Hello everyone! This is your Alternate Activity if you cannot make it to speed bingo jingo with me today at 5pm HP time! 


Share with me your favorite summer memory to earn $1 mill HPD ! This will stay open until tomorrow at 12pm HP time. 

Here is one of mine : 
A few years ago when we lived on base in Little Rock, I got to be a part of the Asian Pacific Islanders Association. But Sat... you're white. Yes! Yes I am. They were putting on a show with dancers and they needed 1 more person. They were struggling to find people willing. So, my friend invited me to be an honorary member for the month so that I could learn the dances and perform with them. It just so happened that year I had been tanning a LOT - so I didn't look wonder bread white like I do now lol. I blended in enough to not be distracting and they put me towards the back that way the spotlight was still on the other members. It was SO cool learning about their culture and the meanings behind the movements for the dances! I still get chills any time I see the men perform the Haka, which is a Maori tradition.  

Can't wait to read through everyone else's stories! 

My favorite summer memory was from the summer of 2003. My mom had made a deal with me back in 2001 that if I took riding lessons for 2 years straight, she'd get me my first horse. She didn't think I'd stick it out for two years but much to her bank account's demise, in 2003 I got my first horse. A grade 7 year old quarter horse named Beau. I will never forget the feeling of going to a tack store to get a matching halter/lead (the most OBNOXIOUS florescent yellow) and some treats, the laugh of the lady at the checkout when I absolutely could not stop smiling, the feeling of going to pick him up, etc. He was the first of many things for me in the horse world and though it didn't work out for us two in the end, I'll never forget him and the warm sunny days we spent together ♡

Mine is kind of an on-going summer memory! Ever since my oldest was a baby, my husband and I have bought a membership to the local zoo, so we can go as much as we want. We go at least twice a month (usually more). What I especially love about it is seeing how my kids (since, obviously, now the baby comes, too!) learn and grow and interact more every time we go. There's always something new to discover, and see, and I love to see that look of wonder in their eyes!

MY WEDDING DAY!!!!

It just makes the cut to count as a "summer memory" as we got married on the first official day of summer according to the calendar  (June 21, 2014). It was amazing! I married my best friend! Even though we only dated for 6 months, were engaged for 6 months, and have been married for 8 years and counting! But we both grew up in the same town and went to high school together. He remembered me, I did not remember him haha We wanted a nontraditional wedding and it was definitely that! We got married in the middle of Fort Knox (wasn't actually used in a war but it was there if needed to defend against attacks trying to get to Bangor, Maine). And my husband hates suits and ties so he wore a civil war generals uniform (ended up being a confederate generals uniform, he wanted a union generals uniform but no place made them). I still wore a white dress, but I actually like dresses haha My husband is the biggest history nerd ever! Then we went to Gettysburg for our honeymoon.

My last summer, I went on my first vacation without just my sister and a group of friends. We roadtripped up to Colorado Springs, going out of our way to hit the Grand Canyon as our friends had never been. Spending a week away from home, on an adventure, doing spontaneous activities and fun, playing games around the campfire... all of it was just awesome. Can't wait to do it again!

It's really hard for me to pin down just one memory haha. I have lots of great memories growing up and going tent camping with my mom and brothers and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire. Also many family vacations to various locations - Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Glacier, Yosemite...And also some really awesome road trips with just me and my mom cuz we travel really well together. ;P She does most of the driving...and I navigate! xD In the last few years we've been to Grand Teton, Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, Capitol Reef NP, and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Now that I'm married, I'm finding out all the places my husband hasn't been to yet, and so I get the chance to maybe go back to some of these places - plus new places I haven't explored yet, like the PNW. And he also loves camping too and works at an RV dealership so maybe we can rent one for a weekend sometime soon here. ^^

Well for me, Summer falls over December, so Christmas is almost always the centrepoint of most of my favourite Summer memories. 

My favourite, though, would have to be the Summer of 2019. There was a brief opening for travel between states, so I packed my little family up in the car and we made the 10 hour drive from Victoria into South Australia, to Barmera, in the riverland. We spent Christmas Day with the whole family, finally together after such a long time apart due to lockdowns. I have a distinct memory of sitting at the pool watching my brother and my son swim together. My son adores his uncle, and watching them play together and conspire against my sister who REFUSED to get wet as it would ruin her perfect hair (she does have perfect hair) is a memory I'll never forget. Nothing beats seeing your kid so happy. 

