A Few Words About Summers

Over the years, our summer activities varied. Dance lessons and competitions went on every year. Several children were in Little League and All-Stars. Other activities included Bible schools at Irvington churches, 4-H and the County Fair, Summer Reading Club at the Library, Summer School, Happening Day Camp at the park, Tennis, Movies at the Library, getting free books at the Bookmobile, and a few field trips here and there.
Most of these things were free or at a nominal cost, great for the budget!

I kept track of everything by taking the pages for June, July, and August from a calendar that had decent-sized day spaces, and affixing them to a poster board(s) so that it appeared as one big calendar. I put it up in a prominent place where we could easily check it, and filled in the particulars as I acquired the schedules and information.

Swim lessons were a large part of our summers. I sat at Ellenberger Park Pool for 1 or 2 hours a day, five days a week, for usually 2 three-week sessions, every summer for at least six years. I wanted all my children to learn to swim. We took the children swimming in the evenings, and week ends so that they could practice. Those evening swims cooled all of us off and helped us sleep better.
I told them that I would take them to McDonald's or for ice cream if they would float, or back float, or do whatever skill was needed to get into a more advanced group. Once those milestones were passed, they could go on to the next phase. I made sure they stuck it out through "group 4", the survival test, high dive, and so on, so they could get a Red Cross certificate.
At Ellenberger, it was my suggestion that at the end of the session of swim lessons, the pool would hold a "Family Swim", so that all of us moms could take a cool dip(it was HOT on that cement every day), and the children could show off all they had learned! Dads, grandmas and grandpas could come too! There was plenty of "Look at me!" and "Look at what I can do!" to be heard.....

The children played outside.....we moms had our get-togethers outside...and many times we packed up drinks and popcorn and enjoyed movies at the drive-in! Plus there were sometimes vacation trips, and we went to the Indianapolis Zoo or the Children's Museum!

There were several summers when we were able to get free lunch at the pool after the morning lessons. What a great deal that was for me, especially when I was babysitting three extra children!