Slush Puppies and Slurpees on a Hot Day

Yesterday was so HOTTTTT!!! It was 94 degrees which sounds like a wonderful day to my old friends in Arizona. They may be thinking right now that I have turned into a wimp, but I promise I have not. This is 94 degrees with HUMIDITY...YUK! We had Maelee's field day at school. I went to volunteer for the event. I was working at the water station. I don't know what they were thinking when they decided where to put the water station. The field was down at a bottom of a hill. and the water station up at the top of the very steep hill....there were three steep flights of stairs to get up the hill. So these little kids had to walk up the steep hill to get to the water station. You should have seen these little ones by the time they made it to us. They looked so red and hot and exhausted. We would hand them this tiny dixie cup of water then they had to head back down the hill, just to end up more exhausted than they were before they walked up it. Poor babies. The event was supposed to go from 9 to 11:30 but they had to call it at 10am when there was one too many little ones that made it to the water station and said "I don't feel too good" and then they would leave us a mess to clean up.....a yukky tummy mess from whatever they had for breakfast..yukky, I know. But once a few kids did this they were smart enough to blow the whistle and call all of the kids in doors. So we went inside to play games and hang out in the classroom and have an indoor picnic. I was most sad that I never got a chance to go see Maelee in action at the field day. I missed it all. But I did get a few pics of her with her friends and some great ones in the classroom.

So when I got Maelee off of the school bus and saw her little red face I took her to get one of my favorite treats on a hot day....a 7 Eleven slurpee. It tasted so good! A perfect treat on a hot day. but it brought back some fond memories of child hood. Do you remember slush puppies? That machine that you pulled out the big red handle and slushy ice would come pooring out really fast. It took a few times to master the distance and strength in which you should pull that red tab out. Before you pulled the red puller you had to put in your flavor juice.....this was another skill to master. And as a kid you always think "more is better!" so I always put way tooooo much flavor in and ended up with a very sour treat but still refreshing and fun. My sister and I would either beg our parents to drive us or let us walk down to O K (Circle K). We lived in a farming community and we were surrounded by fields and the only thing close to us a few fields away was a circle K (corner of avenue B and 32nd street) these were before the days of KMART at that corner. My mom rarely let us walk and I can't remember all the details, but I do know that we walked a few times. I wonder if it was with our without permission. Some of our favorite things to buy were Slush Puppies, Cigarette Shaped bubble gum (never made my mom happy with that choice) and reeses peanut butter cups. Charlies favorite thing to buy was fruit flavored certs. Most of my childhood memories revolve around food. I will never forget those slush puppies. I had a fun time sharing a wonderful treat with my little girls. I hope I can fill their days with great memories too.