By Liz, so happy to be heading into the summer months!
Happy June! Since this is the month where we officially hit summer here, our Wicked Wednesdays are going to celebrate the best season of the year (next to fall, of course).
Today, we’re talking about your favorite summertime activity as a child. I remember when I was a kid how different it was – we were outside all the time, checking in for meals but that’s it. I spent most of the day on my bike with my neighbors, riding through the neighborhood and pretending to be superheroes. But the best days were when we got to go to the beach. For me, that was the epitome of a memorable summer day.
So Wickeds, what about you? Was it trips to the beach, riding bikes through your neighborhood, staying out with friends until dark?
Edith/Maddie: It was all of that, Liz! I remember whirring up a chocolate milkshake in the sturdy, two-speed blender, and taking it and my book outside to read in the shade. Family trips to the beach where we brought sweatshirts and stayed after we were through swimming and playing, collecting driftwood to make a fire on the beach and roast hot dogs after dark. Our annual two-week tent-camping trips to Sequoia National Park, with hiking and swimming and singing and learning the constellations. Plus nobody cared if you got dirty! I also loved girl scout sleepaway camp, because I could ride a horse. Such fond memories.
Barb: I remember all of that, too. Both sets of grandparents had houses at the beach; my mother’s in Sea Girt, New Jersey, my father’s in Water Mill, Long Island. My father’s mother (Eleonore–who I posted about this week) would pick us up in their ’59 Thunderbird on the last day of school and we’d head to Water Mill for two weeks. While there, we swam in the ocean and at the cut (a part of Mecox Bay that opened up to the ocean once in awhile) and dive for pennies in a friend’s pool and then redeem the pennies at the Penny Candy Store. My great-grandfather visited the same two weeks, so I got to know him well.
Jessie: All of your memories sound so charming! I remember reading almost non-stop during the day and heading to the beach on many evenings to swim in the ocean before it grew too dark.
Sherry: Since we didn’t live anywhere near a beach that was off the table. But we did love going to one of the many local pools. After we were done swimming we were allowed to buy a frozen candy bar — usually a Snickers. I also love playing Jailbreak — a kind of tag — at night or lying on the warm driveway and watching the stars. Plus, like everyone else finding a place to read when it was hot.
Julie: I grew up in Duxbury, MA, so summer was about being outside all day, long bike rides, and going to the beach a lot. Our house was the house everyone came to, so my mother would occasionally lock us out of the house for a couple of hours so that she could have quiet. Then it was odd, but now I understand.
Readers, what’s your favorite way to celebrate summer? Let us know in the comments!
Opening the windows and letting the cool breeze in.
Summer’s in Maine.
As a kid, summer meant endless hours playing sports outside. It meant the ice cream truck coming around the neighborhood. It meant a trip to Vermont for a week.
As an adult, summer means less and less because it is not really a celebratory thing. It’s just hot and I have to work. But I have gone to concerts during the summer and there is the Cape Cod Baseball League if I want to go watch the best college players. The pandemic ruined that for three years but at least I can do that now if I want to.
Where do they play, Jay? All over?
Edith, yes. There are teams all over the Cape. Wareham, Falmouth, Cotuit, Orleans, Harwich, Hyannis, Falmouth, Bourne all have teams. I’m sure I’m forgetting some towns but those are the ones I remember off the top of my head.
I like to open all the windows in my sun room, grab a book and a drink, and sit down to read.
When I was a kid I would play outside with my friends until after the street lights came on. As soon as it got dark enough we would play hide and go seek. During the day we would play in the woods, go swimming, ride our bikes. It’s amazing the amount of freedom we had as kids back in the 60s and 70s. Now, I love spending time in my garden or reading. I do think I’m going to start swimming again.
I was an 80s kid and we did all those things too, Janet. Fun times!
Our favorite way to spend the summer is outside. Winters and cold weather play havoc on the old body. Even through the sweating of the summers in the south, I’ll take it over the aches and pains caused by the dampness and cold. We love having a vegetable garden and now retired we are always adding to or extending our flower beds. After planting, weeding and watering, it’s fun to sit on the porch and admire our work as the birds and bees enjoy them too.
