{"id":22873,"date":"2018-06-14T12:47:24","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T19:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.momservations.com\/?p=22873"},"modified":"2018-06-14T12:47:24","modified_gmt":"2018-06-14T19:47:24","slug":"how-you-know-its-really-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/momservations.com\/index.php\/2018\/06\/14\/how-you-know-its-really-summer\/","title":{"rendered":"How You Know It’s Really Summer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Momservation: <\/strong>It\u2019s not summer until you see a kid riding their bike to the local pool with a towel around their neck.<\/p>\n

☺\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ☺\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ☺<\/p>\n

\"\"You smell that in the air? That\u2019s the smell of possibilities.<\/p>\n

Some people smell sunscreen and chlorine, or Star Jasmine and Honeysuckle on a Delta breeze, or the warmth radiating from asphalt by 9 a.m., or charcoal and BBQ.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how they know it\u2019s really summer.<\/p>\n

But ever since I was a little kid and that final bell rang letting us out of school for the summer, all those smells: muddy, wet grass from Slip n Slides and sprinklers, the smell of overripe apricots, plums, and peaches that didn\u2019t get picked in time, mossy creeks filled with tadpoles, the acidic smoke of sparklers\u2026got me vibrating inside with the excitement for all the possibilities summer could hold for me over the next three months.<\/p>\n

Man, as free-range kids we really knew how to wring the fun out of summer! After sleeping in and catching some reruns of \u201cLove Boat\u201d and \u201cFantasy Island\u201d before Mom kicked us outside\u2014usually still in our bathing suits from the day before\u2014we didn\u2019t even bother to grab shoes for the day\u2019s adventure.\"\"<\/p>\n

You knew it was going to be a hot one if you already had to race across the asphalt street to walk in the cement gutters and on neighbor\u2019s lawns to get to your friends\u2019 houses. Or if your friends couldn\u2019t come out to play yet after knocking on their doors because of chores, you\u2019d race around the block a few times on your banana-seat bike with the ape handle bars to cool off.<\/p>\n

Then when the neighborhood kids all finally got together, we\u2019d ask that daily mantra that became the song of summer: \u201cWhat should we do today?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGo to the creek and catch tadpoles!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo by Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cPlay kickball!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGo find the ice cream man!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRide our bikes to 7-Eleven and see if a new Richie Rich comic book came out!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGo pick plums at the empty lot!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGo play tetherball at the school!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSlip n Slide on your lawn\u2014my dad says we\u2019re killing the grass on our lawn!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The possibilities were endless.<\/p>\n

Even when we were bored and couldn\u2019t figure out anything to do or were tired of playing the same old games, summer never lost its luster or promise of possibilities.<\/p>\n

One summer my best friend, Robin, and I decided to solve our boredom problem by making individual lists of all the fun things we liked to do. We numbered them and then took turns picking a number from each other\u2019s list. We weren\u2019t allowed to say we didn\u2019t want to do it\u2014you had to do whatever number you chose at least for a little while.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it was to go knock on the sweet little old lady\u2019s house down the block who would give you graham crackers and water from a Goofy Grape and Friends cup if you just told her you were thirsty.\"\"<\/p>\n

Sometimes it was knocking on another neighbor\u2019s door and asking if we could climb her cherry tree and eat some cherries.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it was drawing and coloring at Robin\u2019s because it was the only house in the neighborhood with air-conditioning.<\/p>\n

Many times it was scrounging up quarters to ride the bus to the local community pool with the three pools, Pacman arcade game and high dives or riding our bikes to the local Cabana Club with the all the little pool-pee-ers but the cute lifeguard because it was closer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Interspersed with the daily decisions of what to do that day, there were other excitements of summer to look forward to.<\/p>\n

Camping almost every weekend at alpine lakes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.<\/p>\n

Fourth of July fun and fireworks.<\/p>\n

The county fair.<\/p>\n

Going to Monterey to spend two weeks with cousins or having them come stay with us for two weeks.<\/p>\n

Impromptu trips to Great America amusement park, or the movies, or to Shakey\u2019s Pizza, or Chuck E. Cheese\u2014anything that was a splurge on tight finances.\"\"<\/p>\n

Every morning when I woke up as a kid in the summertime, I would pop out of bed because I couldn\u2019t wait to see what the day would have in store.<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t it interesting how your childhood experiences can set the tone for the rest of your life on how you react and perceive things?<\/p>\n

I no longer have the time or youthful inclination to spend hours at the creek trying to catch frogs, or playing endless games of Red Light Green Light \u00a0with a passel of kids on the biggest lawn in the neighborhood, or scouring gutters and garbage cans for glass Coke and Sprite bottles that would net us 10 cents apiece to splurge at the local 7-Eleven on candy, Slurpees and comic books.<\/p>\n

But as a 47-year old, when I step outside and smell summer, that same familiar vibration wells up inside me. I get excited for the possibilities that summer can offer.<\/p>\n

I look forward to the day-trips and vacations we have planned. I have a sense of urgency to do fun things instead of the same-old chores and responsibilities: grab the kids and get Slurpees or Baskin-Robbins, have a family movie night, dust off the board games, backyard camping.<\/p>\n

I try to get my normal daily grind done as quickly as possible so I can ask friends and family: \u201cWhat should we do today?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go to lunch!\u201d\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go bowling!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go to a water park!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go the State Fair!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s make margaritas and read gossip magazines by the pool!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go to Studio Movie Grill!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go to Tahoe or San Francisco!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go to the farmer\u2019s market and get fresh fruit!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go to Top Golf!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s do happy hour at Ruth Chris!\u201d<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to be a kid to get the most out of summer. The days of staying in our bathing suits from dusk to dawn and running around all day barefoot may be over, but enjoying the bounty of summer is timeless.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s sit outside and smell the possibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

#SmellsofSummer\u00a0 #SummerMemories\u00a0 #Enjoythe journey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember doing these fun summer things as a kid growing up in the 1970’s?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2167,2,2441,2442,86,3,5,6,2443,2444,2445,16,29,2446,2447,1361],"class_list":["post-22873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-parenting-2","tag-best-blogs","tag-family","tag-fun-activities-for-kids-in-summer","tag-how-to-tell-its-summer","tag-kelli-wheeler","tag-kids","tag-momservations","tag-parenting","tag-remember-summers-in-the-70s","tag-smell-the-possibilities","tag-smells-of-summer","tag-summer","tag-summer-fun","tag-summer-memories","tag-summer-nastalgia","tag-teens"],"yoast_head":"\nHow You Know It's Really Summer - Kelli M. 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