When I was born my parents lived in a mobile home in Hilbert, WI. They had a cat before I was born and it didn't take to kindly to having me around all of a sudden. They had to get rid of it as it had a tendency of trying to sleep on my face, which a baby tries enough to kill itself when it's young but having a cat, unintentionally I'm sure, trying to help with it wasn't good. After awhile they decided they needed a bigger house and rented one in Bay Ridge which is in Appleton, WI. They didn't actually sell the mobile home, but rented it instead so they were able to make some money from that as well as their jobs.
My earliest memory was when I was three and I was playing with some Matchbox cars on the floor in the morning and my mom in a rush to get to work accidentally stepped on one of my favorite cars, crushing it. An odd memory to be your first, but none the less that's what it is. My best friend while living there was a girl name Ashley. Our moms were friends as well so we ended up doing a lot of stuff together. Can't remember too much beyond the time that she got her ears pierced and my mom told me that I should give her some time as she wasn't feeling good and the other time when our mom's took us for a ride somewhere.
Before having to move back to Hilbert because the renters of the mobile home weren't making their payments, construction on HWY 441 began right behind our back yard. It was fun watching it as it slowly started to get laid out and me and my parents even walked on the dirt/gravel path until we reached the Fox River and had to turn back. It still amazes me as I see highways and other road construction happen in areas that I grow up and how much things change. Sometimes neat, but other times it can be a little sad remembering how simple things were when you were younger, which is something I wouldn't have thought I'd be saying at this age yet.
When we moved back to the mobile home park I ended up making a few friends. The main thing we liked to do was ride/race our bikes/battery operated mini vehicles. I tended to always win even though I was the smallest kid of the group, which actually ended up getting me hurt in the process as I'd try so hard that I'd go all out until I crashed. After winning one race someone tied a streamer type thing on my handlebar and I started doing a victory lap. The unfortunate thing was that it was too long and ended up wrapping itself around one of my back tires (I was only 4 at the time so still wasn't on a normal bike yet) and once it got too wrapped around it pulled my handle bars to the side sending me flying to the ground. This was the first time that I got hurt pretty bad as I ended up with a scrap on my head and a pretty deep cut on my elbow.
The only other few memories I have from this time were also not the happiest. On one trip with my grandparents to their camper in Freemont we ended up getting hit in the left rear of their truck by someone that ran a stop sign going about 55MPH. No one was hurt and all I remember is being spun around, which I thought was fun. Another one would be on the drive back to the mobile home at night I remember having a really bad ear ache. It was so bad that I swear that I had an out of body experience as I remember watching the van driving on the road back to the park for a period of time.
One last thing that happened before we were finally able to leave that place was we got my first dog, Sheldon. He was my pick as my parents were looking at other dogs, but I kept chasing after him when we were at the pet store as he wouldn't stay where my parents were. They ended up going with him since they saw how much fun I had with him and how well we got along. The chasing thing was something that continued at home, but reversed as he would chase me around the living room table a lot. This ended bad one day as the kennel door was left open in my path one day and as a kid I wasn't paying too much attention. I ended up gouging my knee open on the top tab of the metal door that left me with two good cuts and me asking what the white part was that I was seeing (for those wondering it was my knee cap). Oddly enough, I didn't even get stitches for it as it healed without it leaving two nice scars on my right knee. A good reminder to always watch where your going and keep sharp edges as far away from a little kid as possible.
Before I turned 5, my parents sold the mobile home and we moved in my grandparents house. We spent most of the year there, meaning that I had my 5th birthday and started kindergarten while there as well. My 5th birthday was probably the best one that I can remember. Maybe because back then it was easily just about the presents that I got, but I was not disappointed. In fact I was shocked at all the stuff my parents got me. Like most boys at the time I was a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (damn you Michael Bay for rebooting them as just Ninja Turtles), and getting any toys that were made of them was awesome. Besides just getting the action figures of all four of them, Splinter, the Shredder, and Krang; they also got me the Turtle Van, Pizza Thrower, and Cheapskate vehicles. I was in absolute heaven.
Turning 5 also meant starting Kindergarten. My parents thought about holding me back since I was just beat the limit on when I had to turn 5 to be enrolled. It was known how long I was going to be there, but they decided that they might as well start me as soon as possible. I remember taking the small bus to school every morning where I made the friends that I had while going to Winchester. School was fun for what Kinderarten was out in the middle of nowhere. A good amount of field trips around the area, the opportunity to watch a caterpillar turn into a monarch butterfly, and a good 1+hour bus ride back home that left me plenty of time to nap or get into trouble.
At the end of about the first half of the school year my parents found a house in Menasha that had a school close by that they decided to buy. This meant I had to say goodbye to all the friends I made, but they would show up later in my life again. Moving out of my grandparents house also wouldn't be the last time that would happen as well.
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I'm going to leave off there as to not bore anyone too much. I'm not a 100% sure what I'll talk about next. I may just continue with the "story" or I may just pick a random, more recent story. If you have anything you want to know the whole 2 or so people that are probably reading this, just let me know.
