Monday's Question of the Day - June 15, 2015

It's the middle of June already!!  That should mean all or almost all of the schools in the States are out for the summer! (Except those that go year-round.)

When you were a child; how did you spend your summer break from school?  

In my earlier elementary school years I spent my summers at my Grandparent's house. They lived up the street; so it was convenient for my mother's work schedule.  After we moved I spent my summer days at the same place I went to before and after school.  That was the home of my mother's co-worker.  His wife ran a home daycare and had a daughter close in age to me.  She became my best friend and we had a lot of fun!  In Middle through High School I spent half of my summer going between my Grandparent's houses and the other half at home.  We had moved out of state from the rest of my family; so that was my time to be with them.  I spent a lot of time with my cousins then too.  Good times!!

Well we went to the lake a lot.. and went camping. And swimming at the local pool.. I rode my bike a lot with my cousins and we went to the park and stuff. We also had picnics. Plus go watch the firework display on July 3rd.. we still do that well I do.. you can see the firework display by my house even though it's uptown. I still go every year by my house but it doesn't start until 10:30 pm at night and goes to around 11:15 pm or 11:30 pm.

And we went to the 4th of July parade together but it is too hot for my mom to go (she's sensitive to the sun) so I meet up with my friend & her mom and we watch the parade and go to lunch afterwards.

I have some fond memories of doing lots of stuff in the summer time as a child.. we also went to the wading pool. I still do that too! I'm just a big kid at heart I guess. But I still enjoy all the things now as an adult maybe even more as an adult. I still go ride my bike to the walking trail and feed the ducks. I like to get out a lot in the summer and luckily it doesn't get too hot. And s'mores were my favorite part of camping.. lol and swimming in the lake.

I don't remember what I did when I was little, but from about 11 years old id spend all day every day at the local riding school looking after the ponies. By 14 I had my own horse, but all that meant was a change of location! Both before and after getting my own horse I switched yards from time to time, but I was always there somewhere! Probably a misspent youth, but I loved the horses and ponies I knew. I look back at pictures from those summers and I don't remember who any of the people are...but I can still name every horse!

With my grandmother. The day after school left out, Mom took me to Grandma's. The day before school started in the fall, Mom brought me back home (kicking and screaming, I might add). I spent my summers with her for many years. When my parents would go camping, they'd make me go along, but then afterward, they had to take me back to Grandma's house. I had a ton of cousins in that neighborhood, too, and we all spent our time together. Swimming in the creek (we pretty much lived in that creek) and in an aunt's pool, picnicking in the park, having tea parties on rainy days with another cousin, practicing our piano lessons with that same cousin, riding our bikes all over the place, just being kids. It was wonderful.

We'd take vacations. Usually camping 2-3 times a summer, we'd find a campground in Pennsylvania or Connecticut and spend a week there. Once a year or every other year we'd take the plane somewhere, to Disney or Cali, Utah and such.

A few years I'd try different sports. One year it was Soccer with a friend.. then for 3 or 4 years it was Softball which I enjoyed. Horse back riding for a few years too.

otherwise, my friends and I would ride bikes to each other's houses and go swimming in the pool or play some sports. We'd ride our bikes for miles..my parents had no idea where I was half the time (Things were different then!)

When my dad took his vacation during my school break we would head down to Keansburg for two weeks.  It is down the Jersey shore.  He would rent a bungalow and my cousin and her mom would go with us and of course my mom also.  We would have so much fun going to the beach every day, my cousin and I were water rats, we had to be forced out of the water because our lips were turning blue.

At night we would walk on the boardwalk and go on all the rides, I just loved it.

I'll always remember those vacations with fondness, so many happy memories.  The rest of my summer break was at home taking daily trips with mom and dad or just hanging out with my friends outside.

As a young kid, we used to spend summers up in "the country".  This, meant upstate NY area, at bungalow colonies which were very popular in the 60's/70's.  My dad would come up on weekends to spend time with all of us.  Most I think were in Monticello and Swan Lake.  I remember enjoying most of my time there, except having to attend camp.  I've never been a "joiner" lol.  

Once we moved to New Jersey, that ended because we now had fresh air and a backyard at our disposal - plus the upkeep associated of course.  Most trips after that were to places of historic interest like Philadelphia or Washington DC, or to visit my Aunt and Uncle in Hawley, PA where they had a house built right on Lake Wallenpaupak.  That was always fun for us.

MoochNNoodles said:

 
It's the middle of June already!!  That should mean all or almost all of the schools in the States are out for the summer! (Except those that go year-round.)

