Favorite childhood summer memory

Almost every year my parents would take their trailer out to Buffalo Pound Lake, in early May, and would leave it there for the summer. To spend the summer exploring the nature paths, riding our bikes all over, catching frogs in the creek and having the lake to swim in was heaven.

Actually all of those are fond memories, but the ice cream stands out since it was at my grandmother's and all my cousins, aunts, and uncles were there. Many times we would all go for the day to "Big Creek", a favorite swimming hole of my dad's family and have a picnic and make ice cream. Oh, those were the carefree days! Jenny

Growing up in Arizona, the only way to keep cool was to play with the water hose and have water fights.

As a child, my brother and I would go visit my grandparents (mother's side). We also had a first cousin who lived with the g'parents. I fondly remember grandpa telling us "before you kids go swimming, you need to pick up a few rocks out of the garden!"

LOL We mumbled a bit, ran out to the garden, and QUICKLY picked up a FEW rocks. Grandpa never checked how many rocks we actually picked up. We were sneaky that way :)

I voted 'other'.

My favorite summer memories, childhood and otherwise, are memories of the Family Vacation (yes, capitalized) on the beach!

Cheri'

While most of the choices bring memories, the summer storm, or actually just a good'ol rain in the middle of a hot day, brings back the fond memory of us kids being able to run outside in our swimsuits, feel the cool drops of rain on our warm skin, and splash through puddles. Such a freedom one cannot enjoy as an adult (well, not with anyone looking anyway). ;)

I voted "Other". Catching fireflies is a HUGE memory and making "rings" and "bracelets" out of them! I also remember Grandma's homemade peach ice cream and WATERMELON (you didn't list watermelon but that's on of our summertime favorites from my childhood)!! MMmmmmm!

The tire swing is a big memory because the year my grandfather installed it was the summer my 2nd (or is it 3rd?) cousins came to visit from the South. My grandmother was a southern lady and we occasionally had summer visits from her family. It was just one great big extended family summer for 2 weeks that year! What fun!

4th of July fireworks is probably the best and biggest memory as I remember all the parents in lawn chairs sitting in the yard while we kids ran around with our sparklers. Once that was over it was time for grandad to shoot off the fancy fireworks. I remember the 5-gal bucket of water for safety, roman candles, fountains, bottle rockets! It's a shame to some extent that we can't enjoy fireworks the same way today with all the laws & fire regulations. I understand the need for the rules, but sure wish my kids could build the same kind of memories I had.

Thanks for posing a Poll that brought back lots of great memories for me!

The swimming hole! Outside of Forest City, PA. It was hardly big enough to "swim" in but we could all paddle about and get good and wet. Fishing there 1st thing in the morning. (For you city folks, that means 4:30 or 5 am. Gotta catch those fish whild they are still groggy.)

We dammed it up ourselves (ok with some adult help, my father the biggest kid of all!) so that made it that much better. We could stay there all day telling secrets and lies and just being kids.

There should of been an all the above because they all brought back fond memories. Although i didn't see amusement park/carnival/church picnic as an option those are another I remember, Dave now ya got me all verclempt! Any upstate or western new yorkers know what i mean about the fun park part. Oh and picking corn fresh from the feild and shucking and boiling. My worst summer memory? A summer birthday, we were always camping/vacationing/going to sporting events, my bday was more an after thought, no school cupcake days. Oh bother, sound like eeyore now, summer was still so much fun. We would also get inner tubes and lay in the pond for hours. I could go on and on. Anyone else? Speaking of summer storms, did anyone ever fall for that heat lightning line of bs? Heat doesn't generate electricity, a distant thunderstorm does, was almost 16 before figured that one out.

This message was edited Jun 20, 2004 11:07 PM

Catching fireflies (or frogs or bugs or....?) Yes!!
What else could you do in the backwoods of PA?
I couldn't swim in the 'fish & lily pond'. Or in the creek alone...
Making mud pies... YES!
~*getting hosed down before coming back in the house... FUN!~*
Climbing trees... and getting stuck up there? Yes.
Climbing the outside of the house...Yes.
Climbing on the top of the pig pen (to get a tan) ... Yes!
~* Ouch, on the hot tin roof! *~
Getting wet in the summer rain chasing the ducks... Yes.
Having bugs put down my clothes by older brothers... Yes.
~*especially when they're just chopped up by the combinder; ***yuck***~*
Stepping in 'cow pies' ... they were good for athelete's feet!
Getting knocked out by the 'electric fence _Twice_; .. Priceless!

