5.16.2012

Spring Forward

This is the last season (ha! pun intended) of the When I Was a Child series, where we talk about the things that we remember loving from when we were children, season by season. If you haven't already, take a look at Summer, Autumn and Winter. This series was inspired by Lisa.

My Birthday: I am not really one to make a big deal out of my birthday now, but when I was a kid, I loved it! As you can see, even on my first birthday, I was excited to blow out the candles on my cake (also, apparently my parents just plopped me down in the dirt with a cupcake and called it a day!) 


Earth Day: We used to plant a tree each year for Earth Day. I know we kind of resemble the Beverly Hillbillies or some other kind of redneck in this photo, but I swear, we are helping the environment. We did NOT just bury a body in the backyard, contrary to what it may look like. I believe that is a lilac bush. Side note: those three little boys? They were pains in the $%! It was me against them most of the time. Luckily I have the pickaxe and they are armed with mere shovels.


School: Spring was a time of wrapping things up, field trips, year end trips to the pool, science fairs and other fun kinds of things. I actually enjoyed school a lot as a child. I went to a small school and the hands on environment, coupled with the freedom to learn at your own pace, was great! (side note: I was also in style. Note the color blocking and the red pants. I was 25 years ahead of my time.)

I still have that award. Cough, hoarder, cough.

Baseball: Who doesn't love baseball? I had the time of my life and met some of my best friends by playing baseball. Plus I got tan legs.


Family trips: We used to get in the motor home and drive...to the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Death Valley...and more. It was a lot of fun. We got to get out of school and usually only had to write a report on what we learned on our vacation as homework. It was great! This photo is of my grandparents in Yosemite.


Playing chicken: We lived near the river. This river gets fed from the snow runoff from the Sierra Nevadas. Each spring we would play a game of "chicken", aka who could get in the freezing cold water first. I won a few of the years and lost on others, but generally the victor would be sussed out by March or April. I don't play that game anymore. That water is still pretty cold in the dead heat of summer.

What fond memories do you have of the springtime when you were a child? Did you like school? Did you have any pesky younger (or older) siblings?

10 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh you made me laugh in this post. It does look like you are up to something suspicious in the photo with the shovels! Too funny. And look at you, you trend setter, with your color blocking. You were clearly ahead of your time. ;)

    Well you saw my fond memories from spring when I did my post a while back. I LOVED school. Absolutely loved it. And I was the pesky younger sibling. I just wanted my older sister to play with me and she just wanted me to disappear!!

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  2. and here I thought you finally remembered to change the clocks.

    Spring was always my mom's favorite, but I never cared for it too much. In SC, it meant the heat was back and it was the dread that came before summer. But it was also nice to plant a garden.

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  3. That shovel and pickaxe photo NEEDS some kind of babysitter-threatening caption!

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  4. I loved school and science fairs and field trips so much. I was not athletic as a child but did play softball and other games... volleyball was my favorite, I think.

    I lived in Calgary and we had real winter there... Spring was the best as it was the promise of Summer to come. Budding trees, blooming flowers and high water in the rivers from the snow melt in the nearby Rockies.

    Nice post, Kyria... love your pictures!

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  5. I love these old photos! We used to go on road trips every year with my family, which is something I remember fondly.

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  6. Those are some cute kids :) I was totally going to comment on your color blocking until I read further! Honestly that would be so vogue now!
    My spring memories vary by where we lived. In Michigan we would get so excited to go outside when there was finally no snow. We'd take the little babies to the park and be gone all day until my mom would send out a search party consisting of my dad or whichever kid was home sick at the time!

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  7. I love all these photos of you when you were young!! Based on the coloring, we must have grown up in the same decade. ha! I'm not sure I really had any special springtime memories, though I have plenty of memories of the pain in my ass, also known as my younger brother. All I can say is I'm very thankful we've both matured and get along quite well as adults!

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  8. Love this! The picture with the shovels is awesome.

    What?!? You don't make a big deal about birthdays? I super love birthdays and half birthdays and we even celebrate the birthdays of our pets. One of my dog's bdays is this weekend :-)

    Thanks for the giggle today.

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  9. Fun! I actually liked school but was always glad for summer vacation to come around. Yes, I have an older brother who used to drive me crazy! Now, we get along better:)

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  10. We used to go to Yosemite all the time as a child. I have such great memories of seeing all the bears, the waterfalls, and camping. My parents once had their face licked by a bear while they slept outside under the stars. Thankfully, the bear didn't hurt them.

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