When you were a child; how did you spend your summer break from school?  

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Mostly nothing I did take a few weeks worth of swimming lessons once (and never got the hang of it), a neighbor pulled strings to get me into a sports camp for free at the local college for two summers (absolutely hated it. I'm not a sports person and I hated being picked on by other kids), then in high school I was pretty much forced into getting a summer job by my parents (worked in a community development office). Oh, and summer school a couple times. Not that I needed to go but my parents signed me up so I could learn stuff instead of watch tv all day.

I always had to work when I was a kid, I'd do either yard work or housework on Saturday, and the other on Sunday.  On weekends I mopped, vacuumed, dusted, and cleaned the bathrooms, just like I did when school was in session. Every other weekend I also had to wax the hardwood floors.

I mowed our 1/2 acre lot starting when I was six. We had a riding mower but also a push one to use around the trees and the sloping areas. The lawn took 5 hours to do every weekend - in Texas you don't get much a break from lawn work, even in the winter. 

One summer I spent painting the outside of our house, with a brush - wish I'd known about spraying it on back then. It was a 3000 sq ft house that I scraped, primed, and gave two coats of paint, and it took all summer.  A few years later my father built a 4-car garage with wood shingles on the sides, so I used a stain on that - much easier.

I started my first job at the local Dairy Queen when I was 12 (my friend's mom was the manager so that's how I got hired), so I worked more hours on weekdays in the summer. I also went to week-long camps whenever I could - they were such a nice break. I went to band camps and also Lutheran camps, one or two a summer. My best friend's father was the local church's pastor so we had a great time at those camps.

When you were a child; how did you spend your summer break from school?   

We usually went to visit family for a week or so and went camping or the beach. My family was always big on being together for special times. Living in different states, we had to schedule our vacations when all the kids were out of school at the same time.

We'd go away for two weeks and then ihthink we all just played in n street.

Columbine said:

I don't remember what I did when I was little, but from about 11 years old id spend all day every day at the local riding school looking after the ponies. By 14 I had my own horse, but all that meant was a change of location! Both before and after getting my own horse I switched yards from time to time, but I was always there somewhere! Probably a misspent youth, but I loved the horses and ponies I knew. I look back at pictures from those summers and I don't remember who any of the people are...but I can still name every horse!

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I spent my summers in pretty much the same way. I never had my own horse, but I was a pony slave at my local riding school every weekend and school holiday from the age of 11 to 18. Then boyfriends and college applications and part time jobs got in the way. Thinking about it I should have stuck with the ponies.

Columbine said:

I don't remember what I did when I was little, but from about 11 years old id spend all day every day at the local riding school looking after the ponies. By 14 I had my own horse, but all that meant was a change of location! Both before and after getting my own horse I switched yards from time to time, but I was always there somewhere! Probably a misspent youth, but I loved the horses and ponies I knew. I look back at pictures from those summers and I don't remember who any of the people are...but I can still name every horse!

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That doesn't sound like a misspent youth to me!  

Ruñning the streets! We lived in a neighborhood with tons of kids and were outdoors till dusk. Usually we attended "day camp" in the mornings (outdoor recreational activities supervised by borough employees) after early morning swimming lessons at a "swim club" my family belonged to. Afternoons we built tree houses, rode our bikes, waded in the creek and caught crayfish, jumped rope, played hopscotch, softball, etc.. One huge advantage of being a Baby Boomer was that there was always somebody to play with.

We would go to the beach (Kitty Hawk NC) for a week and the rest of the summer all of the kids in the neighborhood would get together and play baseball and other childhood games. We had a ball. We were all good kids and never got into trouble.

We had a cottage. Mom and us kid's would spend the whole summer up there. Dad would drive up on weekends until he was on holidays. We were very close to a lake, so we could go swimming and had a boat so we could go fishing or water skiing. Many, many wonderful memories

kathyfromcanada said:

 
We had a cottage. Mom and us kid's would spend the whole summer up there. Dad would drive up on weekends until he was on holidays. We were very close to a lake, so we could go swimming and had a boat so we could go fishing or water skiing. Many, many wonderful memories

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My Grandparents and one of my Great-Aunts and her husband co-owned a camp in the mountains.  I think the longest I ever spent there at once was a week.  But it was close enough we could go for quick weekends.  Sometimes we'd have that place absolutely packed out with people.  I'm talking 3 kids per level of the bunk bed!  But what good times!!  I would LOVE to be able to do that  The lake was within walking distance so we swam a lot too.  But just playing in the woods was always a good time!  I miss that place!  They sold it when I was a teenager.