Here's a picture of the 'Monarch' butterfly I bought and let go in my back yard; this year. It 'blossomed' on Wednesday, June 16th, 2004


This message was edited Jun 20, 2004 11:28 PM
~* langbr ~* 'Ditto'

This message was edited Jun 21, 2004 12:55 AM

someradiantpig - Cornfields!! Oh yes!! I loved running through the rows of corn playing hide-and-seek. It was great barefoot after a storm went through a few days earlier. The mud was firm by then and you could race down the rows of corn and your bare feet are slapping on the mud!!! LOL!!!

NatureWalker - I was going to say something about mud pies and forgot after I got to typing. I would use old pie tins or frozen pot pie tins to make mine! Even use to decorate them all up with pebbles, grass, whatever I could find!

someradiantpig-what in the heck is "verclempt"? But I like it! Oh, man! Summer as a kid! I could write a book! Diggin' under the rocks in the creek lookin' for "muddoggies"-red lizards. Walking for ever and ever thru the woods, climbing all the best trees. Going up to "The Pinkbeds" picnic ground in Pisgah Forest-a mini family reunion. Called the pink beds because it was surrounded on all sides by gorgeous rhododendrons in all shades of pink. We kids would climb one, and swing from bush to bush like we were monkeys in a jungle! I always got sent in to ask if we could get wet in the creek. Auntie and mom usually ALWAYS said no. But, I'd go back and tell the others, sure, we can get wet all we want!!! Got a few butt-bustins for that, a lot of time in the corner. But, they'd always send me in to ask, and I'd always go back and say let's party, so they should have known better than to send ME every time!! Oh, and gettin' shoy at with a bb gun for fishin' in the neighbor's pond! He lived thru the woods behind us, and had called us on it several times. I guess he got enuf, and brought out the bb gun. He didn't shoot AT us, but around us. But it cured our butts of fishin' in that pond!!

So many of the those are some of my summer memories, but I have never seen a firefly! We don't have them here on the West Coast. So, I voted ice cream!

When my brother and I were young, our town had a Foster's Freeze Ice Cream truck that came around during the summer months. My younger sisters do not remember this as they are 8 & 11 years younger than I. Not at all like the ice cream trucks that come around now-a-days. You could get a soft serve cone (with chocolate dip, if you wanted), a banana split, or an ice cream sundae. You could even get milkshakes. I think they even had some ice cream bars, but since Grandpa usually treated us (he had a sweet tooth), we usually got to have whatever we wanted-I usually chose to have a Hot Fudge Sundae with the Works-nuts, whipped cream, and a cherry on top!

Wow you guys. What a log of nice memories! Mine are - the salty, creamy, icy home made ice cream, playing in the puddles and lookin' for rainbows, diggin' in the mud with sticks and makin' mud pies, goin' to see fireworks in our pajamas and Dad carrying us in asleep one by one after the ride home, and all of us sleeping in our undies on a sheet on the living room floor with the fan blowing and the front door wide open all night!

Had to think awhile...decided to go with the swimming because it was so special. As a kid, I went swimming twice every summer. As soon as the haying was done, the whole family went swimming for the *whole* day! It was a big deal and something wonderful to look forward to. Picnic lunch, Indian museum and Lake Simcoe. The lake is large but quite shallow and all sand on the bottom - you can walk out on the sandbars until you can hardly see the beach! As you get farther out, you have to start swimming from sandbar to sandbar but we rarely went out that far.

The other time was the Church Picnic. That was such a lot of fun. Lots of games for kids and adults and swimming and food!

I can't recall ever being in a swimming pool until I was in highschool! Isn't it fascinating how differently everyone is raised?

When I got into my early teens, 3 of my uncles bought chicken farms (broilers) around the same time. My siblings and I were the chicken' pickin' crew. We'd leave about 9 pm at night (earlier in the winter) and catch 12,000 to 15,000 birds, get done midnight to 1 am, and head to Lake Simcoe with bathing suits and shampoo. What a treat for tired, dirty, scratched bodies! It was a great way to earn money! $3.00 per hr. for kids in the late 60's early 70's was a lot of money!

"Thanks for the memories!"

Thanks for such a good thread with so many interesting answers

You've guessed it, mine are to do with CREATURES
catching elvers in a saucepan as they swam up the little river in south Wales where I spent a fortnight each August

Also 'rockpooling' on the coast nearby :)

Catching Crawdads! And that little tomboy in me still lives. I went out and caught "worms" the other night for our fishing trip.

