Bicycles, Skates and Hula Hoops

For some reason unknown to me I have been thinking of the childhood pastimes of my youth. Maybe it's because Taya's family got bikes this year.  There is so much video game technology in the homes and apparently my subconscious is in high gear. For whatever reason in the early morning (I don't want to wake up) hours, I find my dreams/memories going to the days of childhood play. Sadly, I have no pictures of my roller skates, hula hoop or bike, but found some similar pics on the web to use.

Some of the things I remember:

Riding my bike everywhere. It was what they now call a beach cruiser. A Huffy, green and white. I rode to friend's houses, to the grocery store, to the ever popular A&W Rootbeer Stand that was a couple of miles or so from my house in Chandler. Most of the time with friends. There were no helmets or knee pads. Kidnapping wasn't as prevalent, I didn't even wear shoes most of the time. I rode to my friend Nancy's house and all over Chandler. Of course it was a much smaller city then than now. I remember after moving to Mesa, riding to the (now gone) Dog & Suds for a hot dog and a rootbeer. , to my friend Marilyn's house and there were various and many other friends houses as well. I loved riding my bike because it got me where I wanted to go faster than I could walk. I loved riding my bike because I could go really fast and feel the wind rushing by my face. Look Ma, no hands. Yep, did that too. Bikes are great. Kids should spend more time on them.

I had a brief but passionate affair with the hula hoop. As much as I loved hula hooping, I just wasn't very good at it. I can still remember entering a City of Chandler Hula Hoop Contest (I must have been about 8). I thought I was going to win the day. I thought I could keep that hoop going forever. Wrong. I was one of the first ones to disqualify by my hoop falling down to the ground. So disappointing. I reserved my hula hooping to the back yard.

Speaking of the back yard. When we lived in Chandler, we lived next door to my Uncle Max and Aunt Carolyn. Since our parents were related, and built the houses about the same time, there was no fence between our back yards. Just one, big, two house size back yard. I loved that. I could run over to my cousins house right out the back door anytime I wanted. That house is still there. It remains in the fond memories of both Nana and Papa as an all time favorite. Nana would talk about it often and kept a set of builder's plans for it. Papa still talks about it, and we drive by now and then to see it. 800 W. Tyson St. in Chandler. Good memories.

Now about the skates. Roller skates. No in-line wheels or boots to put on. Just adjustable skates with yes, a key to tighten them onto our shoes. Where were the helmets and knee pads back then? I could have used them. I remember being so determined to learn how to balance and skate on wheels. I would go out every day after school to practice and learn. I did master the forward motion, not falling down and I could do a great u-turn, but beyond that was not in the cards. I never learned to backwards skate or do any tricks. Oh well. I still had a lot of fun skating around the hood.

Some of my other pastimes were the still popular Barbie Dolls, I had a larger doll I called Revlon and I loved (but never had) the then popular Betsy McCall doll. Those are all a topic of their own.

Hopscotch was a fun game and I did love jacks. I would play both of those with and without friends around for hours. I was pretty good at jacks, but never competed in any contests. (memories of the hula hoop no doubt.) I still have a set of jacks somewhere. I have been known to buy them once in a while for no good reason. It would be a cold day in H@&& before I would/could sit on the floor with knees folded to play jacks. I buy them just the same. I loved the "superballs" when they first came out. They were yellow and had such a great bounce.

All great memories and I'm glad I played outdoors. Outdoors is a good place to play in.