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Summer is great because I get to set my own schedule (more or less). It’s great when you want to do something for yourself or with family and friends, but I have a tendency to schedule little to no time for, uh, … ‘nothing’. I find that there are simply not enough hours in the day to get all the things I want to do done. My life is over-scheduled and I know it. Most days I work more than I rest. It’s well within my ability to say ‘no’ to certain things and ‘yes’ to a little R and R. I just wish I could convince myself that I have permission to do so. How fitting that even this blog posting is later than I wanted it to be.

This weekend Bismarck is hosting an over-abundance of softball players for the 35th Annual Sam McQuade Sr. Charity Softball Tournament. It’s likely that sunscreen sales are down this year but umbrellas have to be up. As the father of two baseballers and an avid camper I can certainly sympathize with the players who had rain-outs due to this ‘lovely’ North Dakota June we’ve been having (and those who are pitching tent in this humid and turbulent weather). I doubt the flash-flood producing thunderstorms have dampened the spirits of any McQuade veterans. This event has essentially made Bismarck the ‘Sturgis of Softball’ for all the players and fans. To those die-hards I say ‘good luck’ on the rest of the tournament… and surviving the weekend weather.

I never understood why the local hardware giants spent all that money to create roofs over their lumberyards. I still end up sifting through piles of warped, knotty and broken pieces to find what I’m looking for. And it doesn’t help that the guy that was there before you didn’t bother to stack any of his rejects in a separate pile. Instead it’s like hunting through an over-sized heap of french fries in search of the best ones. Who knew that the process of selecting wood for a project could actually take longer than the project itself?

Yes, it’s that time of year again. The annual tradition of sending the DOT some money in return for a pair of colorful, reflective vinyl stickers to affix to my license plates, proving that I am, in fact, driving a registered vehicle. It’s probably been a while, but when you get brand new plates there’s a little indication of where said decals are to be placed. My guess? This is done to ensure that a lawful officer can easily spot the license tabs and determine whether or not to issue you a warning or ticket for expired vehicle registration. Granted, over a period of several years, the overlapping decals make one thick vinyl ‘sandwich’ that will most likely need to be peeled away to the original plate surface (if possible at all).

I have seen at least one registered vehicle whose owner obviously decided to be a little more ‘creative’ with where to place these stickers: like wherever they’d fit. Yes, I can imagine that nothing quite pleases an officer more than having to play ‘Where’s Waldo?’ to hunt down the current sticker with the most recent month and year. This decal graffiti artist, if pulled over, might be just as far ahead flipping the aggravated officer the bird. I would think that there is a law prohibiting such practice, but the rainbow frame of decals around this driver’s plates indicated a history of about twenty years of noncompliance.

The oldest has a birthday coming up, so he decided (with a little help) that he wanted a new bike. Well, it wasn’t so much ‘wanted’ as it was ‘needed’. I never realized how many bikes a kid can go through as they grow (four and counting). He was starting to look like a bear riding a circus bike. His knees were nearly hitting the handlebars and his toes just missed scraping the ground. Based on the visual evidence alone there wasn’t much of an argument against it. What closed the deal was him finding one he really liked.

Naturally, little brother gets the hand-me-downs which, ironically enough, he is quite okay with. Probably because he knows that it doesn’t count as his birthday gift. He insists on riding his old bike for a while because it still has the pedal brake. Mastering the handle brakes will take some time. Considering his history with freak bike accidents (a broken arm two years ago), Mom and I are quite all right with it.

If you get the chance to take in the final installment of the Toy Story trilogy prepare to have your heartstrings pulled. In short, Pixar’s familiar gang of toys tries to reunite with their owner, Andy, before he goes off to college. Maybe it’s because we have kids, but I couldn’t help but think of our own two boys growing older and leaving their toys behind for college someday. I can still remember our oldest as a three year old standing for the whole 90 minutes in front of our coffee table to watch the original Toy Story. That was seven years ago. To think that he could be off to college in just another seven years hit me pretty hard today. It’s a good thing I was wearing 3D glasses.

Just when things seem to be going okay, life throws you a curveball… literally. At my son’s baseball practice on Sunday I agreed to don the mask and catch. Instead I managed to take a curveball off my right knee about twenty minutes into the scrimmage (that’s what the leggings are for, right?). After a good half hour of squatting my knee was pretty tender so I figured I’d ice it. Hopefully I’ll be back to normal in a few days. Never underestimate the healing powers of a frozen bag of Nestle Toll House Morsels.

Happy Father’s Day to all those dads out there! Hopefully you had the opportunity to honor him today in some way. I am very grateful to have the dad I have. He’s had a tremendous influence on my life and continues to be a positive role model for, not only me, but my sons as well. Thanks for all that you are, Dad!

Why is it that kids can’t admit when they’re tired and just go to sleep? The moment our kids’ attitudes and sensitivity increase we know the most probable cause is inadequate rest. What is unfortunate is having to convince them that they are tired when they are so irrational and irritable. It’s usually a painfully futile battle that ends in lengthy, over-dramatic meltdowns and subsequent punishments

If only parents had that special ability, like most stage hypnotists, to command their subjects to sleep with two fingers and a firm commanding voice. A bonus could be using the power of latent suggestion to get them to ‘fess up to any wrongs they’ve been guilty of whenever they hear the trigger word used in casual conversation. Parenting would not only be easier but slightly more entertaining.

Packing the vehicle before a camping trip is a bit of a science. Because we’re ‘tenters’ we don’t have the luxury of hitching our weekend behind our van, we have to squeeze it all in. It might seem simple but you always have to be conscious of what needs to come out first because, logically enough, it gets packed last. Trust me, there have been times where we’ve had to dig through sleeping bags and pillows for the tent.

Family camping is not exactly roughing it, so there is a fair amount of extra ‘stuff’ that makes the trek out with us. Like pioneers packing up the wagon, we prepare to venture out and stake our claim… for two days. I think the total time it takes us to pack and unpack for the weekend is almost greater than the amount of time camping… but you know what? It’s totally worth it.