SP 12 Week 2 Question

As a kid, what did you look forward to most about summer vacation/break/holiday?

The freedom! We (my closest sibling is 19 months younger than I) would leave the house at 8:00 in the morning (most summers riding our bikes to the swimming pool for 8:30 a.m. lessons -- I think we did this for four summers). Ride our bikes to the library. Playing in the sprinkler. Going to the parks and being outside from morning until dark. Playing softball in the street and SPUD and hide and go seek. And after dinner, our parents would generally sit out on the front stoops and watch while we continued playing until it was too dark to continue.

On rainy days, we cleaned the basement or counted the money in the penny jar. My Mom taught us Canasta and rummy.

We had tons of kids on our street. Blackburns had five (2 of whom were Jacquie and my age); Zerns had five (3 of whom were our age); Rezeks had four (1 of whom was our age); Taluseaks had three (all of whom were our age); Wetzels had three (1 of whom was our age but their cousin came almost every summer); Nalaborskis had five (2 of whom were age); Koopmans had five or six (2 of whom were our age). We all went to school together and belonged to the same church.

We also did competitive Irish step dancing . . . and went to feis (dancing competitions) on the weekends during the summer. There were held all over. We went to Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, Rochester, NY, Youngstown, OH, Detroit, MI, Cincinnati, OH, Buffalo, NY and, of course, the feis of all FEIS was in Cleveland and my parents volunteered and we worked all weekend to make the event a grand affair.

We learned early on to NEVER EVER tell Mom we were bored . . . boredom led to weeding the garden or yard or cleaning the garage or our bedrooms. Or, worse yet, tell her that we had NOBODY to play with . . . there were seven kids in my family. She hated it when we would say that.

My father could whistle . . . and when it was time to come home, he would stand on the front porch and whistle. If we didn't hear it, one of the neighbors would and the message would go down the road that the Nageotte kids' Dad was whistling for them and we would all come running.

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Thanks so much. These are things that I haven't thought of in years. I wonder if my kids will remember their youth as being so fun.