(me (I think?), at the neighbor’s pool)
Growing up, we were lucky enough to have the nicest backyard neighbors. Dr. and Mrs. Pastorelle (not sure of the spelling) were their names and they kept up a beautiful piece of property. They had swans in their pond that was surrounded by weeping willows, a pool and pool room and tennis courts.
The pool room had an area that was sectioned off with those long hanging beads-it was a virtual jungle that had parrots and other birds flying around. How awesome (and 70’s-ish) is that?
In the basement of the main house, they had a Pepsi machine -I’m sure they had a complete bar setup also, a sort of billiards room, but all I remember is Pepsi on tap. We were only inside maybe once or twice…back then it was “kids play outside” ALL the time and we had great fun with their grandchildren and other neighbors. All I need to go back to those summer days as a kid is a whiff of chlorine, mixed with a smell of a cigarette (I think she smoked?), and just a sip of ice cold Pepsi-it’s a combination I just love (really, as much as I hate the smell of cigarettes in every other circumstance and never drink pop) only for the rush of memories. We played and swam for years and years and years there, even after the property changed hands.
PS. I love the vintage wind up swing in the back ground and the baby seat…which I am pretty sure doubled as a car seat. Gasp!
Woah! You had a car seat? Lucky you… I came home from the hospital in a moses basket on the floorboard of the car 🙂
I love this post – it kind of makes me want to time-warp back to my grandparents' neighbors' pool!
Beautiful memories. I live how chunky your baby thighs were…I'm a sucker for rolls on babies.
How times have changed – how safety conscious we are now. Baby seats and swimming pool fencing will never be the same.
Raised my three with a wind-up swing and an infant seat that DID NOT vibrate! 🙂 LOVE this picture and walk down memory lane……
It's amazing how smells trigger memories!
Hope you have a great summer
Love that their is another kid in that wind up swing. I am sure there were kids all over and the little ones rotated between things. Great memories!
Sweet memories. 🙂
it is amazing how "unsafe" most things were back in the day and yet somehow we all survived!
isn't it crazy how a smell can bring back such a random memory? happens to me all the time.
I think EVERYONE smoked in the 70's!
I am sure we did not have car seats! too funny!
I was born in 1960 and pretty sure my mom held me in the front seat with no seat belt. Shocking! I think that picture looks a lot like Patrick!
What kind and generous neighbors to open up their fun yard to the neighbor kiddos. I love people like that!
So sweet! I love it. I also had one of those little seats as a baby. I am now a CPS (car seat) technician and instructor. I use a similar picture of myself in trainings for law enforcement. Times do change. But happy babies do not.
Great picture and great memories.
Pretty sure I came home from hospital laying on the front seat somewhere. I have clear memories of sitting on my dad's lap (when I was older obviously)helping him drive the car. Yikes.
Sarah! I love that you share your memories like this! I find it quite humorous that the swing and the carrier are similar, if not exact(minus the color),to the ones my mother in law has that she used with all three of her sons! She also has a walker that is round and would be outlawed today! HAHA My two oldest kids were fortunate to use the walker for a while, total safety hazard but they could fly in that thing! awesome! 🙂
As soon as I saw that picture I thought….that looked like the seat I was brought home in the hospital in! What a scary thought, huh? My husband was brought home in a moses basket placed on the floor. Holy moly!
I think I was even over there during some of our summer visits. Through your backyard, house on right?
Such a cool picture. 🙂 I've had so much fun catching up on your posts this afternoon Sarah! Love all of your everyday pictures. I was laughing at your anti-disney post. I've missed having season passes so bad I can't stand it! 🙂 I love that place, but part of why I love it is that we are so close we can go for just half a day and leave if it's too busy. We know the ins and outs now to know when to go and when NOT to go too. That helps with the line situation! But I agree that the kids don't need disney to have fun. Ellie's favorite part of our trip to Maui last spring was eating at Hard Rock Cafe! HA! She talks about it all the time. How cool the restaurant was and how good the food tasted. We were in Maui for crying out loud! Kid's don't need much to impress them – that's for sure.
I hope you're hanging in there this summer! I think about you all the time and hope you're resting enough. I know how hard summer and a pregnancy can be and combined…well…that's just not fun. But I'm sure excited to see if that baby is a boy or girl!
I love walking down memory lane. Old pictures are the best! Thanks for sharing that memory!
Awesome memories!
Love that cheap plastic "car seat". Once the new ones came out, I hauled a garage sale cabbage patch doll around in my mothers old one 🙂
Those were great carefree days!
I LOVED this post and the picture. So many funny things to think about – – that is not a 5 point harness; I am pretty sure you weren't wearing sunscreen; that diving board in the background- major safety risk; no pool fence; the ashtray on the table; the stick in your hand ('not suitable for children under the age of 6')? Do you think sometimes that modern parents are too uptight or should we be grateful that there is so much knowledge these days about keeping kids safe.
My favorite childhood memory involves Pepsi and cigarettes, too! Daddy would come home from working second shift and I would go out in the kitchen and sit on his lap while he drank a big glass of iced Pepsi and smoked his Winston reds…love that memory!