Fun Things We Did Growing Up

[Zurp]

It's a long story how this got started. But we thought about all our
all-time favorite activities in our house when we were growing up. I
compiled them into a Top 5 list.

First, Honorable Mentions:

- Peeing on Brian
This actually got enough votes to be #4 on the list, but it wasn't
really an activity. It's just something that happened a few times.
Once, Doug told Brian to look through a hole in a fence. Brian did,
just in time to see Doug pee on him. Brian just stood there and
accepted it, while laughing and complaining. Another time we were
checking out a house-in-progress, and Mike was way up in the
soon-to-be attic. He decided that would be a great spot to pee from,
and saw Brian way down there on the driveway. He didn't accept it so
much, and was pretty unhappy. But not terribly unhappy.

Brian, technically, also joined in the action. We told him "it would
be funny if" he peed in his bed. So he did. And it was. Then it was
time for bed, so we went to sleep. With all the Cracker Jacks and pee
in his bed, I guess he got a rash.

- Throw Gallop Down the Stairs
Eric got a life-sized stuffed doll when he was 3 or so. Mom asked him
what he wanted to name it. "Gallop," he said. We used to throw him
down the stairs. Funny. Sometimes he'd hit the ceiling before the
stairs. The only real enjoyment was watching his limbs bend backwards
and imagining a real person going through that ordeal. We tried it
with other stuffed animals, but it wasn't nearly as interesting.

- Basement Spit Collections
For some reason, Dad hung a couple of swings from the ceiling in the
basement. We used to swing for hours. One day, someone started
spitting on one of the cross support I-beams. So we all did that
every time we swung. After half hour, or so, our mouths became so dry
<SCRIPT><!--D(["mb","that spitting was pretty tough. But we persevered. That I-beam got
pretty gross. Sometime, we were chewing gum and our spit was red.
The I-beam became red.

- Worm Wrestling
Classic. You need two or more sleeping bags. Zip the sleeping bags
up as much as you can, and then crawl in to one head-first. Someone
else crawls into the other head-first. Now wrestle! You can\'t use
your arms much, so once you get the other guy down, he can squirm away
pretty easily. But since you can\'t see anything, the chances of
breaking stuff was pretty high.

- Whacking Bees with Wiffle Ball Bat
This was fun for a month or so a year. The bees came out pretty good
around two pine trees by the street late summer / early fall. Grab a
wiffle ball bat and whack them. Sometimes they didn\'t get squished.
Sometimes they\'d explode. Sometimes they fell into the street and
flopped around for a few minutes. It was pretty tough to hit a flying
bee, but there was no shortage of targets.

And now, Top 5:

5. Family Room Football
One-on-one football. Start on the one side of the room. The first
down is the other side of the room. Get 8 first downs and you score a
touchdown. Miss on a fourth down conversion, and you give the ball (a
pillow) to the other guy. Basically, it was &quot;Ready, Set TACKLE.&quot;

Sometimes, it was one-on-one-on-one, where one guy was on offense and
two were on defense, and we rotated who was on offense. Not many
first downs were scored.

We broke a few couches with this game.

4. Make/Run Hotwheels Tracks
We\'d build fancy hotwheels tracks that went from the top of the
basement stairs all over the basement. Not very violent, but it took
up a lot of time. Mom would get mad that she had no way to get to the
laundry machine. We weren\'t smart. Some of the tracks were pretty
",1]);//--></SCRIPT>that spitting was pretty tough. But we persevered. That I-beam got
pretty gross. Sometime, we were chewing gum and our spit was red.
The I-beam became red.

- Worm Wrestling
Classic. You need two or more sleeping bags. Zip the sleeping bags
up as much as you can, and then crawl in to one head-first. Someone
else crawls into the other head-first. Now wrestle! You can't use
your arms much, so once you get the other guy down, he can squirm away
pretty easily. But since you can't see anything, the chances of
breaking stuff was pretty high.

- Whacking Bees with Wiffle Ball Bat
This was fun for a month or so a year. The bees came out pretty good
around two pine trees by the street late summer / early fall. Grab a
wiffle ball bat and whack them. Sometimes they didn't get squished.
Sometimes they'd explode. Sometimes they fell into the street and
flopped around for a few minutes. It was pretty tough to hit a flying
bee, but there was no shortage of targets.

