Summer Jobs, Suntans & Shenanigans

Summary

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Podcast Summary: You Had 2 Be There

Episode: "Summer Jobs, Suntans & Shenanigans"

Released: July 2, 2026 | Host: SickBird Productions | Hosts: Erin Miller, Kate Steinberg, Nicole Story Dent

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Episode Overview

This nostalgia-drenched episode is a sun-soaked celebration of summers in the 90s and 2000s. Hosts Erin, Kate, and Nicole swap stories about neighborhood adventures, summer jobs, fashion faux pas, failed summer camps, and the unforgettable rituals that marked the era—from pool parties to questionable tanning routines. The conversation is fueled by humor, tangents, listener-submitted tales, and iconic (sometimes cringe-worthy) pop culture references.

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Key Topics and Discussion Points

1. Childhood Summer Traditions & Memories

Timestamps: 00:14 – 14:53

• Fireflies, Backyard Antics & Fear of Bugs

  • Erin wonders, “Where are the fireflies?” sparking a lighthearted debate about childhood nostalgia, bug aversions, and the rare compassion Kate has for even mosquitoes.
    “Any bug. But I don't kill bugs anymore. That is part of, like, who I am as a person now.” – Kate (01:26)

• Neighborhood Culture: Pools, Sprinklers, and Trampolines

  • The hosts recall how access to a community pool or a neighbor’s trampoline was the social currency of 90s childhood. Injuries from trampolines and “spring-free” upgrades spark laughter.
    “You get half a home but a full pool.” – Kate (03:40)

• Ice Cream Truck & Snack Debates

  • Reminiscing about the desperation to buy ice cream with pennies, favorite treats like bubblegum ice cream and Flintstone Push Pops, and regional terminology wars over “Freezies,” “Ices,” and “Otter Pops.”
    “I did a story... and a lot of people call them Outer Pops... I had never heard of that.” – Erin (09:17)

• Night Games and Neighborhood Crews

  • Fond stories of playing tag, cops and robbers, and building secret forts or clubs with “membership dues” paid in loose change.

2. Coming-of-Age & Summer Jobs

Timestamps: 14:53 – 19:13

• The Grind Began Early

  • Kate began working as a paper girl at 12, hiding in the car seat to avoid being seen; she later shuffled rocks at Rogan Shoes.
    “My job at the shoe store was to take a broom and shuffle the rocks in the parking lot.” – Kate (17:11)

• First Firings

  • Erin shares her brief stint (and firing) from Dick’s Sporting Goods, revealing the chaos and awkwardness of teenage employment.

• Babysitting Disasters

  • Nicole recalls revolving-door babysitters, including one who ominously warned she and her brother their “parents are going to hell,” and formative early babysitting stints at 11.

3. Summer Social Life: Fairs, Parties, and Pop Culture

Timestamps: 21:46 – 29:22

• County & State Fairs: Gathering Places, Rivalries and Teenage Rebellion

  • Erin details sneaking drinks at the Mississippi Valley Fair.
    “You’d take in a flask, and you’re like, sneak it in in your bra or something. And then you meet everyone by the kamikaze ride...” – Erin (22:20)

• Poolside and Beach Fashion: A Tumultuous Tale

  • The eternal struggle with tankinis, boy-shorts, and “cheekiest cheek” swimsuits, and the challenge of finding a suit that feels right as bodies and standards change.
    “There’s no in between. It’s either your cheeks are out or... you’re gonna want to go to... get a full moo.” – Nicole (33:59)

4. Vacations, Camping, and Road Trips

Timestamps: 35:21 – 39:46

• Hotel Kids vs. Camping Kids

  • Kate resents her status as the “Paris Hilton” of her family, dragged on multi-state camping trips while dreaming of Red Roof Inns.
    “I am the Paris Hilton of this family... and I’m stuck in Wisconsin Dells at the KOA in a tent. This is not who I’m supposed to be.” – Kate (35:47)

• Road Trips & Minivan TVs

  • Nostalgia for portable TV screens, fighting siblings, and the coveted friend with a reclining seat van or built-in DVD setup.

• Lakes and Boats

  • Debates around being a “lake person,” memories of tubing injuries and dirty water, and tales of college-aged “Party Cove” shenanigans—plus Erin’s brush with “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.”

5. Swimming Lessons, Aquatic Centers, and (Near) Disasters

Timestamps: 44:24 – 47:24

• Aquatic Centers & Wave Pool Fails
  • Rediscovering the terror of wave pools and the embarrassing (and dangerous) tests required to access the “cool” slides.
    “I remember I went to a birthday party… They were like, we're gonna swim across the wave pool. It wasn't the way. Like, the thing with the wave pool is they would turn it off and then… I'm mid swimming across... it starts going off…” – Nicole (46:37)
  • Erin’s infamous “Wacky Waters,” closed after a fatal incident, embodies the end of a grungier, less-regulated era.

6. Listener Summer Stories: Playful to Outrageous

Timestamps: 47:24 – 54:34

• Photo Shoot Mania

  • Listeners recall late-night photoshoots, hugging trees, jumping shots, and awkward digital camera poses.
    “I have a lot of photo shoots of me, like, hugging trees. Anyone else?” – Erin (48:14)

• Pranks & Teenage Rebellion

  • Submissions range from the infamous “pooping on a plate for a mean girl” (48:45) to falling through attics to stealth skinny dipping in fiberglass-contaminated pools.

• Wardrobe Malfunctions

  • An epic tale of a wardrobe slip—one woman’s triangle bikini top betraying her mid-nap in front of her friend’s entire conservative family, to collective mortification.
    “I looked down and there it was, my boob out for everyone to see. I never went anywhere with them again.” (53:21, listener submission)

7. Pop Culture Crushes: “Hear Me Out” Segment

Timestamps: 54:42 – 56:12

• Erin lists obscure animated and movie crushes with no explanation required:

  “Scar in The Lion King, the Vacuum from The Brave Little Toaster, Bernard from The Santa Clause, Legolas, Lumiere, Lucius Malfoy, and Kokum from Pocahontas.” – Erin (55:00)

  • Laughter ensues as the absurdity and randomness of childhood crushes are unpacked.

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Memorable Quotes & Standout Moments

• On Summer Fashion:
  • "I need an adult version where your boobs can be out a little, but it covers your stomach. … I cannot get these high waisted booty cheeks, like, these..." – Kate (33:01)
• On Early Work Hustle:
  • "My job at the shoe store was to take a broom and shuffle the rocks in the parking lot." – Kate (17:11)
• On Teenage Defiance:
  • "You’d take in a flask, and you’re like, sneak it in in your bra… and you meet everyone by the kamikaze ride…” – Erin (22:20)
• On the Simpler Times:
  • “... we just shut all the blinds, lock the door… not leave the house... It was just, I feel like things were so simple.” – Kate (21:02)

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Additional Highlights & Running Jokes

• Relentless Midwest/Mom regionalisms (“Changer Ranger,” “Outer Pops,” “glove department”).
• Recurring jokes about “rich friends with pools,” “rich friends with vans,” and lake house envy.
• Tanning with baby oil, orange Fanta, and risky disregard for sunscreen.
• Frequent allusions to 90s/2000s media like The Parent Trap and Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
• Skittishness about public swimming attire as adults vs. unbothered youthfulness.

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Notable Listener Stories (Timestamps):

• [48:14] – Photo shoots at playgrounds and hugging trees.
• [49:45] – (Infamous) “poop on a plate” prank for revenge.
• [50:14] – Sneaking into pools, skinny dipping, and disastrous encounters with fiberglass.
• [53:21] – Bikini top fail during a lakeside family gathering.

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Closing Reflections

The episode captures the mix of embarrassment, chaos, joy, and “you just had to be there” moments that defined youthful summers pre-smartphone. The hosts ponder giving their own kids a “90s summer” (with AirTags for safety), trading today’s caution for a dose of wild, unsupervised freedom.

“Basically, just push your children out of the house at 8am and don't let them back in till 8pm. We'll start there.” – Nicole (56:37)

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Useful Segments Quick Reference

• Intro & Fireflies – [00:14]
• Summer Pools, Sprinklers & Night Games – [03:12 – 12:31]
• Neighborhood Clubs & Jobs – [14:53 – 21:02]
• Fairs, Parties & Summer Social Life – [21:46 – 29:22]
• Vacation/Camping Stories – [35:21 – 39:46]
• Wave Pool Fiascos – [44:24 – 47:24]
• Listener Summer Stories – [47:24 – 54:34]
• Pop Culture Crushes “Hear Me Out” – [54:42 – 56:12]
• Closing Thoughts & 90s Summer for Kids – [56:12 – End]

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This episode is a must-listen for anyone nostalgic about their own unfiltered, uncurated, and often hilariously awkward summer memories.

