Old Fashioned Summer Fun

What kinds of activities did you enjoy as a kid growing up? Here in Florida, most of our summer fun was to be had outside. Which was ok because back then we only had 3 channels on the TV set, one phone in the house, which was attached to the wall, and the only video game we had was pong. Ahhh, the good ole' days.

MiniMe got a dose of old fashioned summer fun today. She and her teenage babysitter, whose name is God'sLittleGiftToMeEvenThoughIDon'tDeserveIt, spent the afternoon riding bikes, playing in the sprinkler and swinging on a tree swing, ya know the kind attached to a limb with a rope. 

Oh, and they also read. Books. Really!

No electric scooters. No video games. No DVD movies on demand. No text messaging. 

Made me think about the kinds of simple outdoor pleasures I enjoyed growing up.

Of course we didn't have a backyard pool (unless you count those plastic kiddie pools that create crop circle like spaces of dead grass). We enjoyed running through the sprinkler. Water balloons. And of course, the SlipNSlide. Anyone ever raked by a stick poking through the yellow slip and slide surface? Ouch!!

We also had this crazy thing you would attach to the water hose. It had a red plastic cone top with a crazy face painted on it. You would turn on the water, and the force of the water would make it fly around the yard, where it would eventually wrap you up in the hose and slap against you leaving big red welts. What was that thing called? Anyway, it wasn't much fun after the first few beatings.

Other fun summer activities from my childhood:

• Playing croquet in the yard with my sister for hours.
  
• Red Light Green Light & Mother May I
  
• Badminton
  
• Making mudpies
  
• Picking blackberries
  
• Riding our bikes through the afternoon rain puddles
  
• Reading books under the shade of the tree in the front yard 
  
• Climbing trees
  
• Building forts in the backyard out of boxes and blankets
  
• Making necklaces out of clover and dollarweed
  
• Catching frogs & lizards