Photo By kansasexplorer 3128

Whether we kept these critters hostage for a couple of hours or a couple of days, there was nothing like a summertime pet. We would catch them, call them our own, show them to our mothers, and they would promptly make us get rid of them. Maybe they lived outside or in your closet, a shoebox or a cage. Either way this was no ordinary cat or dog and you probably had no clue how to feed it. The following are just a few examples of the things my brother, sister, and I would have fun putting in captivity although we also did our fair share of catching other things like frogs, crayfish, and rolly-pollies.

Lightning Bugs

Photo By W P

A signal of summer for me, their magical flashing brought entertainment to warm nights. If you didn’t have the “traditional” jar, your hands worked just as well for capturing these flying critters. The fun in these guys was the pursuit of the capture. You would see the greenish glow in the distance, run up to where you last saw the flash, then look around for it until you could catch it (another flash usually gave them away). After catching more bugs than everyone else in the unannounced competition of “how many lightning bugs can you capture,” you’d set them free. I don’t think I ever kept them overnight, probably because I didn’t know what else to put in the jar to keep them happy.

Caterpillars

Photo By Michael (mx5tx)

This was my sister’s favorite thing to capture because you could make a cool home for them out of sticks, leaves, etc and if you were lucky, they would make a cocoon. Most of the time, the caterpillars emerged to be boring moths even though they looked fuzzy and cool. They were fairly easy to catch because they didn’t move very fast. Also it was pretty easy to know what to feed them. These were probably the pets we kept the longest because they require such little maintenance and could be kept outside in a special bug cage my sister had.

Anole Lizards

Photo By pellaea

Overall, Anole’s were the most fun not only to keep but to catch as well. It took a fast hand with no fear of being bitten. We had a certain bush in our yard where we would go look for them when we wanted something to do. Most of the time, they were too good at hiding, but every once in awhile we would nab them. A lot of lizards lost their tails thanks to us kids. They were cool to watch their colors change and they seemed like the closest thing to having a real pet. We usually kept them in a shoebox with some grass and branches of leaves. Feeding them was a challenge mostly because it was annoying to have to dig up bugs to feed them. After a couple of days my parents would become annoyed with our new pet and made us put it back into the wild. My dad liked the idea of having it eat the bugs in his yard rather than getting loose inside the house.

Box Turtles

Photo By Cotinis

Turtles were a bit rarer to come across, but we would find them every once in awhile. Catching them was a piece of cake once you did see one. They were fun to play with in the yard because they weren’t fast enough to get away. We’d set up obstacle courses and make them walk under our legs. It was also a pretty big deal to have one as a pet on our street. Every kid on the block knew when you were keeping a turtle and would come play with it. Once we made a pen for our turtle friend in the yard, other times we kept it in a box. We would usually end up releasing him back into the woods, but I think the one we had in the pen escaped.

How about you? What were your “pets” like?

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Photo By bbum

I don’t know about you, but the summers of my childhood were HOT. All you wanted to do was put your bathing suit on and have fun in the water. But there were some days that you couldn’t convince your mom to take you to the pool, so running through a cold sprinkler on your lawn was they only way to cool down. Good thing it was almost as much fun as going to the pool! We didn’t need “Crazy Daisies” or “Slip ‘n Slides;” we were happy with your average lawn sprinkler, and if dad’s wasn’t good enough, we’d go use someone else’s.

Step 1 was putting your bathing suit on and getting your towel out. Playing in the sprinkler was so spontaneous, no application of sunscreen or packing of snacks was required. If anything the only preparation needed was calling up your next door neighbor and seeing if they wanted to join in on the fun.

Photo By Today is a good day

Step 2 was setting up the sprinkler. Before water bans, my dad always had the sprinkler out and ready to go. There was nothing like the simple set up of rolling out the hose, twisting the faucet while hearing it squeak, and seeing the sprinkler come to life. We had a great sprinkler for the purpose of playing with (see the picture for reference) because it got you really wet and it moved.

Step 3 was running through the water. Sure it was cold, but more importantly it was exhilarating. There were different tactics you could use: standing in one place and getting wet, jumping over it, or playing “keep away.” The different things you could do with a sprinkler without getting bored still amazes me. It didn’t really matter what you did as long as your were staying cool and having fun, and I’m sure your parents had a great time watching you no matter what.

Eventually the grass would start sticking to your feet, you’d get tired of being cold, and the fun would come to an end. Not before getting one last slurp out of the hose though!

What’s your favorite memory of cooling down in the summer heat? We’re hoping to post summer memories all summer long so stay tuned!