Transcript

[Aaron]

You had to be there, baby. You had to be there, baby. You had to be there, baby. You had to be there, baby. You had to be there, baby. You had to be there, baby. You had to be there, baby.

[Erin]

Okay, welcome to you had to be There. I'm Erin.

[Kate]

I'm Kate.

[Nicole]

And I am Nicole.

[Erin]

Guys, I have a question, a random question, totally sidetracking. When's the last time you guys saw a firefly? You used to catch them as a kid, right?

[Nicole]

Are you. Are you about to share a conspiracy theory with us?

[Erin]

No, I'm just. I was talking about this with Adam, my husband, a couple weeks ago. I. There used to be fireflies all over the place when I was growing up, and I'd catch them, you know, in containers. And I swear I have not seen a firefly in, like, 15 years. Where are the fireflies? Have you guys seen a firefly? Did you used to catch fireflies growing up? In the summer?

[Kate]

I. I was terrified of fireflies, but my mom would, and it would freak me the frick.

[Nicole]

Why were you scared of them? Just because they're.

[Kate]

They're bugs.

[Nicole]

They're bugs.

[Kate]

They're the closest looking thing to a beetle. They're a beetle's cousin. Oh, my God. Oh.

[Nicole]

Oh.

[Erin]

It was like a nightlight.

[Nicole]

What's funny is I don't remember them growing up, but the last house we lived at, so maybe so like, three years ago, they were all over our backyard. So my kids got to experience that.

[Kate]

Yeah.

[Erin]

Okay.

[Nicole]

At night.

[Erin]

So they're still out there.

[Nicole]

They're still out there.

[Erin]

Okay. I just. I'm just wondering where they've been.

[Kate]

I just remember catching him growing up. But Chad lives in, like, the middle of his hometown. It's like, in the middle of nowhere. And then that's where I'll see a firefly. But I've definitely have recently, as I've gotten older. I'm really scared of ladybugs now. As much as I want to see one. Really, I can't. I can't have them touch me. Any bug. But I don't kill bugs anymore. That is part of, like, who I am as a person now. Like, really? We're going to cut the spider. We're going to bring it out. We're going to cut, like, even, like, even, like, mosquitoes. Like, dare I say I feel bad you're saving mosquitoes? No, I'm not saving them, but I do feel bad.

[Nicole]

They can, like, give you disease stuff. She's just like, you know what? You look hungry, sweetie. Just have at it.

[Erin]

Just, I'm killing all of them. All right, guys, should we move on to the chat room?

[Nicole]

My God, is she wearing the new couture?

[Erin]

What are we talking about this week? What. What are we deep diving into?

[Kate]

Well, can I give you a hint? Cuz I wore this shirt that's not showing camera. It kind of feels like it's the vibe of summer.

[Erin]

Girls rule, boys rule.

[Nicole]

We're talking about summer.

[Erin]

So true.

[Kate]

Summer 2000s.

[Nicole]

One of my proudest mom moments. If I were to start that sentence and say hey, sis, to my, my 8 year old daughter, if I, if I were to say boys rule or girls rule, she would say boys drool. Taught her that that was like first words coming out of her mouth.

[Erin]

And that is good for routine. Okay. Yeah. Where do we even start, you guys? Some, Some.

[Aaron]

Some.

[Nicole]

Some time, like, I'm thinking my, my

[Erin]

brain goes to like grade school. I want to start with the 90s, you know, like, where. What are we doing? What were you guys doing? I was outside basically 25 hours of the day. Okay.

[Nicole]

And where. What was the average high temp for you in. In summer?

[Erin]

Oh. Oh, it got hot. 90s did it?

[Nicole]

Okay.

[Erin]

Oh, yeah. I guess it was humid up in here. In the Midwest. In Iowa, Chicago.

[Kate]

Super hot, super humid. I lived in like a town home growing up, so we had like a community pool. And I was at that. Girl, I know, sorry.

[Erin]

That's a big deal.

[Kate]

You, you get, you get half a home but a full pool.

[Nicole]

No, that was my favorite thing about visiting my grandmother. Every summer I would go to my grandma's house for two weeks and she had an apartment, an assisted living apartment. And they had a pool nice. And nickelodeon. And that was all I wanted because we didn't have a pool growing up. I had one rich friend who had a pool and we would call her. Me and my best friend Katie would call her and we'd be like, oh, hey, Stephanie. Gosh, it's so hot out. Like, we would lead her to water and she'd be like, do you guys want to come over and swim? We'd be like, oh, my God, I thought you'd never ask. Yes, we want to come over and swim. If you didn't have a pool, it was miserable. It was, it was sprinklers or it was.

[Erin]

You were in Texas, huh?

[Nicole]

It's like over 100 and there's that thing that waters like a rainbow form and you would just jump over that for an hour.

[Erin]

Yes.

[Kate]

Do you guys remember crazy daisies?

[Erin]

Yes.

[Nicole]

Yes, Yes.

[Kate]

I feel like crazy Daisies were like before. I wasn't so sensitive to texture and things. I was able to run through grass like wet grass. And that was just like, the best thing ever.

[Nicole]

The crazy. That is a very specific. That's a very specific feeling. And as a mom, I can't imagine the overstimulation I would feel if I had a bunch of wet grass stuck to my feet. That is a very specific summer feeling that I didn't mind back then, but now.

[Erin]

Now, now. Thank you. And I would put, like, the sprinkler underneath the trampoline. You guys ever do that?

[Nicole]

We still do that for our kids. Oh, it's the best. They love it.

[Kate]

I never had a trampoline growing up, so, I mean, what do you explain to me?

[Erin]

What is this?

[Kate]

I have no clue what you guys are talking about. What is this? How?

[Erin]

Well, I never. I never had a trampoline. That was one of the things I really wanted. My parents were like, no. So I was like, okay. But my neighbor had a trampoline, and, yeah, you put the sprinkler underneath. So when you're jumping on it, water is, like, going all over the place. It's so refreshing.

[Nicole]

It's great. It's the best.

[Erin]

Oh, that's cool.

[Nicole]

We didn't have a trampoline either, but my. My best friend had a trampoline and the injuries, mostly because due to the springs, it was less, like falling off of it and more falling into the springs.

[Erin]

Oh, yeah.

[Nicole]

And now they make spring free trampolines, like our trampoline. Of course it doesn't have springs and it's got a full.

[Aaron]

Like.

[Nicole]

Like, it's. It's. What they've done is they turned it into, like an MMA cage match because it's got a full net all the way around. And one of my kids friends has still managed to break her foot falling off of it. So they're not fully foolproof, but yeah, we'll put the sprinklers underneath it.

[Erin]

But they're better than they used to be.

[Nicole]

Yeah, they're better than they used to be. And like, our. Like our rich friends have. They're buried in the ground. They bury their what, so that they're, like, ground level.

[Erin]

Yeah, I've seen those.

[Kate]

That's a thing.

[Erin]

If I would have seen that.

[Nicole]

Oh, oh.

[Erin]

If I would have seen that as a kid, I would have been. I don't know. Maybe they didn't exist when we were kids. I mean, I never saw one. Maybe they did, but I would have been blown away.

[Kate]

Why are we building into the ground, though, because 15 years from now your kids are grown. What do you turn into? A Jacuzzi? I don't.

[Erin]

Grandkids go on it. I don't know.

[Kate]

That's true. I. I remember being out till dusk, like, just so. So specifically, like, the sun setting, and then, like, the ice cream man would come by and you'd run after it and be like, please, I want a strawberry shortcake. Or like the Ninja Turtles with the eyeball. With a gumball. Eyeballs.

[Erin]

I never had money for the ice cream truck.

[Nicole]

Yeah, my parents.

[Erin]

My parents didn't give me money for anything.

[Nicole]

Like, did you ever pay and change, though? I remember, like, I would save. I would have, like, literal pennies. I'm sure they hated to see a kid coming that. What didn't have a parent with them? Because I would be like, hi, I'd like to buy this thing for $3 here or 300 pennies. I'm gonna count individually for you.

[Kate]

What was everybody's ice cream flavor? Like, if you're paying them pennies, like, what are. What are you guys. Well, Aaron, you could pretend.

[Erin]

Well, I mean, I did. I still ate ice cream. I just like. Oh, we have this place called Whitey's. Okay. If you're from the qc, you know, shout out Whitey's. Kate, the face you're making. Do not make a face at Whitey's.

[Kate]

Sorry. The Midwest calling it Whitey's is a little concerning.

