spoiler for writing a blog, or really, like the Cliffnotes version of potential blogs. But despite the fact that my life is pretty boring right now and just revolves around being knocked up, I don't want to write exclusively about that.I don't know why Gen X toys have been nostalgically bouncing around my brain lately, maybe it has something to do with my current gestational state. But I've been thinking of toys from my childhood that were so fun and aren't really around anymore.
The three that initially popped into my head as in, "Ohhhh yeah, I LOVED that!" were:
- The Hippity-Hop
- The Big Wheel
- The Sit-and-Spin
I figured maybe the reason these 3 weren't really around as much was because I can remember totally wiping out on all of them on a regular basis and now "safety" is such a big word. Though with all three being close to the ground, the crashes were
never very dramatic.The Big Wheel was the only toy that I actually owned myself, coming from the most poverty-stricken family on the block, save for the sole Mexican family (this was Scottsdale in the 80's, there wasn't a lot of racial integration), who struggled to feed a very large household of kids. I had a Spiderman Big Wheel which I deeply adored. Btw, when looking for images of the Big Wheel, most of the images had kids wearing helmets. Pfffff! HELMETS!
Total aside, one of the sucky things about being "the poor kid" is the eternal patheticness you feel when over at a friend's house and how much you yearn to play a game they own and you don't. Not to mention how you are prisoner to their rules on who gets a turn. I had a good friend who owned her own Intellivision (back in the day - a competitor of the Atari 2600), and though she truly was a good friend whom I adored, the truth was, when I was at her house, I BURNED to play the video game. And I would always start off playing other games with her, the whole time in my head thinking, "Has enough time passed for it to be okay to ask if we can play Intellivision
? Will she think this is the only reason I'm here?" She always said yes, always kicked my ass, and I always left her house a little happy, a little guilty.I did find some Hippity-Hops for sale here, reasonably priced, and they even have adult ones! I really wanted to buy one for me and future BabyGirl, but they won't ship to New Zealand and it's too bulky for me to ask someone to ship to me. (Btw, I think the little girl on the Hippity-Hop looks like Catie -- think so, Kim?).
Shannon mentioned the Lemon Twist, which I googled and ended up with several hundred alcoholic drinks and a few photos of this to the right. I do remember this one too.
There's also the wonderful S
lip-n-Slide, which was really just a piece of tarp hooked up faultily to a garden hose, in case you want to carelessly fling your youthful torso upon the hard ground, hoping you'll just magically glide along. Should've named it Slam-n-Slide.Anyone else got some fun, yet deliciously dangerous toys they remember?
6 comments:
They still make sit and spins! Richard still has one, of the two that he used to have. only this one plays music.
Wow...does the music correspond to how fast he spins or do you flip a switch?
Anya has a sit and spin that makes noise, too. You push a button on the handle that makes the music. It doesn't relate to the spinning at all.
Helmets? Man, back when I was a kid, only the lame kids wore them when riding bikes - I don't think I ever saw someone on a Big Wheel with one. I never had a helmet, so you can only imagine how lame those lame kids must really have been.
Yes, she does sort of resemble Catie, who so wanted a Hippity Hop toy and was promised one from her grandmother but never received it...but I digress...
Big Wheels were around for a while when Catie was younger (and while I was in the States drooling over them). I think one might be able to find them now, at Target or ToysRUs (but not the ToysRUs in Trondheim), maybe? I really wanted one for Catie, because I had so much fun on mine, but the shipping to Norway thing made it a bit too pricey. :P
I've also seen the sit and spin, the slip and slide and something that was like the lemon twist without the lemon shape on the end.
I think that pretty much every toy from my childhood has resurfaced. Robert tells me that I'm reliving my childhood through Catie.... :P
Well, so much for all the toys being too unsafe! There must be a Toys R Us version of a toy store here, but I've been unaware of it. Guess I'll pay attention next time I go to Auckland. Be fun to at least get a hippity-hop or Big Wheel.
And reliving your childhood is just part of the upside to parenting, right? :)
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