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To highlight a few of our top posts check out:

Hanson

Bead Critters

Heads Up, 7 UP

You can also view a complete list of all the memories!

After four great months, we’ve decided to make some changes to the Y-kid starting in June. Instead of two posts a week, we’re cutting back to just one. Look forward to starting off your week right with a new post every Monday! You can also look forward to a new layout in the next couple of months.

As always, please let me know if you’re interested in writing a post and sharing your memory. I am also open to post suggestions!

Photo By foggiegee

The juice box of our generation wasn’t even a box. The futuristic aspect of Capri Sun juice pouches is what made them cool. The best part about them is that you can make sure you suck out every last drop. No matter the flavor, they have always come in the recognizable silver packets. Even though there have been other juices to come in the pouches, I don’t think any of them have been as popular.

I have recently heard people say “Man, I haven’t had a Capri Sun since I was a kid!” But I drink them all the time just for the novelty of feeling like a kid again. And the strange thing is… I like them more now than when I was little.

The Early Days

The first time Capri Suns made an appearance in my life was at the neighborhood swimming pool. One of the pool moms would bring frozen ones and let them float around the pool to let them thaw out. You’d just be swimming, watching them make their way around the pool wishing your mom had the notion to do such a thing. Looking back on it, she had the right idea. I feel like no pool trip is complete without Capri Suns.

Photo By Vicky TGAW

I don’t know if it was just because we were terrible at opening these or if the design changed, but it seems that while in elementary school, there was always someone at the lunch table who would punch the straw through the back of the pouch. It was annoying but funny at the same time. Capri Suns became more common at lunch with the popularity of Lunchables due to being packaged and sold together.

The thing I hated about Capri Suns was how the sugar conglomerated at the back of your throat and made it hard to swallow. I guess I’ve just gotten used to it, because I love drinking Capri Suns now.

“Cell Phones”

The only thing to do with a Capri Sun once you were done was to fold it half and turn it into a pretend phone. The straw made a good antenna  and if you had a sharpie nearby you could draw on the numbers. Everyone thought this was really cool because everyone dreamed of owning their own phone.

Commercials

And who could forget the cool surfers or rollerbladers that turned into liquid metal? With a motto like “liquid cool,” I could feel a cool breeze in the room as the commercial played across the TV screen. The commercials made me crave Capri Sun even when I wasn’t a fan of them.

With classic flavors like fruit punch, surfer cooler, and strawberry kiwi, and a wide variety of others it was (and still is!) hard to choose which kind to buy. What was your favorite flavor?

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Photo From listoftheday.blogspot.com

To his fans he was know as “JTT,” but what girl didn’t have a crush on him? This kid was pretty hot stuff; both as an actor and in looks. He was like the Zac Efron of the day. Two things in particular stand out about him: his gorgeous blond hair and the way he dressed. If you see his pictures from back in the the day he practically encompasses the “look” of the 90′s.

His last name is actually Weiss, but his name sounds so much cooler by replacing it with his brother’s middle name. What was it about him that made girls go crazy? He was no Hannah Montana, yet I felt like he was one of the few actors I could identify as a kid. I would definitely call him a child star.

Home Improvement

Randy from Home Improvement was Jonathan’s most well known character. Starting at the age of 10, he practically grew up on the show, staying on well into his teenage years. He was always getting into trouble but had an adorable grin that could get him out of anything.

Lion King

Photo From aveleyman.com

I believe JTT was born to be the voice of young Simba. The two were perfect for each other. He really brought life and spunk into a lovable character. I remember how excited I was to watch Lion King just because I knew he was going to be in it. It was cool to feel like you “knew” one of the actors who was voicing the characters. Even though there were other well known actors also in the film, I had know idea who they were at the time.  I personally believe that Simba wouldn’t have been as hot of a lion cub if Johnathan wasn’t his voice actor.

The Adventures of Pinocchio

This was a weird movie, and honestly the only reason I watched it was because Jonathan Taylor Thomas was in it. It was basically a live version of the story Pinocchio with Jonathan playing the complex animatronic wooden boy. You don’t see him until the end of the movie when the puppet turns into a real boy. Perhaps you remember the video cover which changed from puppet to boy depending on how you held it with its dual image “Magic Action Art.”

Today

A Y-Kid himself, Jonathan vanished into thin air in the early 2000s. As far as I can tell he hasn’t made any movies since 2006 and instead went on to study at Harvard and Columbia.  There were some rumors floating around that he was gay, but he denied them. There is no news of him being married so there is still hope for his fan girls. For a child star he turned out okay.

