering the fun times we all had as kids.
Loved the slip-n-slide and we had one of those spinning things too. LOL Have no idea what it was called. I’ll have to figure that one out or it will drive me crazy!
The slip and slide has been a huge hit with my kids too. Although now, they have cool gadgets hooked on to make it more fun!
Going on vacations were the greatest memories of summer. I know there will be much more wonderful memories made beginning this summer and many summers to come because I will be sharing them with my fiance. =)