By Eilene Lyon
The Slide Years is a series in which I select an image my dad took from 1957-1982 with Kodachrome slide film, then I write a stream-of-consciousness essay – a sort of mini-memoir.
We didn’t have many opportunities to visit grandparents when my brothers and I were growing up. I don’t know what Laurence and Clare Smith were like as parents, but they did pretty good at being grandparents.
They always had ways of providing little kids with a good time. As you can see, a kiddie pool was de rigueur. Grandpa took home movies of us running and splashing into it. We loved it when he later ran the film in reverse. Splash of water falls into the pool and a dry kid pops out – running backwards.
Grandpa also rigged up this rope swing you see Little Brother making use of. I think some years it actually had a tire, not a bag of sand. For other water fun, there was an outdoor shower-type of sprinkler to run through.
Grandma liked to cook us waffles for breakfast, which we loved. She had a carousel of small flask-like syrup bottles with a variety of flavors to choose from. Yum!
Myricopia 
I remember swinging on a bag of sand suspended from a tree branch. I’d forgotten about that. I like the house. It’s so simple by today’s standards.
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I recall the house being really bright and sunny inside. It had a warm feel. I loved all the cardinals. I’ve never lived where the cardinals do.
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There was a pancake house in Mexico City with a rotating selection of syrups at the tables, like you describe; my favourite was “the red one” (not even sure if it was supposed to be cherry or strawberry). Nice memories!
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Yes! Berry of some sort was definitely one of them.
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I think IHop had those, too, if I recall correctly.
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Such simple pleasures. No electronic devices. Just ourselves, the outdoors, and people we loved.
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Those were the days!
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Well-said, Amy! I had the same happy times with my family.
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What fun memories! I had wonderful grandparents too and miss them very much.
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Yes, at least we have our fond memories.
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Thanks for sharing yours! I enjoyed this very much.
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😊
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Looks fun! I loved paddling pools too.
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Kids and water go hand in hand – unless it’s bath time!
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Even then, plenty of bubbles to splash about in was appealing!
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There were some fun bath times, I’ll admit.🙂
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My little brother’s bath times resulted in water leaking through the kitchen ceiling and onto my mother’s radio due to “high seas.”
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😲😂
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People now buy those kiddie pools for their dogs! The sprinkler was always a big hit, never had a sandbag swing or a tire swing for that matter! Can see lots of joy in these pictures.
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Sterling lives to swim in everything except a kiddie pool! I wish I had one – he just showed up at the van covered in cow poop!
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Oh yuck!!
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😖
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I bet he was as pleased as punch!!
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Oh completely!
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This brings back memories of tire swings, sandboxes, monkey bars and the ice cream trucks.
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Yes, ice cream trucks! You also reminded me: Grandma and Grandpa liked to buy some really good locally-made soda in a variety of flavors that came in the cutest little bottles.
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We drank Malta. It was a malt beverage that, come to think of it, might have contributed to my fascination with beer when I got older. 🙂
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Aha. Never heard of it.
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I revisited it several years back. Eccch!
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Great idea for a post! I never see any little kids out playing on a slide or small pool anymore….they must be all inside!
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I think it was a bit unusual that we played in their front yard. Nowadays, I think all that sort of thing is relegated to the back yard where it’s presumed to be safer.
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Looks like you have some great memories there. You brought to mind the summer trips to my grandparent’s house in South Dakota. Their house doesn’t exist anymore, but it’s still my “happy place.” (It burned down sometime in the 80s — no one was in it at the time)
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What part of South Dakota? I have not been back to Little Rock since I was very young, so I have not seen their house. I expect I could find it on Google Earth if I look.
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Their farm was between Brookings and Watertown. I think the nearest town to them was Estelline.
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Same area my father’s family is from!
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Whoa! My family names are Jurgens and Hovey. I was born in Clear Lake (that was the nearest hospital)
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Not familiar with those names, but my dad’s uncles owned a dairy and later grocery store in Clear Lake. I visited the town in 2015.
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I have so many happy memories of playing at my grandparents’ house, and I’m glad you do too, even though it sounds like you didn’t get to spend as much time with them as I did with mine. My grandparents had about an acre of land, and it felt absolutely massive to me as a kid. My grandpa had a swing set for me, but I also loved hanging out in the clover patch trying to find a four leaf clover, and hunting for arrowheads in the dirt, since my mother claimed she found one once when she was little and threw it back because she didn’t know what it was. I never did find any, but I did amass a pretty decent collection of marbles that must have belonged to my mother or one of my aunts at one point.
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Those are wonderful memories, Jessica! I remember spending hours looking for four-leaf clovers. And I was always finding interesting things on the ground (maybe being closer to it increased the odds). Digging produced even more fun stuff. Kids today don’t know what they’re missing.
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I had an inexpensive metal detector that worked pretty well. I was sure I’d find buried treasure! I found a few coins–and a lot of junk–and enjoyed every minute.
The Slide Years is a great series, Eilene. I hope you have more slides and memories to share.
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Thanks for sharing your memories, too. I always wanted to play with a metal detector, but never have.
The slides are a bit limited in scope (Dad seems to have mostly gotten the camera out at Christmas and birthdays), so I may come up with a slightly different format. Check back next week.
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