Nine By Design 39

Nine By Design is back, which can only mean one thing, it's Friday.  You've survived another week and the weather is starting to improve.  I mean it is June, it's about time.  The summer is upon us, the kids are getting out of school and family vacations are just around the corner for most of us.  Today's topic is kind of summer related.  Think back to when you were still school age and were in the midst of the long summer days.  What did you do to keep yourself occupied?  I'm sure my readers had at least one, if not more of the following...Toys.

Toys:

Legos: For boys or girls, just let your creative mind go and you can literally build anything.  The figure in the picture is one of the coolest things I've ever seen made out of Legos.  Someone had a lot of time, thought, talent and patience to do that.  Very well done.

Barbie: Since I do have a daughter now, I'm dreading the day when Ms. Barbie enters my household.  I know girls (and some boys, nothing wrong with that) like to play dolls and dress them up, but I've never been a fan of her.  Her body type is a bad example, IMO, for girls.  Where's Barbie's friend that still looks good, but is more realistic?

Lionel Trains: I never had a train set.  I wasn't really into them.  I think they are pretty cool now, because you can build all sorts of different scenes with them.  Just not something I liked as a kid.  Neil Young (singer/songwriter/legend) was a minority owner of Lionel Trains for a little while...not sure if he still is.

Lincoln Logs: My dad bought me some Lincoln Logs when I was 2 yrs old.  Not so I could play with them, but so he could.  I couldn't get out of my own way (some say I still can't), what was I going to do with this building toy?  I was going to watch my dad build log cabins amongst other things.  I always thought that story was funny.

Atari: I know it's not exactly the first video game system, but it was the one that really took off.  Pretty much everyone has heard of Atari in some form or another.  I had a bunch of games...just hours and hours of fun.  Decathlon, Asteroids, Combat and a list of about 25 others were favorites.  Loved that system.

Nerf: Has taken on many forms over the years.  Sports of every kind were made out of Nerf and then they started making the Nerf guns.  I know guns, you shouldn't promote violence, but kids will always play Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians or these days, Special Ops and Terrorists.  Might as well make the guns safe.  My buddy attacks his kids with Nerf guns when they get home from school everyday.  It's great fun and they love it.  They fight back with their Nerf weapons.  It's a fun way to unwind and do something together.

G.I. Joe: Speaking of weapons and Special Ops, G.I. Joe has been around for something like 60 years.  I had a ton of these figures and played all kinds of things with them.  As long as you have an imagination, you can do anything with action figures.  That also goes for just about anything.  Creativity is a huge gift and it takes many forms.

Scrabble: A game I still play today.  Lots of fun, you learn from it and it's also strategic.  You're trying to get the most points you can by putting down letters and building off of your opponents or your own words.  Very basic concept.  Keep It Simple Stupid, it really works.  This is proof of that phrase.

Wiffle Ball/Bat: I still purchase a ball and bat just about every year before I go to my family camp.  You can play this game just about anywhere, we often play in the lake.  To stay out of the way of people, but to also cool off at the same time.  Just great fun.  Age doesn't matter, if you can swing a bat and throw a little ball, you can play.  I wish I could do this however:

That'll do it for this week.  Cheers, Happy Weekend.