What are your favorite memories of JTT?

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Photo By roboppy

What was better than a pet dog? A dog that wasn’t real! it had all the benefits… you could feed it, play with it, and watch it grow. Whether is was a cheap imitation or a more popular brand, there was nothing that compared to that nurturing feeling you got from a digital pet. The goal was to keep it alive as long as possible and to help it grow into older stages. Unfortunately, death was difficult to avoid, and I never saw mine get very old. Other friends who were successful inspired me to keep trying, but eventually I lost mine (which was easy to do because of its size). Believe it or not, they are still around today!

Tamagotchis

First appearing in 1996, these Japanese key chains sold like hot cakes. This simple toy could keep a kid entertained for hours. With just three buttons on the simple egg shaped toy that fit in the palm of your hand, you could feed you pet, play games, clean up after it, check its stats, and connect with friends. They made little electronic noises to signify happy or sad. And they were so cute when they slept! Who could forget when McDonalds put toy Tamagotchis in their Happy Meals? The quality of these has definitely improved over the years after looking them up online.

Giga Pets

The first Giga Pets included the Bit Critter, Compu Kitty, Digital Doggie, and Micro Chimp. The name was much easier to say than “Tamagotchi” but didn’t sound nearly as cool. The concept was a the same, but with cooler things to have as pets. The graphics were better, but not by much. The toy in general was a much better quality, had more options, and better aesthetics. I remember having the Digital Doggie.

Time Consuming?

Teachers were smart and caught on to us having them at school and wouldn’t let you bring them. Little did they know they’d soon be having to deal with cell phones! Many of us put our trust in our parents to keep watch over them during the day only to come back home and find that our critter had died due to lack of attention. Our parent’s just didn’t understand the dedication that was necessary to keep these digital pets alive!

Which one did you prefer or which ones did you have?

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Photo By thejbird

Adults had their gum, and we had ours!

Remember the day you struggled to blow your first bubble? It was about as tough as learning how to whistle. Or what about the time you put gum in your sister’s hair? Maybe you were one of those kids who stuck gum under their desks at school. There are so many great memories that revolve around bubble gum, but what about the actual brands of gum that made these memories possible? The chewing gum of our childhood had a lot in common; most gums were cheap, colorful, and full of flavor.  While most lost their flavor quickly, they never lost their novelty.

Hubba Bubba Bubble Tape

Photo From whereaboutshereabouts

For six feet of gum, it sure didn’t last very long. It came rolled up in a round, brightly colored plastic container which allowed you to dispense the gum like tape. I can remember the distinct sweet smell this gum has, but I also remember it being very powdery (I guess to keep it from sticking together). The idea of having dispensable gum was awesome, and I always felt really cool having it. I hated sharing, but people always asked you for some. I never attempted chewing the whole thing at once, but I would like to try. If you were lucky you could get the mega roll with 10 feet of gum. If you’ve seen the commercials or advertisements, the container is a little person and the gum is a super long tongue, which is very accurate of what the product looks like.

Fruit Stripe

Photo By Thomas Hawk

I loved everything about this gum. The striped pattern on the sticks, asking people what color they wanted, and the memorable mascot. Each color was also a different, juicy flavor. I always referred to this as “Zebra Gum” as a kid and didn’t even realize it was actually called Fruit Stripe until now. Its kind of ironic that they chose a zebra, since it’s black and white, but I think that is what has made it memorable and successful. I feel like this encompasses the essence of a gum children can call their own while their parents chew Doublemint or Winterfresh.

Bubble Yum/Bubblicious

Photo By saba♫dija

Just thinking about the names of these gums makes me feel like I can’t breath. This gum was huge and would practically take up all the room in your mouth making you feel like you were drowning in it. None the less, it was delightful. The flavors were all really exotic sounding and supper juicy. It practically melted in your mouth with deliciousness as the taste triggered a gush of saliva. Since it was so big, my mom would split the piece in half with us. These were the best types of gum for blowing bubbles because when the bubbles popped, it was easy to peel off of your face.

Tiny Size Chiclets

Photo From victoryseeds.com

Even though this was more of a candy then a gum, everything about it was fun. The tiny pieces of gum resembled confetti, and the packet even looked like there was a party inside. You needed to eat a lot to make it resemble something that was chewable; it was always tricky keeping a little kid from swallowing them.  I loved pouring it out of the packet and seeing all of the bright colors. They come in green, orange, yellow, peach, and burgundy; the perfect color combo for a fiesta. Every once in awhile you can still find it, but the only thing it’s good for is the novelty. I was super surprised when I found out they made normal sized Chiclets, but the pieces weren’t nearly as fun to eat.

