Age 15

The year I was fifteen I did a lot of travelling. As part of the marching band we took a bus trip to St. Louis to compete in a competition. The funny part is I don't remember playing any music but I know we did. There is nothing quite like trying to sleep on an all night bus trip. I'm pretty sure I ended up sleeping on the floor in front of the seat while my friend slept on the seat.

Another memory tied to the band trip is my one and only secret admirer note. I found it in my band locker as we were getting ready to go. I had some thoughts on who it might be but I never did find out. It is such a shame. I would have liked to know.

We did some sightseeing in St. Louis. We went up the arch. And we went to the zoo.

When I was 15 we went to Mexico for Spring Break. This was my second trip out of the United States. (Sometime earlier we went to Seattle and spent a day in Canada. I'm not sure when because the pictures don't have dates.) This was a great trip. I remember iguanas all around the hotel where we stayed. I also remember on one of the first days we were there we went snorkeling and studied the fish chart. Once we were in the water a barracuda came up on us and we swam as fast as we could back to shore. I don't really think that the fish would have done anything but no one was going to be the last one in the water. I remember being very intimidated by the locals when we went into town. I did not enjoy having to haggle over prices. And lastly I remember burning the top of my feet and hardly being able to wear shoes.The last trip the year I was 15 was to Las Vegas for my cousin's wedding. This was my first trip to Vegas and I don't remember a ton about it.

Age 14

The last year of middle school and the beginning of high school. When I was in 7th grade I started taking Japanese. There wasn't too much thought around it other than Amanda was starting Spanish the same year and I didn't want to be in her class. In the early 90s many believed that the Japanese were going to take over business and knowing the language would be an asset. Well, at this point I didn't want to go into business. I think I wanted to be a pediatrician at this point but I took Japanese anyway. One great thing about taking Japanese was that during my 8th grade year I got to go to the high school for my last period with a couple of other 8th graders and take Japanese. This worked out great except for the day we took our 8th grade class picture. You see my friends didn't save me a place and I was late because of that class and I ended up sitting pretty much alone. This basically, again, sums up middle school.

This is a picture of a friend and I dressed up for a restaurant we put on for Consumer and Family Studies. I've grown out of my headgear and have advanced to full blown braces. :-)

Another 8th grade memory... trip to D.C. I ended up being the odd man out in my group of friends. You could sleep 4 to a room and I was number 5 or so. I ended up rooming with a group of three friends that I knew but not very well. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to fit into that group. Not a very comfortable trip but still a really neat city. I'd love to go back. Here is part of the group in front of the White House. Notice the love birds in the front. Every summer I spent enormous amount of time at the pool. I had my year round practice and then we also swam on our neighborhood team. It was a great time. I always felt accomplished swimming with my neighborhood team. The other great thing about having a pool in the neighborhood was getting to know your neighbors and just hanging out. This is a picture from one FREEZING summer swim meet. There seemed to be one every couple of years when the June weather just wasn't warm enough yet. Notice my grandpa in the second picture with his winter coat on. Yep it was THAT cold.

In August the year I was 14 I started high school. And I also joined the marching band. I'm not really sure what I was thinking because I wasn't great at the flute and I didn't really practice. It was a good experience and I have great appreciation for the the half time shows. I also had a number of friends who were also in the marching band. And then there was my first dance. With the boyfriend mentioned in year 13. We of course went to dinner with a group of friends. I think he was the only boy in the group. We wouldn't want to eat alone and just talk to each other. :-) We're obviously very comfortable in this picture. You can tell by the lovely red color of my face.

The teenage years... 13

Well the next couple of years for me were really hard. I had a difficult time in middle school. It was hard for me to figure out where I belonged and to find friends that I felt were real. I felt a lot of betrayal from my "friends". I would NEVER want to relive these years. I think my saving grace was a great group of friends that I met through swimming. Unfortunately all of them went to a different and school and most of them were a year younger than me but I loved those girls. I always felt that I could be myself around them. There was no need to impress them. I even tried to convince my parents to let me go to a different high school so I could be in school with them. Well them and... my first boyfriend. Somehow I ended up "going out" with this boy. Well, really we only were going out because of a truth or dare game played with my swimming friends. We were both very shy around each other for a very long time. But I must say we "went out" from 7th grade until I was a sophomore in high school. I even went to his junior prom. I know that is all very hard to believe when you look at this lovely picture from 1993. This was my "night" look. Probably just finished swim practice, icing my darn shoulders, and eating reheated dinner in my robe. We went to Lake McConaughy, Nebraska for our annual water skiing trip. Here all the girls are, lined up but not according to age. Notice the slight tan we got while spending time at the lake. We had a great time catching frogs this year. I'm pretty sure that it rained at least one of the nights. We had rented trailers to stay in too instead of camping.

