The 43

I think I can officially declare that summer is here. Yes, I should have declared it last weekend before Memorial Day. I actually tallied a day count between the Friday before Memorial Day and Labor Day on how many days of summer I can enjoy this year (a whopping 109). But tonight, when I went outside to put turn off the sprinkler, the evening warmth, the non-crisp, starry sky, and the knowledge it just barely got dark -- it all signaled summer had arrived, at least in my universe. Hopefully, it's going to be a great summer. No wasted days out, especially because there's only 99 left.

Littlest turned 3 years old today, and he enjoyed a fun yet low-key birthday. We had a small birthday party for him Sunday, but today we gave him his present from us (a new bicycle) and Eldest (a bell for said bike) and sang "Happy Birthday" again while he blew out a candle on a cupcake. It was a big day for Eldest, too, who got to sit in on his new kindergarten. He was paired with a current kindergartener and got to go on the playground and have a snack. Eldest was shy talking about it at first, but later told Wife he had fun and that it was the best part of the day. I no longer have a 2-year-old and will have a son in kindergarten next fall. Wow. No deep reflection, just wow.

The rain finally subsided, the temperature warmed up, and I pulled the grill out today. Nothing too fancy, just some Colosimo's bratwursts (Colosimo's is a local company that makes decent sausages, at least for Utah) and a few hot dogs for the boys. But there's nothing like pulling the grill out to make it feel like summer. After dinner, it seemed all the neighbors and neighbors' kids were outside, and it was nice to simply be social, especially after not seeing everybody too much all winter. (I also realized we have many 2-3 year-olds in a five-house radius.) And for the better news: The weather is supposed to stay nice for a few days, at least. The grill might be making a return appearance this weekend.

For my first post in a almost 7 weeks (and no, I'm not going to blog about how I need to start blogging again, blah, blah, blah -- I slacked off and now it's done), can I say how happy I am that spring is sort of here. May is my favorite month, with the leaves back on the trees, baseball in full swing (no pun intended) and summer up ahead. However, this spring has mostly sucked again here in Utah. We get a few nice days followed by a few rainy/cold days. Lately, it hasn't been as cold, but there have been few breaks for me to mow the lawn, do some weeding, plant anything. Each year, I seed the front lawn with the hopes I'll get full coverage. I was ready to go when the weather turned icky, and in the brief warm spells, clover invaded. So now I have to spray weed stuff on the lawn before I can throw down any seed. At least the clover makes the lawn look green ... I shouldn't complain too much, because it doesn't seem this spring is as bad as last year (when we we...