And now, Top 5:

5. Family Room Football
One-on-one football. Start on the one side of the room. The first
down is the other side of the room. Get 8 first downs and you score a
touchdown. Miss on a fourth down conversion, and you give the ball (a
pillow) to the other guy. Basically, it was "Ready, Set TACKLE."

Sometimes, it was one-on-one-on-one, where one guy was on offense and
two were on defense, and we rotated who was on offense. Not many
first downs were scored.

We broke a few couches with this game.

4. Make/Run Hotwheels Tracks
We'd build fancy hotwheels tracks that went from the top of the
basement stairs all over the basement. Not very violent, but it took
up a lot of time. Mom would get mad that she had no way to get to the
laundry machine. We weren't smart. Some of the tracks were pretty
<SCRIPT><!--D(["mb","fancy.

3. Try to Break Toy Cars
We had a couple of race cars that were indestructible. We built ramps
and stuff to push them over and see what they\'d hit on the other side
and see what kinds of crashes they\'d make. They never did break. GI
Joe guys fit in them pretty well, so we\'d crash them into stuff and
watch the guys pop out and maybe get run over by the car. The GI Joe
guys made it somewhat realistic to a 10-year-old, and it was quite
brutal. Eventually, we also got some toy vans that were also
indestructible. The GI Joe guys were much safer in the vans, and the
crashes weren\'t nearly as spectacular.

2. Closet King of the Mountain
The closet in Mike\'s bedroom went up to the attic. It was basically
two huge steps up before you could reach the hatch to the attic. Mom
kept pillows/blankets/stuff on those two huge steps. We used to all
climb up to the top of the closet, close the door, turn off the light,
and then push each other down the &quot;steps.&quot; Whoever is still on top
would then fall down the steps onto the first two guys. We\'d often be
stuck there for a little bit, trying to get out. This game got pretty
brutal a couple of times. I think it\'s proof that kids really can\'t
hurt each other.

1. Sock Wars
Get some socks. Ball up each sock. Run around the house throwing
socks at each other. We out the hard way to close the bathroom doors
or put the toilet seats down. Socks are GREAT at landing in the
toilets.

If you feel like making a complicated game out of sock wars, the
following rules can apply:
1. Everyone gets three socks. Only three. Somehow distinguish them
from other people\'s socks, because you can only throw your own socks.
(We often wrapped them with rubber bands. One person might get one
rubber band per sock, the next two, wrapping the rubber bands around
the socks parallel to each other. Someone else might get two rubber
",1]);//--></SCRIPT>fancy.

3. Try to Break Toy Cars
We had a couple of race cars that were indestructible. We built ramps
and stuff to push them over and see what they'd hit on the other side
and see what kinds of crashes they'd make. They never did break. GI
Joe guys fit in them pretty well, so we'd crash them into stuff and
watch the guys pop out and maybe get run over by the car. The GI Joe
guys made it somewhat realistic to a 10-year-old, and it was quite
brutal. Eventually, we also got some toy vans that were also
indestructible. The GI Joe guys were much safer in the vans, and the
crashes weren't nearly as spectacular.

2. Closet King of the Mountain
The closet in Mike's bedroom went up to the attic. It was basically
two huge steps up before you could reach the hatch to the attic. Mom
kept pillows/blankets/stuff on those two huge steps. We used to all
climb up to the top of the closet, close the door, turn off the light,
and then push each other down the "steps." Whoever is still on top
would then fall down the steps onto the first two guys. We'd often be
stuck there for a little bit, trying to get out. This game got pretty
brutal a couple of times. I think it's proof that kids really can't
hurt each other.

1. Sock Wars
Get some socks. Ball up each sock. Run around the house throwing
socks at each other. We out the hard way to close the bathroom doors
or put the toilet seats down. Socks are GREAT at landing in the
toilets.

