Summer Fun!

When I was growing up the best way to cool down on a sizzling summer day was to jump in Aunt Judy’s pool. I had the best time in the cold pool with cool cousins and what felt like the biggest slide ever.

We would play and swim for hours. Diving under for the rings or just to see who could stay down the longest. Basketball, volleyball and dodge ball were fun too. We used floaties to hang on and relax in the pool. The bigs would see who could throw the Littles the farthest. Before it was time to get out, we always made a whirlpool so all the dirt would end up on bottom in the middle of the pool.

Sometimes we would get lucky, and my mom and aunts would take all us kids to the beach for the day. It was a ton of work to get ready to go. Floatys, buckets, shovels, goggles and of course lunch! Do not forget the towels and blankets to sit on. We even took fishing poles to test our luck in the fishing area.

We would play all day making sandcastles and looking for treasures in the water. As the sun began to set were usually sunburnt and ready to go home. Packing up and heading for home was not the funnest part, but well worth the day at the beach.

As the hot and sunny days move through summer. So do hot and rainy days. When this would happen, we would find an indoor activity to do or if there was a new movie out, we would head for the movie theater with our pockets full of candy. We always ordered popcorn off the menu. We all enjoyed getting comfortable in our seats, watching the show, and enjoying the air conditioning.

To get to and from the movies we would all climb into the back of the truck with makeshift cushions to soften the ride. We thought we were so cool to ride in the back of the truck with the cap on it.

If you were lucky you could sit on the spare tire. Most of the time that was an argument between the kids, and the biggest usually won.

One of our other favorite destinations was Roller Rama! The local roller-skating rink. Upon arrival we would race to get to the front of the line. Everybody wanted to get their skates first. But it really did not matter most of us still needed help lacing them tight enough. Around and around, we would go for what seemed like hours. I remember a couple times where skaters were not very considerate. They would zoom around knocking people down “accidentally “. My mom and her sisters would skate up and take care of the bully. These ladies are my hero’s.

At some point it was time to get a snack from the snack bar. Hot dogs, soft pretzels and nachos were always a favorite. If we were lucky, we got to play in the arcade while we were there.

These fun summer times are some of my best childhood memories.