Now that the first full week of summer vacation is behind us we can expect to hear those words that make all adults cringe … “I’m bored!”

How can it be that for 182 days kids are waiting for the line, “School’s out for the summer!” Then just like that they are bored but still waking up for the morning bus ride even though you could sleep in for a little bit longer?

My parents were crafty in the summer months, with a house full of kids they knew better than letting us sit around in the house with idle hands. They would turn us out on the outdoors and those famous words would ring out, “Find something to do or we will find a job for you!” Work hard, play hard was the plan at our house and we did both well.

Hiking and camping was the No. 1 activity in frequency for us. We lived in an area that had plenty of outdoor areas and we explored them all. A half dozen or more kids can have a lot of fun when they learn some orienteering skills.

Every kid would grab their favorite can of some food stuff and a canteen of water for provisions and we would be on the trails. Beans, ravioli, stew, creamed corn and spam all had their day on the hiking trails and if we were lucky we would make it to the fire ring and heat up the cans along the camp fires.

I don’t know why a can of beans tasted so good after hiking a few hours but they sure did. Many of the kids were in the scouts and they always had the neat stuff that scouts had and we all got to try them out, too.

Fishing was the hands-down favorite adventure. It could be at the local ponds or the 3-mile hike to the local lake. Seeing a troop of kids walking in single file with an old fishing rod combo meant only one thing in our neighborhood — it’s summer vacation!

Those same cans the beans came in most likely turned into bait containers the next day. The next activity that was a common summer pursuit was in the search for night crawlers for fishing bait. A rainy day and a flashlight with a can full of dirt and grass clippings were all you needed to fill up a can with the plump worms.

Kids were already low to the ground and if you used indirect light you could make out the worms stretched out within your reach. Direct light would send them quickly back down into their worm hole. Just for extra measure, if we hadn’t used up all the energy we had saved up all year we’d round up a mason jar of fireflies and let them blink on our dressers at night until we dozed off and someone let them go once again.

Building forts, tree houses and boats were other time-eating activities that kept us constantly on the prowl for materials and Dad’s tools that seemed to disappear. We were fascinated with building a boat and several times came close to making a floating craft.

A small stream and pond nearby ended up as our experimental watercraft station. We could get things to float, but our eye appeal was never much. We had a few rules like everyone had to get on it and we all had to be able to swim. Overloading a boat and pfd’s were far off ideas to our summer brains. More often than not, we ended up in the waist deep water with a splash battle after the boat went Titanic on us.

We never forgot Father’s Day which always meant we could make Dad a card and some special project. He likely would reward us with a cookout, which was a big deal, or maybe a ballgame!

Many times we would have the ballpark right at home with Bob Prince announcing the Buccos game with us having a hotdog and a beverage of choice. Dad made homemade root beer and we all felt like we had it made having one and hanging out with Dad cheering on the boys of summer to be our heroes.