Share Your Nostalgia – Round 2 Wrap up (and my picks)

As I have said all week, I wasn’t sure how a second round of nostalgia would go. I was pleasantly surprised to see the stats for the posts of my guest bloggers. Speaking of them, I need to thank Randy, Christian, Max, Stewart, and Dave for all taking time to write a piece for this feature. Each of them have blogs that they write and have a life off the blogging grid. The fact that they chose to participate means a lot to me. Thank you guys!

This round’s topic was to write about your favorite childhood book. It may have been something you were read by your parents or grandparents. It could have been the first book you ever read by yourself. Perhaps it is a book that you read to your own children. The posts from my guests ranged from western heroes to wild things. There were groups of adventure seeking kids to good ole Dr. Seuss.

Dave’s books yesterday tie in with one of mine today. He had two Little Gold Books. Those books lined the book shelves in my room. I had SO many of them. I had Disney books, books with Sesame Street Characters, and just about every Little Golden Book you can imagine. The one that stands alone for me was one I remember my mom reading to me.

As a kid, I naturally had a lot in common with this poky little pup. I always seemed to lag behind. One time I was so interested in something at the mall, I didn’t realize my dad had left the store!

It is not the story that I love so much, it’s that I remember mom reading it to me. I made sure to buy this when my first son was born. I remember reading it to him and thinking, “Why did I like this book so much?” The answer was – mom.

Fourth grade was a milestone year for me in many ways. Mrs. Gallop was my teacher and she read us many books throughout the year. As a matter of fact, the ones I am about to mention have forever stuck with me. I cannot wait until my kids are old enough for me to read those books to them.

The first one was How To Eat Fried Worms.

Ah, childhood! Billy has made a bet. If he wins, he gets $50, which he will use to buy a minibike. What does he have to do? Eat 15 worms over 15 days. I remember all of us getting grossed out as he began to eat these worms.

Next, it was Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.

Peter is a fourth grader. His younger brother, Fudge, is always doing something. So much that Peter feels that compared to Fudge, he is … “nothing.” Throughout the book, you see Peter’s frustrations and how he often gets caught up in his brother’s chaos. As an older brother, I remember thinking of my little brother, Christopher, and just how much he was like Fudge!

Finally, Mrs. Gallop read us a classic. James and the Giant Peach.

James is forced to live with two evil aunts. He discovers a giant peach in his yard. He, and a bunch of insects, use the peach to get away from it all. Their adventure takes them across the ocean and all the way to New York City! I remember the book had a few small cuss words, which made us all laugh. This was one of those books that we all were engrossed in this story!

I give kudos to the guest bloggers who were able to come up with just one. For my childhood, there were so many that stuck with me. I was so grateful to those who introduced me to reading.

I had hoped my wife would join us and blog about her favorite childhood book, but she is shy and said she wasn’t sure about it. So I will tell you that she still has a copy of her favorite book, and reads it to our kids often.

I had never head of this one, but it’s actually cute.

I have a book that makes me think of each of my kids. For Dante’ (Now 22), it’s The Three Little Kittens.

I read this more times than I can count. When I was away on a radio trip, I actually recorded it onto DVD so I could “read” it while it was away. For Dimitri (almost 18), it was …

Both kids actually liked this, but it is Dimitri who noticed and laughed at the silly faces on some of the snowmen in the book. For Ella (5 next week), it was ….

This book will forever warm my heart and remind me of my sweet baby girl sitting on my lap. I loved when it got to the point where she would finish the lines with me. Wonderful memories with this book. Andrew’s book was one that his speech therapist gave him…

This makes so much sense for him. He has always been fascinated with tools, plugs, flashlights and everything that has buttons!! He loves interacting with this book

Last one, I promise! Both of my kids loved this next book….

I gotta tell you, it was hard to read to them the first time. I laughed as I read it! It’s a future classic!!

What was your favorite book as a child? Please tell me in the comments. If you’d ever be interested in taking part in this feature, let me know. I’d love to feature YOU here.

This blog has always been an outlet for me to share my experiences, my memories, and my life with you. I hope that my posts cause you to look back at your life at your fond memories, too. Thank you for being here.

Thanks again to those who participated in Round 2. I’ll begin to think about Round 3, if readers would be interested in that. If so, I think I’ll run it in April. Does that work for you?