[Erin]

It's probably someone's last name. Why? No, no, no. Okay, okay, okay.

[Nicole]

Whitey's. Okay. Just.

[Kate]

Okay. So what. What are you ordering from Whitey's?

[Erin]

Moose tracks. Okay. It had little peanut butter cups in it. Or growing up, I was a big bubble gum. It would have little pieces of bubble gum in it. Were you bubblegum? Yeah, probably. Now, I would say it was gross, but I was a big bubblegum person growing up.

[Nicole]

They were, like, old and cold, and they would, like, crunch. Like, they wouldn't even chew. They would just, like. You'd crunch into it like it was a jawbreaker. And it was supposed to be gum.

[Erin]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

But I'd get it every time I'd come back for it.

[Erin]

Yeah, I loved bubblegum.

[Nicole]

I really liked from the ice cream truck, Push Pops. The. Or the. Oh, the Flintstones.

[Kate]

The Flintstone ones.

[Nicole]

Yeah, the orange. They're like orange Sherbert.

[Kate]

Wait, Push Pops. The Lion King one. The one with, like, the polka dots. If you got the off brand polka dots.

[Nicole]

Well, now, as a mom, it's brilliant because it's Built in, like, mess protection. Because now they make all these fancy, like, things you can put, like, popsicles in to keep them from becoming a disaster. So, like, I actually appreciate a push pop now. But there was just this thing to the texture. It was, like, somewhere between, like, it was. It was. It wasn't, like, too icy. It was creamy somehow. I. It was so soft. I just so good.

[Erin]

I can still taste it.

[Nicole]

I can, too.

[Erin]

Yeah. Yeah, that too. The paper would get, like, stuck on it. You guys know, like, Freezy Pops? Freezies. What'd you guys call the. What did you guys call those? I. I did something on my stories about this, like, a couple years ago, and a lot of people call them Outer Pops. Outer Pops.

[Nicole]

I did not call them that.

[Erin]

That was.

[Nicole]

I just.

[Erin]

Okay, I had never heard that either.

[Kate]

I call them ices.

[Nicole]

To me, an icy is something that you.

[Kate]

I see. But here's the thing. You grow up with a Midwest mom, they name it something weird, and then that's the name.

[Erin]

You just go with her. Yeah.

[Kate]

Until you're 35. Calling a remote control a Changer Ranger. So that's your life.

[Aaron]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

I, I.

[Erin]

The number one thing people called him was Outer Pops. That's like, the brand. Some of them. I had never heard of that. And I was like, what are we talking about? And, yeah, I think calm Freezies or freeze. I don't know what I call them,

[Nicole]

but that's so true, Kate. You have, like. Your family will have this, like, thing that you just assume the whole world calls it that. And then you go to college, and suddenly the room falls silent.

[Kate]

Oh, wait, no, it's not a glove department. It's a glove compartment. That was not until last year, until I told Chad to open up the glove department.

[Erin]

I'm sure I'd call that a glove department, too. What'd you guys call your channel? So what'd you call your. I called a channel changer.

[Nicole]

Remote.

[Kate]

Chain changer. Ranger.

[Nicole]

The change. That's so cute.

[Erin]

That's funny. I love that.

[Nicole]

Or maybe that was just, like, what. That was, like, what you called as a toddler, and they just thought it was adorable and kept going with it.

[Erin]

Did you guys play night games growing up or.

[Kate]

No.

[Erin]

Like, did you hang out with your neighborhood kids a lot?

[Kate]

You know, those are my people. Those are my ride or dies townhouse.

[Nicole]

So you were, like, close to. Were there a lot of other kids in your complex?

[Kate]

There were so many kids, at least on my street. Yeah. So it's like, think of, like, so you have a Street double that because everybody is so connected. And then we would all meet at, like. What would you call it? Like, was it like an air conditioning box? An electric, like, elect. Electrical box? Yeah, you would meet at, like. Like meet at the box, and then we'd all meet there. And we had. Probably. Probably we played tag at night or cops and robbers. I feel like that was the other.

[Erin]

That was my fave. That was my fave cops and robbers. I was always a robber, and I never got found.

[Nicole]

Would you run the streets, Kate, or. Because it was like a. There was a pool area. Would it more be, like, within the complex?

[Kate]

It would be within the complex. We would run the streets, but, like, within this complex and.

[Nicole]

Okay.

[Kate]

I still think, like, I still. The people are still there. It's kind of crazy. They're grown and now they, like, live in the town home. It's really weird. Oh, yeah. Like, they have kids now or like, they're living with their parents or, like. Yeah, it's still. I'll see Gunner or Gummy. I forgot his name. Was it Gummy? I think we call. I think his name is Gummer, and I think we called him Gummy. Gummy. He's still there.

[Erin]

Hey, Gummy. Hi, Gummy.

[Kate]

What did you guys do?

[Nicole]

Yeah, were you in, like. Because I lived kind of out in the country, so our whole street a.

[Erin]

There weren't.

[Nicole]

The houses were kind of spread out. Like, they were at least, like, acre and a half lots. It was like, all older homes. And my one rich friend that had pool two houses down. But there really. There weren't that many kids on my street, and it was so spread out. So Whereas, like, now where I live, like, my kids are. It's like, there's. I could go outside and there would be 10 kids within seeing distance of my house. Like, I didn't grow up with that many neighborhood kids, so we had to travel a little bit further to get to each other. Yeah, there were bikes involved.

[Erin]

I had. There was a lot of kids in my name. We just lived in your classic neighborhood. We lived on a cul de sac, on a court and into the court. And, you know, there were several streets. And it was a lot of kids and it was a lot of. Yeah, Cops and robbers, Kick the can. Ghosts in the graveyard. We had a neighborhood hockey team. Okay. Shout out. I remember what we were called. We made, like, we had, like, practices, and we made uniforms with, like, duct tape. And we would play the court behind us. And, like, I was about to say,

[Nicole]

did you play other neighborhoods?

[Erin]

Hell, yeah.

[Nicole]

Wow, another movie. Yeah, that's another.

[Kate]

I know.

[Erin]

And I remember at one point growing up, like, in the summers, there was houses being built, like, a couple streets over. So we would, like, hang out in the houses being built, you know, when, like, no one was, like, in them. We'd, like, walk through, and one time we found, like, a tree house, like, a mile away from our. This abandoned tree house. You guys, like, legit from, like, now. Like, a legit tree house. And we would, like, hang out in that. Like, we just found it. No one belonged to nobody.

[Kate]

Like, that's magical. Tree houses. That is what I wanted growing up.

[Nicole]

I wanted so bad.

[Kate]

I still want one. My own place I can go to and just be up in the trees.

[Erin]

Oh, yeah, I would still take one, Nicole.

[Nicole]

Yeah, so would I. No, mature. Of course they. Yeah, they want one. We don't have mature trees in our neighborhood. And we. I grew up with, like. Like, trees everywhere. But for. And my dad was super handy, but for some reason, we never had a tree house. But I do rem. We had a really wild dog that we had to build a chain link, like, enclosure for in the backyard. Once that dog left us, we just. We moved the chain link fence to the back of our property and, like, covered it in.

[Kate]

Like.

[Nicole]

Like, we tried to, like, weave sticks. Like, we tried to turn that. It looked. Probably looked like a jail cell. We turned that into our fort. And I remember, like, we would have membership cards. We would make, like. And I probably even laminated them, but we would make, like, secret passwords, like, you couldn't get in. I'm like, well, they'd be like, I'm in your backyard. Like, of course I know you, like, let me into your fort. They'd be like, sorry, you don't know the password, Katie. You can't come in. It would change every week, but we would bring food out there. I mean, I'm sure every night my parents had to go out there and, like, to keep, you know, from attracting raccoons to the house every night. But it was just. We lived. We lived in the backyard.

[Erin]

Yes.

[Kate]

Actually.

[Erin]

Yeah.

[Kate]

Speaking of, like, admissions and such, my brothers and I had this thing in the summer called the Cool Club. And we still had the tin it was in, but we'd have to pay, like, 50 cents per meeting. And once we had enough money, we had dues. And once we got enough money, my mom would take us then to. I mean, she'd obviously finish it off, but, like, she. We went to, like, the aquarium. We would go to, like, the Space Museum in Chicago. Like, that is how we did our activities is by pain. And, like, the cool club. I just forgot about that. That's. That was our summer.

[Nicole]

Did you guys have jobs?

[Kate]

Let's get into jobs. Did you guys have summertime? Because I started working at 12.

[Erin]

Legally. Legally.

[Nicole]

Are you. I don't think you're.

