I was driving home form work the other day and drove past a elementary school and saw that they had a sign about summer vacation in the next few weeks.

As I was reading that sign, I started thinking of all the great times I had during my summer vacations in the early 90's. I am 32 years old now and I know no matter how much grown up fun I will have this summer, I will never have as much fun as I did when I was 10 years old.

I also started to think that I see less and less kids playing street hockey and basketball, less kids riding their bikes or just walking around. Its really sad that technology has really made outdoor activities extinct for the younger generation. Why go out and play hockey when the newest NHL is available in full HD on a 70' TV.

Instead of continuing to complain about how lazy kids are these days, I will instead go through some of my favorite summer vacation memories from the years past.


1. STREET HOCKEY

"CAAAAAARR" was what we always hated saying as a car would be driving through the street and we would all have to stop and move out of the way and also move the goalie nets so the car could get through. This was such a great time. Since we did not have any cell phones, we would gather a few friends up and knock on peoples door to see if they are home and would want to play. We would always do pick up sticks to see who would be on which team. This was always one of my favorite summer activities as we would always pretend to be our favorite hockey player. I always played goalie and since I am from Vancouver BC, I would always pretend to be Kirk Mclean.



I remember there was another group of kids that played a few blocks down and we finally had a big game against them. It was an epic event with 20 kids and man that was such a fun day. We ended up loosing and got into a fight with them. I remember scraping my knee up really bad. W never did play them again haha.

2. THE SCHOOL PLAYGROUND

Have you noticed you don't see kids at playgrounds anymore. Sure you see much younger kids with their parents but kids around the age of 10-13 years old are never there anymore. Too many electronics to distract them.

Meeting at the playground at the local school was pretty much how the day started. Meet there, play basketball or soccer, go to the local corner store and grab chips and a slupree then just go back and hang around. You could spend the entire day just playing on the swings, playing on the field, going down slides or trying to run up the long ones and just basically being a kid. These days you get made fun of for playing on the playground if your past a certain age.


I loved being at the playground as the the evening started to arrive and you could see the sun start to go down. Even though we were young and did not have much life experience, I loved the talks I had with my friends about life and what the future would hold for us. I felt so big that I was able to stay out after dark. Made me feel so mature. I was a bit nervous when I had to walk home but I always had a friend with me and we would always walk half way and then go our separate ways. We always made a deal to call each other when we got home so we knew both of us got home safe.



3. SLEEP OVERS

Nothing brings back fonder memories from my childhood than sleep overs. You and a few of your friends had the night to yourself. It was especially awesome if the parents were out for most of the night. We would order pizza, play video games, watch scary movies, go for late night walks to the corner store, stay up all night talking and just having the greatest time of our lives. I remember one sleep over at my cousins house, he just got a Sega and had Sonic 2. We stayed up until 7am trying to beat it but never did. That was my record for staying up. I will never forgot that night.I must have drank 10 cans of pop and polished off bags and bags of chips and candies.




Well guys, don't want to make this too long so I will stop here. I hope reading this brought you back to some fond summer memories before internet, smartphones and social media. I would not give anything up for those memories I shared with my childhood friends. Some I still am friends with today but most are gone and I have no idea where they are. If by any chance one of you are reading this, I hope I reminded you of the simpler time in our lives where being a kid was not complicated. You could just be one.

Thank you. And BTW!!! Drinking water from the garden hose was the coldest water you could drink. ;)