My earliest memory was when I was three and I was playing with some Matchbox cars on the floor in the morning and my mom in a rush to get to work accidentally stepped on one of my favorite cars, crushing it. An odd memory to be your first, but none the less that's what it is. My best friend while living there was a girl name Ashley. Our moms were friends as well so we ended up doing a lot of stuff together. Can't remember too much beyond the time that she got her ears pierced and my mom told me that I should give her some time as she wasn't feeling good and the other time when our mom's took us for a ride somewhere.
Before having to move back to Hilbert because the renters of the mobile home weren't making their payments, construction on HWY 441 began right behind our back yard. It was fun watching it as it slowly started to get laid out and me and my parents even walked on the dirt/gravel path until we reached the Fox River and had to turn back. It still amazes me as I see highways and other road construction happen in areas that I grow up and how much things change. Sometimes neat, but other times it can be a little sad remembering how simple things were when you were younger, which is something I wouldn't have thought I'd be saying at this age yet.
When we moved back to the mobile home park I ended up making a few friends. The main thing we liked to do was ride/race our bikes/battery operated mini vehicles. I tended to always win even though I was the smallest kid of the group, which actually ended up getting me hurt in the process as I'd try so hard that I'd go all out until I crashed. After winning one race someone tied a streamer type thing on my handlebar and I started doing a victory lap. The unfortunate thing was that it was too long and ended up wrapping itself around one of my back tires (I was only 4 at the time so still wasn't on a normal bike yet) and once it got too wrapped around it pulled my handle bars to the side sending me flying to the ground. This was the first time that I got hurt pretty bad as I ended up with a scrap on my head and a pretty deep cut on my elbow.
The only other few memories I have from this time were also not the happiest. On one trip with my grandparents to their camper in Freemont we ended up getting hit in the left rear of their truck by someone that ran a stop sign going about 55MPH. No one was hurt and all I remember is being spun around, which I thought was fun. Another one would be on the drive back to the mobile home at night I remember having a really bad ear ache. It was so bad that I swear that I had an out of body experience as I remember watching the van driving on the road back to the park for a period of time.
One last thing that happened before we were finally able to leave that place was we got my first dog, Sheldon. He was my pick as my parents were looking at other dogs, but I kept chasing after him when we were at the pet store as he wouldn't stay where my parents were. They ended up going with him since they saw how much fun I had with him and how well we got along. The chasing thing was something that continued at home, but reversed as he would chase me around the living room table a lot. This ended bad one day as the kennel door was left open in my path one day and as a kid I wasn't paying too much attention. I ended up gouging my knee open on the top tab of the metal door that left me with two good cuts and me asking what the white part was that I was seeing (for those wondering it was my knee cap). Oddly enough, I didn't even get stitches for it as it healed without it leaving two nice scars on my right knee. A good reminder to always watch where your going and keep sharp edges as far away from a little kid as possible.
Before I turned 5, my parents sold the mobile home and we moved in my grandparents house. We spent most of the year there, meaning that I had my 5th birthday and started kindergarten while there as well. My 5th birthday was probably the best one that I can remember. Maybe because back then it was easily just about the presents that I got, but I was not disappointed. In fact I was shocked at all the stuff my parents got me. Like most boys at the time I was a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (damn you Michael Bay for rebooting them as just Ninja Turtles), and getting any toys that were made of them was awesome. Besides just getting the action figures of all four of them, Splinter, the Shredder, and Krang; they also got me the Turtle Van, Pizza Thrower, and Cheapskate vehicles. I was in absolute heaven.
Turning 5 also meant starting Kindergarten. My parents thought about holding me back since I was just beat the limit on when I had to turn 5 to be enrolled. It was known how long I was going to be there, but they decided that they might as well start me as soon as possible. I remember taking the small bus to school every morning where I made the friends that I had while going to Winchester. School was fun for what Kinderarten was out in the middle of nowhere. A good amount of field trips around the area, the opportunity to watch a caterpillar turn into a monarch butterfly, and a good 1+hour bus ride back home that left me plenty of time to nap or get into trouble.
At the end of about the first half of the school year my parents found a house in Menasha that had a school close by that they decided to buy. This meant I had to say goodbye to all the friends I made, but they would show up later in my life again. Moving out of my grandparents house also wouldn't be the last time that would happen as well.
*********************************************************************************
I'm going to leave off there as to not bore anyone too much. I'm not a 100% sure what I'll talk about next. I may just continue with the "story" or I may just pick a random, more recent story. If you have anything you want to know the whole 2 or so people that are probably reading this, just let me know.
I loved TMNT too! My dad would always have to rent the videos from Pick 'n Save for me (when they had the video store in there). He would always ask, "...Are you SURE you want to watch this again?" Then later in high school I was watching it in the living room and Dad walked in, looked at the TV and said, "Oh geez! I thought this sounded familiar!" :D
ReplyDeleteMy parents bought me all the movies and videos, so I watched them all the time. My mom says she saw them so many times that she could recite all the movies. And I will admit that I bought the collection of live action movies on Blu-ray just last year and remembered everything haha.
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