Summer meant freedom - no school, no tests, no homework, no having to get good grades, no heavy coats, no being cold, no having to get up at 6:15AM, etc. It was staying overnight for a couple days at Grandma's house and staying up til midnight with my cousin. (I can still hear the sound of that clock. Tick, tick, tick, and then a little grinding noise before the chimes went off - bong, bong, bong... the dark wood and old furniture, the roller window blinds and lace curtains, the itchy wool carpet, the funny damp smell of the house, the "Around the World" game and thinking that Guam sure was a funny name, the toy called "Crazy Ikes" and thinking that was an absolutely hilarious name. It didn't take much to get us going.)

Waking up in the morning and suddenly realizing I didn't have to go to school!! Then having my "summer breakfast", tomato sandwich and ice cold milk. Then, (being an only child) I could read all day if I wanted to without interruption. One year I had to go to YWCA day camp and that is the only summer I remember being miserable. On the weekends the family went on picnics and trips through the mountains with Aunts, Uncles and cousins. I guess being a quiet child, I remember the sounds of summer, and the smells of woods and grass. I always spent one week with my grandmother and she fixed me creamed onions every day...my favorite!

We lived next to Yellow Creek in Ghent, Ohio. There was an amazing, huge tree in our yard and Daddy climbed way up in it when we were tiny and hung a swing in that tree that when you swung in that swing, your feet went far over the water of the creek.

It felt like you were flying.

All along the bank of the creek wild roses grew, and as you rose above the banks at a certain time of day, right before the skeeters started biting but late enough that the sunshine had a chance to warm those pearly pinkish-white petals to just the right temperature, the scent of sweet wild rose would fill your being as you went higher, higher, pumping your legs with all your strength.

On the downswing you could grab a pinecone off the tall blue spruce trees, and that was another fragrance I'll never ever forget. In earlier spring, the scent of purple and white lilacs would fill the air. Daddy made sure the air was always perfumed with something wonderful and the ground was covered with color.

We used to love that swing more than anything.

Thanks for the memories!

I lived in Fl and was always rollerskating,riding my bicycle,fishing and catching crawdads, and grabbing a sandwich and exploring , via 2 wheels or on foot. There were immense stands of pines that invited imaginative adventures.
Loved picking fresh lemons, limes,grapefruit, papaya, guava,mangos and those huge Florida avacadoes. I admit sneaking into a berry farm once in a while for a quick snack.
Then there were those darn 'Sticker' weeds I would find with my bare feet .... OUCHIE !

fishing every morning in the summer with my beagle musky
lots of fun and lots of fish!

I picked "other", though maybe this should be in the same catagory as the fireflies, but I still remember those endless summer evenings when we could stay out past dark and play hide-and-seek. "Ollie, Ollie, Oxen Freeeeeee!"

Most of my summers revolved around apples, since I grew up on an orchard. Early summer was nicer, since the apples weren't ready for picking yet. None of us kids minded picking strawberries, or the lucious summer fruits.

But once the first apple trees started producing, then it became harder to snatch some lazy moments. All those apples! From the first mealy, yellow Transparents to the last Rome Beauty, and all the old fashioned names in between: Rambo, Wolf River, Northern Spy, Grimes Golden, McIntosh, and my favorite: Jonathan. Picking, sorting, bagging up, manning the fruit stand, and staying up way past bedtime to finish bottling cider. All of us kids just got sick of the sight and smell of apples!

Fishing with Dad, he usually took me rather than my brother because I was quiet. Dad once took me to a trout farm. I caught so many fish - I was a very proud girl. I didn't know until later that Dad had to pay for them. We sat on my brother's dock yesterday while Dad fished.

Is it cheating if I reply twice?? You guys are dredging up some ooooold mems. for me! One of my all-time favorite summer memories was getting to stay with my paternal "Nanny & Papa". Sleeping on a huge feather bed, on feather pillows, with homemade quilts on top-it wuz cold in dem mountains in summer! Getting up to breakfast of the best homemade biscuits in the world, ditto the muscadine preserves, with homemade butter slathered on them too. Homemade buttermilk on the side. Nothing was sweeter, nothing ever in the world!

I grew up in Melbourne Australia, so summer was around Christmas and the New Year. There was an ice-cream van with what I remember as really lovely 'proper' ice cream (cream, butter etc), it was only in vanilla flavour, though there were fruit or choc sauces to add.
We wandered around so much, only going home for evening meals and bedtime, riding horses, playing tennis. Next door had some lemon trees and my dear mum always made bottles and bottles of proper lemon curd (then made super lemon meringue pie!) for all the neighbours and the school fete sales.
She and I used to stagger back from the shops carrying the pounds of sugar needed.
Happy memories; thanks for the reminder

Have clicked on the last one. I never caught insects. There were many assorted things we did. We had always looked forward to the summer vacation after the exams. Who doesn't?

