Remember that feeling on the last day of school? Three whole months to do whatever you pleased. How did you spend your summer days?

Hide and Seek in the Dark!

That is my main memory from summer as a kid, running around all the neighbors yards with my friends in the cool dark night.

Aslo, home-made hand cranked ice cream! And eating the rock salt when my mom wasn't looking while my brother turned the crank.

When I was 9 years old, my Dad discovered some old company stocks he had earned while he was working for an electronics company back in the 50's. When he investigated the value, he discovered they were worth quite a lot. So he took that money and built us a cottage. What incredibly wonderful memories revolve around our summers in that cottage! Hours and hours of building state-of-the-art cities in the sand; swimming, exploring ruins and hidden waterfalls, building tree forts, playing games for hours at night, eating Dad's world-famous (well, at least county-famous!) BBQ hamburgers...my Dad built so much more than a cottage - he built an awesome array of memories for all of us over the next 30 years.

Sigh. One of the worst mistakes we made after Dad died was selling that cottage - it was his favourite place on earth, and too painful to keep going there anymore without him there. But now I'd give anything to have that cottage back in the family...

The last day of school feeling?
Warm and happy
Free and light
Skipping all the way home
Avoiding cracks in the sidewalk
Running up the driveway with papers, cleaned out from under the desk.
Falling onto the bed spread-eageled
happy, happy, happy

Oh wow the last day of school and freedom!!! The best part for me was being able to work at the local animal hospital as a walker. Also go to the bakery some days with my mom and wait on customers. It was such a thrill to see how much all the people loved my mom.

Eagle, so happy to hear about all those childhood memories. I think having a family summer home would be the best. I know some people who do and they seem to shut down for a couple months and come home so refreshed. Our life-style doesn't allow that, but I wish it did. Maybe in retirement. I can understand why you wish you still had it.

Chatty, no surprise that you were a dog walker way back when. I guess animals have always been your passion.

Kathy, we also played hide and seek in the dark. We called it flashlight tag and we played it most summer nights.

Hannelore, we also avoided the cracks so we wouldn't break out mother's backs.

Anne, you are so fortunate to have those memories with your dad. Are you a gardener today?


I grew up in the best neighborhood for kids. We played outside all summer long. And if it rained, we played jacks, or built tents with sheets and clothes pins on the porch. And if it wasn't thundering, we ran through the gutters splashing in our bare feet. On cool summer nights we either slept in tents in our back yards or on our porch. We worte plays and acted them out in the driveway, or our bedrooms. We played red rover, kick the can, dodge, football, base runners. Wow, the memories are gushing back.

[ June 08, 2006, 09:50 AM: Message edited by: Dotsie ]

It's so nice, Dotsie, that you take the time to comment on everyone's comment. No wonder you have so many loyal members here. I'm new, but I think I'm already hooked.
We didn't have a summer cottage either, but all my friends did. When I wasn't invited to their cottages, and stayed home, it was very quiet on our street. That's how my love for reading started…to get me through a lot of those quiet summers. Every other summer, though, we would travel to Germany to visit my grandmothers. We crossed on huge luxurious ocean liners. It's hard to believe, but at the time they were cheaper than flying. Once we got in a terrible storm and arrived five days later than planned. I can remember sitting in deep lounge chairs and with my brother and the other children, we would have a blast sliding from one end of the ballroom to the other. There were no grownups in sight; they were all seasick.
Gee, now an oceon cruise like that would cost an arm and a leg.

Hannelore, I have never been on a cruise and don't care if I ever go on one. Weren't you petrified?

As a kid, I was too busy to read. I didn't embrace reading until I was in my 20s and now it's one of my very favorite pastimnes.

Anne, what are you growing? My garden is all flowers. One day I'd like to do some veggies. Oh, and I also have four little herb plants.

No, I can't remember being scared. It was like an adventure for us children. I have my Mom to thank that she didn't show us her concerns, which I'm sure she must have had. I remember a horn blasted twice a day, and all passengers had to rush to a deck with their life jackets on. I thought that was normal. I was only 9 or 10 then.