Favorite Childhood Summers - Part 3

The Beach Party continues. Thanks for your patience as we weathered a tornado and loss of power and internet for a few days.

Last week, we began talking about our childhood summers (Part 1, Part 2). And Ann Knowles provided a helpful blog on writing book reviews.

Today, we'll finish up the childhood summer posts, and we invite you to share some of your own memories with us! If you want to share a photo, send it to me at editor [at] writeintegrity [dot] com and I'll share them on our Facebook page!

Now more of our authors share their favorite childhood summers:

Maria (Mariska) and J.A.

J.A. MARX - Estes Park, CO, where the population fluctuated by the millions. During the winter, we claimed about 5,000 residents (’70s). But once summer hit, we swelled to a million, and not all were tourists. Many were families who’d bought second homes so they could escape the sweltering south.

Several of those families lived in my neck of the woods (literally). My parents were both real estate brokers and therefore knew every resident in the development. They had become good friends with the Peers who lived just over the hill. Lucky for me, the Peers’ grandchildren routinely visited from California. The youngest, Maria, and I played every summer throughout our grade school years.

My favorite thing to do was put together performances for our families. We did great during rehearsals, but when show time came, Maria giggled our act out of business. Talk about frustration! I don’t recall us completing a single performance.

Maria apparently gained some confidence during secondary schooling because every once in a while I catch her, Mariska Hargitay, playing Olivia on Law and Order, SVU.

Maybe today we could pull off a decent performance—without her tittering. She definitely made my summers memorable.

PEGGY CUNNINGHAM - My grandparents owned a summer home in the country. My times with them are by far my most wonderful memories of my childhood. They would take me with them on weekends, and most of my summers were spent at this place we called The Farm, even though it wasn’t a farm––more like a setting from a storybook. My collie dog, Nellie became my best friend as we hiked through the woods and the meadows daily. My grandparents cooked the most delicious Italian meals, and relatives visited on the weekends. My cousins also stayed with us at times, and family bonds were cemented at The Farm every summer of my childhood.

STEPHANIE CRAIG - It's hard to remember what summer of my childhood was the greatest.  While in elementary school, they all were great.  We had a swimming pool, the only one in the neighborhood, so all the kids wanted to be at our house during the summer.  We rode bikes, had sleepovers, and played backyard games.  My family never took any summer vacations, but I never felt like I missed out on anything because spending time with my friends in my backyard was better than a vacation.

VICKI TIEDE - My childhood summers all blur together as they were all much the same. We lived in the country only 3 miles from town, but you would have thought we were 20 miles out. We would say "goodbye" to our school friends on the last day of classes and wouldn't see them again until the fall. Our days were filled with wild, imagination-filled adventure on the farm, camping in a pick-up camper, walking beans, often painting something (fence/barn/etc.), 4-H, and the county fair. I loved every minute of it.


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Beach Party Bingo
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 1
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 2
Let's Play Bingo!
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 3
Authors' Childhood Summers - Part 1
Authors' Childhood Summers - Part 2
What is a Book Review?