Also due to retirement and no time or date restrictions, we love to travel to new sights and see everything this great country of ours has to offer – especially now after several years of being cut short. We usually work these trips in around our veggies. We took one trip just recently after everything was planted and needed little care. We have another trip to the east coast in the fall after most if not all has been harvested. We put too much into it to let things go to waste and it’s entirely too much to ask anyone to do while we are gone. Besides going then means the temperatures are more enjoyable for exploring.
2clowns at arkansas dot net
Favorite summer memory is of thunderstorms. Sitting on the screened in porch with a bottle of Coke (always glass in 1950s) and a straw. The Coke was a big treat and “the rule” was must sit down and drink it slowly. It was also quiet time spent with my mother who sipped her ice coffee as the storm crashed and roared.
Summers for me meant reading in the morning and the community pool after 11am. Late afternoon meant reading again until dinner. The weekends were spent in the Poconos at my grandmother’s (later my mother’s and now mine and my brother’s) house, where we were outside all the time, roaming the woods and swimming in the creek. Good times!
I also remember long summer days outside riding bikes, going to the neighborhood swimming pool, playing kick ball, Monopoly and knock hockey. While I’ve never been a beach lover, evening picnics at the beach were always fun, also backyard bbq’s.
We live in an avocado and tropical fruit ranch, so there are always more chores in the summer with all the fruit that needs tending to…early risings allow for work to be done when it is not as hot. By Noon the workday is over, and now comes the fun…we usually read in the shade and swim by the pool, then repeat. We take time to discuss what we have read, and have a great time. This has been our pattern since the Pandemic…before, we traveled to cooler countries, and one summer we dared to go to Vietnam, where we roasted until weel done…yikes! We will start traveling again soon…the Seychelles is in our bucket list. Thank you for sharing fun activities y’all enjoy in the summer! Luis at ole dot travel
These days it’s hiking in the woods once the black fly abate. As a child, my dad always took two weeks in mid-July for an away trip. Washington, DC, Canada, Upstate NY, camping in the Thousand Islands, Florida, the Keys, Cuba when I was very young. It was always great fun, and we always drove.
Riding my bike and walking all over the extended neighborhood. Playing tag and hide ‘n seek until dark with the neighborhood kids. Playing in the park that was adjacent to our neighborhood. Playing in the backyard playground of the “rich” guy. The only beaches were at “THE LAKE” which is what every lake in Indiana is called. Not a thing in my family, tho’ we went a couple of times to stay with distant family members. Overnight camp for several years. Camping in the backyard using the picnic table as a tent. And, of course, lots of reading. Summer was freedom.
Hate to be a wet blanket, but in Georgia, the only way to tolerate summer is to, 1.head north 2.spend the day in a swimming pool, 3.stay inside with a glass of ice water and a fan.
I’ve always loved swimming, but since we didn’t have access to a pool all the time, I also loved playing in the sprinklers.
We are having a very gray/cool spell right now. It was nice over the weekend, but has cooled down again here. I want some sun and temps to at least hit 70.
Cool and gray here in Maine, too. But that storm system is keeping the smoke from the Canadian wildfires away, so I’ll take it.
Reading with the windows open. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.
Looking back, summers were idyllic in the 70’s. I hopped on my bike without worrying my parents and rode all over. I grew up on the river, an endless source of fun, swimming and digging up clams. Hunting for 4 leaf clovers, reading in the hammock, staying up late, star gazing with my dad or sister. I thought life was perfect back then.
I loved going to my maternal grandmother’s house (Brownsville, Texas) and sleeping on cots on the screened in porch. This was after playing outside all day with my cousins (Cowboys and Indians). When the streetlights came on, we came in and ate and then played Canasta with our grandmother (who cheated as she made the rules up and bet pennies). Or going to either of my aunt’s houses (Corpus Christi and San Antonio) and going to the beach in the first or seeing the historic sites like the Alamo and Breckenridge Park among other places. My father managed theatres (a 24/7 job) and was in the National Guard, so we never had vacations growing up together as he had to do his two weeks in the Guard every summer. Lots of reading in the house or outside on the porch. We would go weekly to the library and get books to read and then we got many Bobbsey Twins, Judy Bolton, Nancy Drew, and the Hardy Boys books for Christmas. My father read or listened to music when he was off work. We played Clue, Monopoly, Candyland, and Uncle Wiggly games along with Chinese Checkers. A good upbringing.