Kevin

Sorry Kevin but I had to put this picture in.... I'm not sure about the date but Amanda and I use to dress him up. Well our neighbor and Amanda and I use to dress up our brothers up. It was a great time.

Age 12

I was in sixth grade. Well I guess I was also in 7th but oh well... I had my first crush. My friend and I spent many days giggling about that boy and his friend. I remember one occasion where a prank call was made and then we wrote I Love __________ in the snow outside. Oh we were so daring. :-)

I also had a great teacher and spent my last year in elementary school. We were the last 6th grade class to go to our elementary school. The lovely writing on the beautiful purple paper is one example of a weekly assignment we did. I now love to read these to get into my thinking as a 6th grader. I often wrote about getting my seat moved, I guess I talked a lot. At my school in 5th and 6th grade we got to go to outdoor ed. We always went up to the mountains and it was the greatest 2 to 3 days

of my life at the time. I think it related to my desire to go to summer camp, but swimming always ruined that. I took many pictures of this trip. Paul did point out that I have 3 of the same scenery with my finger in each of them. Ooops.

It has been a while since I had a picture of the girls from summer time water skiing so here we are, missing one, on Christmas. We definitely have reached the awkward teenage years.

One more thing about being 12... I went on my first weekend travel swim meet by myself. Yep, I knew no one. Well not anyone that well. I was invited to be part of the Colorado All Star team and we took a bus to Nebraska, I think, for a weekend meet. I don't remember too much about the actual swimming but I remember having a great time with girls that I met. I also have another memory that relates to being an almost teenage girl but that would be TMI.

Age 11

When I was eleven something life changing happened. We got our very first DOG. Amanda had been working on my parents for a very long time. We still had the cats but a dog was a different animal entirely. If I remember correctly this is how the story of Summer goes...

Somehow my parents decided that this day was the first day to go look for a dog, umm puppy. We headed out to the Denver Dumb Friends League. We looked at about 4 different puppies. None of them were right. We liked one but it was a terrier and mom and dad weren't sure about terriers. So somehow we found out that the Aurora Animal Shelter had a litter of puppies. So we went... Well in my mind the shelter was just down the street but I've to where I remember it being and it definitely isn't where I remember. We walked into the shelter, which is much different than the Dumb Friends League, and saw Summer with her litter and her mom. I think there were something like 5 puppies in her litter. Some brown and white, some mostly black and Summer who was black and white. We got her out of her kennel/dog run and held her. She promptly snuggled into our hair and shook with fear. She had just recently arrived at the shelter and was terrified of the noise. Well...we were sold. I don't think my parents thought we'd end up with a dog that day but we did. And what an amazing dog she was.

It was near the Fourth of July and we tried to come up with 4th of July sounding names for her but nothing fit. Our neighbor's dog in NJ was named Summer and I guess was a great dog. So Summer she became but not just Summer... Summer of '91.

The first night home we all slept outside of her kennel and took her out to the bathroom. We loved that dog.

She also got to be in the neighborhood 4th of July Parade.

Other than getting a dog we also went to Oklahoma to visit my grandpa and got to ride the horses. A few days on the farm is great for any kid.

Age 10

This is our house. I didn't see any pictures in the collection at home of our house until this year. This house was awesome. My sister and I had a Jack and Jill bathroom in between our two rooms. We spent many nights closed in there after swim practice with our hair dryers on trying to warm up. It also had a great basement but those stories will come later.

When I was 10 my grandma turned 80. We had a big party for her and all the relatives on my mom's side got together. This is a picture of my mom and all her siblings and one cousin at the party. I always enjoyed getting together with the family. When I was 10 and in fifth grade I started playing the flute. My elementary school had a band and we were able to start playing once we started fifth grade. Since Amanda had started playing the violin a year earlier she performed at my grandma's birthday party. And since I knew so much about music... ha ha.. I helped her turn her violin. When I was 10 I completed my first 10k. I had kind of forgotten about this. Of course I didn't run it, since I didn't start running until well into my 20s but my sister, mom and I walked. And this was the year of the greatest Halloween costume of all time! I was a Hershey kiss and it was awesome.

I have a few school memories from the fifth grade as well. I was in Mrs. Richard's class. Mrs. Richards had been a primary teacher and I think it was her first year in fifth grade. She definitely needed to stay in the younger grades. I remember her talking about her husband, Marky Poo, a lot. I also remember that this was the first year I started to notice boys. I have distinct memories of being kicked under the desk and coming home with bruises on my shins. This was definitely the beginning of the awkward years. And I'm so glad that my parents documented it. This is a picture from Christmas at my uncle's house where I'm sleeping with my head gear on. Gotta love that.

