A Peek into My Childhood

I grew up in a wonderful family full of siblings. I am #7 of 8 children. The youngest daughter.
I love my childhood....full of memories. There was never a dull moment.
My earliest memory is trying to help my brother fix his bike and I ended up sticking my finger in the spokes of a spinning rear wheel. I had to be 3 or younger...because we were still in Georgia.
After that, my memories jump to my birthday in Florida. I remember receiving a Velcro wallet and inside were 4 quarters. I thought I was the richest person. In my mind I was. The bank still had gum ball machine that took pennies!!! Whaaaaa!! Yes, those were the good old days.

Today, while I watched my kiddos frolic in the lake, I was thinking of the different things I did growing up. No, we didn't go to the lake on a whim...or even run by a park. We woke up, did our chores, helped Mom with anything extra, and then went outside and played. We drank from the water hose when we were thirsty. We built tree forts. We played Cowboys and Indians, good guys and bad guys. We made our own slip n slide....only if we could find a tarp or piece of plastic. We even made our own pool. But before we ventured into the pool making business, we filled up these metal barrels that dad had in our back yard. Once filled up, we would jump into them. Only 1 or 2 kids would fit...but we made it work. We had contest on how long we could hold our breath under water.
And if the water got dumped out, we had to improvise. You see, we had well water and we couldn't run it dry. So, we would turn the barrel on it's side and see how long we could "walk the barrel". I'm truly surprised that we didn't ALL have broken bones  each summer. We were daredevils.
We would swing from vines...until they broke loose. Climbing trees was the BEST fun ever. We would play and play until we heard the infamous clapping hands. No, dad and mom never called us in for dinner. They just stepped outside and clapped their hands.
We didn't have a typical backyard. We had an orange grove on our property. So, plenty of room to run and play. We played from sun up to sun down (as long as chores were complete)

Yes, I had a pretty incredible childhood. I want my kiddos to have the same if not better.
No, I don't have an orange grove for them to play in...but I do have the outdoors. I live in East Texas. We have trees, lakes, parks, the list goes on........

So...that there was just a peek into my childhood.

-enJoy