Monday, June 10, 2013

Favorite Childhood Summers - Part 1

Our Summer Beach Party continues! If you've missed all the fun, check the links below to see what you missed last week.

We’re adding more to the Beach Basket Extravaganza this week!

WEEK 1:

  • 42-quart plastic tub to fill with goodies all summer long!
  • 2 extra-long beach towels
  • 1 pair of fun sunglasses to bring some bling to the beach
  • A festive photo album as a reminder to capture all those summer memories
  • $50 Visa gift card
  • Paperback AND digital copies of Stalking Willow by Fay Lamb and Destiny Defied by J.A. Marx

WEEK 2:

  • $50 Darden Restaurants Gift Certificate (can be used at any Bahama Breeze, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, or Seasons 52)
  • Giant Beach ball
  • Fun inflatable Air Mattress for swimming
  • Beach Badminton set
  • Paperback AND digital copies of A Familiar Shore by Jennifer Fromke and For Such a Moment by Marie Wells Coutu


This week, we’re talking about our childhood summers. Long, sun-filled days overflowing with games, laughter, fresh foods, and new adventures. Evenings filled with fireflies, star-gazing, and learning to distinguish between the sounds of frogs and crickets. I long for those days again at times, what about you?

Readers, share with us some of your favorite memories of childhood summers.

This week, our authors will share some of their favorite childhood memories. I love getting to know our authors more with all these answers! Be sure to check out their books, too - all the links are over to the right. And click on their names below to visit their websites and blogs.

We're having a summer sale on all the digital books, and even on several of the print books too, so now's a great time to stock up or try someone new. You may discover a new favorite author - or more!

Authors, share with us your favorite memories of childhood summers.

Photo courtesy of Fay Lamb
FAY LAMB - The summer I turned twelve years old. As Stephen King said, in Stand by Me: “You’ll never have friends like the friends you had when you were twelve years old. It was the first summer I spent at my grandmother’s house in Louisa, Kentucky. I was a shy backward kid whose doctor ordered me to Kentucky to de-stress, and one neighbor girl asked me if I wanted to play kickball. I joined in with several kids in the neighborhood, but she and I were inseparable for several summers after that, and I’m still friends today with her and several others.



MARIE WELLS COUTU - the summer before I went into 7th grade, when my family traveled from Kentucky to Niagara Falls, and through Canada, visiting Toronto, stopping at a so-called “ghost” town, and on to Sault Ste. Marie (I especially liked the name), Mackinac Island, Detroit, in the process seeing all 5 Great Lakes. It involved a lot of car time, but it was my first time out of the U.S., with many memorable experiences.

DEANNA - All my summers were great growing up: Vacation Bible School, Scout camp, my first summer jobs, riding bikes, eating popsicles, picnics in the park downtown, building secret clubhouses. All of it was wonderful. The freedom children today don’t know.

Don't forget to sign in to Rafflecopter for your chance to win the ever-growing Beach Basket Extravaganza!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Beach Party Bingo
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 1
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 2
Let's Play Bingo!
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 3

3 comments:

Cindy Regnier said...

This is a great blog. Loved reading about Fay!
My favorite summer activity was spending time on my grandparents' farms in the Kansas Flint Hills. The stories I write are all set there. Such a rich heritage.

Linda said...

I can't remember a bad summer growing up in Alexander Valley just outside of Healdsburg, California. We were a short walk from awesome swimming holes in Maacama Creek, cool Redwood groves, and prune orchards to run amok in. It was a paradise for any kid.

Tracy Ruckman said...

Cindy - going to my grandmother's was the best part of the year!

Linda - Alexander Valley sounds like someplace I'd love to hang out. Wow.