I loved to go over to their house or have them over playing at my house. When we all got together we would play football, softball, hide and seek, freeze tag, Simon Says, Mother May I, Pickle--and there wasn't a tree in the neighborhood that we hadn't climbed or at least made the attempt--all the fun, active outside greatest games of all time!
Of all the games we played, freeze tag was my favorite. And I'm not sure why. Maybe it was the fact that we were all out there just running around like a bunch of wild things while our parents sat in lawn chairs chatting about whoknowswhat holding cigarettes in one hand and drinks in the other with the ice clinging against the side of the glass every time they took a drink or laughed hard surrounded by the off and on flashes of light from the lightening bugs and the summertime calling of the cicadas...
These were some of the most fun days of my childhood. Days spent with friends and family, outside, enjoying each other. Feeling good about ourselves and each other. Safe. Happy. It was great!
Maybe this has something to do with us having so many cookouts when the lovelies were coming along. The kids would run around like a bunch of wild things while we sat around chatting about whoknowswhat and laughing and watching the kids have fun while the cicadas called softly out--remember when...
This post is part of the NaBlogPoMo for May. The theme is PLAY! You can sign up until May 5th! Hurry before it's too late!
You have plenty of time to enter to win a quart of Tropical Traditions Gold Label Coconut Oil! Just go to yesterday's post which you can find HERE.
Outside is good for the soul and it wears those chldren out where they will sleep well.
ReplyDeleteI'd forgotton all about Freeze Tag! I also grew up in a neighbourhood with lots of kids to play with and freeze tag was one of my favourites too - that and Red Light Green Light.
ReplyDeleteGail- It certainly does. Now the secret is out. LOL
ReplyDeleteKara- I forgot about Red Light Green Light! That one was great too!
Betty- You know your lovelies will! They had such a marvelous role model!
I used to love freeze tag, too. I was going to mention Red Light, Green Light but Kara beat me to it. :) Even though we lived in the city, we still managed to play outside a lot - on the block, in the schoolyard, in the driveway, on the stoop. :)
ReplyDeleteI loved hide and seek. Especially when the others actually looked for me.
ReplyDeleteOh great games! I remember playing all of them - except Pickle (never heard of that one)! We also used to play kick the can and kickball. Street lights on, hoping our moms wouldn't call us in... love those old summer night memories.
ReplyDeleteSounds like my childhood at the beach too! If we just substituted jumping fences in between the houses with that tree climbing you did we did exactly the same thing! Gosh Pam those were the day's weren't they? Runny wild playing tag without a care in the world!
ReplyDeleteYes! We called it Frozen Tag but it's the same game, I'm sure. I loved playing any kind of tag. Those were different times all right. People actually talking to each other...imagine that! Kids outdoors and running like wild things...imagine that!
ReplyDeleteThis brings back fun memories. All the cousins getting together and playing freeze tag, red light green light, captain may I, red rover red rover, and if it was raining: Well, then we were indoors in a dark room telling ghost stories, scaring ourselves to death. lol
ReplyDeleteThose are very nice memories. I could smell the sound and hear the ice clinking in the twilight.
ReplyDeleteI could even smell the tang of the cigarettes. I have those same memories of playing tag and climbing trees.
It sounds so nice and I guess we did live in a special time.
So glad you shared. It really brought back very nice parts of my childhood.
In our neighborhood, after sundown the game was Kick The Can and the entire neighborhood was in. Our parents didn't sit around and watch, but they always knew what was up, because every so often the sound of the can going off alerted them that the game was still ON!!!! Great times:-)
ReplyDeleteHaven't you ever been tempted to join in when your kids are running around like a bunch of wild things?
ReplyDeleteWOW! I haven't thought of freeze tag is years!...:)JP
ReplyDeleteMMS- One of my favorite things about kids- with that imagination, they can play anywhere!
ReplyDeleteMichele- I loved that one too. But they didn't always come looking for us. By they I mean the older kids. Butt wads. LOL
JB- Pickle is when you have two bases and two people throwing the ball with one person running between bases while trying not to get tagged by one of the kids with the ball. It was fun until the boys started aiming the ball at us. LOL
ReplyDeletejen- Absolutely! I love revisiting those days in my mind. Such a comforting memory.
Stephanie- It was great fun! I do wonder how many kids get out and play like that anymore. Around here, there are a lot of boys and they're outside all the time playing war. At least they're outside! :)
Judy- YES! Inside on rainy days telling ghost stories was such fun!
Kim- I'm glad you were able to get some good memories from this! I wish everyone had pleasing, comforting memories of growing up.
Robin- We never played kick the can but I bet it was big fun!
GB- We did often join them. We would act like monsters and they would run around screaming and fall down laughing!
JP- I thought of it because of the monthly blog theme of play. I'm glad I did- it brought back some great memories.
We didn't play freeze tag very often but we played kick the can and flashlight tag most of the time!
ReplyDelete