In the good old summertime…

The best thing for kids after Christmas and their birthday is, of course, summertime. No school, no homework, no early bedtime. Ice pops dipping down your legs, drinking water from the hose, doing cartwheels on the front lawn.

My grandsons (the twinadoes) had their last day of school last week. They are now big time second graders. A tradition with us is a trip to the local ice cream shop for them to split a banana split. Unfortunately, this year I was in quarantine on that most memorable day, so we had to move it up a few days.

But they did get their banana split and had the tummy ache to prove it.

My memory of summer is hot, humid weather. Growing up I lived in the city so there was no front lawn or water hose, but we made do. Once breakfast was over and our chores done, out the door we went. Mom locked said door. Four kids coming in and out all day was not her idea of a fun summer.

After lunch, we were locked out again until supper. I was raised in the 1950-60s so there were hundreds of kids to play with (baby boomers). There were, of course, no video games, ipads, or iphones. For us it was hopscotch, red light-green light, ball, jump rope, paper dolls, hula hoops, jacks, marbles, bikes, roller skates, and ‘the showers.’

My apartment complex had a huge (I mean huge) shower they ran every afternoon. We would all descend on the playground where the showers were, spread out our towels and pretend we were at the beach. Or the pool.

The twinadoes might have a different type of summer than I had, but one thing we all have in common. Summertime is great!

What is your favorite summer memory?