It’s summer in L.A. and even though it’s nearly summer here year round there’s still a sense of excitement with the onset of summer. It’s mostly because we were raised in the Midwest and summer meant pool parties, ice cream trucks, BBQ’s with insane amounts of delicious food and for my family a trip to a different Midwestern state to vacation in a cabin for a week. Things haven’t changed too much in how I spend my summers but I wanted to turn back the clock a few years to summers past.
We can all remember the sorrid things we did with lightning bugs as children. Mel and I would rip their butts off and stick them to our clothes or bodies so we would “glow” while Britt and her best friend would use their butts as nail polish! Is it sad how much I miss lightning bugs because they don’t exist on the West Coast?
Ice cream trucks were a huge deal to any kid growing up even after they were banned from all the neighborhoods from harassing children. I distinctly remember running out to the truck with my brother when we were allowed to buy and almost always coming back with the WWF wrestler themed ice cream bars. For some reason I was convinced the Ultimate Warrior and I had a special connection and would always choose his bar.
No guys…that’s ME! I promise…it’s NOT my older brother.
Mel has this ice cream truck memory to share. “My brother and I would wait until the ice cream truck would drive down our street while we hid behind our garage. When he got close enough we would run out and yell SSSTTTOOOPPP!!! and giggle and run away as we heard the screeching of the truck brakes!”
And wasn’t it just bliss when the hose water was so cold and metallic tasting you were sure you struck gold that afternoon?
Or when your curfew was extended because the sun didn’t completely set until almost 9 p.m.
When night swims meant the pool was still going to be 70 degrees and just as refreshing as it was when the sun was at it’s peak.
Summer crushes and long sleepovers that mostly consisted of talking about said summer crushes.
And how every summer after we all saw Now and Then for the first time we made it our missions to live like those girls…to BE those girls when really we were already those girls.
Even the anticipation of whose class you were going to be in and awaiting the late August day when the class lists went up and the school supplies lists went out.
I asked the girls what their summers were like and here’s some cute stories from them!
“I lived in a cul-de-sac was BFF’s with the girls on the other side of it. We spent literally 4-5 days trying to connect a loop of yarn from her second story window to mine. We had to throw the yarn over a lamp post so it wouldn’t sag in the middle. We finally did it! Courtney clipped a note to one end with a paper clip and then I pulled the yarn until I got the note! 
I think we did this after seeing Now and Then. Then the yarn broke and my Dad said we couldn’t put it back up because we might decapitate a motocyclist. We also built a fort but only got three sides up before we had to go back to school…” – Margo
“When I was little our neighbors across the street had one of those motion sensor lights in their backyard. Me and a bunch of the kids from the neighborhood would sit in my front yard and each of us, one by one, would sneak across and see how far we could get before the light turned on. As soon as the light went on we would run back to my yard and hide until the light went off and then go and do it all over again. Lots of riding bikes. Library summer camp that I LOVED going to because it was so cold in there and I loved the smell of the library. The homecoming parade on the 4th of July and trying to get as much candy as possible. Jumping on my best friends trampoline for HOURS every single day. Oh man, thinking back on those days makes me miss them so much!” – Britt
Casey and Britt (BFF, going to be her Maid of Honor in October!) – 6 years old and already bathing beauties!
It clearly wasn’t officially summer until the public pool opened!
Britt and her Dad, beach ready on a summer vacation!
Caroline from Pin Up or Shut Up, had these memories to share. “Sleepovers with my sisters and best friends, making care packages, seeing if eggs really do cook on sidewalks (ask me), accidentally staying up past the Wonder Years to watch I Dream of Jeanie, Bewitches, and Laverne and Shirley, going to see turtles lay eggs (Caroline is from Florida!), selling all my friendship bracelets to buy sweet school supplies, rekindling the two weeks I would spend at camp every summer.”
What are YOUR childhood summer memories?
Nostalgically Yours,
– J
