Summer and Winter Games

                        

Childhood was a carefree time in many ways...and we had all the "old fashioned" games and toys that kids used to play.  My dad made us a pair of stilts and we got pretty good on walking on them.  We had a pogo stick and both of these became the favorite toys of the neighborhood.  
We played marbles and it was great fun to trade our "cat eyes" and "peeries." The big marbles were called "boulders;" that was the biggest trade of all. We used to play them in the driveway up against the garage.
I played with paper dolls with my two next-door neighbor girlfriends; we named the dolls and played with them for hours.
In the summer we had a lemonade stand and a cup of lemonade was five cents. 
We played tag after dinner in the summer and hide-and-go-seek until the streetlights came on.  One night I was running and hopping fences and I snagged the back of my leg on the sharp fence prong and ripped it right open.  I can still remember the pain!
One summer we put on a circus; I was always the planner of parties, clubs and the school teacher when we played school.
Oh, and roller skating....we had the old-fashioned kind that were metal and you put your whole shoe in them. You had a key that tightened the skates and I wore the key on a chain around my neck.  
In the winter my dad made an ice pond and faithfully went out every night and sprayed it with the hose so it would be nice and smooth for us.  My brothers played hockey and my friends and I practiced spins and twirls that we learned at the outdoor ice rink by our house.  The rink was at a golf course and in the winter we went sledding there and they had the outdoor rink where we watched older girls skate with ease.  Needless to say; one Christmas I got new ice skates. 
Those were the carefree days of childhood and I cherish the memories!