[Kate]

Well, I was. I was a. I was a paper girl. Paper boy. Paper girl.

[Aaron]

I.

[Erin]

In high school, I worked at Dick's Sporting Goods for, like, a hot minute. And I got fired. So anyway.

[Kate]

Why'd you get fired?

[Nicole]

That's a theme for Aaron, you guys.

[Erin]

I. I know. I called one day and I was like, hey, I'm not like, on the schedule. Like, when's my next shift? And he was like, come on, let me. Let me go check. And then he went. He's like, actually, we let you go. We hired too many people. They had the worst management. Okay.

[Nicole]

Anyway, I mean, their management's probably also in high school.

[Erin]

Probably. And I. Yeah, anyway, I was a

[Kate]

paper route girl for a long time. And so were you.

[Erin]

On a bike.

[Kate]

I started on a bike. But as I got older, I did this job from 12 years old until high school. And it got really hard in the summer, in the summers for high school, because I was so embarrassed to have this job that my. I would start driving and I would. My dad would drive me. I would put the seat all the way back, and I would just throw the papers out the car door. And this is where our biggest fights with my parents would come from is because if my dad didn't drive fast enough past, like, kids, we would get the biggest fights because it was so embarrassing to have this job. But I also worked at a shoe store. And I worked so many jobs growing up. I was like a soccer referee. And then I was. I worked at the shoe store. And my job at the shoe store was to take a broom and shuffle the rocks in the parking lot.

[Erin]

Oh, all right. Well, someone's gotta do it.

[Kate]

Rock shoveler. That was really bad.

[Erin]

What shoe store? That sounds familiar.

[Kate]

Yeah, it's a Midwest shoe store. Rogan Shoes. I sold those Clarks like no other.

[Nicole]

I'd kind of take shoveling rocks and putting, like, sandals on bare feet of strangers.

[Kate]

Oh, my God. I had no clue what I was doing. A lot of my jobs. Like, I'd be like, oh, you're wide foot. Like, I wasn't. Your foot looks wide. Go to New Balance like that. I would just send them right over to New Balance. And those at the time were like, the Loser shoes like that.

[Erin]

Yeah.

[Kate]

Walking.

[Nicole]

Yeah. My dad and now. Did you guys hear that? Yeah. Vans are the new dad shoe or vans.

[Erin]

They are.

[Kate]

Oh, I know.

[Nicole]

Fans. Yeah. That's for the young folk. If they see a van coming, they know it's an old.

[Erin]

I was just about to get the checkered vans for the first time in my life. I'm not even kidding. I was about to get those.

[Kate]

Don't you dare, Aaron. Don't you dare.

[Erin]

Question.

[Nicole]

Did you guys have. Because my parents. And I know y' all mentioned your parents working. So we every summer had a babysitter because my parents couldn't, like, take the summer granted until we were old enough to stay home by ourselves. When we were, like, I guess maybe through, like, the first years of middle school because my brother was two and a half years older. I mean, but we would have a babysitter, and for some reason it would be a new babysitter every year. I don't know if it was us or my parents didn't pay well. I don't know what it was, but every year we'd get a new one and they would be our sitter. So some summers were great and some summers were terrible, just depending on the sitter and how cool they were. One of them, I remember her AC didn't work in her car, and it was. That was a rough summer. And we've had other ones where, like, one. We had a really, really religious summer one, and she. Which, you know, looking back, I know who. The family that she came from. And she literally sat me and my brother down and told us, like, because we. I didn't grow up super religious, and we didn't, like, regularly go to church. And she was like, your parents are going to hell, but it's not too late for you guys.

[Kate]

What?

[Erin]

Stop.

[Nicole]

Told us that, and so we told. I forget exactly. We didn't tell my parents for a while because we were like, okay, whatever. And we told my parents that. And she wasn't. We. She wasn't there anymore. But, yeah, I have a lot of really interesting babysitters. I mean, I was old enough that I very vividly remember that. I don't remember it, like, scaring me, but I remember her telling me that that seems she would only listen to, like. She would only listen to, like, religious music in her car. She wasn't a very fun one.

[Erin]

How old was she?

[Nicole]

I mean, she's probably in college. It's funny because you're. When you're like, nine, if somebody's 18, they seem like They're a full fledged adult. So she probably was like in her early 20s, I think. I'm Facebook friends with her now. I am. I'm so friends. Yeah. She has since thought. I know. She follows me actually, because I remember being like, oh my gosh. I remember you. You told me my parents were going to hell. How you doing?

[Aaron]

Oh my God.

[Kate]

Did you guys were okay? So I was never babysat, but I was a babysitter.

[Erin]

I was never babysat and I was never a babysitter ever. I would have been a terrible babysitter.

[Nicole]

Yeah, I could see you saying no to that.

[Erin]

I was never asked. I never, I just was never.

[Nicole]

Yeah, I didn't too many times, but I remember I did once for a neighbor, I think I couldn't have been older than 11. And the kids were probably like, I, I feel like maybe one was still a toddler. I don't remember changing a diaper. I think one had just like was newly potty trained. But I remember thinking in the moment, I should not be doing this.

[Kate]

Yeah, that's what, that's when you know that you should. That's probably when you know you're not old enough to be doing it.

[Nicole]

I think they were desperate. I think they, like their, their sitter had backed out and so they called my parents. They're like, look, we have this reservation at this steak restaurant that we're not gonna lose our hundred dollar deposit to. Can your 11 year old just come make sure our kids don't die for an hour?

[Erin]

Yeah. So, Kate, you babysat a lot?

[Kate]

I did. As I got like, I feel like into high school, I babysat. But like now that Nicole, like you're saying you had a babysitter, like I remember, unless I'm remembering wrong. And my parents would listen to this. I just remember shutting all the blinds, locking the door and my. I'd be with my brothers. Like we'd be like 7, 10, 12, and we'd just be together and we just know not to leave the house. You just. And that was it.

[Nicole]

Or answer the door.

[Kate]

We'd be fine. We just watch tv. My mom would come home a few hours later from her errands and that was it. Like, it was just. I feel like things were so simple and so you could trust that nobody was going to break in.

[Nicole]

We didn't lock our door growing up. I remember that. We didn't lock our door at night. We didn't lock our door in the day.

[Kate]

Oh, wow.

[Erin]

Well, I don't know if we locked our door or not. But, yeah, I mean, I just feel like. Yeah, times are different. A big thing for. In summer for me, when I got into, like, high school was the fair. Did you guys go to your fair?

[Kate]

Yeah, there was like a. There was a. What was it called? Oh, my God. Buffalo Grove Days. Or they called Buffalo. Well, hold on. It sounds like you might have been a little bit more country than usual.

[Erin]

What do you mean?

[Nicole]

Ours were in the fall.

[Kate]

What do you country. Iowa State Fair.

[Erin]

Iowa.

[Nicole]

Didn't you tell. You've told us this, that the I is at the Iowa State Fair. That's like, a big deal.

[Erin]

No Iowa State Fairs in Des Moines. The I would go to the Mississippi Val Fair. Mississippi Val Fair. That was in Davenport growing up. That was my local fair. Yeah, it was like, a big thing in high school. Like, you would get a fun card. Okay, mvf. What's up? You would get a fun card and you'd get to go to. So that would get you into every concert every week. And it was, like, mostly country concerts. And there'd be one classic rock concert. And you'd go with your friends, and you'd park in your car in the neighborhood nearby, and you drink in your car, and you go into the fair, and then you'd take in a flask, and you're like, sneak it in in your bra or something. And then you meet everyone by the kamikaze ride. And then you go into the concert and you'd be in the dirt, and you. If you had a pee, your friends would make a circle around you. Just pee right there in the mud.

[Nicole]

Okay.

[Kate]

And Aaron, I wish, as someone who didn't drink in high school or didn't, like, have this experience, like, I would have been like, it just sounds so much fun.

[Nicole]

I regret not drinking in high school.

[Kate]

Like, to sneak a flask.

[Erin]

Like, I mean, it wasn't smart, but it was, you know, I mean, it was fun.

[Nicole]

You made it before. Do you remember?

[Erin]

To the.

[Nicole]

Is it the kamikaze? The one where you lay down and it spins you in a circle so much that the centrifugal force sends you up?

[Erin]

No, not that one.

[Nicole]

What's that one called? The Spaceship. That's the spaceship.

[Erin]

Spaceship.

[Nicole]

You remember that?

[Erin]

Yeah. Yes.

[Nicole]

Oh, I loved that one. And if it were, I would always go on the rock. You could, like, move chairs. I saw one of those for sale on Facebook. Marketplace. And I've never wanted to spend $20,000 more in my life.