If you feel like making a complicated game out of sock wars, the
following rules can apply:
1. Everyone gets three socks. Only three. Somehow distinguish them
from other people's socks, because you can only throw your own socks.
(We often wrapped them with rubber bands. One person might get one
rubber band per sock, the next two, wrapping the rubber bands around
the socks parallel to each other. Someone else might get two rubber
<SCRIPT><!--D(["mb","bands per sock, and wrap them across each other.)
2. You may only be in possession of two of your socks at any one time.
I don\'t know why we came up with this rule, but it started the idea
of holding two, while kicking the third while you walk along so you
had it when you needed it.
3. If you get hit by a sock, you\'re &quot;dead.&quot; Stop, and count to ten. SLOWLY.
4. Each team has a base. Only that team may be in that base. No
throwing into or out of that base.
5. No guarding the other team\'s base.
6. No camping out in your base.
Most of the second floor was in bounds, but not recommended, as there
wasn\'t much availability for battles.
",0]);D(["ce"]);D(["ms","ba8"]);//--></SCRIPT>bands per sock, and wrap them across each other.)
2. You may only be in possession of two of your socks at any one time.
I don't know why we came up with this rule, but it started the idea
of holding two, while kicking the third while you walk along so you
had it when you needed it.
3. If you get hit by a sock, you're "dead." Stop, and count to ten. SLOWLY.
4. Each team has a base. Only that team may be in that base. No
throwing into or out of that base.
5. No guarding the other team's base.
6. No camping out in your base.
Most of the second floor was in bounds, but not recommended, as there
wasn't much availability for battles.

 

[Brutus1]

We played that, but used fireflys instead, and played in the dark.


We used to play a game called over the top. We would pretend we were on the 1 yard line and had to jump over this row of bushes about 5 ft high. The only problem was the branches were very thick and if you hit it wrong, you got stuck (as in the branch stuck in your skin). We had at least 2 trips to the hospital. One was a branch went through one kids arm and the other was when someone actually made it all the way over the top and landed on the sidewalk on the other side of the bushes. :crazy:

My favorite , by far, was throwing snowballs at cars, hearing the thud, then running like heck tring not to get caught.

 

[scooter1369]

My buddy Tom and I used to shoot people in the ass with a BB gun on the beach during Spring Break. We had a scoring system. 5 points if they bled. 4 if they screamed or cussed. 3 if they told someone they got bit by something. 2 for a hit on skin. 1 for a hit on the bathing suit. Game ended when someone noticed it was us and it was time to drive away. Fast.

Loser bought the beer that night.

 

[ArtilleryBuck]

Flashlight tag was the thing to do on my block.
Collecting lightning bugs in a jar was fun in the country.
Building a fort was always fun to do.
Scotch tape on cat paws provided hours of entertainment...same goes for a little peanut butter on the roof of a dog's mouth.

I liked the "Whacking Bees with Wiffle Ball Bat". However, we used badminton rackets instead (slices and dices).

 

[Yertle]

My favorite , by far, was throwing snowballs at cars, hearing the thud, then running like heck tring not to get caught.

When I was a kid, I threw a potato into the bed of a moving pickup truck. The thing was rusty (the truck, not the potato), so the potato went right through the bed, leaving a 10 inch hole.

 

[scooter1369]

We played a considerable amount of Kick the Can when I was real young.

We were playing football in the street one day and I dove to make a catch... right trough a wooden fence. Luckily, other than a headache, a sore neck and some irritating abrasions, I wasn't really injured. But the rat bastard made us repair his fence.

We also used to set up obstacle courses in the swamps around Daytona Beach/Port Orange. That lasted until a water moccasin bite damn near ended one kid's game for good.

We'd go inland and inner tube down Ichnatucknee Springs and swim with the Manatees. But that also meant swimming with the Gators. Although they generally don't bother humans, the site of one in the water with you causes immediate and unconditional evacution of all waste products. Crocs are another matter entirely. They seem to think humans are tasty and would be good with ketchup.

 

[Dryden]

When I was growing up, dad was an investor (and owners' friend) in a major fireworks company in Central Ohio and had a Class A license.

I was the kid who could get you fireworks ... and I'm not talking about crap M-80s ... I'm talking about the real 5-inch mortar shells they let off in sequence at 4th of July displays. Seriously, you could smell the black powder from the back yards in my neighborhood during the summer. Luckily, nobody I grew up with was seriously disfigured from roman candle fights.

I'm pretty certain we invented rooftop fishing. We would go up on rooftops downtown with fishing rods and cast lines into the major intersections and try to hook car bumpers. That ended after I tore the resonator off a pre-Nissan Datsun Maxima.