SUMMER!!!

With what seems like summer FINALLY upon us here in Wyoming, I've been thinking about some of my favorite summer memories from my childhood. You know the saying, "We might not have it all together, but together we have it all" that is the opitomy of my family. Our summers consisted of organized chaos. We ran from one place to another and my broter and I were constantly being kicked out of our house, away from the TV and into the sunshine. I have to say that looking back on it I LOVED it and I'm so grateful that I had parents that MADE me play! The husband always says that I have the most vivid memories of my childhood and here are some of my favorites:

*We spent a good part of our time at the baseball/softball fields during the summer. My dad ran softball tournaments and we were volunteered to clean up the garbage and sweep the rocks off of the sidewalk, but we never got to work in the concession stand which is where we really wanted to be. Anyway, after one particularly hot tournament weekend we were cleaning up with some help from some of my parents' friends and my uncle and cousins and some other kids and we broke out into an all out, no hold bar water fight. There was water EVERYWHERE!! Finally, everything came to a screeching hault when my brother came up and told my mom that one of the "adult" men had given him a swirly in the softball bathrooms no less. To this day we don't know if it's true because my brother hasn't told us. I think that it's because my mom reemed this guy like I have never seen before. I have never seen her so mad, so if it's a lie she's going to feel really bad. I think that maybe my brother is just sparing her the guilt :)

*My cousins would stay with my uncle for the summer and we would play together almost every day. One night we had a sleep over in my uncle's backyard in a fort that he had made for us. My youngest cousin fell asleep before the rest of us and so my brother and my male cousin we'll call him Patt, decided that for punishment she needed to have rocks stuffed in her nose. Thankfully there wasn't any serious damage done except that she was really made at them for doing it to her and at my female cousin and I for laughing about it and not stopping it. There were a lot of nights like that :)

*We had, in my opinion, the best yard around. It was green and soft and well taken care of, I should know, my dad made us do it. Anyway, we were able to reap the rewards of our hard work by having sleepovers in the yard and on the trampoline with our friends. There was always a whole lot of laughing and very little sleeping going on. In the morning, when it got warm enough we would take all of the sleeping bags and pillows off of the trampoline and put a sprinkler underneath it and start jumping on it. That was the best birthday present I ever asked for!!

*My dad thinks that he is the king of the grill, and he is pretty good. However, he should not be left unattended because he could hurt himself. One incident that occurred that I will never forget and he will NEVER live down happened on a warm summer night when he, my brother and I were sitting around the grill waiting for dinner to be ready. We were sitting in some green, plastic chairs doing impressions of cartoons and people. My dad started doing the Tazmanian Devil and just as soon as he really got going the chair gave out from all of the excitement and he landed on the ground. I remember laughing about that for nearly and hour and reliving it in our impressions. It was great!

*I remember that as soon as it got warm enough I knew that my grandma would have playhouse all ready for me. It was a little trailer that her parents had used when she was little and it only had one little room and a small space you had to have a stepstool to reach to get into a bed. I would clean that playhouse until it shined and then I would arrange all of the little furniture that she had for me just the way I wanted it. One year she even let me have some of the marigolds that she would grow in her garden to put around a tree that was next to my playhouse. I loved that place. I could play in there for hours and I didn't even need my brother to keep me company.


There are so many other memories to share, but there just isn't enough room or time. I have to say that although I loved school, I LOVED summer. I'm so grateful for the amazing memories that I have of time with my family and my friends. I hope that my kids will have memories that are just as good!