Mine is June 19, 2016 when I got this sweet boy. I finished my graduate program in December and got my first teaching job in April. I was feeling like a big girl and decided it was time for me to fulfill my lifelong dream of having a dalmatian. I searched breeders and found one in Virginia. I had to fill out an application and I was on a waiting list for like 3 more litters so it wouldn't be until the end of the year before I would even possibly be getting a puppy. The breeder called me and told me that she had a sweet boy that was deaf and the people that were planning on getting him decided that was too much for them to take on but she thought I was going to be a good fit for him. I went and got him the following day. My husband and I were dating at the time and had been together for just under four years at the time. A few weeks before we had a HUGE fight and had separated for a few weeks and he actually came with me when we drove to get the sweet puppy and we reconciled our differences. It was a big turning point in our relationship and are now happily married. 

Now my Potter pup is six years old and living his best life. He is my ride-or-die and literally goes everywhere with me. I work from home so this dog basically spends 24/7 with me and is currently asleep on my feet! He will always be my favorite memory! 

My favortie summer memory (other than now watching my daughter with her animals) was as a kid riding ponies all day with my sister and friends. We would play "polo" in the yard bareback with broomsticks and a softball. This proved to be very difficult. We would sit bareback on our ponies in the yard next to the road and wave at everyone driving by. We'd count and see how many people would wave back. I remember bugging my mom to just buy me an english saddle so I could try it out. She did, but the girth was far too big for my pony. I decided it would work if I used the gate to get on. I was loping along in the ditch when my pony put the brakes on. Next thing I know is my butt is still in the saddle, feet were still in the irons, and I was on the ground in front of my pony. That girth was far too big! I then waited until we got a smaller one. My sister and I would spend hours in the arena making up games and timing each other. Playing "jockey" was another favorite. We put some miles and lots of hours on our ponies growing up! 

My favorite summe memory was when my late husband surprised me with a trip to Nashville Tennessee. We did everything, We went on a sunset carriage ride, we went to the Grand Ole Opry and went to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. That's where we stayed. It was the most beautiful hotel ever. We went on the General Jackson show boat, and we went to the Dukes Of Hazzard museum and got to meet John Schnider and Tom Wopat (Bo and Luke Duke) We even went to Graceland down in Memphis. That was a dream for him. He LOVED Elvis Presley. But the best thing was when we had a romantic cruise up the Cumberland River. Candlelight Dinner, and a private concert. It was the best thing. 

My favorite summer memories are the summers I spent when I was younger on the Cape with my cousins. My grandmother would save all year and rent my family 5 hotel rooms for us all to spend 4-5 days at Cape Cod. We'd spend the week on the beach, driving go-carts (and illegally bumping into each other LOL), going mini-golfing, going to the trampoline park, and having dinner together. We'd all get a $20 allowance for the candy store which my brothers and I followed vehemently but my cousins were always running up the tab. xD We were a bunch of hooligans; we got ourselves banned from two hotels on the Cape LOL

I miss those simplier times.

One of my favourite summer memories was from when I was a teen. I was staying with my parents and sister in a forest park campsite (tents and caravans).
My parents allowed me to go on a day ride which took in two forest parks, country lanes, a mountainside trail, a seaside town and a long beach. 
We started with a hack through one forest park, walked along country lanes to the next (where my family was staying), hacked through that (the galloping was exhilarating!) along a trail at the foot of the mountains, then down into the town. We stopped for lunch, then went onto the beach. We let the horses really stretch out for a few gallops then walked all the way back to our starting point. 

Such an amazing day. I wish I could do it again.

