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Vacation goes by so fast, but I've come to realize this truth: The week after vacation goes by even quicker. Here it is, almost a week after we got back from Chicago, and it still feels like we're in recovery mode. The unpacked suitcases are still lingering in my basement, not yet returned to the closet from where they reside. My backpack sits in the living room unsorted. The days sped by, and we don't feel like we are quite back in a normal routine yet. This isn't really coinciding with my goal to get the most out of the last month of summer as possible.Yet, four days just passed, and I'm struggling to remember what we did. Lori's birthday was yesterday -- I remembered that. The boys had a swim team party at the JCC, which also had a band on its balcony. We ate dinner, drank a couple beers, and occasionally peered down to see what  our kids were doing on a gorgeous summer night. I worked a lot this week, with more assignments on the horizon that will fill...

We were really spoiled on vacation because the Midwest was mostly unusually cool for July. We returned to Utah and were blasted with heat. Did we subsequently make it out of the house much? No. Sunday, I asked the boys if they wanted to go to the pool, and neither did. The weekend was truly devoted to winding down from the weekend. The boys had a swim meet Saturday night and practice Sunday morning, and they got to hang out with the friends they hadn't seen for two weeks, but otherwise, they weren't too active. I took Popcorn for a little hike Sunday but went for no hikes at night -- it's barely even cooling off in the evening. We unpacked, I resumed m busy work slate, and didn't get worked up about not cramming too much into every day. This won't last, but for one weekend, it was welcome.

We're baaack ... Our adventure known as Midway Airport was mostly unadventurous. My dad got us to the airport in plenty of time, and getting through check-in and security wasn't an issue. We ate breakfast, boarded the Southwest plane, settled in for a relatively easy flight, found a cab in SLC, and were home by noon MDT. Popcorn was so happy to see us. The family watching her had house-sat on Thursday night so the cat wouldn't be too spooked by Pioneer Day fireworks, so the dog was there when we returned. She was wagging her tail between her legs, as if she was happy but contrite that she did something that caused us to leave her for two weeks. The cat wasn't mad at us either, just meowing a little more than normal. The rest of the day was purely recovery. I picked up Costa Vida for lunch, and Lori bought some groceries and I made the ravioli for the boys and me for dinner. I enjoyed a nice, long nap in my own comfortable bed. I also  took Popcorn to the park to t...

Well, this is it. When I hit the publish button on this webpage and shut down my computer, vacation will be all but over. We are leaving for Chicago in about 10 hours, flying out of Midway for the first time. This trip has come to an end. I'm thinking about sitting at my father's house on my computer, typing away. I'm sure I've said this before -- this is a special place for us to visit. Other families find a lake house or a favorite resort they return year after year, so much that it becomes familiar. I never lived in this house, but have spent probably about 20 weeks here over the past 10 years since he's remodeled. It is a sort of home away from home for us, even if we just visit once or twice a year (usually once). The boys feel comfortable here. The shady porch overlooking the wall of trees across the street that obscures the train tracks is Lori's favorite reading place ever and where I like to write. I get here and it feels like we were just visiting wh...

I slept soundly last night -- past 9 a.m.this morning. I woke up and worked up enough initiative to go for a run. My dad lives right by the bike trail that I used to run on in high school, and taking it two miles in and back is actually a nice little jaunt. Along the way, I saw two deer walk across the trail and stop after finding something they wanted to eat. On an urban yet forested bike trail, with no dogs allowed off leash, these deer must be pretty used to humans, because neither one moved as I ran by.  I was antsy and wanted to get out and do more today, but no one in my family were as inclined. My dad took the boys to play tennis in the afternoon. I wanted to go for a drive but Michael wasn't up for it. The weather cooled off considerably from yesterday, and the breeze felt good, so I sat on my computer for an hour in the 70-degree wonderfulness. Lori, Michael and I did go to Nick's Drive-In for lunch (I was craving a gyro), but until the late afternoon, this was anoth...

Driving home Monday night from Great America, I passed an electronic sign that informed drivers of the number of traffic fatalities so far this year in Illinois. The number was 455, and as I was striving to drive safely but get home quickly, it was a sobering reminder that 455 people left their homes one day not expecting that they wouldn't see the next. They probably thought a fatal car accident could never happen to them, even though some of them likely weren't at fault for their own demise. Just that quickly, it was over. Little did I know that my reminder had already affected us in a tragic way Monday. Today, we learned that the father of one of Ben's good friends was killed in a car accident in Washington state early Monday morning. I'm good friends with the mom, who was active at school, but I didn't know the dad well, other than he was always friendly and greeted everyone with a smile. The family had just moved to Washington a few weeks ago to start a new...

