What is one of your happiest childhood memories?

I have so many happy childhood memories, I've forgotten more than I remember, but staying with one set of grandparents was the best!

I was always boss, and of course got spoiled rotten.

However, with that said, I remember the many sleepovers we girls did, under the stars in the backyards of neighbourhood friends places, in the likes of tent trailers and tents, what fun that was!

But wait, there's more... summertime and wintertime never fails to bring back happy childhood memories for me. The end of June meant school was out for summer, and I still remember those days well! With the arrival of summer each year, I can still smell that summery scent in the air, the same scent that I smelled as a kid, there was excitement in the air, a buzz of happiness like no other, cleaning out ones school desk and dashing home as fast as you could to start enjoying a summer all to yourself!

Then came Christmas holidays, where the schools would shutdown for a week and a bit. It was always snowy and cold, there was a build-up and lead-up to the last day of school before the holidays, watching the clock on the wall hour-after-hour in anticipation of hearing that school bell go off, then bundling up and darting out of the school doors for home as fast as we could. Christmas holidays, yay!

Too... I also remember how excited I'd get over the birth of baby siblings. As newborn as they were, mom would load them into the baby carriage and me being the big sister would take them out for carriage and stroller rides, showing them off to neighbours in passing.

Gosh, happy memory after happy memory.
 
Packing a picnic lunch and meeting my best friend's family at the beach across from Sea Island Airport. Mom would sit on a blanket and crochet while we splashed around in the water. There was my friend and her younger sister, and me and my younger brother. We only lived a few blocks from one another.
 
Summer time and school was out. Getting a flat top haircut and playing soldier in the woods. Climbing the mountain to a reservoir and fishing using a branch from a tree as a pole and grasshoppers for bait. Being tanned and sweaty all day long. Walking to the river to swim.
 
When I was in grade 2 , our class had a field trip planned to go to the Woodbridge Racetrack to watch the horses. At the time my mom wasn’t working. That came about later on in the year.

That day I was really nervous about getting on the bus. I had social phobia at a really young age so my mom walked me to school. Something she never did. It was wonderful.

We got to the school where I discovered I was late. The entire bus was waiting for me. When it was time for her to go back home, I started crying so the bus driver asked if she wanted to go with us and my mom agreed.
I was so happy to sit with my mom on the bus.

When we got to the racetrack and it was time to get off the bus, my mom said she couldn’t cause she ripped her pants. I’m not sure how true this was but they wouldn’t let me stay with her so my mom stayed on the bus with the bus driver the entire day. For some reason this memory gets me choked up. She sacrificed her safety & comfort for me that day. I really do love my mom.
 
When I was four we went to visit my father's parents on their farm in Virginia. Very early one morning, my grandfather woke me up and carried me outside to the hatchery building. He made me keep my eyes closed until he said I could open them and he sat me down on the floor. I opened my eyes and the floor and some wide shelves on one side were covered with baby chicks. And then, I was covered with baby chicks.

I've never forgotten being in four year old girl heaven. 🐣🐤🐥
 
My brothers and I would be all ready with our swimsuits and towels for when my dad got home from work. We would pile into his little Volkswagen bug and go to the little beach not far from home. After we would stop at A&W for a mug of frosted root beer and then home. Mom got some time to herself. Of course we were starving so making supper probably wasn’t the most relaxing time .
 
I have so many fond memories of my childhood, and I was remembering this one the other day.
It involves a big red and white stripped umbrella.

When we were younger, would go to Santa Cruz for 2 wks. My dad would drive us over there, stay the wknd, then drive back to work. My sister always got to bring a gfriend or 2. (my brother must hv loved that lol)

Anyway, we'd walk down this hill to the beach...and there'd be that big red/white umbrella!
My mom really made it easy for us kids to be able to find her, and there we would stay for a few hrs.

Smart lady.
 
Having my father come home from WWII (Pacific theater and occupation), take me to the local airport in a jeep, strap me into the front seat of a PT-17 (open air biplane that was a primary trainer) and give me my first airplane ride. That my mother was less than happy or thrilled was also memorable and lasting.
 
Going to a large and diverse park with my father in the fair summer evenings where there was a playground, a lake to sail toy boats in, a hillside strewn with large boulders to clamor over and hide around, and a stadium from the upper reaches of which a rubber band propelled balsa wood airplane might soar for hundreds of feet. Afterwards, there was usually a Good Humor truck in the parking lot from which my father would buy the two of us an ice cream treat! Simple but much appreciated pleasures from a time long gone forever preserved in memory...
 
The best memory was Christmas Day when I was four or five. I was still believing in Santa, so Xmas was magical. I know this is going to sound bad, but that Xmas was the only one, where every present was exactly what I wanted. No lousy Xmas underwear, or clothes. I got a bunch of presents. And each was better than the last. I got a wooden boat that shot plastic bombs (that toy would be banned today, little swallowable plastic parts). a farm set (tiny plastic parts), a battery toy car. And it snowed. I remember breakfast tasted great. My mom cooked a big turkey dinner. And in the evening, we got in the car and drove around looking at all the Xmas lights, The whole day, everything just meshed into a happy magical day.
 

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