Thanks for sharing with me…. Keith

A Very Happy Father’s Day

As Father’s Day approached this year, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. My oldest son works so much, and when he isn’t working, he’s usually hanging out with his friends. My youngest son hasn’t been here in a couple months, and when I have gone to pick him up, I end up coming home without him. So, if I am being 100% honest, I wasn’t sure if I’d see them this weekend (despite the fact that it was Father’s Day).

So last week, my oldest called and said he wanted to get together. I suggested we go to breakfast or that I could make breakfast for them. He liked the idea and called me again on Saturday. There was a classic car show at one of the county parks, and he suggested we go there. I loved the idea.

So Sunday morning, I ran up to the store to grab some bacon and sausage. By 9:30, when they arrived, I had the meat all fried up, toast in the toaster, and eggs ready to go. We sat and enjoyed breakfast together and we were on the road by 10:30. I had packed the stroller in the car the night before, so all I needed to worry about was packing a diaper bag.

It was a lot hotter than I thought it was going to be Sunday, but we stayed in the shade as much as we could. We walked around and got to see some amazing cars. There was a 1902 Oldsmobile that was taking people for rides throughout the park. One of the funniest things was when my son asked me about this big rubber bulb on one of the cars. He had no idea that it was the horn!

He laughed when I told him! Then we started to notice them on all the older cars. We saw Ford Model A’s, Ford Model T’s, some classic old Buicks and so much more. My oldest loves old cars and it was amazing to hear him spout off the year, make and model as we approached them. There were also a variety of old police cars, army jeeps, and some really unique vehicles there.

There was a car that my son had seen at a car show a couple years ago and he got all excited. “Dad! That’s an upside down van … and it drives like that!” It was actually cool to look at, but even cooler to see driving around!

I wish I had gotten a picture of the inside of that!

It’s always cool to see cars done up to look like famous cars. The General Lee wasn’t there, but Ella got to meet Herbie the Love Bug!

There’s a paddle boat (The Genesee Belle) that usually runs during the summer. It is not running this year yet, because it has to undergo a bunch of inspections. The gal inside the boat told us that because of Covid, and the boat not running, it needed some extra looking over. We were, however, able to go up on the boat and look over the lake.

It was almost noon when we stopped by the boat, and I could see that despite drinking lots of water, Ella was starting to get hot. We had already bought tickets to ride the train at noon, so we decided that we’d do the train ride and head back home. The steam engine wasn’t running this weekend, so a diesel engine pulled all the passengers.

The train cars are all about 100 years old. They have all been refurbished and are quite comfortable. They all have the old wooden framed windows that can occasionally fall down for no reason. We had hoped to ride in an open air car, but they were all full by the time we got to the train. We sat in the car with the windows open.

The train goes about 10 miles an hour and the cars kinda rock back and forth. Since we were close to Ella’s nap time, it was no surprise that she fell asleep on me during the ride. Not even the loud whistle of the train woke her up. It is always fun to hear the engineer tell stories of the train while you are riding. The railroad got it’s name (Huckleberry Railroad) because the story goes that the people riding the train could jump off one of the front cars, pick some huckleberries to snack on, and still be able to jump back on one of the end cars of the train.

When we got back to the depot, we stopped for a few more photo opportunities and left to grab lunch and head home.

When we got back home, Ella was still tired and went down for a nap. I spent some time talking to my sons about the classes my oldest is going to take in college and the golf lessons that my youngest is taking. It was nice to have some quality time and conversation with them. Ella woke up just before the boys had to head to dinner with their mom. Sam woke up for work before they left and made sure that I got pictures of me and the boys and me and all of the kids.

When Sam left for work, it was just me and Ella. We may have over did it a bit as she was running a little fever. So I snuggled up with her on the couch and we watched cartoons together. Before putting her to bed, I grabbed the new book that I got from her for Father’s Day and read it to her…

I absolutely love this book. So simple, yet so meaningful. “My dad love me!” Yes, sweetheart. He does. Very much!

The last book I read to her is another favorite.

I feel like I have been reading her this book forever! It never gets old. As a matter of fact, it means more every time I read it. This is such a short story, but it expresses the love of a parent for their child so perfectly. Here is the entire book without pictures:

I’m sure my sons would think I’m nuts if I read this to them today! I mean they are both cool teenagers now, right?! But this book really sums up how I feel about all of my children, the three who are here and the one that is one the way!

What a truly amazing Father’s Day. I thank God for blessing me with these wonderful children and I pray every day that I can be the Dad that they need me to be. I love them all “as big as the world!”