Age 9

For my 9th birthday I got to play my favorite arcade game of all time...skee ball at Chuck E Cheese. I am slowly starting to remember more and more however I can't say I remember this party. I do recognize a lot of the girls in this picture though. For Halloween I was a leopard. Unlike most kids these days we NEVER went to the store to buy costumes. My mom always made them or we just found stuff around the house. I think our costumes are so much better than the store bought ones. So thank you Mom. :-)

When I was 9 I also started to become interested in music. For Christmas I got a keyboard. I loved that thing and until we got rid of it I could play "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid on it. I eventually convinced my parents to get me piano lessons but they wouldn't get a piano until I took lessons for some predetermined amount of time. Well piano lessons on a keyboard just isn't the same. Needless to say we never got a piano. I still regret not following through with those. You'll also notice a sweatshirt in this picture that was in about half of the pictures from this year and the next. I remember wearing this sweatshirt all the time. I'm not sure why, it was just a freebie from my dad's work. I do remember it was very comfortable. When I was in 4th grade I was also in the choir. If I remember correctly the choir met outside of school hours to practice. I have always loved to sing although I don't really sing that well. This is our Christmas concert at the Inverness Hotel.

Ages 7-8

Age 7

Not much happened when I was 7. At least there weren't a lot of pictures of that year. I have a picture of Gracie the cat and one of us sledding down the hill next to our house in New Jersey. I do remember sledding on that hill. It was great for sledding. Steep but not too steep and really long. I'm pretty sure we could have lost a lot of teeth going down that hill piled on like this. This hill stays in my memory for another reason...my first bee sting. I was practicing, like any good first or second grader, stop-drop-and roll. The roll of course happened down the hill. Well... I somehow managed to roll over a bee and got stung. I think my Uncle Larry was visiting at the time and it hurt like crazy.

Age 8

When I was eight we moved from New Jersey back to Colorado. I guess technically I was seven. I'm pretty sure we moved in February. I remember I had my 8 year old birthday party at the skating rink in New Jersey before we left. When I was eight I also started swimming. We had to convince my parents that it was a good idea. My neighbor and best friend at the time, Nicole, was swimming on a year round team and it sure seemed like a good idea. I've never regretted swimming. I have so many amazing memories from swimming and couldn't replace the friendships I had. I think my body might have a different opinion though. Ten years of repetitive motion does wear on you. And as I approach 30, gulp, I feel it more and more.

Here is a great picture of my sister, Amanda, at my grandparent's house. You can see my cousin in the background. This is just one of many great pictures of you Amanda. :-)

Age 6

I turned 6 and had a magician for my party. As you can see I loved it. I also lost my first tooth. And learned how to ride a bike. I think Amanda and I might have learned together. Our cat, Andy, died and we got new cats. Amanda and I were able to pick out our own. My parents took us to a house, somewhere, and there were all sorts of kittens around. I choose the one way underneath the porch. I think that they hid under the car seats on the way home. We are pretty sure they were feral but we tamed them. :-) I named her Gracie well because she was gray. I feel bad for that cat. She was tortured. We used to put them in the basket of our bikes and dress them up. She turned out to be a great cat. We also visited my grandma sometime this year. This is one of the things I remember the most about visiting Grandma as a kid. We would spend HOURS playing in the irrigation ditch that ran through her yard.

Ages 4-5

Well when I was 4 we moved to New Jersey. I don't have too many memories of living in Colorado before we moved but I start to remember a little bit more in New Jersey. We moved to a house with quite a bit of land. I also remember that my sister eventually got the big room at the end of the hall. She ended up with the big room because when I was 4 my brother was born. The story I hear from my mom is that I loved him until he started walking. Once we moved to the east coast we did a lot of travelling. I know I've been to many neat and interesting places but unfortunately I don't really remember. When I was 4 we went to Hershey Park and NYC during Christmas time. I love this picture of my grandparents and the NYC skyline.

FIVE

I started kindergarten... I helped feeding my brother. And hot air balloons landed in our neighborhood. This actually happened quite a few times but I found a number of pictures from when I was 5. I think this might be why hot air balloons make me feel nostalgic. I've never actually been on one that wasn't tethered to the ground. Once after they landed in our neighborhood they let us ride up a little bit, but we were still attached to the ground. Maybe this could be on the list of things I might want to do for my birthday. I'll add it to a spa day and karaoke. We went to the Ozarks to spend time with family friends. This eventually became a yearly or almost yearly tradition for a while. We would meet some where in the middle of where all the families were living and spend a few days water skiing and just lounging in the water. Every year, I think until the last time we were all together, our parents lined us up according to age. Those pictures will come later. There are 5 of us girls, all of us 9 months apart, except my sister and I. And then came 3 boys about 9 months apart too. We continued to travel around the East Coast. Here is a picture at Assawoman Bay (Is that how you spell it dad?) where we went crabbing.