No End

When it came to clothes shopping with my mother, the parade of clothes she wanted me to try on never seemed to end! 😅

Fashion Show

Going clothes shopping with Mom was an adventure. It felt like she wanted me to try on everything in the store.

Was she really interested in buying some of the outfits for me, or did she just want to see me wear them? 🤔

Shopping

It seemed like my mother LIVED for the opportunity to take me clothes shopping! When that time came around, I knew I was in for a full day at the department store. Me? Well, I'd rather have spent the day hanging out with friends! 😅

Back to School Sale

I was always disappointed when all the stores began their "Back to School" sales - to me it meant my summer vacation was rapidly coming to an end! 😮‍💨🎒📓

Mini Golf

Our parents tried to plan activities to keep my sister and I entertained throughout the summer. One activity...mini golf!

I was notoriously bad at the game (like most games). My sister would win all the time, so I'd eventually get so frustrated I'd stop counting my swings! 😅

Ice Cream

 Sometimes our drive through the countryside would end with a stop at a local ice cream shop.

It was definitely a treat! Our parents would pop the hatchback of the family station wagon so my sister and I could use it as a seat while we enjoyed our ice cream cones. 😊🍦 

Country Roads

 On the weekend, the family would often take a pleasant cruise through the country back roads to clear our minds.

They were nice drives, but when we drove by dairy farms, the "air" could get quite thick. On steamy hot days, the smell was so strong, you could almost taste it! 🤢

Desperation

The shear panic when the cable went out!

Despite the fact the problem may not have even been on our end, we tried everything to get our TV shows back! 😅📺

Cable

Oh the humanity! What is a child to do when they suddenly lose access to hundreds of channels! 🤔😅

Rain

I feel like this captures what it's been like trying to maintain our yards this year.

We've had rain storms almost daily, so it's been challenging finding time to mow in between the rain. 😳🌧 

Distance

Back in the day, my father leased the car he drove to work. Unfortunately, his office was so far away from home, he'd rack up more mileage on the car than allowed on the lease!

I remember one time he brought his car to the dealer, the salesperson literally laughed when my father told them the mileage on the odometer! 😅 🚗

Dealin with It

 A great way to guarantee boredom when I was younger...take me to a car dealership!

When it was time to invest in a new family car, my father would take us all to the dealership. A decent negotiator, he'd often counter the counter offer of a counter offer from the car salesman. The family had to try our best to wait patiently while the salesperson went back and forth to "talk to their manager"! 😅 🚗 

Farmer Tan

I may have tanned fairly easily from all my time outside under the summer sun, but since I always wore a T-shirt, there was a very distinct line where my shirt covered my upper arms. Going sleeveless was NOT a good look. 😅

Tan

I may have gotten sunburnt, but after a day or two, it turned into a nice tan. My sister, on the other hand, had an entirely different skin complexion - she could spend hours in the sun, but she'd never seemed to tan.

Sure, it may have been discouraging at the time, when other children her age were getting tans, but it was probably a good thing in the long run the sun didn't have that affect on her. 😊☀️

The Burn

I loved running around the neighborhood with friends during the summer! We'd spend most of the day outdoors, so by the evening I could already begin to feel the sting of sunburn on my skin. The next day, I'd be as red as a lobster! 😳☀️

The Fall

 

Whenever I see one of those wall-mounted nightstands in a hotel room, I'm reminded of the time I managed to fall into one.

My parents would tell me when I was very little, I was asleep on the hotel bed. My parents had set it up so I had barriers to keep me from rolling off, but somehow I still managed to roll right out bed, cracking my head on the corner of the nightstand on my way down.

The impact created a pretty bad gash on my forehead, and I began bleeding pretty badly.

Once my father found out where the nearest hospital was from the hotel staff, he rushed me there in the family car. I was too young to remember all the details myself, but when my father would recall the incident, he'd tell me there was so much blood in the car, he didn't know if I was going to make it.

Luckily, I was okay, albeit bandaged up for a while until the wound on my head healed.

Though I may have been too young to remember all the details myself, I've been told the story over and over again to the point I feel a little traumatized when I see one of those hotel nightstands. 🤕

One is the Lonliest Number

Sure, it was awesome stumbling onto a hard to find toy while away on vacation, but sometimes there was a little disappointment sitting in the hotel room when I realized all the figures I owned that go with the toy are at home hundreds of miles away. 😅

Souvenir

While on vacation, my parents would encourage us to get something to commemorate the trip. I am sure they would have preferred a souvenir specific to the area we were visiting, but I typically gravitated to my favorite toy lines. 😅

It was a bonus when we'd stumble onto a gigantic toy store filled with toys we'd rarely see in our own hometown. 😁

Eagle Eye

While traveling, my father focused on the road, so he'd rely on the family to spot stops along the way. I was pretty good at locating places, though it helped when they had those tall signs visible from the highway. 😉

I was good enough to steer the family in the right direction, they gave me the nickname "Eagle Eye"!

The Road Trip

As a kid I was a big bundle of energy, so being cooped up in the car for hours was extremely excruciating! 🤯

Vacation

There were years our parents would pick us up right after the last day of school to head straight out of town for a long vacation.

As my usual reaction, I had a strong reluctance to go. 😮‍💨😅

Kiss

True Story!

There was a cute girl in class that I liked. It was one of those "worst kept secrets", so most of the kids my age knew. Once, a kid asked if I had ever kissed her. I MAY have led them to believe I had...even though I had barely spoken to her, let alone kissed her! 😉😅

Bike Ride

If you had asked me, spending an entire summer day on my bike was definitely not a waste of time! 😁🚲

Summer Read

There's something about visiting the public library during summer vacation!

Taking a book home to read for recreational purposes rather than for academic reasons just hits differently! 🧐📖 

Sleepin' In

One of the FIRST things I looked forward to on summer vacation...the ability to sleep in as long as I wanted! 😴