Double Bubble

Photo By Thomas Hawk

I love the name of this gum; I feel like it rolls of the tongue so easily while giving you the sensation of chewing a wad of it. The wrapping is what stands out to me. Not only is it bright and recognizable, but it makes you feel like your gum is a wrapped present. Unlike the soft gum, if you blow a bubble with this and it pops, it might be a bit difficult to get the gum off of your face since it’s pretty sticky. It has that distinct pink bubble gum flavor, but occasionally can be found in apple, grape, and watermelon. This gum makes me think of Halloween, Easter, and birthday parties since that was really the only time I would get it. Since you usually get a bunch of it at once, it is easy to keep adding new gum to the piece you are already chewing until you have a giant wad of nasty tasting gum.

Bazooka Bubblegum

Photo By The_WB

The novelty with this gum was that it came with a comic that featured “Bazooka Joe” in the wrapper. Some people collected the mini comics, but I always thought they were kind of pointless. Other than the comic, there wasn’t too much that was great about it because the flavor didn’t really stand out. The thing I remember the most is singing the song about Bazooka Bubblegum on the bus ride home from school. It is a story about a mother giving her kid money to buy things, but instead he spends the money on bazooka bubble gum until he chokes on it. Apparently there is also a dance. Read the full lyrics or get a quick taste:

Most of these gums are classic favorites that many generations have also enjoyed. Which gum was your favorite?

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Photo By jodigreen

Apparently, there is normal Four Square, and then the crazy version that I grew up with. The older I got, the more I realized that I had been playing Four Square wrong all those years as child. But since I haven’t played Four Square since elementary school, it has never mattered that much. It makes me sad inside when people have no recollection of playing Four Square the way I did because it made Four Square so much more exciting.

The Traditional Way

The way Four Square is normally played is on a square divided into 4 smaller squares. The sidewalks at my school were convenient to play on because the concrete was split up into perfect sized squares. Each person stands in their square and bounces a ball back and forth to the other players in an attempt to get them out. A player is out when the ball is hit incorrectly or bounces too many times in a square. Once the person is out, everyone rotates to a higher ranking. For example if player 3 gets out, player 2 moves into player 3′s square, player 1 moves into player 2′s square, and the first square is filled by someone waiting in line. The object is to reach the highest ranked square. This continues for as long as everyone is willing to play. Its good exercise if played correctly and can get highly competitive.

Unconventional?

We followed all of the same rules as the traditional method, but we spiced things up. I always thought it was the way everyone played this game, but apparently not. The highest ranked player was King, then Queen, Jack, and Baby (or Dunce) followed. I’m not sure how all of the spots were determined at the beginning of the game but it usually panned out in a sort of social hierarchy.

Photo By vissago

Whoever was King got to make the calls, therefore, there was more incentive to be King.  The King would make the call, and then play would continue accordingly until someone got out and then a new call would be made. Sometimes the King would just get tired of the call and would change it once he regained control of the ball. Since there was no real way to win Four Square, getting to be in power for a few short minutes could really change the whole entire day for a kid.

The thing about calls was that, if you didn’t know what all of the calls were you were at a disadvantage. I really only remember the names of the calls, but not what they did, so I used the help of the internet to refresh my memory:

Around the World

Once this was called, the ball would either go clockwise or counterclockwise around the square until either the King called “Peace”, a player broke the pattern, or a player got out.

Bus Stop

The King placed the ball in the middle of the court where all the lines intersected while calling out “Bus Stop” and all the players needed to place their hand on the ball. The last one to do so was out.

In another variation, all of the players except for the King would dash to the center of the court. Again, the last to reach the center would be out.

Cherry Bomb

This was probably one of the most memorable calls. The King would spike the ball hard into someone’s square making it difficult to pass the ball on. You can continue to slam the ball toward the ground with extreme force into another square, which makes it hard for the next person.

Or the King would throw the ball out of  the square and if the person given a cherry bomb didn’t get it back in ten seconds they were out, which was usually the case.

Four Corners

Photo by dentedup

All players except for the King would retreat to their corner. The last one to reach their corner was out.

Popcorn

The first person (usually the king) would throw the ball up into the air, clap once, then pass it to the second person who would clap twice while the ball was in the air, and so on. The longer the ball was in play, the more clapping you had to do before you had to catch the ball.

Typewriter

This call would require you to spell out your name. You would bounce the ball for each letter. Whomever you passed it to would have to do the same and so on.

