Sandbox Summer Stories #TBTStories

Summer is in full swing, and it is always fun to recall those lazy days of summers past. Of course, they weren't all lazy days - some of them were downright hectic! I did find some photos that remind me that some of the best days weren't spent on the go, but rather, barefoot in the yard making our own kind of fun.

I tried to instill my love of reading in my children from an early age, with varying degrees of success. I think some kids are born readers, and some are not. We did regularly participate in the library's summer reading program, and made weekly trips to the library as we completed reading goals. I had a library bag, and we checked out the same number of books each week. That made it easier to make sure we had all the books in the bag when it was time to return them.

In this photo, David and Andrew are doing a little reading in the hammock in my parents' front yard. They've kicked off their shoes and found a perfect spot to enjoy a good book. Jennifer must have been nearby, since I can see her sandals in the grass under the hammock.

Summer was also a good time to do some family reading, since schedules and bedtimes didn't need to be quite so strict. They always liked it when I read a chapter book aloud to them, either at bedtime or at rest time in the afternoon.

One of their favorites was The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks. There are three books in the series, and we enjoyed reading all three.

The books sparked the imaginations of the kids, who built their own Indian village outside in the sandbox. There were many hours spent in our backyard sandbox, involving, trucks, tractors, sticks and shovels. Many times there was water involved.

I love remembering those steamy days when the kids played together outside all day long. I sometimes even served a delicious PBJ lunch on the patio. While this photo looks peaceful, there were also times when a fuss or fight would break out. Unless there was blood, or a broken bone (it happens) I tried to let them work things out on their own. All part of learning to live and share and love on those sweet summer days of fun in a family.