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I went to visit my mother in the hospital yesterday. She's doing better, but it was my birthday & I had to tease her about being in the hospital on that date. LOL!

It got me to thinking all about my childhood. I've lost my aunt & grandmother in the last year, as well. I have some WONDERFUL memories from my childhood! I was wondering what some of yours were.

Lots of my memories are of living in Biloxi/Gulfport, Mississippi & riding our bikes to the beach. Going over to the Little General for candy. Then after we moved to Pennsylvania, we still went down to MS on vacation. In '76, we not only went there, but also went over to New Orleans, crossed the Lake Ponchetrain Bridge, then went to Disney World & Sea World in Orlando, Florida. I loved that vacation!

I have several more memories & will probably chime in here & there. But I'd love to hear yours!

I feel blessed as I had a wonderful childhood. I have the best memories of christmas's spend on Vancouver Island with my mom's side of the family. You see we rarely got to see our cousins as their father was in the Air Force and they lived all over the world, but I fondly remember the very few christmas's with them at my grand parents little house. Granny had a special treat one christmas with these little crochetted ornaments, they were little animals, and there was 1 for us 5 grand kids, and todate I still have my little green elephant. I remember us 5 kids playing out in the yard, (for my bro and I this was special because the grass was green and the weather warm, as we come from the snowy side of the mountains) and how us 5 kids played on the swing in the tree, played hide and seek in the tall tall rows of raspberries, watched the goldfish in the pond, played badminton in the lower part of the yard, and thought my gramps's boat house was haunted so never played around it. Ahhhh I have such fond memories of gran and gramp's place, both summer and winter... sigh it makes me homesick. I think I need to plan a trip back again hehehehehe

My childhood was blessed as well, I'm the oldest of 3 girls. We had more fun as kids than I can even remember.

Things that come to mind are:

1. Camping every summer with our life long family friends the Homiks, boy what fun that was.

2. Surfing, swimming, body surfing, boogie boarding year round.. As a teenager we would head out as a big group and surf up and down the California Coast. Didn't have the fancy boards they have now, we lugged our long boards... I worked one summer at the Del Mar Fair just to get a new board... "SURFS UP".

3. The Holiday's any one of them were always big events in our family. My mother is the second youngest from a family of 13 siblings. There was never a shortage of cousins in my family. My Grandparents on my mothers side are Polish never spoke a word of english. My dads father is from Scotland could hardly understand him either.

Basically my childhood was full of fun and adventure... was a wild child as a teenager... partied hardy in College but ended up OK I think... :-6 :-6

Great Thread Observer1..!!

Long summer holidays swimming in the river (probably get typhus now). Me and my brother camping in the woods and actually catching stuff to eat (sorry everyone but I have eaten squirrel). Summer holidays in Jersey where it was so long ago you had to dress for dinner and me and my brother wear suits and my sisters wear long dresses. they had a band and would play waltzes and foxtrots after dinner, my mother isisted we learn so we could dance with her as my old man loved dancing but is so clumsy. My sister got cut in half by the magician once and would not tell us how he did it even though me and my brother tortured her mercilessly.

They actually had a pair of "Professional" ballroom dancers who would start the dancing off, the guy was a great dancer but had the worst toupee and I remember one night everyone choking back the laughter as at the end of each twirl it would flap up.

Long nights out playing rugby or cricket way after it was too dark to see.

Playing rugby for the school and all the other kids thinking mine was cool because he got sent from the touchline for abusing the ref who was our head master.

heading towards the once a year fair clutching you £1 note, smell of the fairground rides, rancid burger fat etc, fantastic.

Sorry got carried away and you know this made me feel a bit sad typing it, my mother and father gave us kids the best childhood I could imagine and I sometimes wonder whether a debt like that can ever be repaid.

ditto to your last comment B. I to wonder how ever could I pay my parents back for being just the best, and allowing me and my brother to just be....kids.

I agree Bothwell.. Seems the only way to repay a debt like a wonderful chilhood, is to ensure your own children, and grand children has a similar experience as well.

minks wrote: ditto to your last comment B. I to wonder how ever could I pay my parents back for being just the best, and allowing me and my brother to just be....kids.


We're supposed to pay it FORWARD. I intend to do it for my grandchildren, & I tried to do it for my daughter. But we were usually very broke.

Another memory...

Mom, my aunt & Grandma all picking out fruit/vegetables, taking them home, boiling jars, peeling, cutting, blanching, etc. My sister & I always got the "priviledge" of cleaning green beans. But there's nothing better than Grandma's peach jelly or their frozen corn!!! MMMM MMMMM!!!! I wish they'd passed that onto us, but we never did learn how to do it! And making pickles in the crock pots!

Daddy's home made ice cream, and getting to sit on the freezer while he and mother took turns turning the crank



Sunday lunches at Grandma and Grandpa's The smell of Grandma's fried chicken



Mother's chicken & dumplings......... watching her make them



The smells of my daddy's mechanic's shop....



MY DADDY

Gabs wrote: Daddy's home made ice cream, and getting to sit on the freezer while he and mother took turns turning the crank



Sunday lunches at Grandma and Grandpa's The smell of Grandma's fried chicken



Mother's chicken & dumplings......... watching her make them



The smells of my daddy's mechanic's shop....



MY DADDY


Boy Gabs, you just brought back some more memories!! My uncle used to make homemade icecream after our big Sunday dinner, after church. Then we'd all pile into the car & go for a ride through the mountains.

My mom made the best fried chicken & biscuits!! In fact, I just told her the other day, while visiting her in the hospital, that she HAS TO make us that again!:p

I know you'll think I'm strange... but I used to love the smell of my father cleaning his shot gun before hunting.