Even More Toys and Childhood Fun- Part 2

Our Mom’s friend Helen J. gave us some of her son’s old toys, including a couple of car racing tracks; one set was light blue and the other was orange. My brother had a black and silver set too but this was made of a rubbery type material, not hard plastic.

   Grandma-at-the-Farm got us the kid’s edition of Trivial Pursuit one Christmas. I was not that great at the regular one; entertainment was my best category. We also have a few other editions and the M*A*S*H trivia game.

   I have been looking at photos of toys and other retro 1970s and 1980s stuff on the internet lately. This has been fun. It is also reminding me of items that I had not really thought much about for a long time, like our neighbor’s croquet set. We played this a couple of times with their grandkids, Cindy and Jessica. I am sure that we weren’t really following the official rules though.

   Some people might think that such reminiscing is kind of foolish. It is nice that Sharon and I enjoy sharing our childhood memories. I sent her one of my Toys and Childhood Fun photo documents which she liked a lot. She wishes that she still had many of her toys and other things or even just photos of them. I feel the same way about this.

 

The only photo from the internet is the race cars and tracks.

 

My Polish Barbie

This is actually Mom's Barbie that she bought in the early 1990s, I think, but she said that I could have it when I recently asked her. I really like these International Barbies. I wish that we had gotten the Russian, French and English ones also so we'd have all my nationalities/heritage. Well, I'm actually part Ukranian but I don't think that they had this specific one, only Russian Barbie. I'm sure that I would be able to get them on ebay or elsewhere now but they probably are considered a collector's item and cost alot. I saw an Italian Barbie at Walmart the other day but it did not seem to be made as well as the ones from when I was a kid or even from the early - mid 1990s. They had retro Barbies there also, including the Peaches and Cream 1985 one that I still have from back then.

My Barbie Dolls - part 1

I didn't realize until after I took this picture that the Malibu Barbie in the center is wearing the dress from my Superstar Barbie. I forgot to put the stole that goes with it on her . The dress on the Barbie on the left also has a basket of flowers that I should have put with her. That poor doll's arm got pulled off accidentally by my cousin Mary in the late 70's. I put fun tac or sticky stuff on it to repair her. I love the purple outfit that my cousin Janet or Ellen crocheted for me around that same time period. I matched it up with the boots back then. I hadn't seen my Barbies probably since the early 90's. I decided it was time to open up the totes and take some photos of them and share them here. I had so much fun playing with them when I was a kid.

My Stuffed Animal Collection 1

These are some of the stuffed animals that I had as a kid. They were always my favourite toy to play with. I would give them all names, personalities and families. My brother and friend Kim would also sometimes join in on the storylines that we'd create for them. I even wrote a few short stories with some of them and famous people in them. I reread these like 10 years ago - they are pretty bad. I foolishly got rid of many of these animals. I still am not sure why I kept my Barbies which I didn't like as much and not all of my beloved animals. I still have that bear with the eye patch - Poochie Weiners. He was originally a first holy communion gift from grandma to Mark which probably explains why he is in such bad condition. My animals were always looked fair or good. I do have most of the animals from the top photo on the left except for the peach Friend Care Bear and the Gund polar bear. I also have the raccoon in front, the ducks and gingerbread man that Grandma Wrunski made, the little brown dog, frog, light tan bear on the top shelf which was like my first stuffed animal and the brown bear with the pajama bottoms from the other top photo. I'm pretty sure that I gave those 2 Cabbage Patch Kids to mom. We had others but sold them for like only $5. 00 each at flea markets. I would trade in most of my beanie babies collection just to have them all back if I could, as silly as that sounds.

Christmas 1977

The first photo is actually of my birthday which is on the 21st. Mom made those Santa curtains. I got my Superstar Barbie and Mark got Ken that year. I'm wearing one of my favourite chilhood dresses. My dad's family would always come over for Christmas dinner. We would have a second Christmas at my mom's sister's house between that day and new year's day. I loved decorating for this holiday. Sometimes when I was a kid I would make my little people and small animals visit the baby Jesus at the manger set which we still have. Mom got a newer one that looks like Lenox in the early 90s but I don't like that one as much as I do the old one.