[Erin]

What?

[Nicole]

Yeah. Well, and we would have a place. We would have a big state fair, but it Was in the fall. But I feel like there would be random ones in, like, mall parking lots that would pop up throughout the summer that my parents wouldn't let me get on because they knew that they were set up up in, like, 27 minutes. So my parents told us no.

[Erin]

So yours was in the fall. Okay, ours was in August.

[Nicole]

Well, because it was 120 degrees outside.

[Erin]

Oh, right, right, right, right, right. Yeah, that was.

[Nicole]

I don't think anybody would have gone.

[Kate]

I do remember, though, like, when there was a fair where we were at, like, that was the time you would go with your girlfriends and then you'd

[Erin]

be like, oh, there's the boys.

[Kate]

Like, it was so we wouldn't even talk. But there was just so much tension in the summer seeing, like, the boys, the people you had a crush on, and, like.

[Erin]

Yes. Or the people from other schools. Like, that's where I'd see all the people from all the different high schools. Like, oh, my God.

[Kate]

Yeah, but that was the thing. It's just the other high schools were.

[Erin]

Yes.

[Kate]

Such a thing. It was like the rivals. Like, oh, there's the guys from Hershey.

[Erin]

Like, oh, okay. So how do you.

[Nicole]

Like, the only time that you would come together with, like, the other high school?

[Erin]

It was a big time. Yeah, like that. Yeah. Did you guys go to, like, other high schools parties? Now we're getting into a whole other subject we're getting away from. Okay. Yeah.

[Nicole]

Summer. Summer.

[Kate]

But. But that was part of summer, though, were the parties, though. Like, I feel like summer is when everybody had their garage parties, the basement parties. I just wasn't invited to those parties. I wasn't either.

[Erin]

So anyway. No, I was not hosting parties. I did not like to have people over at my house. Get out of here. No, no.

[Nicole]

Anyway, every summer my goal was to lose 30 pounds and come back hot.

[Kate]

But we were such a microwave generation that I felt like buying summers TV dinners. TV dinners, tostinos, pizza bagels. Like, that is all I eat in the summer or all year.

[Nicole]

I mean, my. So I was probably living off Taco Bell. There you go.

[Erin]

That's delicious.

[Kate]

Did you guys do summer camp? Were you camp kids?

[Erin]

I would do like a day camp when I was younger, but that was it. I never did an overnight camp, and, man, I wish I did. There wasn't one, like, available around me, you know?

[Nicole]

Yeah.

[Erin]

Is it.

[Nicole]

Cause you didn't want to or. It just. There's.

[Erin]

There just wasn't one available. I would have had to, like, travel or something for one. And like, that wasn't Gonna happen. But I wish. Did you do one?

[Kate]

No, I never did. I really wanted to after watching the parent Trap, like, that was just. I wanted to be in the isolation cabin. I wanted to.

[Erin]

Oh, my God.

[Kate]

Actually, I was gonna say my hair looks like Halle right now.

[Erin]

Okay.

[Kate]

Nicole, did you.

[Nicole]

I did one, because I, too, I wanted. And we probably would have been disappointed if we thought we were going to get that parent trap experience, but I did a. The only sleepaway camp I went to was a basketball camp at, like, a college, like, three towns.

[Erin]

Oh, I went to a basketball camp. Does that count? Okay.

[Nicole]

But we, like, stayed in the dorms. Was Laura. Oh, so you did stay the night.

[Erin]

Yeah, I didn't. Okay, that sounds camp, but okay. Well, because that's.

[Nicole]

That's really the only. It was summer, and I think I also went to, like, vacation Bible school. Again, didn't grow up religious. I think my parents were just looking for any sort of cheap, free child care they could find. But I went to this basketball camp, instantly learned, Nicole, you're not good at basketball. But then I was stuck there for a week, having to do, like, skills and drills, practice with all these girls who knew what they were doing. I could hear their groans whenever they were like, hey, Nicole's gonna be on your team. And I'm like, look, Ashley, I don't want to be on your team any more than you want me to be on your team.

[Erin]

Like, how old are you here?

[Nicole]

This is, like, mid. Like, just where I was probably the summer before you, like, middle school where you're gonna try out for basketball. So I hadn't had the opportunity to learn that this wasn't for me. And maybe I expressed interest. I probably thought a boy was cute that played basketball and, you know, or I had seen love in basketball. When did that come out? Maybe I just had seen that movie or something. But I was just, like, living for. For the sandwich I would get at, like, 12:30 every, like, just get through the day. And I feel like they would also, like, prison give you, like, one call a day back home to your parents. I remember, like, wanting to call my parents, but I couldn't. It was like, you get one call a day. And I probably begged my parents to come get me, but they're like, girl, no, we've paid for this.

[Kate]

So, Nicole, know what this reminds me of is that in middle school, I tried out for the basketball team. And guess what, you guys, When I went to check the roster, when I checked the roster to see if I made it, I got manager. Oh, you're like, how insulting. You check.

[Erin]

They gave that to a student.

[Kate]

They. I tried out for the team and I got manager. I was the. The coach pulled me aside after. I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That doesn't look like a position on the. On the court. He's like, you are basically not good enough to make the team, but you show Sage such great leadership skills. How insulting. Like, and I remember my mom being like, no, you're not going to be manager. Like, say so. I said, no. But, yeah, that was. That was tough. Like, that looking back, I'm like, wow, I. I really had some thick skin because if that would have happened to me now, I would have. I would have broken down. But I did do. Did you guys ever do palms camp or cheerleading camp?

[Nicole]

Oh, I was not to be a cheerleader growing up.

[Erin]

I can't touch my toes.

[Kate]

Well, that was. This sounds like it's quite like basketball camp because it was like, overnight it was away, and that was. Oh, my God. That's a whole nother. I could take that as a solo episode because that was crazy.

[Aaron]

Dang.

[Erin]

I'm surprised.

[Nicole]

I could see them doing a documentary on cheer camp alone. Like, I can just imagine the intensity and the competitive and the drama. Like, I can feel it.

[Kate]

You could. There was so. There really was a spirit. Spirit stick. Like, you'd be competing for a spirit stick. Like, really? I remember. I remember one of the girls in high school, she, like, swore. I guess, like, some. Some part of the day, she said to swear while learning routine. One of the uca, which were like, the leaders, like, heard her swear. It got back to arch coach, and we were punished. Like, it was just so silly. It was a lot.

[Erin]

Anyways, you were punished. That's so crazy. Like, people took things way too seriously back then. Like. Anyway, you know what? My biggest to go to in another direction. My biggest goal when I was in high school in the summer was just to get a tan. You know, I was just out here trying to get as tan as I could.

[Nicole]

Okay, what was your. Tell me your strat.

[Erin]

Tell me your.

[Nicole]

Your strategy, because I had a strategy for that.

[Erin]

Oh, really? Okay, I can't wait to hear. Well, in the once high school hit, I went to my friend's neighborhood pool. She had a neighborhood pool every day all throughout high school. She's still one of my best friends. Would go to her neighborhood pool and just, you know, baby oil, sun in. In the hair. No water, no sunscreen. I was just drinking orange Fantas. That was like, my thing had A crush on the, you know, lifeguard. There was, like, a really cute lifeguard. And then we'd go eat Mac and cheese at our house real quick. Take a break. Go back like.

[Kate]

Yeah, the break is so real for a break.

[Erin]

That was the best part.

[Nicole]

Yeah, we did. We did baby oil and then the brown tanning lotion. Oh, and I would just. Yeah, the dark, the. Literally, it was, like, darkening.

[Erin]

Like, what was that brand? Is it banana coat?

[Nicole]

No, Tropicana.

[Kate]

Tropicana.

[Erin]

I think Tropicana. What was it?

[Nicole]

But there is tropics. Tropics. Sun. Tropics.

[Erin]

I know what you're talking about. I use that, too. No, okay. Whatever it is.

[Kate]

Yeah, it was one of those that. It was just, like, pure grease. Greasy.

[Nicole]

But it's. But the smell. The smell. I. If I could. That just take. That would instantly take me back. I would lay out on our, like, ratty, like, lounge chairs in the backyard that were falling apart. And just as long as I could stand it, I would just lay out.

[Kate]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

See, I was. I was not confident enough to go to the pool. We went to pools all the time because we didn't have one. And there was a community pool, like a city pool that we would go to whenever I was younger. And I remember. I do remember what. Before I lost my confidence as a child. The bathing suit. It was the, like, crinkly striped boy short with the halter top, like the Delius bathing suit. I would give my left tit for them to bring those back.

[Erin]

The short baby suit.