(BLOGGER'S NOTE: This is a post I started writing last summer, then forgot about for months. I finally got around to finishing it this week ...) The summer of 2013 was something else. I always lament that summer zips by too quickly, but this one really was atypical. We'd been so busy that I don't know where the days went. I barely wrote anything that wasn't work-related. June was a haze of  the boys' sports and thinking we'll get to all that fun summer stuff ... only to not get to as much of it when it suddenly became July. I didn't get a lot of freelance work in June, then got blessedly but unbelievably overwhelmed with projects over the last month. Our air conditioning went out during the hottest week of the year. All of a sudden it was vacation. I parked the car on the corner of Oriole and Gregory and walked across the street to the park near the northwest playground. Growing up, I never seemed to hang out at this playground, instead preferring th...

In a line at Six Flags today, I estimated that this was my 23rd trip to great America over my lifetime. But it was my first since 1999. And the first with my kids. The boys, my niece Jenny and I met my sister-in-law and another niece at the Burger King across from the amusement park around 9:30 a.m. The park didn't officially open until 10:30, but I didn't know how crowded it would be on a Monday and wanted to get the most out of our day. We were let in but only to the railroad bridge until 10:30. The ropes were let down, and we headed to Whizzer -- our first rollercoaster of the day. Ben had been nervous for more than a week since finding out we were going to Great America, so Whizzer -- a classic coaster and one of the easier rides in the park -- was a perfect first choice. He loved it. That would set the tone for the rest of the day. Here's a rundown, in as much of an order as I can remember: -- Viper, a wooden coaster that is great. Ben and I went on twice while...

After yesterday's festivities, today was understandably mellower. We went to a brunch in the morning -- the last wedding event of the weekend -- and Lori drove to Milwaukee for her company's work convention for a few hours. The rest of the day was mostly just hanging out. We helped clean up the rest of the yard from the party the night before. Lori returned from Milwaukee and we had dinner. And ... that was about it, and that's all it needed to be. The rest of the week will be busy enough.

July 19 had been circled on many calendars among many people. This was my father's and his fiancee's wedding day, and we had planned our vacation accordingly. The day didn't disappoint. After breakfast, many of us worked feverishly to set up the house for the reception, which was going to be a sort of block party more than anything formal. A couple hours later, everything was mostly set so that after the ceremony downtown, we could come back to the house and begin the festivities. Fourteen people were staying in the house, and we all needed showers, so the clear things up a little, I took the boys to SuperDawg for lunch. I was lucky to still get some hot water for my shower later; Lori and Ben, not so much. Finally, we made it out of the house toward downtown. Ugh, traffic on the Kennedy was a mess. We arrived exactly at 4 p.m., though the ceremony didn't start until 45 minutes later. The day was gorgeous, and the view overlooking Lake Michigan and the Art Insti...

We left Northern Wisconsin today and scurried back to Chicago for a the imminent busy weekend. After coming through Milwaukee, we decided to drive back through Madison and Rockford, which wasn't the best idea -- the tollway was under construction from Rockford all the way into the city. We still made good time, which gave us a little break before the rehearsal dinner for Dad and Susy's wedding. The party was enjoyable. Low key, good food, and a chance to relax after our drive. Ben danced, of course. I was able to see my sister Julie, who I missed last weekend even though she was in Chicago, and my sister Megan, who had arrived from Colorado last week. Vacation has been busy already, but we still have a week left! I can appreciate that.

This was our last day in Merrill before driving back to Chicago tomorrow. The day was mostly uneventful for me -- I ran in the morning and worked for a couple hours on the patio -- but the boys had a blast. I took Ben miniature golfing, and then he got to enjoy a motorcycle ride with his Uncle Steve. He was nervous at first, but settled in and asked and received another ride. Michael went on a motorcycle ride, too, then went horseback riding with Lori and her sister. Ben didn't want to go but started sobbing when he saw them depart (at least he was able to go on the motorcycle ride after his meltdown). About 8 p.m., I was feeling antsy and went for a little drive in the Charger and the sunset. I got a little lost but didn't mind. A half-hour later, I got back home and watched the rest of "The Lego Movie" with the boys. Now I'm on the porch writing in the crisp Wisconsin night. Back on the road in 12 hours ...

More North Woods today, and it was nice. I was sitting by Maple Lake, looking at the pines reflected in the water across the lake, watching the billowing, cottony clouds in the sky, watching the boys swim in the cold water, and realized how nice the day was. Lori's parents reserved a little clubhouse at one of the parks in Three Lakes. From there, I took the boys on a hike up the bike trail that went past her family's farm -- a trail that once carried railroad tracks on which Lori would run after to see trains when she was a kid. Michael didn't entirely enjoy the hike; I don't think he likes the woods. We made it back just in time for lunch. Afterward, the boys and their cousins played at the park while I spread out a blanket and took a nap in the sun. We capped our trip to Three Lakes with an hour at Maple Lake (the weather did warm up, but it was still a bit chilly for me to brave the water; besides, I'm not a lake person ...) and ice cream before driving back t...

