I can't put this in any particular order because they are all some of my favorite or missed things from childhood.
Ah, MASH! If you are a female, you know this game well and it needs no explanation! However, on the off chance that someone hasn't heard of this game, I'll explain. This is where (as young girls) we would have the opportunity to marry any guy we wanted, drive any car, live in any type of house. Of course, you didn't get to PICK, that would be too easy! You drew the little, hypnotizing circle (or whatever shape you desired, some simply drew tallies.) After counting the lines, proceed to count down the list that number of times and begin marking things off. It was a game of chance. (But when you get to pick the possibilities, who cares what you get!) If you live in Paris and drive a Mercedes, marry the man of your dreams, who cares if you live in a Mansion, Apartment, Shack or House???
The convenience store near where I lived (1 of only 2!) carried these for the longest time. My sister and I loved them! You could get them in a variety of flavors and we thought we were cool drinking out of the glass bottles! I think they still make them but I haven't seen them since. And let me just say, the Clear American's or whatever it is that walmart sells, do not compare!
I lived about 5 minutes from this wonderful place! Of course, it wasn't anything near what it is now! And it didn't cost nearly as much as tickets today cost ya! But it still wasn't cheap, by any means. Needless to say, you stayed as long as you could stand the heat! And the sunburn was almost always worth it! They give out free soda's and sunscreen now...where was that when I was visiting as a child??
Oregon Trail-the game that we all wanted to play...well, while at school anyway! I wasn't one of those children that was lucky enough to come from a family that owned a computer as soon as they came out! Or even in the years that followed. Of course, we lived in the country and when you got the wide open country, who needs computers?? Which brings me to my next memory...
The tire swing! We had a huge tree in our yard that dad somehow managed to get a tire swing into. To this day I don't know how he got up in that darn thing! (Maybe the tree was bigger while I was shorter??) We had so many good times there. And only a few, not so good. ;)
Oh, the wonderful slap bracelets! I had welts endlessly. I thought I'd have them forever! Now, why did they stop manufacturing these things? You can still get them on certain sites, retro sites in particular...I don't recommend them if you have small children. Ah, who am I kidding?!?! Of course I recommend them! They made the list didn't they?!?!? :)
One of the most achieved successes as a child would have to had been mud pies in mom's pots and pans! Dirt+water+grass & rocks= an ultimate array of mud pies! My sister is only 13 months younger than me. We did EVERYTHING together as kids. She was (and is) my very best friend. Being in the country, this was most definitely a favorite!!
Mega Maze! I couldn't find a picture of it. But it looked very similar to this one...only bigger. I have been told it was also called Fun Island...but we always called it Mega Maze. Tons of fun....until you got lost so many times the staff had to come find you to help you out.
Lincoln State Park was and still is a very popular place. You could go swimming, camping, rent paddle or rowboats, go hiking. Many times there were basketball or church camps held there. Among these things that I've already listed, you could tour the place that Abraham Lincoln lived as a young boy. Many field trips were taken to Lincoln.
And the last thing that I love now but didn't know then was the unknown. I didn't think about crime and death rates. I had the whole world at my fingertips. (Or so I thought back then!) When you live out in the boondocks in the middle of nowhere, the only the you HAVE to do...is nothing. Wander, explore, learn, have fun...and that's just what we did!
*All photo's courtesy Google Image Search*
Ahhhh those are some of my favorite things, too. I also miss the hand clapping games like Miss Mary Mack. And I really miss the feeling of invincibility. As a kid you have no sense of your own mortality.
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