The Kazoo and Bubble blowing competition (Nick has the hat on, second from left; Katie is fourth from the left).
Nick loves thrill rides, roller coasters, theme parks, Worlds of Fun and Disney World. As far back as I can remember, he has loved these, and his goal when he grew up was to own a theme park. He wrote a business plan for it when he was about 8 years old! He was going to employ everyone in his family in his operation to optimize revenue(!) and told me I would be his Director of Marketing and could handle the advertising. He designed his featured roller coaster on paper incorporating vertical loops, corkscrews, roll backs and more that would have made any thrill seeker hesitate before getting on the ride.
He also loved carnivals back then and when he and Katie would come over on Saturday, if there was a carnival in town someplace, he would know about it and want to go. So one summer he brought together his big dreams of owning a theme park, with the essence of a carnival, but with the best engineering plan an 8-year old could develop and created an event he called “Super Summer Saturday.”
Katie wins the apple bobbing contest while Nick intently judges!
His idea was to turn his backyard into a carnival. But because he and Katie were usually with my Mom, sister or myself on Saturdays, he turned our backyard into one instead. In June, he started planning each week that he came over, creating tickets, making signage and formulating his various “rides” or old-fashioned carnival contests. We went to the toy store and bought primarily water toys like Super Soaker water guns (smaller versions), those dive and wet slide toys (which ended up representing the roller coaster), silly sprinklers and more.
The big day came and he we got the yard set up with different areas that were the “rides.” His imagination had no boundaries and the simplest little things took on the essence and charm of his vision. We had invited some other kids to come over, including my Mom’s friend Pauline and some of her grandchildren. Everyone had a blast! It was so much fun for the kids and Nick was so excited and proud of his creation. They played all Saturday afternoon and delighted in everything Nick had developed.
Ian and Elyse as water monsters ready to go to the pool on a "Super Summer Saturday"
While we never did a backyard carnival/theme park again (Nick moved on to going to the real theme parks), “Super Summer Saturday” became part of our family vocabulary. After Nick and Katie grew up, Ian and Elyse picked it up. It reflected the days of summer when the kids would come over and we would do something simple or special. Someone would say “Let’s have a ‘Super Summer Saturday’ and go to the park!” Or, “let’s have a ‘Super Summer Saturday’ at the pool!” What made it super is that we would do something silly or fun as part of it.
“Super Summer Saturday” still exists symbolically for me when I get together with Nick. In fact last week we had a super Saturday – we went out to eat at a relatively new restaurant/bistro (Trezo Vino), had wonderful summer food with a white sangria (with the fruit infused in vodka) and did a little window shopping.
Regardless of age or activity, any Saturday I spend with Nick in the summer will always be super!
The Do's & Don'ts of Aunting 