I had heard the rumors that the Wisconsin summer was a continuation of the horrendous winter that made the Midwest miserable this year. Sure enough, the temperature barely got above 60 degrees all day Tuesday. But we still managed a fun day. After running in the morning on the Merrill High School track, I was feeling a little antsy in the afternoon. I was determined to get a little bit of a North Woods experience, so I piled the boys and my niece into the car to look for Lookout Mountain, the second-highest point in Wisconsin and near Merrill. The Maps app on my phone wasn't that helpful -- it took us way out of the way at first, then tried turning us onto a private road. We did stop at one set of trails and should have gone for a longer hike there, but the bugs were bad and I was still obsessing about finding Lookout Mountain. We ended up finding Otter Lake, where got out of the car and admired the lake (it was way too cold to go in the water). So we got some North Woods, even...

After 40 hours in a train last week, what naturally was going to follow? Six hours in a car! We drove to Merrill to stay with Lori's sister for a few days, and the journey actually went rather well. Except for some confusion on how to get on north I-294 from Rosemont (we stopped at an outlet mall there to buy Ben new Crocs), the trip was smooth. We stopped at Kopp's in Milwaukee for lunch (yum!) and worked our way north and eventually west. I let Lori drive outside of Oshkosh and dozed off in the passenger seat. By the time I woke up, we were only about 45 minutes away from Merrill. After arriving, we went out for pizza at a New York-style restaurant in Wausau. We got back and played some board games: Ticket to Ride and The Resistance. The day was long but definitely felt vacationy. And the drive really wasn't that bad.

Two days in Chicago, and I don't feel like I've quite settled into a sleep pattern after the long train ride. It rained almost all day Saturday, which was good, because that gave us a chance to recover from our two-day railroad adventure. The highlight was driving to Rogers Park to a game store, then going to Kohl's at the HIP (Harlem-Irving Plaza, for those not from Chicago), and finally to SuperDawg for dinner. The rental car agency gave us a Charger, which was unexpected and quite welcome, even if the risk of a speeding ticket just increased. On Sunday, Lori, Michael and I took a long bike ride on the North Shore Trail, riding maybe 15 miles total on the path I used to take my bike and also run (for cross country in high school). My legs were sore by the time I went to bed. Later, we went to a graduation party thrown by some friends of my dad and soon-to-be stepmom. The party had a band, and Ben enjoyed dancing, of course. Vacation is just gearing up.

We tried something different this year for vacation: Taking the train to Chicago. The boys are at an age that we felt they would handle it, and it's an adventure, right? We arrived at the SLC station very, very early to catch our 3:30 a.m.train. After enduring some drizzle (now it rains after three straight days of heat), we boarded and found four seats across. We settled in to try to resume our sleep (I had got maybe 90 minutes the night before). Unfortunately, I probably didn't sleep more than an hour and was exhausted for all of Thursday. We got off the train briefly in Grand Junction, and I did manage a little nap after we got back on. Just a little nap, though, as Ben, who was so loud -- a combination of wired and overtired -- got into an argument with Michael and woke me up. No matter -- the scenery through Colorado was gorgeous. I did manage one more nap. We ate dinner in the dining car, which was an experience. An overpriced experienced, but an experience nonetheless ...

I'm officially in severe catch-up mode with this blog. Here it goes: These four days were so focused on getting everything done and everything ready before our vacation. I bulled through all the work projects I aimed to finish before we left -- this might have been the most concentrated burst of work I've achieved since becoming a freelancer. We needed to pack, get the house ready, drive the boys to all the various things they have (actually, not as much as earlier in the summer, just swim and basketball, plus some playdates, but still things we had to fit in) and manage to stay sane. Fortunately, I got everything done that I needed to do. Everything got packed. We got Popcorn to the family who are watching her while we're gone. The boys had a swim meet Wednesday and did all right, each registering one season best, though I think they were thinking of our trip, too. We had some car trouble Monday that didn't get resolved until Tuesday, which only added to the chaos....

A week and a half without blogging. The crush of busy days that I had predicted finally overwhelmed me. OK, it wasn't so overwhelming that I'm frazzled. But it has been busy enough that I didn't blog all these days. Michael had his basketball tournament last week and played well. His team went 2-2 and finished in fourth place out of 13 teams in his division. He scored two baskets, grabbed about 10 rebounds, and set three picks that sprung teammates for baskets. Both boys had two swim meets during this time. And both joined the no-breather club by swimming a 25-meter race without breathing. Ben swam his best times in the freestyle and backstroke. I've been swamped with freelance work as I try to get everything done before vacation next week. I made good progress but still have much to do in the next five days. Temperatures finally climbed into the 90s for good -- it will stay around this hot the rest of the summer. We went to the waterpark for the first time Tu...