Growing up in the 1990s
Growing up in the 1990s was a lot of fun. There were no cell phones, few video games, and VHS tapes were a pain. With all that said, I have very fond memories of my childhood. From the time I was born, my family lived in four houses until I was eight years old and once we moved to the farm in 1993, one could call that my “forever” home as it seems to keep calling me back, no matter how many times I’ve tried to move. I live just 30-feet away from it in a remodeled barn, today. The land has been in our family since 1895.
Trent, Tanner, and myself have very fond memories of how often we played outside. We would build forts in the snow, lakes in the dirt, and Trent even built a log cabin (his very first “man cave” on the side of a hill in the pasture. We were raised with our parents owning ostriches and emus, then horses, cattle, chickens, farm cats and dogs. We always had at least two dogs, mostly hunting dogs. Our parents took us deer hunting every year in November. We got out of school for about a week and it was in large part, our yearly family vacation.
Before I was old enough to hunt, I remember playing “house” outside the house of their friend, Mr. Gordon Pinney. I learned what a P.O.W. was from him. He was drafted into World War II and served our country, being captured and taken to a concentration camp. He showed me medals, articles, and photos. When he got released to come back home, he weighed 82 pounds. He is probably the reason I have so much respect and admiration for veterans.
A few of the years we were there, he had a lot of racoons nesting in his hay loft so my mom, dad, uncle, aunt, Trent, and our friend Nate were happy to “take care” of his racoon problem. We were lucky enough to get some photos of them with my mom’s Kodak camera. Of course we had to wait 3-4 weeks to see the photos. Kids today do not understand that kind of delayed gratification.
Growing up without cell phones and video games encouraged us to go outside in the summer and create something. We didn’t get bored. We got busy. We usually played or built until our mom called us in for supper. After supper we would play cards or a board game until she said it was time for bed. We were very creative, innovative, and entertained ourselves without screens. We did have the usual movie night (usually in the winter) and they always involved our mom’s popcorn!
In the Fall, my parents would take us on evening picnics in a pasture. One time, I remember my mom bringing blank drawing paper and pencils. She told us to find a weed, flower, or tree, and try drawing it to see what we could come up with. Such amazing, creative parents we were (are) blessed with.
In the summer we did a LOT of camping. One summer I counted 9 trips to Lovewell State Park in Kansas. It was our closest lake and I still think it has some of the best camping but it’s not great for fishing (except drum – there are plenty of drum there). Camping with my family also provided us with the most amazing memories. One that sticks out is of Trent shooting a 4’2″ longnose gar on Father’s Day one year with his new fishing bow. It was the nastiest looking fish I’d ever seen but I was sure proud of him. Trent shot a lot of carp with that bow too. When he learned a new trait, he did whatever he could to be the best he could be at it. That quality in him has remain unchanged. Whatever Trent puts his mind to, he will do it with all his heart until he feels he has succeeded at it.
Not a bad person to have to look up to growing up, although I wasn’t able to appreciate him until adulthood (or until he had children). Sibling rivalry hit us hard and until he had his first baby, Jager, I tended to keep a healthy distance as I was afraid he would tackle me. In high school, Trent wasn’t the large man he is today. He’s always been strong but he really put on a lot of muscle in college. But thankfully we have grown and now we have children of our own and the tackling is reserved for his kids.
I often wish I could have my kids experience a little bit of the 90s, and then I realize – I can. I just need to take them on walks, climb trees with them, and have picnics as soon as this weather warms up. Building a log cabin fort is on our summer “to do” list so my girls can have a fun place play and build their own memories, in the 2020s so they can tell their children about their fun childhoods too. One more thing on our goal list is to take our girls hunting for pheasants with their dog, Mele. We intend to do this at Pheasant Bonanza since their season doesn’t end until April 15th. If you live in a city, or don’t have a lot of land to utilize, bring your kids to Pheasant Bonanza and we can help you out.
-Audra Leichleiter
Pheasant Bonanza Marketing
