Although it isn’t officially summer, we’re going to do a little flashback Friday and share some of our childhood summer memories.

Donni

Down down baby, down by the roller coaster
Sweet sweet baby, I’ll never let you go

It’s been about six years since I spent a full summer in Charleston. But the heat, humidity and afternoon thunderstorms are everything but forgettable. As a child I spent many of my summer days at my grandmother’s house on James Island, less than five miles away from Folly Beach. One of my aunts lived there with her two children and served as my grandmother’s caretaker.

Shimmy shimmy cocoa pops,
Shimmy shimmy pow!
Shimmy shimmy cocoa pops
Shimmy shimmy pow!

My parents worked and so I would be dropped off there along with another cousin. So the four of us – two boys and two girls — spent just about every summer together. We didn’t go to the beach. We spent the days outside tying one end of a rope to a tree, and jumping rope with the other end in my cousin’s hand or playing handclapping games. The boys off doing their own thing away from the house or hold up inside playing Nintendo. Sometimes they’d let us play, mainly the bonus rounds in Super Mario and we’d all take turns blowing into the cartridges when the games messed up.  Nintendo later turned into Super Nintendo, which turned PlayStation.

Gramma gramma, sick in bed,
Called the doctor and the doctor said

When we were older My cousin and I would sneak into her brother’s room to play Tekken and Mortal Kombat – being careful to place his controllers back where we found them as not to get caught. That’s also where we would record songs of the radio on cassette tapes, being careful not to get the commercials at the beginning of the song.

Let’s get the rhythm of the head – ding dong
Let’s get the rhythm of the head – ding dong
Let’s get the rhythm of the hands – clap, clap
Let’s get the rhythm of the hands – clap, clap

My aunt gave us summer homework — I remember pages and pages of math problems — that we’d have to complete before going outside. And once you were outside you had to stay outside because 1) you couldn’t let the cool air out and 2) we smelled like “outdoors”.

Let’s get the rhythm of the feet – stomp, stomp
Let’s get the rhythm of the feet – stomp, stomp

At some point Monopoly became the group game. We were vicious and eager to bankrupt everyone. My favorite were the yellow properties. We only stopped for $5 Hot N Ready’s from Little Caesars and freeze pops.

Let’s get the rhythm of the – hot dog
Let’s get the rhythm of the – hot dog!

When the summer storms rolled in, my grandmother would make us sit in silence – in the dark. TVs were immediately turned off. Get too loud and you’d get popped with a switch.

Put it all together and what do you get?
Ding dong, clap clap, stomp stomp, hot dog!
Put it all backward and what do you get?
Hot dog, stomp stomp, clap clap, ding dong!

 

Ace

Walking to the corner store for chilly bears.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, a chilly bear is basically frozen Kool-Aid. The most amazing frozen Kool-Aid you’ll ever taste. One of the only things better than enjoying a chilly bear after walking in the heat, is searching under the couch for enough change to buy one. They were 25 cents.

Swimming lessons at the community center.

My mom and aunts thought it would be a good idea for all of us to take swimming lessons together–all 15 of us. I still know how to swim, so maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. (Except for that one time we caused a mini riot when my cousin got in a fight.)

Playing Red Rover in the grass while visiting our “country” cousins.

Red Rover, Red Rover send Cec on over! When I was a little girl, visiting family in Florence, SC was my Disney World. We’d play a ton of games outside before the streetlights came on, but Red Rover was always the funniest.

 

What are some of your favorite childhood summer memories? Leave us a comment below!

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