Memories...

We started a bonfire in the backyard, that was great. 

Then, I showed my cousin River how to climb on the shed. It was the first time he'd ever been on there...

The reason this blows my mind is because I used to live on that thing.

Me, Bailey, and our cousins Megan, Hayden and Hannah climbed up the gate, then later pounded blocks of wood into the sides like a ladder and added a rope, nailed in at the top.

We were always doing something out there. I'm sure the neighbors hated us, what with our hammering and fighting and laughing going on during all daylight hours.

We would split up and see who could build the best thing. We made chairs, elevator basket things where we'd drop it over the edge then pull stuff up, like hammers, wood, nails, a cat once :) we also made a couple zip lines...

Oh yeah, we made a few legit zip lines. From the pole at the top of the shed going down to a fence. It wasn't very far so it was a really steep drop, and therefore, a fast ride. We actually did this twice. The first time we had bike handlebars.  

I don't know who volunteered to go first, I know it wasn't me :) I mean, we built it, a bunch of kids all under 11 years old. It was probably Bailey or Hayden. Well, whoever it was.. non of us expected them to go that fast. They hit the fence, hard and maybe hurt themselves.. After that we tied a green mattress to the fence. But then, the handlebars came off some how and someone got hurt, whoever was on it at the time.

The next time, we found a seat and secured it to the rope... On the first day after we'd been doing it awhile the fence gave or the rope broke or, well, something went wrong and Hayden, who was still at the beginning and pretty high, fell flat on his back.

After that we weren't allowed to make any more zip lines... That, and now there's no fence to make on with :D

As River was playing on the shed today it just brought back all these memories. And the more I thought about it, we did some really stupid, dangerous stuff. Zip line exhibit #1, even though nobody got seriously injured, we made them ourselves. One of our mom's would take us to get the rope and pulleys and stuff, but we made it. And as I mentioned before, we were all very young. I'm really surprised now that our parents and Taeta were okay with this :) 

Only today Taeta was telling River to be careful and not get too close to the edge... he's 9. The youngest of us, when it was us older kids, was Hannah, she was 4 maybe 5..

Another time, oh, but you have to understand this. The Kawas cousins, Megan, Hayden and Hannah lived in Saudi Arabia back then, but every summer they'd come out to Canada, so we only saw them once a year... during the summer. Because of this, the Kawas kids all wanted their own time with us - plus they could never agree on a movie to watch- so Me and Bailey would get 3 movie nights :) 

When it was Hayden's turn.. umm, I'm trying to think, we couldn't have been that old, maybe 8, 9 and 10?? I dunno, it's just a guess, anyway, we watched our movie, then, when we were sure Taeta was asleep (my mom wasn't there and the Kawas' family was staying at their other grandparent's house) we snuck out to the shed (wooden shed filled with tools and flammable things) and had our bug spray, matches and blocks of wood... You see where this story is going??... Yeah, we were kinda pyro- whatever-it-is, well, me and Hayden more than Bailey. We laid the pieces of wood out on the rocky ground, sprayed them with bug spray and lit them... We were being completely and utterly safe :) After awhile we got tired, but we did have a lot of fun :D

Until we got busted... the NEXT YEAR!!!! Yep, come next year Taeta found out and we got in so much trouble:) For good reason I guess, but still, it was the past and nobody got hurt...

Okay, last one :)

I remember Hayden telling me that spray paint is flammable... we may have also used that in the shed... so one day when no one was home I went in the shed and found a can of green spray paint. We had it because Taeta had given us permission to paint her shed and Kawas/Smith-ify it. I must have been bored, but I went back to the house and sprayed a green dot right in front of the back door.. then I put a match to it :) That circle was on fire for a good couple of minutes. Now, I must have thought that the fire would burn away the paint... it didn't. It's still there, and nobody knows how it got there, well, now they do :D Every time I walk in or out the door I see it and I laugh to myself...

Memories, where would we be without them???