This was hard! D:

My favorite non-family/non-horsey related memory would be the summer right before senior year of high school. I got to spend 10 days in Lake Placid, New York with a group of other visullay impared kids at an outdoor recreation camp. We did so many awesome things like hiking, kayaking, canoeing, camping, rock wall climbing, rapelling, tyrolean traversing, orienteering, high & low ropes courses, swimming, and a few other things. It was really fun navigating each activity as we had a wide range of sighted to totally blind kids. We all ended up helping each other out and just having a ball. Our counselors were the best and super fun! One even brought her dog with her, her name was Skittles and she was an Alaskan Husky, she was my buddy when her mom was around helping the others. We also go to go walking around LP's downtown and there was this really good pizza shop and a fudge shop, that it was the best danged fudge I've ever had in my life and there were soo many choices! Just drooling thinking about it haha! I wish I knew about that camp sooner otherwise I would of begged to go every summer, but just squeaked by that year due to their age limit. Probably one of the best experiences of my life.

I'm not sure I have a favorite memory, but I have a lot of fond memories of visiting Florida and Disney World with my mom in like... 1998? Yeah, that sounds about right. I must've been around ten or eleven. I visited some extended family that I never had the chance to meet before, like my grandma's sister, and a seagull pooped in my hair when we visited the pier near her house. The memories of Disney World and surrounding parks still bring a smile to my face. It was the first time my mom and I had went on a trip with just each other in years. Now, the magic of this time is that it was both a great memory and a terrible one. I ended up getting an ear ache (swimmers ear) a day before we were scheduled to fly home. That plane trip was HORRIBLE because of all the pain I was in, but I remember so many people on the plane being so understanding and trying so hard to help me however they could whether it was offering tylenol, warm cloths, or distractions.

In the summer of 1997, my family moved from one town to another, and while we waited on the right farm to be available, we lived in a holiday trailer at my uncles.  Me, my brother, my mother, and my dad.  Because we were there, and my two cousins lived there, my one uncle decided when his three came up for a month (divorce), he would bring his three kids over for the whole month in his trailer.  As soon as they appeared, my third uncle decided to join - with his three boys.

Then my dad's cousin brought his 5.... and my great aunt her youngest... and my great uncle his 2... and the uncle's stayed past the month when they asked their mom... and and and.

Through the summer, there were always 15-25 of us cousins there, and neighbourhood kids (and more dogs than adults).

Every day was an adventure - the littlest was my cousin Jake at 8, the oldest were Tarla and Tessie at 15, and we ran wild under the older ones "supervision" (with adults hanging around here and there).  Waterfights with my uncle Lyle (he cheated - had one of those backback guns).  Mud slides at the river.  Riding horses in the fields with mom and my aunts.  Mudding on the quads with the uncles.  Kick-the-can at night.  N64 tournaments in the basement.  Bonfires on the weekends.

I could pick any night that summer to be my favourite, but I think the best one was about 4 weeks in.  We had 20ish of us kids 8-13, and we all got all dressed up in black.  While our parents had a bonfire (and beers), we played kick-the-can in the pitch black.  Running around giggling in the dark, swapping clothes.  And one kid with a reflective vest we stole from one of the dads shouting 1-2-3 on _______, then a mad chase to kick the can before you got tagged, and jeering of the others.  When we got tired there was soda and chips, and marshmellows to roast.  I cut my leg wide open running from my cousin, and didn't notice until mom forced me into my pyjamas.  I didn't get tagged once, outran my brother four times, and Uncle shut it down by bringing out his backpack gun.

Best.  Memory.  Ever.

Not a recurring memory, but my favorite by far was the summer my parents took me to Colorado when I was 9. We stayed at Elk Mountain Ranch for a week. I was "given" my own horse for the week, a pony named Scout, we trail rode almost daily, and I specifically remember letting Scout drop back away from the group a bit so we could gallop up a rise in the prairie. It was so exhilarating even though I know I almost gave my mom a heart attack. At the end of the stay, they did a kids' rodeo and I ended up placing third haha. I've been wanting to go back for years.

My favorite summer memories are when we would go visit our extended family. They had a pool so we would spend a lot of time out there, and also always took a trip to the zoo!

♥ remy, brooke, and potter

I have loved reading all of these ♥ 
Thank you to everyone who participated! I will be sending your $1 mill shortly. 

Hmm.. my birthday is in summer, and I grew up on a lake, so my favorite memories are around those two things. I loved living on a lake, although I want a lake AND ponies in my backyard XD