The Adventure (people) Begins
How do you explain to a child about time zones? I'm sitting here blogging at 5:50 am because Corey is wide awake at 7 am...Eastern standard time.
He and Larry arrived yesterday to join me in spending some time at my folks in Chicago. Corey slept most of the flight and promptly called me upon landing to say "Pop-pop and me are ready for you and Grandpa to picked us up. And my tummy is hungry too." He's a pretty good traveler and an even better guest.
The first thing he did when he got into the house was run to the basement where all the toys are kept. We had to remind him to hug and kiss his grandparents first and then he promptly brought out all our old Star Wars figures and Adventure People.
I spent my whole childhood doing imagination play. My first love as a child had been the wooden Fisher Price castle, barn, airport, etc., but those we replaced by Adventure People in the early 70's.
Since these were reasonably inexpensive, it was not uncommon to get 1 or 2 each holiday. My brother and I owned at least 15 of the sets including the rescue helicopter, Wilderness Patrol, Sea Explorer, Motorcross Team, Safari and Northwoods Trailblazer. And in my crazy imaginative mind, all of them interacted and it was not uncommon for me to get lost in play for hours.
I was always pretty good about not losing many of the pieces even though I played extensively with these. Since my parents saved many of our old toys, most are in good enough to snag $40-50 on eBay.
It is sometimes scary to see the characteristics your child takes from you. Corey is certainly blond, left-handed, easily frustrated and sensitive, but to watch him get lost for hours in play makes me happy to see him enjoy the same things I did 30 years earlier.
Part of me always thought we'd sell these toys after this generation grew out of them, but I think it would be fun to save them for my grandkids someday.
Hopefully, that is along way off.
He and Larry arrived yesterday to join me in spending some time at my folks in Chicago. Corey slept most of the flight and promptly called me upon landing to say "Pop-pop and me are ready for you and Grandpa to picked us up. And my tummy is hungry too." He's a pretty good traveler and an even better guest.
The first thing he did when he got into the house was run to the basement where all the toys are kept. We had to remind him to hug and kiss his grandparents first and then he promptly brought out all our old Star Wars figures and Adventure People.I spent my whole childhood doing imagination play. My first love as a child had been the wooden Fisher Price castle, barn, airport, etc., but those we replaced by Adventure People in the early 70's.
Since these were reasonably inexpensive, it was not uncommon to get 1 or 2 each holiday. My brother and I owned at least 15 of the sets including the rescue helicopter, Wilderness Patrol, Sea Explorer, Motorcross Team, Safari and Northwoods Trailblazer. And in my crazy imaginative mind, all of them interacted and it was not uncommon for me to get lost in play for hours.I was always pretty good about not losing many of the pieces even though I played extensively with these. Since my parents saved many of our old toys, most are in good enough to snag $40-50 on eBay.
It is sometimes scary to see the characteristics your child takes from you. Corey is certainly blond, left-handed, easily frustrated and sensitive, but to watch him get lost for hours in play makes me happy to see him enjoy the same things I did 30 years earlier.Part of me always thought we'd sell these toys after this generation grew out of them, but I think it would be fun to save them for my grandkids someday.
Hopefully, that is along way off.
posted by Steve at
6:10:00 AM
4 Comments:
That's so funny you mentioned thinking about grandkids. My wife and I have actually started using the term "grandkids" in regular conversation lately. It kinda just becomes natural once your kids are pushing 18 to start thinking about it. Weird.
I've saved some of our favorite books - specifically first reader, "baby" books - for my daughters' children. It's worth the space in my attic to have those things to share with my grandbabies, even if that space has to be taken up for another few decades...
I loved the Adventure People toys. I don't really have any of my old toys, but I do try to find things with a more retro/vintage vibe for the boys. It just feels right.
Okay...I had ALL THREE of those adventure people sets whose photos you included! I buried the male ambulance driver during a terrible sand storm (as we so often had those in my imagination, if not in New England). I never did find him.
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