[Nicole]

I found a. What do you call it? A second sew a little bit, and I've been so tempted to literally sew myself one. That's one thing I do it to bring back.

[Erin]

I saw something recently about boy short swimsuits coming back. Not that I want to wear one now, but. But there's. They're very cheeky. They do.

[Nicole]

They're very, very cheeky, though.

[Erin]

The video you just posted, one of the. Those patterns that they had, it was like the Hawaiian print.

[Nicole]

Like, Florida.

[Erin]

I was like, I. No, I had that swimming suit that is from. That is from the. They pulled that out of backstock. Like, I had that swimming suit. Oh, my God.

[Kate]

I need them to bring that print back. But I miss a tankini. I really need.

[Erin]

I love the tankini.

[Nicole]

I love the tankini.

[Kate]

That was, like, so cute because it was like, I need that, like, an adult version where it's like, your boobs can be out a little, but then it's like, covers your stomach. Like, I Feel comfortable. I cannot get these high waisted booty cheeks like these. It sounds like my mom.

[Erin]

Oh, my God.

[Kate]

This high waisted booty cheek. Like, I. I really struggle with bottoms because it's like sometimes when they look when the band's super thick, it's not flattering. They're super thin. And my butt, like, it's. There's no in between. It's either your cheeks are out or it's like, yeah.

[Erin]

Or no swimsuits. Yes. Swimsuits are tough these days.

[Aaron]

Yes.

[Erin]

Like, trying on swimsuits is a nightmare.

[Nicole]

Oh, well, have you seen their, like, they'll have their chart of like, what everything means. And it's like, cheekiest cheek. And I'm like, honey, 10, like 10 years ago, like, the most modest one would have been the most cheeky one possible. So that you have that and like Kate says, or you have. You're going to want to go to the maternity or the old people section and get a full moo.

[Aaron]

Moo.

[Nicole]

It's. There's no in between.

[Kate]

I know.

[Nicole]

It's insane as a mom too, because you don't want to dress like, you want to be conscious of like a. You're going to be running around with your kids, so you got to have something you're not going to pop out of. But I also just want to be, like, mindful of it being a family environment and it's really hard.

[Kate]

Yeah, I actually never thought about that, like, as a mom and like, in a family environment, yet you're not wearing like a skims, probably, like, swimsuit.

[Erin]

I mean, some people do.

[Nicole]

Some people do.

[Kate]

I don't. I don't know. I did just buy a skim swimsuit and I was so excited. I just wore it to, like, the dog beach. Oh, my God. I felt so uncomfortable because the minute I stood up, it was like a thong and I was like, okay, well, I'm not going down. Like, I was like, so scared to even move then from the towel because I'm like, I don't want to, like, chase my dogs around the beach, my butts out. I don't know. But I'm also, like, I think at the core, so conservative. And I've always been like that with. I think it's just the way I grew up.

[Nicole]

Like, same.

[Kate]

Yeah, don't. You don't show off your skin, like, but also like, who cares? I actually have a. I have a couple bachelorettes coming up parties and it's like pool focused. Like, we're up like a yacht day. A pool day. And I'm like, I don't know what to wear. So I ordered a giant T shirt with a bikini on it from Amazon.

[Erin]

Yes. Oh, jealous.

[Kate]

I really need one of those family vacations. This is another thing.

[Erin]

Yes.

[Kate]

So like. So, like.

[Nicole]

Yeah.

[Kate]

Okay. So we're in school. June hits, you're out. There was two types of people. You're either a hotel kid, you're going to Florida, you're going to the Bahamas, you're getting the suntan, or you are like me and you were a die hard camping kid and I was a camping kid.

[Nicole]

Did you enjoy it?

[Erin]

No.

[Nicole]

Did you wish that you were a cruise?

[Kate]

I was sobbing because I was like, this can't. This can't be my life. I am the Paris Hilton of this family. And I'm stuck in Wisconsin Dells at the KOA in a tent. This is not who I'm supposed to be. This is not my life.

[Nicole]

Yeah.

[Erin]

How long were you camping for? Like, what are we talking here?

[Kate]

Oh. Oh, Aaron. We would get in our 2001 Mazda and drive from Chicago to Las Vegas. Las Vegas at the Tropicana Hotel was the destination. Yeah. The Tropicana is not there, but we would camp along the way. So we would actually go. We would go through. Go through Iowa. We would probably. Our first stop. We would drive from. We would probably camp in Iowa. We would go to Texas. Flagstaff, Arizona. We would see the Grand Canyon was a stop. And then we'd finish off in Vegas and then we'd stay in a hotel for a couple nights and then do the same thing the whole way back.

[Erin]

Wow.

[Nicole]

And then again the next summer.

[Kate]

Yep. Until high school. I think my last trip was in college in Door County, Wisconsin.

[Nicole]

Wow.

[Kate]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

We.

[Erin]

We would drive as well. Whenever we went on vacation, we did not fly, but we would stay in hotel.

[Kate]

Oh, the way I would crave a red roof in. Dude, I was so jealous. I wasn't even asking for a lot. I was just. I would be fine with a Motel 8. I just wanted to be off the cold ground and hearing coyotes at night. Nicole, what were you. What? Look at.

[Nicole]

We would drive almost literally every summer. I don't think we went anywhere differently. We would drive from Texas to Colorado. My parents were big mountain people, loved Colorado. So we. We had a minivan and they would take out the middle row and they would install a TV with our Nintendo. So we. Which, that part was kind of cool, granted. My brother and I literally, I remember them having to put up a cardboard wall between us because we wouldn't stop fighting with each other. But we would at least have a TV for the trip. It's like a 20 hour drive. And my dad was the kind of man that didn't want to stop. Like if we ever. I think there were a couple times we had to stop at like Howard Johnson's because my mom was like, we got it. Like, no, I'm calling it. But he would wake us up at 4am to get going like the next day. So he did not. He did not want to stop until we got all the way there. Especially once we could drive. Like once my brother and I got to be where we could drive, the TV was.

[Kate]

So I had a TV too. Like a portable TV in the center between my parents. And we would just watch Family Guy. Like that's.

[Nicole]

Oh really?

[Kate]

It was always what my brother was like hooked on. It'd be like family, guys, Simpsons, Simple Life. I had the DVD of Simple Life on there and that was so magical.

[Nicole]

See, you're so much later than me because that would. That was. I was beyond that. By the time Simple Life came around. We were mostly playing like Donkey Kong. I would say it was mostly my. My brother was a big gamer, so we were mostly playing video games.

[Erin]

That's so awesome. You were playing video games. We didn't have a TV up until maybe the last year or two that we like went on a family vacation station. And we just had this tiny little TV that they stuck in between the front seats and it. You could just play DVDs on it.

[Kate]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

Did you have any friends? I remember having a friend that had a. One of those vans that had the built in tv. Oh yeah, it would Millionaires was like a recliner. Oh my God, that was fancy. That was fancy. I mean, I was jealous of the

[Kate]

kids in the car though that not only had that, but had a divider in between the seats. Like, do you know what I'm saying? It was like the cars where there was two seats and you could walk in between.

[Erin]

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Kate]

That was Lux.

[Erin]

It was like a house.

[Kate]

Oh, that's all I wanted. I didn't want to be like I. Because I was the girl and I had two brothers growing up. I would always be the middle seat in the back. It was so frustrating having their sticky hairy legs touch me. And like Nicole, you said there was a cardboard box between you. Like we would fight you. My brothers would let me look out the window. They were like, this is my window. My brother was like, that's my window. So I'd have to Stare straight for the entire drive.

[Erin]

Dang.

[Nicole]

Were you lake people? Did you go to the lake?

[Erin]

When I had a friend who had a lake house in high school, and we would go, yeah.

[Nicole]

Wow.

[Erin]

I didn't even think about bringing up lake houses. See, that's what I'm saying. There's like.

[Nicole]

So I'm not talking lake houses.

[Erin]

That's.

[Nicole]

I'm just talking.

[Kate]

Going to the lake.

[Nicole]

Over the lake house.

[Erin]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

Like, my husband wants a boat. And I'm like, no, babe, we just need a friend with a boat.

[Aaron]

Yeah.

[Erin]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

Because my husband grew up on the lake. Like, his dad lived in a house. Like, so he's a huge lake guy. Okay. And I remember we went. We went to the lake every now and then. So I have, like, some memories of my parents throwing me off of, like, an inner tube.

[Erin]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

Aggressively. I think my husband, too, he, like, shattered his eardrum multiple times because of. But they would do, like, wakeboarding, and they would try all these stuff. But I don't know. I'm just, like, not a lake girl. And he really.

[Erin]

I'm not a. I'm not a huge.