War

Once declared, the King and the chosen player would hit it the ball back and forth between them only. If one of them messed up at anytime, that player would be out. If the King called “Peace” before the end of the round, the game would return to normal.

I know there were more, but my memory fails me. What way did you play? If you played the way I remember, what was your favorite call? Were any of the calls different from how I described them?

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Photo By kmevans

Even though we grew up in the age of technology, we still knew how to use our imaginations. I spent many days outside playing with the neighborhood kids engaging in a timeless tradition of making inedible foods. Even though we never truly believed we would eat these concoctions, we put a lot of effort into finding the materials, taking care to stir it well, and coming up with ideas on how delicious and profitable it would be when it was done. Sooner or later, we’d all get called in for supper, eat a real meal, and forget about our entrepreneurial pursuits as chefs. But today we remember!

The Appetizers

Photo By sean dreilinger

If something looked like it could be eaten, then it was more fun to use it as “food.” One thing that comes to mind for me were the red berries off of the holly bushes outside of my house. The older kids always warned us that they were poisonous, but that increased the thrill. You could use them for decoration or mash them up into a paste. Really anything that could be mashed was instantly more fun because you could pretend that you were living in the wilderness and living off the land.

Our neighbor had a peach tree, but the peaches took forever to ripen and were usually still green and baby sized. We would pluck these off the tree and add them to our feast. Eventually, the neighbors got mad that we were stealing all of their peaches before they could ripen (not like the squirrels had a bigger part in taking peaches than we did), and the tree became off limits.

The closest thing I ever made to an appetizer was something rolled up in in a leaf and kept closed by a twig pierced through like a tooth pick. inside could be grass, rocks, acorns… really anything. This is where the berry paste or even some mud came in handy. They looked fancy and good enough to eat… I secretly wished they were edible.

Main Course

Photo By natashalcd

The part I found most fun was making soup or stew. It was almost like a witch’s brew; stirred with a stick and probably tasted nasty. We would start with a bucket (the kind you take to the beach), filled it with water, and then added the ingredients. This was a neighborhood effort. One person would watch over the process and was in charge of the stirring. Everyone else was a gatherer. We’d find the most colorful flowers, handfuls of grass, tree bark, leaves, pine straw, etc. The more unusual the better. Every once in awhile we could even find mushrooms to include. The soup would get more outlandish with the more things that were added.  Even though there was nothing heating it up, I swear I could smell the delicious aroma that was coming from our exceptional cooking. It was always disappointing when we had to call it quits and dump out all of our hard work.

Dessert

Photo By blondie478

The tastiest part of the meal was also the messiest. One of the most obvious desserts was of course the “mud pie.” It took very little effort and materials. All you needed was water, dirt, and your hands. Apparently some people get a little more creative then just making mud patties. I wish I had thought of decorative flowers. My mom would not have been a happy camper if I put mud in the same stuff she used for cooking. The messier you got, the more fun it was… although you probably made your mom freak out when you came back in covered in mud. Of course it was always a good excuse to get to wash off in the hose. Where I grew up, we only had red clay, which was sure to stain your clothes.

What sorts of culinary creations did you come up with as a kid? Any favorite ingredients or recipes?

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Photo By 4rank

Bop it! Twist it! Pull it!

These three words were heard over and over again in a random order and you were required to preform the actions the game instructed you to do. The longer you could keep it up, the faster the instructions came. This electronic toy from Hasbro was an instant sensation. You would start the game by pressing the center button “Bop it,” which gave the toy its name.

If this was a toy given for Christmas or a birthday, you probably never heard the end of it. The audio was so distinct that I can still recall what it sounded like today. It seemed like most people I knew had one or had at least played it at some point.

Photo By bluedotcreations

This was one of those games that became addicting because when you lost, you instantly wanted to try again. I never met anyone who was good enough to beat it, although I did watch someone do it on YouTube while looking up content for this post. Either way, we were always determined to try.

The Original Bop It

Appearing in 1996, the original was awkwardly shaped like a stick. The “Bop it” button was in the center the the pull tab and twist crank at either end. It was simple enough and you could score up to 100 points.

Photo By said&done

Later Versions

This was followed by Bop It Extreme and Bop It Extreme 2. This added “Flick it” and “Spin it” to the list of tasks instructed to preform. The design was easier to hold and you could score up to 250 points. You could even challenge another person to play against you.

Overall I feel like this toy really encompasses the 90s. You can download a version and play it on your computer or buy the real thing at Amazon.

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