Beat the Heat

When I was a youngster, my Mama ran a daycare in our home. She called it "T.J.'s Happy Campers," and she would watch anywhere from 2 kids to 13 at a time. Many of my childhood recollections involve those we lovingly called 'the babysitin' kids,' and my fondest memories are held in our various summer vacation outings. Each day of the week had a special excursion, i.e. Monday: the Library, Tuesdays & Thursdays: the pool, etc., etc. One of those days was deemed as park/McDonald's day, so we'd take a morning trip to the park and then have lunch at the Golden Arches.

At McDonald's, we'd all get the ever-coveted Happy Meal and try to start playing with our toys before Mama could say, "Don't play with your toy until your food is gone!" 

After scarfing down our burgers and fries, it was a mad dash to get your shoes off your feet and into the Ronald McDonald cubby. We all made sure to first jump into the area we affectionaley called the 'Pee-pee balls.' (We called them that because all knew deep down that once the fun had begun, no one was going to climb out for a potty break...hind sight being 20/20, that seems absolutely disgusting.) 

Next was the shocking slide. I really think the person who invented those silly slides never actually slid down one because, if he/she had, he/she would know that the amount of static electricty those things generate on a daily basis is probably enough to keep our back-up batteries here at the orphanage running for weeks! Nevertheless, we continued to ride it down until Mama began the countdown to departure. Come the last 10 seconds, we'd all race back the the cubby to retrieve our shoes and attempt to put them on before she reached zero.

Just before lift off, Mama would remind us to collect our belongings and line us all up. Once we were ready to go, it was time to 'Beat the Heat.' She'd count us off, "1...2...3...Beat the Heat!" and we'd all dump our remaining cups of water on our heads to cool us off.

Today, I lead an English Education group to a local school. Some of the students didn't have a teacher for the day, so I was trying to entertain them to keep them from bothering those who did have class. At one point, they all decided it was just too stinkin' hot and began to cool eachother off by pouring water on their heads. I'm not sure why this specific instance took me back to my childhood days, but it sure was fun to remember. 


The following pictures are of my little Dominican friends "Beating the Heat":