[Nicole]

Yeah.

[Erin]

I'm not a huge. Like. Like, it's, like, fine. Like, if I went tubing today, like, I used to be sore when I went eighth grade. I couldn't imagine. They would really whip you around the lake and. Oh, my God. Yeah. Scary.

[Kate]

We had Lake Michigan growing up, but you had to make sure the water, like, you'd have. There was a sign that said, like, whether the water had E. Coli or.

[Erin]

Or didn't.

[Kate]

Because Lake Michigan's a dirty, dirty little lake.

[Erin]

Yeah. I lived on the Mississippi River. That thing was. Yeah.

[Nicole]

I think that's what it is, is that it just feels dirty. You can't see what's below you. You're getting touched in the lake by something you can't see.

[Erin]

There's dead bodies at the bottom. Let's be for real.

[Aaron]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

Every town has, like, a legend of an alligator in the lake. Like, it just wasn't for me. I would go in summers in college, though, I do feel like I became. Because we had a friend. Fun fact. They now actually live in our same town and have kids, and we just, like, went on a trip with them. So we still. He still has boats, so it's fun to be his friend. But we would go party, and we'd go to Party Cove. There were. There's. Every lake has, like, It's Party Cove. So it's just, like, a place that you go and you park, you anchor your park your boat? Do you park a boat? I don't know. Do you anchor it?

[Erin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Nicole]

And everyone lines up. You put out the big, like, floaty thing and you just drink.

[Kate]

And this was in high school or was this no college?

[Nicole]

This is no college.

[Kate]

Okay.

[Nicole]

Like, because. Yeah, somebody had had a job. A job to have a boat. But wow. So that was. That was good times. It was like early days with my husband. We were on the lake a lot.

[Erin]

One summer for the fourth of July, we went to Minnetonka, my friends from there, and we did the whole. I don't know what it was called, but where there was a ton of boats. And it's a big, like fourth of July area where everyone like, lines up their boats and it's when Kim Kardashian is really random. Kim Kardashian was dating Kris Humphries. He's from Lake Minnetonka. And. And they were there and she was

[Nicole]

like, walking through the water. You saw them?

[Erin]

Yeah, they were. They were within the boats that were, like, connected. Lined up. What year is this?

[Kate]

Oh, God.

[Erin]

It was when I was in college, so 2,000, like 10, 11, something like that.

[Kate]

2009, I think I just watched those episodes on Keeping Up.

[Nicole]

You could have been on the show.

[Kate]

I was wasted, so I don't really.

[Erin]

Yeah. Isn't that so random?

[Nicole]

Yeah.

[Erin]

Good times.

[Kate]

Oh, I miss Chicago. Like, the one thing we had there, especially in college, was like the Playpen, where in the summer, like, everyone would take out their boats, but we didn't have boats. We would find like an old 65 year old man. It'd be like somebody you just, like a friend of a friend, like, knows a random guy and you just go on a boat with full trust as college girls. Like, oh, yeah, like, mom, we're gonna be fine. We're going on a boat with like, David. He's 65. Like, no, I don't know him. And luckily we would go out and then we'd make it back to shore. How freaky. Would.

[Nicole]

But, you know, everybody would.

[Erin]

Let's go into a body of water

[Nicole]

where our bodies could be dumped and nobody would know any different with this stranger.

[Kate]

Now, now it makes sense that my mom was, like, terrified. I pro. Like, Nicole, as a mom, like, let's pretend your daughter says, like, hey, I'm gonna go on. I'm gonna go out in Lake Michigan with a random guy.

[Erin]

Like.

[Kate]

And I did it. Like, there was no telling me no, because you. Because you would connect the boats and you'd see everybody out there. And, like. And, you know, you're in college, you're blacked out. So that's even more terrifying is, like, you. We have no clue where we're at. I. I also don't know how to swim. I'm a very poor swimmer. I. Yeah, I can only doggy paddle. It's like, one of. It's a big insecurity.

[Nicole]

Did you ever take swimming lessons as an adult? Would you take swimming lessons now? You should do that and document it.

[Kate]

No, also, like, I don't know how to jump in the water, actually. That's really funny. I. I just don't know how to jump in the water without holding my nose. Like, all the water just, like, gushes into my nose. How about you guys? Like, do you know how to, like, swim?

[Erin]

I don't know how to dive. Like, when I took swimming lessons when I was a kid. One time we were trying to learn to dive. I dove and went, like, right into the wall. And ever since then, I've been terrified to dive.

[Nicole]

That was what it was. I remember at this basketball camp, because it was at a college, they had a, like, Olympic swimming pool with, like, a diving board from way up high. And in order to jump off that diving board, you had to, like, swim, like, keep yourself afloat in the water for, like, three minutes. That was your test before you got to do that. And I remember passing that. I wasn't good at basketball, but I could keep myself afloat for three minutes. And I think I got up there and chickened out anyway because it was one of those scary Olympic platform security. You don't realize how terrifying it is to be up there and how much

[Kate]

it hurts when you hit the water.

[Nicole]

I feel like they had, like, three of them. And I think I did, like, the first two, but by the top one, I chickened out. Wow.

[Kate]

Actually, this reminds me, because we had a. Did you guys have aquatic centers growing up? Like, rec centers, Community rec centers that had. We had, like, an aquatic center, and that was really big for us. And. But in order to, like, slide off the big. I don't know, we had, like, these, like, you slide off into the deep end. You had to stay afloat. Like, that was the test.

[Nicole]

Yeah.

[Erin]

Yeah.

[Kate]

I never would do that, though. But did you have those? Like, that was our thing.

[Erin]

An aquatic center.

[Nicole]

I only remember an outdoor pool.

[Erin]

Yeah, Just like, say an outdoor, like,

[Kate]

community pool with slides.

[Erin]

Their slides and stuff. Yeah.

[Nicole]

There's one in the town I live in now. Yeah. That we've taken our kids to.

[Erin]

We have a place Called Wacky Waters. Oh, God.

[Nicole]

Anyone?

[Erin]

It's closed because someone died.

[Nicole]

Wild similar.

[Kate]

Wait, Wacky Water sounds like a place, though. You go, unfortunately, I shouldn't joke about it, but that's so sad. How did the person pass?

[Erin]

I think they died in the. The wave pool. You know those wave pools? Yeah, yeah. And it's still there, like, abandoned. You'll drive, like, by it, you know, and you're like, wacky Waters. It's creepy.

[Kate]

That's so weird. And also, yeah, there. I have no business being in a wave pool. Like, recreating a storm and water. I know in the middle, like, I

[Erin]

know there's something wrong.

[Aaron]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

I remember I went to a birthday party. It was for. It was one of my brother's friends, and there were some older girls there that I was desperately trying to keep up with. I could barely swim. And they were like, we're gonna swim across the wave pool. And it wasn't the way. Like, the thing with the wave pool is they would turn it off and then this, like, horn would go off. That's like, hey, we're about to turn the waves on. I'm mid swimming across. They've abandoned me. They're like, screw this girl. And it starts going off. And luckily some man went underwater and put me in, like, got me and put me in his, like, tube, because so I almost was a Wacky Water story.

[Erin]

Oh, my God, it went wild.

[Nicole]

We tried to take our kids there one, and it was like, maybe it was that bad. We just didn't. You know, you don't see things from the same lens whenever you're a kid. But going back, it was disgusting. My God, is she wearing the new couture?

[Kate]

All right, well, Nicole, that's quite a story and very grateful you're here. So if you think your summers were unhinged, wait until you hear what everyone submitted. You guys, I got some really weird. Some summer stories from. I asked people. They're crazy summer stories. And it really depends on where you're at in the United States. I think, is where you get your stories from. So here's Here are some things that people have submitted. We'll tread lightly for the first one because I feel like this is just relatable. Photo shoots on your small town playground in the middle of the night during a sleepover with your old digital camera, posing as we never should have posed, showing off our whale tail because we thought it was so cool. I do remember parking lot photo shoots, playground photo shoots, like, just stupid photo shoots everywhere in the summer.

[Erin]

Yeah. I have a lot of photo shoots of me, like, hugging trees. Anyone else?

[Nicole]

I can take a year. That probably was. Yeah. Were you wearing a skull? A skull scarf?

[Kate]

No, it was earlier.

[Erin]

It was earlier than that, but, yeah, we hugged a lot of trees. Were you just.

[Nicole]

Were you just at this point, Kate, or do you. Were you disposable camera or digital camera?

[Kate]

Digital camera definitely was in high school. And you just be, like, literally in the middle of night, just like, you know, throwing up your arms like a star formation with all your friends or

[Erin]

a lot of jumping pictures.

