The 43

I really pooped in the pool on blogging my summer these past two weeks ... The weather has been hot. Life has been busy -- two swim meets, including state. A difficult client at work is sapping my energy and creativity. I'm barely exercising, and my nutrition has been bad. I've been so tired every evening that the thought of writing some more, even just a couple hundred words, has not been appealing. Before I knew it, two weeks passed without touching the blog. We leave on vacation in the morning, so I need to recap the past two weeks before I start writing about the next two. It's not going to be much. Ben swam well at the state long-course meet, especially considering he just aged up into another division. He swam another meet last weekend and did OK -- we were going to skip but discovered we would have had to pay for it anyway, so he swam it. Lori and Michael went to California for a basketball tournament while we held down the fort in SLC. Temperatures had been

I'm struggling to find my work groove in these two days back after Vegas. I couldn't sleep Sunday night (too much soda on our trip back) and I've been tired since. Salt Lake is hot again, but I don't mind so much. I got Popcorn out for walks the last two nights, and tonight I made Ben and me macaroni and cheese for dinner. I wish I had more to write about, but I want to wrap this up and attack tomorrow with some more energy.

We're home after one final long day. Michael drove almost the whole way; I really only took the wheel through Arizona. His team played two games today, convincingly winning the first but losing the second in the final of the bracket they were in. The last game wasn't actually as painful as the other losses -- we played well at times despite turnovers and a few bad offensive sets, and the other team was shooting the lights out. We hung out at Starbucks between games, then hit the road right after the last game. We would have been home sooner if not for a traffic jam through the Virgin River Gorge. After getting food to go from Freddy's in St. George, Michael pushed it all the way home without stopping. He did all right, though he still has a little bit to go before mastering interstate driving. I'm just happy we're back home.

At last, we won a game. We almost blew this one, too, after leading by 18 at halftime, but we still won by six. This might have been the hottest day yet here in Vegas, but we kept cool at the hotel pool of a resort that another family was staying at. Our family stayed at this resort four years ago, and it has a nice pool and a lazy river. The pool unfortunately wasn't the cold and barely refreshing, but the lazy river was wonderful. All those waterfalls you try avoiding I welcomed as a floated underneath. Michael and his friends hung out and looked a little bored at times. We ate Five Guys for lunch. I drove Michael and two teammates back to the Orleans, where they saw the new Spider-Man movie. Rather than veg in the room, I vegged by the pool again. I don't mind baking in the sun if I can cool off periodically, and the water was refreshingly not hot. Michael was exhausted after the movie, so we kept it mellow for the evening, and he watched "San Andreas" on cab

Two more losses, and these were painful -- Michael's team held big leads, came out flat in the second half, and lost, including one game in overtime. He played well again, but this is turning into a tough tournament. The rest of the day was much better. We went to Nacho Daddy's with some of the other families for lunch, and I ate an entire plate of bacon cheeseburger nachos. I was barely hungry later and drove to a nearby grocery store to get some cash and buy Michael more Oreos. Although the day was hot, some rain fell in the late afternoon. Michael and his teammates bowled at the Orleans in the evening, and it's official -- he's not a good bowler. I enjoyed a few beers with the other parents, and Michael hung out with his friends after bowling. I'm still full from lunch ...

Day 1 of Michael's tournament didn't go as hot as the temperature -- his team lost after a rough, rough first half. We did pull within four points late, and Michael played well, but this wasn't a good way to start. We just headed back to the hotel to eat lunch and relax. We both napped at some point, and we hung out by the pool for a little while. Later in the afternoon, we went to the Pinball Hall of Fame, and I got to play Space Shuttle, Millipede, Eight Ball Deluxe, Donkey Kong, Spy Hunter, the NBA pinball game, Superman, and Tron -- on which I got the high score. Played a bunch of other pinball and video game classics, too. Michael enjoyed Tetris and the South Park pinball game. Our plan was to go the Giordano's on the Strip, but parking and traffic was a mess by the Flamingo, so instead we drove to another location in the west suburbs. It was much less crowded and much more mellow. The pizza was delicious, and talking with Michael while we waited for the deep d

Vegas, baby! Michael and I departed Salt Lake City around 10 a.m. and made good time on our way to Nevada. Michael actually drove a good chunk of Utah, and we only stopped once along the way. We are staying at the Orleans, and it's OK. I'd rather stay at a resort next year if we come back to Vegas for basketball. The temperature is insanely hot, but that's Vegas in the summer. We went to In 'n' Out away from the Strip's, which was way too crowded and we would have had to sit outside in the heat. We tried going to a grocery store near the rec center Michael was going to meet his teammates, but the parking lot was eerily empty. After he hung out with his teammates, we went to Smith's south of the Strip to pick up provisions for the next few days.

These two days were scrambling. Two days of trying to get work in a good place. Two days of getting the house in a good place. Two days of preparation for a short vacation. Michael and I hit the road tomorrow for Vegas. Work wasn't all crazy, and I did manage to get some things done in the yard (the city is hauling a small pile of junk away in a couple days). I'm looking forward to the break away from Utah. That said, there's never enough time in the days before any trip. It's a summer scramble you usually can't avoid.

Summer weekends are wonderful but always go way too fast. This one did for sure. I started Saturday morning finishing up the last three episodes of the new season of "Stranger Things." It finished up strong and was better than Season 2, in my opinion. The rest of the day was just as mellow. I ran a couple errands to Dollar Tree and Walmart later in the afternoon. I also watched some of the basketball games of Michael's I missed when I was in Montana. The day mostly concluded with a long walk with the dog before it got too dark. Today was just as uneventful. I watched two episodes of "Sherlock" (not having DirecTV has been fun ...)  as well as the U.S. women's soccer team win the World Cup. The boys and I went to the JCC, where I rebounded for Michael as he shot around for an hour, then I briefly jumped in the pool with Ben. Dinner was a big salad and leftovers, and I'm wrapping up the day writing on the porch.

The Friday between a holiday and a weekend is destined not to be taken seriously. I worked hard but never felt rushed, knowing after my day off yesterday, I'll have two more starting tomorrow. My day wasn't all work. I went to the optometrist (and am trying a new contact formation in which I wouldn't need to wear reading glasses) and got a haircut. Popcorn and I went for a nice walk. I continued to watch "Stranger Things." The heat returns tomorrow, but for the weekend, that's OK. I'm looking forward to a nice weekend.

Happy Independence Day! This might have been the most mellow Fourth of July in years. We skipped the parade, didn't go see any fireworks, and barely did anything all day. I took Popcorn for a longer walk in the morning so I wouldn't have to worry about her during the evening fireworks. Lori and I went to Smith's to get some food for the day, and then we all headed to the home of some good friends. They are out of town and said we could use their pool. So, it was basically just us swimming, enjoying the hot tub, and blessedly relaxing. A storm moved through and cooled the holiday, but we were nestled underneath the deck. Ben and I played his new game, Unstable Unicorns. I grilled burgers and hot dogs for dinner after we got home. We started watching the third season of "Stranger Things." And I finished the day thankful it was so mellow -- there weren't even many fireworks going off late because of the rain.

I'm not sure how June ended so quickly, but here we are in July. My Sunday was mostly relaxing. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were zanier work days, as I tried to manage through the short week while juggling Ben's swim meet Monday and Wednesday in American Fork. The heat is back, though I got Popcorn out on a couple of evening walks. I need to get better at blogging the night of each of these summer days, as well as finding time to write other things.