During my high school days, I had bought a cheap hand film projector. Someone had bought me rolls of film (trash to the theatre people). Had no idea what films they were from, but they served the purpose of actually screening the moving film. It was a fancy for a few years at that time. So I used to gather the children after evening and used to show it to them. The wall served as the screen. Once the film was over, I had to roll it back into the spool manually and OOOh, that was hectic work! But we enjoyed the completely manual projection.

Then we had various games to play-marbles, hide and seek, "gulli-danda", carrom, chess, cards (with family), numerous board games, the list goes on! Of course, cricket on the street! All children seemed to be on the streets at that time, most of the time!

Summer is the time when mangoes are abundant. My grandfather used to buy lots of them and so after every meal, we had one each to eat, as it was, from the hand. That was the time when the Drosophilla (insect) is more and we used to frequently drive them away from in front of our eyes esp. when we were eating mangoes, usually sitting in the yard. We also have a mango tree but at that time, it was not left to go ripe, but my grandmother was an expert cook - she prepared excellent raw mango pickles.

Sometimes, I used to be sent to Bangalore where my aunt lived. I used to stay with her for a few days and then someone used to come for taking me back. There I had a friend in the main house and so I was never bored.

How I wish those days to return!!!

Ya know, maybe I should have checked "E" all of the above.

I had good times growing up. Fishing with dad on the boat because the boys didn't want to be on the boat and want to run around, running around with my brothers looking for crawdads, swimmin in the closet swimming hole or pool, even making a pool out of one of my dad's old fiberglass boats.

The ice cream man, having fun out in the street playing "bean the bike" with a frisbee, the fireworks, the sleep outs, the camping trips.

Yep - ALL of them were memorable. Reading all this just brings it all back.

I too thank Dave and Gang for this thread. :) Bless Ya!

Summers here in Michigan....I spent the summers at our summer home "up north" in the Upper Peninsula. I lived in a bathing suit. I was in the water from morning (to take a bath and wash my hair) till night (another bath to wash off the dirt from the day). When I had to get dressed, my bathing suit was always under my clothes just in case!
I never caught bugs( Ugh), but carried a box of Mortons table salt to get rid of any blood suckers I ran into while swimming!
Food was something that I had to eat, so no real favorites there, summer food is THE BEST so they were all wonderful! Especially steak, fresh picked corn and tomatoes!
When my mom could get me out of the water, we picked wild raspberries the size of my thumb...oh my...seedless wild raspberry jam....ahhhhhhh
Watching the Northern Lights late at night was my favorite "non-swimming" activity.
Way to many awesome experiences to write about...But up north in the summer can't be beat!

picking flowers and bringing them to mrs. caldwell, a senior lady across the street and we'd have a cold drink and a snack together and chat. she was a lovely lady and made me feel very special.
sleep overs at grama's house.
swinging on the swings at the beach in west yarmouth, massachusettts. as you swang you looked out over the atlantic ocean. it was peaceful and has been my favorite place since i was about 15 years old.

Hard to tell my favorite childhood summer memory... because all the choices available are things I still do whenever I have the chance (except for bug catching, I just let the poor little things free to do their stuff. I always did.).

I remember the sound of distant thunder as a summer storm approached, the cumulus clouds building in the late day heat...

TC...

I'd remember sitting on the front porch with my Dad watching the storms. Sometimes it would be chilly out and I'd wrap up in a blanket, but I'd never miss the storms. We lived in an old farmhouse (90+ yrs) and it was situated in a valley. The thunder would echo against the hills making it sound even more ominous.

One of the greatest thrills I had was being able to lick the dasher after doing the cranking on the ice cream maker. I was hot and sweaty and it tasted soooooo good! Also, sleeping out on the screened porch on a saggy army cot at the cottage was pretty high on the list. Loved a storm coming across the lake, too.

I checked "other" since I rode my horse from morning until night every day in the summer. My mom worked and the horse was a great baby sitter. I would go wherever my curiosity lead me and I could get the gates open to follow jeep roads and cow trails just to see where they went, and climb the highest hills to see what was on the other side (usually more hills). I remember standing on my horse's back picking a shirtfull of cherries one day while the horse munched grass, then after eating almost all of them while riding down the road I happened to look and noticed worm holes in some and worms in others. YUK!!

eeewwwh!

I spent a large amount of my time with my horse. Glad to meet another horse enthusiast :)

I put other because every one of them brings back a lot of childhood memories. I did them all and enjoyed all. :)

fishing every morning in the summer with my father and mother lots of fun and lots of fish!to remember the childhood always horrible,because that beautiful days will never come in our lives again ,but these we can enjoy again with our childrens

I picked other because there was no "all of the above!" :~)