Summertime Memories: Standing Under a Waterfall

I started to do a post about scheduling daily activities for your kids to keep you and them busy during the summer, but as I began, I remembered that I had some pictures from when J and I were kids that I wanted to include.  Looking through these pictures has brought me great joy and thankfulness that we were blessed to have been given a heritage of loving parents and grandparents who took the time to give us great summers–traveling, swimming, fishing, camping, and being with family.

So before I do a post about fun activities to keep your kids busy, here’s a nod to a lifetime of fun summer memories that inspire me to pass the same along to my own kids.  And I would also like to thank my Grandma Blake, a dutiful and thorough historian who took pictures of everything and probably gave me my love and appreciation for pictures and stories.  I love you Gram! (Must stop typing as onslaught of tears will ensue from nostalgia.)

All three of us had summer birthdays and our Grandma Tenny would come through with completely new outfits, including this awesome set of T-shirt and JAMS for all of us. 🙂

So cute!

Always safe with Mommy! I wish I had a picture like this with my Dad, but he was usually the photographer. 🙂

I’m going to have to find out if this was actually taken in Wisconsin. It looks like the jungle!

I love how Laura and I are obviously right in the middle of playing dress up.  Also, the illustration of why the home perm has gone a bit by the way side.

It’s no wonder my kids are crazy for water. Almost every summer picture of J was at the beach or lake! Addie does this with her tongue whenever she is up to mischief. Hmmm . .

I know this photo is very grainy, but we all look so happy that I couldn’t leave it out. This is my wonderful Grampa Blake. Oh how I miss him. I’ll always remember him like this. (Well, maybe not the checkered red swim trunks, but you know what I mean . . . .young, timeless, and strong.)

I love that his mom is giving him rabbit ears.  And I really love the glasses. 🙂

I seem really perplexed about why there are no fish on the hook. I remember this day like it was yesterday. We didn’t catch anything, but another man at the campground gave us some and helped us cook them over the fire. It was a perfect childhood moment, sitting out under the stars smelling the campfire smoke, eating fresh fish.

The best traditions last. We’re headed to the beach on Saturday with J’s family.  Hooray!

I’m not sure if it was the camping trip pictured above or another, but once we went tubing with my grandparents and cousins in a river that was quite cold. At the end, was a waterfall that many of the teenage tubers (not adolescent potatoes–just youth who’d been tubing) were standing under and shrieking with delight.  My Gram, always dauntless, said, “Do you want to go in?”   We all hesitated, knowing it would be freezing.  She went under and got totally drenched and shrieked like a teenager too.  Afterward, she emerged sopping wet from head to toe, laughing and saying, “You never know when you’ll get another chance to stand under a waterfall!”  That’s a pretty good philosophy and one that I’m going to try to remember with my kids this summer.  For some reason, I can be a bit of a curmudgeon who is more inclined to say no than yes (maybe that is my inner cheapskate), but standing under waterfalls is free.

This summer, I’m going to try to make memories for my children that are as precious as the ones I have.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll post some tips for scheduling.