When first moving in to the home my family has been at since for twenty years, we were the first home on the block. Cornfields filled the landscape around us and there was a paved trail that wove through a small forest nearby. One day I was walking down the path with my sisters when we saw an old shack my sister claimed was home to a witch. That shack scared me for years until it was torn down to put up houses.
In 4th grade I did a book report on The Magic Treehouse: Summer of the Serpent. I glued together a big poster and did a presentation in front of the class. That Spring my dad took Em and I to a book signing by Mary Pope Osborne, the author. At the gift shop we bought plastic multicolored lightsabers. I also collected quite a few of the Magic Treehouse Fact Trackers. These were non-fiction companions to the main books. Some of my favorites were the ones on Egypt, Ireland and Camelot.
In 5th Grade our teacher assigned us a end of year project involving doing research on a country of our choice. In reverse alphabetical order she had us choose with no repeats. We spent two months before the end of the year making a PowerPoint on computers. I learned about Irish castles, booby traps and family histories.
In first grade our teacher brought our class to the school computer lab for a learning exercise. The home screen was the image of a giant apple tree on a floating island. The software taught us how to double-click, right click, and much more. I have no idea who made it, but I love the visual art style.
My favorite books used to be The Lorax. According to my mom I checked that out week after week after week.
As a pre-school teacher, my mom took me and Em to the library almost every week. I’m very thankful that she did. At one point I ran out of things “I was interested in reading, and my mom asked a family friend with a son around my age for recommendations. He recommended Artemis Fowl, The Ranger’s Apprentice and Peter and the Starcatchers. All three are series I fell in love with.
In elementary school our we took several field trips including one to an apple orchard. We got to pick apples, learn about how the orchard was managed, and the best part by far, eat apple doughnuts. We also took a field trip to a Native American reservation where we tried unsuccessfully to make fire with flint and steel. We played games with wooden rings, walked through forests and fields, and learned about native cultures. We also took a field trip to a small science museum, though this was my least favorite by far.
One of the popular ways for kids my age to celebrate birthdays was by having a private theater rental at AMC theaters. My sister and I had one together where we rented out the theater for our friends to see Ratatouille. Another year we did the same for Gnomeo and Juliet. After the movie they set aside a private room where you could eat pizza and open presents.
Another popular birthday idea was going to a place called Bounce Town. As you can imagine, it was full of massive inflatables to run through, jump through and slide down. As a kid these things were giant. They had a giant inflatable birthday throne and lot’s of pizza.
The final way to celebrate a birthday was by going to a laser tag place nearby. The place had two player immersive battle bot games that they had you all play with partners before going in for laser tag. It was amazing. Instead of laser tag, my Em usually did sleepovers with her friends.
