Monday, June 23, 2008

Summer memories from childhood

Summer is here! Over the weekend I was thinking of summer memories from my childhood and thought I'd share some here.

~~chore chart. I don't remember how old I was when my Mom first did this. She created a list of activities and chores for me to do in the summer. Some were chores around the house and others were activities like read a book and write a book report. She would give me points for each task and then I could use the points for reward activities like renting a Nintendo game or going bowling. We joke about this chore chart today; it really was a fun idea!

~~spending time with my cousin. She would come over each day to stay with us. We had some great times together. One funny time (not sure it was in the summer but it came to mind as I was typing) was when she got the mail one day. I had received a letter from a pen pal, and she ran into the bathroom to read it. It was so funny; she was not going to let me in the bathroom!

~~bowling and snowcones. We (my cousin and I) would get free passes for bowling at the end of every school year. We went to bowl once a week. Then afterwards we'd go get a snowcone.

~~reading. I have always been a big reader. Several summers I kept track of the books I read. One of my school classes had a contest each summer, and we had to keep up with the number of pages we had read. I couldn't all the books I read to my cousin when she'd stay with us. It seems like one summer I finished a book a day. I don't know how I did that. I must have counted the children's books I read to her or something!

~~camping. I remember several times going out to the state park for several days or a week. I loved roasting marshmallows. I remember hearing wild animals (like raccoons) coming around at night trying to get into our trash.

~~ trips with my family. We did not go to the same place every year. We often went to amusement parks. I'd get a pen as a souvenir wherever we went. One year we went to Missouri and visited the Precious Moments Chapel and home of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

~~library reading program. We would go to the library just about every week. I love that I have that tradition with Caleb now.

What memories do you have of summers as a child?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are." Romans 3:22, NLT

3 comments:

Runnergirl Creations said...

I loved reading this!! Thank you for sharing!! Those sound like great summer memories! I hope you get to see your all-grown-up cousin this summer!! :) Remember when she was like 5th grade, or something, when we were freshmen! lol

Natalie said...

Isn't it wonderful to recollect those times as a child. I remember most vacations with my family. We'd go to the beach in the summer and skiing in the winter. Those were such treasured times!

Sarah said...

What a nice list. It reminded me I need to start the summer reading program at the library. I wish the one at our library was better.