OT-People Over 30

[pamnock]

I loved the holidays when families used to gettogether. My grandmother always gave us hollow sugar candyeggs with little scenes inside. I can still remember thetaste of those

Pam

 

[rabbitgirl]

We built woods huts with sticks and grass,organized neighborhood circuses, and tied the neighbor kids to posts inthe front yard--then hid with stopwatches to see how long it took themto escape.

The kid's mom just had no sense of adventure. Neither did ours.

I'm only 24, but we were pretty crazy too!



Rose

P.S. I come from a large and close Slovak family, so holiday get-togethers still occur on a grand--and unusual--scale.

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

I come from a large German family. We don't havebig Christmas get togethers because it's simply too hard for 200+people to meet at once in one house just for Christmas. We do have aChristmas party (my uncle owns a familycompany and we all gettogether then). Most of our weddings, anniversaries, baby showers, etc.are celebrated with 3 generations all together. Since my families sobig and my generation is hitting the age of marriage, we meet often andrent a hall for all festivities. So family get togethers are alive andwell. I still celebrate Christmas with my aunts and grandparents butmore people just isn't feezable.

And I don't know, many of those things are still the same in today's society. It's a harder place to grow up nowadays I think.

P.S.- I played with Legos! And we went outsied and played random games,I never even heard of the internet until 3 years ago, lmao.

 

[RaspberrySwirl]

pamnock wrote:

Halters and lead ropes? I got my face smashed intoa wall when I jumped up on a green colt sans any headgear :shock:



Pam

:shock:I just remembered! MaybeTHAT is what's wrong with me! I went head over heels over the top of apony that came to a screetching stop and I DIDN'T!

It sounds like you all rode horses like Idid -as often as you could,any way you could!

Raspberry

 

[RaspberrySwirl]

Lucy/Thumper wrote:

....we had the only hill in town. During thewinter we would set up snow ramps for our sleds. It is funnyb/c I live in North Carolina now and when I went back to my old house Icould barely find the hill. It's all in theperspective.

Same with us. Now when I go see it Irealize it's the side of aa little flood control ditch!:?We used to spend hours with socks on ourhands,frozen snot on our faces, our butts would be numb andred and our jeans would be so stiff on the bottom they wouldn't bend!Now I bundle up Sebastian's little girl til she can hardly move!:shock:

Raspberry

 

[Buck Jones]

I lived on one of two sequential hills, for realhills! You would sled down one, hit a flat spot, make a leftand zip down the next one. We "cracked the whip," and played"cut off," where you'd grab the fellow's runner in front of you, giveit a yank, and send him careening into a snow bank along side the road,or tumbling over and over.

The hills are still there, but now there are so many vehicles, bothparked and moving, that it would be impossible to sled down themanymore. Kids, now,have to go to a local park andwhiz down a small hillock instead of the 5-8 minute ride I'm sure wehad. In the days I am recalling, one could always "drag" outthe ride by applying braking action with your feet. Slalomingalso extended your sled time.

Your speed could be increased, it was believed, by waxingyour runners with Simonize car wax and we all surreptitiouslyshined our runner blades the morning of the snowfallin theanticipation that our more ignorant brethren would be left behind in aflashing blur of snow as we careened by at a speed, that surelyapproached that of light, or close to it! *chuckle* *chuckle*

For the extremely daring individuals amongst us, ramps of hard packedsnow were created and we flew off them like the "helldrivers" (remember them, anyone?) we were trying toemulate. He/she who traveled through the air the greatestdistance was the "king/queen" of the day. Jumping off theramp, though, was a sit-up proposition for if one did it lying down,the shock of landing was a bit disconcerting.

I quit that practice when I "caved" in my favorite FlexibleFlyer, never to be exactly and suitably replaced for as time wenton the sleds got cheaper, more lightweight, less chrome, etc.My original Flyer was a hand-me-down from the "good old days,"when they built better and more substantial sleds. The namewas the same on the new sleds, but we knew they weren't the same"steeds" of the previous generation.

Other brands worked, but the vintage Flexible Flyer was theepitome of style, panache, and functionality. He whohadsuch was envied by one and all in theneighborhood! And mine had paid the ultimate price for mymisguided daring-do, which resulted in a great deal of regret upon mypart.

Sometimes, ya can't go home again!

Buck

 

[RaspberrySwirl]

You make me smileso big remembering back! I have such wonderful memories like that too.I also had a flexible flyer. I bought my son one too, his first sled.It is still in our back garage, old, dinged up and a bit rusted. Myhusband tries to get rid of it and the old red wagon (radio flyer?)every time he cleans the garage. God help him if they ever disappear.All of my children grew up on those toys. I don't allow the older kidsto mess with them now, but I still get them out every now and again forSebastian's little girl so that I can say that each child spent a partof their childhood with that sled and that wagon.

Raspberry

 

[LuvaBun]

I remember the park we went to had a slide.Someone had the 'bright' idea to make it more slippery to put butter onit. There were inches of butter on this slide and we all wanted to bethe first one to go down. Glad I didn't do it - the person who did gotstuck with thick chunks of butter all over their pants. Then someonecame up with the idea of some kind of oil. Boy, that REALLY worked -the first person down came so fast they ended up about 12 feet away,landing on their butt, and crying their eyes out. Aaaahhh, HappyDays!- Jan

 

[Jems]

Those were certainly the days. Iremember sliding down huge hills and if the snow was crusty and youwent off trail or fell out of your sled for some reason you ended upwith a face covered in blood from the cuts and scrapes you recievedfrom the snow crust. We hit a few trees and bushes and evenlost our sleds from becoming air born and not moving at the same speedas our sleds. But we kept on sliding. I alsoremember walking in snow so deep you could hardly move if you sunkin. We just don't get snow like that in Maine anymore.