[Kate]

Jumping, yes. It was so stupid. And then you would upload them and. But it's just like, you're being crazy. Okay, but this next one's crazy, so I want to get into it. I pooped in a plate and put it on a bitchy, mean girl's car while she was at a party. Someone told her that I did it and then had some guy egg my house, but they were too trashed, so they just egged my yard. My husband hates this story. Yeah, no, that's pooping out of plates. We're putting on a plate.

[Erin]

It has never crossed my mind to do something like that.

[Kate]

Anyway, I was at a friend's house party. Her house got busted by the cops. They would actually sometimes drive by her house, and they were. When they were bored and see if was having a party. Well, cops came in. We all bolted around the house. I found myself in the attic through my friend's bedroom closet. When we were told it was safe to come out, I stepped out of the pillar in the attic, straight onto a drywall, and fell through, which means my legs were hanging through the ceiling on the first floor of my friend's house. They apparently have a photo of it, but I've never seen it.

[Erin]

Oh, why would she? I would want to see that photo. Number one. That's hilarious. They have a photo.

[Nicole]

Sorry.

[Kate]

No, that was.

[Erin]

That's funny. So she travel.

[Nicole]

I wonder.

[Erin]

That's a good one. Wow.

[Nicole]

I wonder if she got like, my dad's done that. My dad's fallen through my. The ceiling of our house before.

[Kate]

Oh, scary. Okay, we have another one. This one actually was.

[Erin]

Okay.

[Kate]

I'm curious if anyone has ever done this. Okay, so this may or may not count, but it's a core memory. I'm from South Florida. In the summer, as teenagers, we would go to the beach at night and sneak into pools of luxury condos. One time, my friend and I hopped on over a fence. Didn't notice a sign on the other side of the pool. We skinny dipped with our four locos and only to realize it was a sign about the pool being closed because of fiberglass installations. We had horrible rashes all over our bodies immediately. Does fiberglass, like, cut you all up? I never understood. Okay. Did you guys ever sneak. I know kids who did this, like, that would sneak into pools. I never did this. I just was never brave enough. But I did know kids in the community who would go skinny dip into random poles.

[Nicole]

I don't know that I've ever skinny dipped in my life.

[Kate]

Same. I've never did that either.

[Nicole]

Aaron, have you skinny dipped?

[Erin]

I'm sucking. My mom's listening to this. Yeah, maybe. And, you know, where'd you skinny dip?

[Kate]

In your pool?

[Erin]

I don't have a pool. No.

[Nicole]

Where are we?

[Erin]

Maybe in, like, college. I would, you know, like the resort.

[Kate]

I honestly would. I. Because I've never skinny dipped. I think it would be so fun, like, to do it, but also, like, I know I'm. I'm such a chicken that I'm, like, all talk. And I wouldn't do it.

[Nicole]

I'd be like, I would maybe do it if, like, we had, like, a private house on the beach kind of a thing.

[Erin]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

It was, like, dark. I knew that. It's just the moonlight.

[Aaron]

Ooh.

[Nicole]

That would have to be the situation

[Erin]

when we all go to Mexico.

[Kate]

Yeah. Okay. Okay. Just, I have to be. I know. It's like, I want. I want to say more, but I, like, know my parents are listening to this.

[Aaron]

Get off.

[Kate]

Mom and dad. Get off. Just give me a heads up so I'm shaved. Okay, that's it. That's it. Okay, get off my scrap. Last story. I'm going to try to read this one quick, but it's Summer Horror Story.

[Erin]

Loading.

[Kate]

Okay, so Summer horror story, maybe 2000, 2001. Went with a friend to her family's river house for a big family event. I knew her family from church, and she was always at my house. But I have never been anywhere with her family and only have met a few of her extended family members at church events over the years. Anyways, I was wearing what was most likely my first triangle swim top. I felt so grown. I was probably 16 or 17. We got there in the morning and swam, ate, and hung out all day. Late afternoon, everybody was sitting on the dock, just chatting. I curled up on my towel and fell asleep. At some point, I woke up and sat up. Her parents, grandparents, siblings still sitting around talking. I rubbed my eyes and smiled at her dad and mom, who made a face and looked at my friend, who then looked at me and very calmly, indiscreetly motioned to her, to her swim top, nodding towards mine. I looked down and there it was, my boob out for everyone to see. I never went anywhere with them again.

[Erin]

When was this? How old was she?

[Kate]

So she says 2000. In 2001. Yes. Horrifying. But why not the second someone noticed.

[Erin]

Yeah. Throw a towel over you or something.

[Kate]

Right. You know what? This is the weird. This is the weirdness of the early 2000s. Why? I think nowadays, I think now everyone has the common sense to throw a towel over. But I wonder if there's, like, you know, people would be humiliate humiliating each other in the 2000s. Like, it was almost like, you know, you fall asleep and people draw dicks on your face. I don't know. It's just like.

[Erin]

Yeah, that's embarrassing.

[Kate]

Yeah. I feel bad that I would literally call my mom and have to be sent home immediately. But, yeah, like, we were talking about the triangle tops earlier. Like, I mean, they were no jokes back in the day. Like, that was.

[Nicole]

I feel like I remember, like, an article of clothing coming off, like, after a dive or something, and you had to quickly put it back on under the water. But that was close to the call, as I remember for sure.

[Kate]

Like, going down a slide and like, maybe like, yes, bottoms, like, prepped up your crack. That was it.

[Erin]

Yeah.

[Kate]

So those are the stories I have today for the summer. So who has Hear Me out today? Because I went last week and I think killed it.

[Erin]

Thank you. You did. Kate

[Nicole]

Couture.

[Erin]

Yeah, let's do Hear Me Out. I'm gonna do a little bit of a different approach than Kate did. Okay. I'm doing the Hear Me out, where I'm just naming obscure crushes that I had growing up. Have you seen that, Kate? You've seen that on Tick Tock where they do Hear Me Out. And it's just. So I'm just gonna name some with little to no explanation, and it's not gonna take me 30 seconds. Okay, so here we go. Ready? Go. Okay. Scar and the Lion King. The Vacuum from the Brave Little Toaster. Bernard and the Santa Claus, Legolas and Lord of the Rings. The Candelabra and Beauty and the Beasts. Lumiere, Lucius Draco's dad in Harry Potter and Kokum, or Kokum and Pocahontas. And that's all I have. Thank you.

[Nicole]

Explain yourself. Explain yourself. Who do I have to explain?

[Erin]

It's just like, they're unexplainable it's just a feeling I had.

[Kate]

You know, the vacuum has taken me for a loop because at first I was like. And I was like, oh, you might have. You might be right. The vacuum, actually. Yes.

[Erin]

Thank you.

[Kate]

Okay.

[Erin]

Okay.

[Kate]

Lumineer, though, please explain.

[Nicole]

Is it because he was French?

[Kate]

Yes, French.

[Erin]

Love the accent. He is French. Yeah, I like the accent.

[Kate]

I don't know, it's just one of those weird things.

[Erin]

Like, a lot of these are just unexplainable. Like, I think.

[Nicole]

I think you're attracted to a not so quiet confidence.

[Erin]

On that note, I think that wraps it up, guys.

[Nicole]

I feel excited that we just talked about so many of these things because summer's coming up and I feel like I am seeing so many things online about, like, giving your kids like a 90s summer and I really, I'm tempted to like, hard launch, commit to that. So do it. This is a really good reminder of what that would look like. Basically, just push your children out of the house at 8am and don't let them back in till 8pm we'll start there.

[Kate]

Do it. Yeah, do it.

[Erin]

Let us know how it's going. That'd be great. I love it.

[Kate]

But put an air tracker on them.

[Erin]

Like air tag. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Kate]

That's the only thing. Like an air tag and they'll be good to go.

[Erin]

Yeah.

[Kate]

Well, it was fun, you guys, but I need to go eat a snack now, so.

[Erin]

Don't forget to submit your stories to our to our stories. Vote in polls, follow us on socials, leave a review, do all the things this is you had to be there. The exclusive club to unlock your best memories.

[Nicole]

It's time to log off, touch some grass and we'll see you next week.

[Kate]

Ttyl, everyone.

[Aaron]

You had to be there, baby. You had to be there, baby. You had to be there, baby. You had to be there, baby.

[Nicole]

Thanks for listening to you had to be there with Kate, Nicole and Erin. You had to be there is produced by Sickbird Productions. Deanna Dacosta, Kayla Foreman and Rachel Derbyshire. If this episode unlocked a core memory, subscribe wherever you get your podcast and leave us a five star rating. See you next week for another trip down memory lane.