Mike hit me in the
face with his Tonka Jeep accidentally which knocked out my baby tooth. I liked
playing with that jeep and other toys of his like the Big Wheel from Grandma at
the farm, Lincoln Logs and his action figures.
He didn’t have that
many- a few each of “Battlestar Galactica”, Star
Trek -The Motion Picture, and Star Wars. Missy had a whole Darth Vader
head case full of the latter; we were always jealous of our cousin for this.
I’d look at his “Star
Trek” slides on my View Master which I still have. He got rid of his but kept
the slides which is kind of strange. The “Yogi Bear/Huckleberry Hound” and Scenic Wonders of America are both of
ours. I have Sleeping Beauty, The Rescuers and the Muppets.
We both had the Rescuers lunch boxes, after that it was
Tupperware ones. We were really into the Disney movies when we were kids. Mom
said that they took us to see many of these films at Ed and Aunt Joan’s
theaters. I only remember a few like The
Jungle Book, The Rescuers and Sleeping Beauty.
We still have 3
Disney records- It’s a Small World, The
Best of Disney (2 album set) and Mary
Poppins. I remember some of the words to “Let’s Go Fly a Kite”. Dad played
“Chim- Chim -Cheree “on his violin once.
That’s the only
time that we’ve ever heard him play. I don’t know why he gave it up- he was
good. Mom said that he had taken lessons for a long time.
Dad signed Mike up
for the higher amount of judo lessons which he wasn’t too happy about. Even Mom
had told Dad to go for the lower amount. My brother eventually quick going to
them, but I forget how far into this he did so. He was in one competition in
which he earned a yellow belt.
We liked going to
that Sears in Watchung with our parents; it was like a mini adventure for us.
That town is about 25 minutes away but it seemed much further. Isn’t that the
case about a lot of places when you are a kid? - Possibly not for everyone
though.
My brother would sometimes wander off in that
and other department stores which was annoying and a bit worrisome. We would
have an employee page him to meet up with us when we were unable to find him.
He does the same
thing these days occasionally which is still irritating. I don’t have him paged
though. Sometimes I think about doing so.
Were we weird kids
for having fun when we went to such places as a furniture store like Huffman
Koos and to home improvement stores – Channel and Rickel. I loved looking at
the paint colors and sometimes took those sample card things home. I also liked
the smell of the lumber there. All 3
places are no longer in business.
Note- Photos from internet- stores, violin, action figures, jeep, lunch boxes, Lincoln Logs, and Big Wheel.
