This must have happened 3 or 4 times... near the end of a school year in elementary school, my mother would sign me up for piano lessons or another arts & crafts workshop (ceramics, creative writing, animation, etc)...expecting me to continue into the class in the summer.
However, summer would begin.
Almost every summer I went either to Wagon Train camp or my cousin's house. It was the highlight of my life every year.
Wagon Train Camp
At Hume Lake, I would go to camp with a church friend and would re-unite with fellow campers year after year. From sunrise to lunch, we would participate in camp activities: creative arts, singing, cleaning, group sports...then the fun would begin. Every day after lunch until dinner was free time. With our parents loading our store credit, we would head to the camp store for ice cream. Then whatever we wanted to do was next. This included kayaking, bb gun shooting, archery, slingshotting, giant swing (on which i almost fell off once), zip line, tag, swimming, etc etc. Basically, a boy's paradise. Of course there were the girls, who congregated among themselves...and I have to admit I had a crush on one girl for 3 straight summers. Gosh, she was beautiful. With acres upon acres available to us, our games of capture the flag went for hours as there were an endless number of hiding places. We had built tunnels under the water to travel (I know, impressive), and my team won every time :) At dinner we would get mail from home (my parents never sent me anything...but my friend's parents sent me things from time to time lol). Gosh, wagon train camp was the best. We slept in actual wagon trains with counselors telling scary stories every night (I'm still bitter). Recently I found a camp picture of everyone together (last day goodbyes), and it's pretty funny because I was always the only asian every time. Of course there was drama at camp...gossip of which counselor has a crush on whom, which guys are the wimps, which girls are the prettiest, etc etc. It was at camp where I learned how to make lanyards, shoot arrows, and built teepees from scratch. I love hume lake.
Cousin's House
Now, usually camp was followed up by a couple weeks at my cousin's house in Lancaster. These were my favorite cousins...one was a few months younger than me, another 2 years younger, and another 4 years....all boys. We always had a blast. If you don't know Lancaster, it's basically a desert. My cousins had bb guns, dirt bikes, go-carts, and a boxing gym in the garage. We would shoot birds, burn black widows + egg sacs, race dirt bikes, and beat each other up. Every day someone would cry. Of course not me or Richard (the one a few months younger than me). When it was too hot outside, we would watch movies inside (they had a walk-in closet filled with VHS tapes...my favorite was Little Rascals), play video games, or play with their pets (python, hedgehog, and a snake we caught one time). When my aunt came home we pretended to study (basically, I brought out a chess board and challenged everyone). But it was basically wake up, have fun, eat, and have more fun.
Other summers were either spent playing video games, trips to the library, or playing with neighbors. My parents tried to make me study once...then never tried again lol.
Although I can't play piano nor make pretty ceramic pieces, I will always look back on those childhood summers with a huge smile.
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