July 22, 2015- My Brother- Part 1

Mike and I had such fun times when we were kids, like playing with his Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars. We would put the bench up against the picnic table and push them down that.

   We liked playing on the swing set that Ed, who was like an uncle to us, helped Dad to put up. He got us walkie- talkies from Radio Shack too. 

   Mike liked playing the games on the Atari more than I did. Our favorites were the Acti-Vision ones- Pitfall, Barnstorming, Stampede, Dolphin, Kaboom and Freeway. Donkey Kong, Frogger, Ms. Pac Man, Pac Man and Atlantis (Missy’s) were enjoyable too. He had 2 of those hand held electronic games – Space Invaders and a Football one.

   I do remember him losing his temper sometimes when he did poorly at these and also board games. We loved Mom’s Monopoly, Parcheesi, Scrabble and Clue, which our cousins borrowed and never returned. I’m still pissed off about that. We had both Trouble and Double Trouble and lots of others, some of which we still have in totes in the cellar.

   It was upsetting when he said that we should get rid of most of these games. He wants us to be just like him and have a minimal amount of possessions. He is very annoyed that we have too many, saying that he will have a lot of stuff to go through when we die. Gee, thanks so much for that.

   I’m picturing us watching “The Muppet Show” back then. We were really into this program. We saw the 3 Muppet movies for free at Aunt Joan’s theater. Oh, “The Rainbow Connection” from this is another song that I know some of the words to.

    Mom got me the Miss Piggy and Kermit dolls. Aunt Ann gave me the 3 Muppet Babies- those 2 and Fozzie Bear- from McDonalds one Christmas. I still have these, Miss Piggy’s Guide to Life and Muppet magazines too.

    My favorite stationary was Miss Piggy and Kermit. I only kept a few letters from Cindy and 1 is on Kermit stationary. I do regret throwing out all the rest of hers and Jessica’s too.

   We actually went to see that new Muppet movie in 2011. He seemed so happy which was nice to see. I wish that this would happen more often.

1972

1981

picnic table-1970s

1982

1982

 

1981

1982

The Muppet Movie album

 

Note- photos from the internet- Atari ad and the video game cartridges, except for family photo; matchbox cars with case, walkie-talkies, Space Invaders and Bambino hand held game (bigger photo), and Trouble

 

 

 

 

 

Scrabble

My Mom, brother and I used to like playing this game. I'm not really sure when she got this - maybe the late 1950s. She had some other old games that we enjoyed playing too but no longer have. Our cousins borrowed Clue and never returned it before moving to Florida. I tried finding the 2nd tote full of games that had her Parchessi and Monopoly in it but was upset that it's not there. It had been 5 years ago - where could it have gone? The only thing that I can think of is that my brother sold some of our games at the flea market. Mom seemed suprised that we no longer have these so she obviously didn't give him permission to do so. An aunt got us the travel edition of Scrabble in the early 1980s. That must've been in the same tote. I'm kind of mad at him for doing this if that's what really happened. I had my Star Wars Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly in that one too.

Connect Four

My brother and I used to enjoy playing Connect Four and other games when we were kids. I remember this commercial well. I looked in our game totes for the first time in many years and luckily we still have this. I didn't see Hangman or Monopoly in it though. Maybe there is another game tote. I can't picture us getting rid of those games especially my mom's Monopoly. I'm pretty sure the last time that we actually played a board game was Trivial Pursuit with our cousin Mary and 2nd cousins Karry and Brandy in the late 1980s.

Favourite Games

My mom would always buy us a game or 2 for Christmas when we were kids. We would play with some of her games too like Monopoly, Clue, Scrabble and Parcheesi. We foolishly got rid of our Uncle Wiggly. I found the blue piece to it in my tote of momentos recently. She bought us a new one in the early 90s but it's just not the same. We loved Battleship, Hangman, Trouble, Double Trouble, Pokeno, Boggle, Uno, Yahtzee, Connect Four, Toss Across and Auto Bingo. Trivial Pursuit was okay but I wasn't that good at it. We still have many of our games. Mom had to buy us a new Clue though because we lent hers to our cousins and they never gave it back to us before moving to Florida. I can't help still being annoyed about this.

Toys and Games

I was looking at the Care Bears in Target one day last year and thinking that they don't look as well made as the ones that I had when I was a kid. I think that's true about alot of products. My brother's Matchbox and Tonka trucks were heavier and sturdier back then. I used to like playing with them too. It's a shame that they don't make things like they used to.

I do still have some of my childhood toys- the Viewmaster, my Barbies, Wonder Woman, dolls like one that I named Teresa after a family friend and a few stuffed animals. I really regret getting rid of alot of those. I always prefered playing with the animals. I was going through a purging of my possesions phase in the late 80s. I have Poochie bear, Cinnamon Koala and Seamore Otter but not their friends Peter and Cottontail Bunny. I even wrote a few short stories about them when I was 12 years old. I looked at these a few years ago- pretty bad stuff.

Mom would get my brother and I a game every Christmas. We still have many of them. Battleship, Connect Four, Hangman and Trivial Pursuit. We don't have Trouble and Double Trouble anymore. We played with a few of my mother's games too- Monopoly, Clue, Parcheesi and Scrabble. She had to buy us a new Clue in the early 90's because we lent her's to our younger cousins and they never gave it back before they moved. I was jealous of cousin Mary because she had Don't Spill the Beans. We also had Toss Across and Pokeno. I should look in the game tote to see what else we still have.

We were also jealous of Mary because she had alot of Star Wars action figures and the Darth Vader's head case to store them in. Mark only had a few of them, 3 Battlestar Galactica and 3 or 4 Star Trek(the movie) figures. He did have GI Joe, The Lone Ranger, Tonto and The Six Million Dollar Man. He had these heavy cowboy type figures that a friend of the family gave him. One day he was swinging one around and it hit me in the face knocking out one of my baby teeth.

We liked our Play-doh, Etch-a-Sketch, box of 64 Crayola crayons, Silly Putty and blowing bubbles. Couln't help being jealous of Jenny who had Lite Brite. A classmate gave me the Magic 8 Ball as a birthday gift. Mary had that game Simon- I wasn't that good at it. We had the Fisher Price airport, house and barn. I had The Family Tree House. I used to put the little people on my Dad's train that was under the Christmas tree. We loved that train- it made noises and steam came out of it too. They would visit the baby Jesus at our manger scene also.

We were so excited when our parents got us the Atari system in 1982. Our favourite games were the Acti-Vision ones- Barnstorming, Pitfall, Dolphin, Freeway and Stampede. Mark liked Asteriods. I liked Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man. Donkey Kong was cool too. Mary had Atlantis and Mark enjoyed playing that when we visited her. I wasn't ever that good at video games. Mark had the hand held Space Invaders game. He had a football one too- I think it was ColecoVision or something like that. I'm pretty sure we had the Frogger cartidge too.