I gained my love for it as a child. From sun up to sun down, my sisters and friends and I roamed the wide world of Payson, UT, engaging in such activities as catching worms for my road-side worm sale business. We hunted night crawlers, barefoot, in the mud of the neighbor's garden after 10 PM each night by the light of cheap flashlights. Nothing says summer like fat, wriggling worms between my fingers and mud between my toes. We especially loved floating, and racing sticks, and better yet, our jelly shoes, in the ditch to see if they would come out of the culvert on the other side of the road. My mom stopped buying those amazing plastic shoes because we lost too many. We had rotten tomato fights, threw eggs at cars (bad idea, I know), made neighbor kids eat or drink strange "concoctions" composed of all sorts of random organic materials, made up dances, chased the ice cream truck for blocks, walked downtown to go to the park or the movie and played truth or dare. Days and days were spent collecting and selling golf balls, spending our quarters at Mendenhall's Market on the table-top Pacman game, swimming at Payson Pool, riding bikes, playing every variation of tag, having massive water fights, sleeping out on the trampoline so we could go toilet-papering the neighbors and the homes of the boys we liked.
My childhood was really good. In fact, it was great! I really didn't start to hate living in Payson until high school when it suddenly seemed so distant from any real action. Life in Payson as a teen wasn't nearly as cool as in the happening town of Provo, thirty miles north. As a teen, I always complained that there was nothing to do in that small town. But, that's another story.
Because of those lax and playful summers of my youth, nostalgia has surely guided my parenting decisions about summertime fun as a mom. I live and love the summer the same way as I did as a child, with the exception of childish vandalisms. I have never allowed nor encouraged, and certainly, ever taken my kids to do any toilet-papering. As a parent, I have taken a more mature approach to summertime fun, but I still engage in it whole-heartely. This time I get to enjoy it with Shawn and nine amazing kids! We've had lots of fun without doing any toilet-papering!
Since childhood summers come only once, I vowed to make them count. Here are some highlights from this summer:
Triathlon season.
Sierra jumping from a 40 foot diving platform at Lava Hot Springs, ID.
Fishing at Flaming Gorge.
Cooperative play in a great mud hole at our weekly homeschool park day.
Ice cream while wearing bright colored clothes and pink flip flops.
Cycling a morning ride on a highway in Idaho.
Playing with friends.
Jet skiing at Jordanelle Reservoir for Christian's birthday.
Rope swings at Burston Ponds.
Swimming!
Floating the river at Lava Hot Springs, Idaho.
Christian jumping his dirt bike.
Goodbye summer! See you next year!
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