My youngest son has a collection of sleds. He drives everyone in our house and neighborhood crazy every time it snows because hewill slide from dawn until it's so dark he can't see. Hetires or freezes every one out and keeps running out of people to slidewith. He will come in long enough to call everyone on hislist again and see who he can get to go out next.

Ahh memories......

 

[RaspberrySwirl]

Last winter mysecond son and his gang decided to go sledding when we got a good snow.This is the gang that was always hanging out at our place. Ours is "theplace" and my husband and I are "the parents" so we went along. Therewere probably 20-25 kids that joined in as the day went along and itwas so much fun.

There were several who had NEVER been sledding! :shock:

These were 18-19 year old kids! We wereusing the slopes of a local Pavilion and to add excitement through theday built our own snow ramps and such. The kids had every type of sledor item that could be rode you could imagine. We were the only parentsout there and I kept thinking how much fun it was and how I'd neverforget it. I wonder why other parents don't realize what they aremissing by not getting to know their older kids friends and hanging outwith them like that? I have to go find some pictures to show youguys.....

I think I may have shown some of these before, but oh well, they make me smile!

Okay, starting out, here's a few of "my kids" on a typical night-without snow gear!

Ramping - getting some air!

My oldest daughter and Sebastian's little girl

My two middle daughters-

What was left of the gang at the end!

 

[m.e.]

Raspberry-

You're the kind of person I wish we had around for the teens in youthgroup. You know, an adult that actually thinks teenagers areokay. There just aren't enough people like you

Thanks

 

[bunsforlife]

Oh we used to have this AWESOME sledding hilllike yours Buck... We called it Killer Kid Mountain ::Laughs:: Backwhen you had neighbors you could ask for a cup of sugar, and be told toget it yourself, and know exactly where in the pantry it was.

I had a handmedown Flyer as well, broke the growth plate in my ankleone snow day on it too ::Laughs:: Wasnt able to bail out before I hitthe stone wall, got tangled in the string.

Oh I miss that hill... they paved it and built houses on it... nowthere are no good sledding hills around where I grew up.

And you cant go iceskating on the lake because the town is terrified of a lawsuit.

Ahh the good ole days, and I am only 24 ::Laughs::

 

[RaspberrySwirl]

m.e. wrote:

Raspberry-

You're the kind of person I wish we had around for the teens in youthgroup. You know, an adult that actually thinks teenagers areokay. There just aren't enough people like you

Thanks

Oh! m.e. what a sweet thing to say! I miss all thosekids so much! Most of that gang graduated last May and I don'tgetto see them so much. I sawsome of them at thefootball games this fall. A lot of them went with us to the lake quitea bit during the summer, but the good'ol days of seeing themdaily are gone. I'm learning to love a new gang almost asmuch (the next group ofupcoming graduates)but thatone held aspecial place in my heart. I do love teenagers! I'mswitching to a new computer tonight so I don't have access to my photofiles, but I'll have to show you a few of our lake pictures. They willmake yousmile!

Raspberry

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

You look like the coolest mom Raspberry!

Of course, my parents don'tdo that type of thing and it's meactually, lol. I'm actually a bit anti-social, I hate groups of peopleand don't make friends well. But those pictures look like so much fun!

 

[pamnock]

Awesome photos!

Pam

 

[RaspberrySwirl]

MyBunnyBoys wrote:

You look like the coolest mom Raspberry!

Of course, my parents don'tdo that type of thing and it's meactually, lol. I'm actually a bit anti-social, I hate groups of peopleand don't make friends well. But those pictures look like so much fun!

Laura, you just have to be pulled into an odd group like ours! :dude:

Raspberry

 

[Jems]

I agree with you Raspberry. Kids are atmy house all the time. Kids from all over the neighborhoodcome knocking starting at around 7 am and it doesn't stop untilbedtime. I have always welcomed my kids friends over becauseI feel that if they are at home I know what they are doing and whothier doing it with. My kids are only 14 and 12 but now thatthey are getting older I figure if they are at home I know that theyare not drinking, doing drugs etc. We also talk openly aboutthese things even with thier friends and why they should not do them,the harm they can causeand what-not.

My youngest son has turned his bedroom into a mini basketballcourt. Some people think I'm crazy for letting him playb-ball in the house. I say he's home, he's being good and ifthat is what it takes to keep him busy then hey-I'm all forit. He's not sitting in front of the tv, he's not out doingwho knows what.

I bet just about every tree in my yard has been made intoa'cabin' at some point or other, and my front lawn is a 4-wheeler/dirtbike track in the summer. The neighbors get cranky because mylawn is not up to thier standards but I figure they are only kids onceand hey-they could be doing worse. So if every kid in theneighborhood is riding dirt bikes and 4-wheelers around my frontlawn-GREAT!! I know where they are and when they are gone Ican have my lawn back to re-grow grass, plant flowers etc.The noice will stop and the dust will settle all to soon.

Jen

 

[RaspberrySwirl]

Jems said "I have always welcomed mykids friends over because I feel that if they are at home I know whatthey are doing and who they're doing it with."



That's my philosophy too Jems!



Raspberry