Dylan and Gavin had Cub scout camp the first week of August. It was a space themed camp. I spent the day (Dylan’s b-day) with Dylan’s group “The Tusken Raiders”. Dylan’s highlight was the crafts: string art and a wooden space shuttle model. The second day was “Dress like a character from Star Wars” day. Dylan was all excited to wear his Darth Vadar costume. Apparently the others didn’t get the memo, because no one else was dressed up. Dylan quickly took off his costume in the parking lot. Shannon went with Gavin’s group “Zenith” on the 3rd day. Grace had Brownie camp the last week of July.
I went to St Louis with work for the “Intern Event” the first week of August. Every summer our company takes on 15 interns who are interested in nuclear pharmacy. We get hundreds of applicants, so we end up with the best and brightest. Our intern was great this summer. Looked like an egg-head from his resume, but he was actually a well-rounded, hard working, fun guy to have around. The intern event is to wine and dine the interns, show our corporate HQ and manufacturing plant and try to convince them to work for us when they graduate. They rented a gigantic stretch Hummer to take us to a Cardinals game. There were ~30 of us in the thing. The new Busch stadium is great. We had the company’s luxury suite for the night. The A/C was a nice break from the 100 degree heat and 100% humidity. They played the Phillys who took an early lead. The Cards almost came back in the 7th, but ended up losing by 5 or 6 runs. Work has enabled me to see lots of MLB games, often on the companies dime: Camden Yards, Turner field, Candlestick, SBC Park, Toronto’s Blue Jay stadium, Wrigley field, old Busch and new Busch.
We spend most of last week camping with friends near Foster Lake. There were over 40 of us all together. Shannon organized it, so she got to the campground right on the lake around 1 in the afternoon. The group campground was already full, so we ended up 10 miles up the road near Green Peter Lake. The campground was much nicer: private and wooded vs. an open field, but Foster Lake is much nicer for a big group. We went out on Green Peter early Thursday morning. Got some great glass-smooth water to ski/ ride, but by 9:30 the wind picked up and it got really rough. It’s a reservoir and is down REALLY low by this time of year. The boat ramp was scary: super steep, too-low to use the dock, and there was a 10′ wide area to navigate to get out onto the lake. After that we hung spent our time on Foster Lake. Everything went great until Friday night when the boat DIED. Just stalled. It started and ran a bit 3 more times then nothing. Taking it into the shop at the end of the week. Hopefully it isn’t TOO serious. There were 2 other boats, so everyone still got their fill of boating.
Gavin started football this month. He has had 2 weeks of conditioning camp and started practices yesterday. So far he really enjoys it. His coach is great. Gavin had him for summer baseball last year. He coached his older son’s football teams all the way from 3rd grade to HS and is now starting over.
Shannon’s family had a mini family reunion in Seattle on Sunday. All the grandkids were there and all the siblings and spouses except Maria’s husband Don. We drove up for the day. Spent most of the day at a park on Lake Sammamish. Lots of fun.
I finally finished an 800 page biography on Alexander Hamilton. What an amazing life he had!!!
Right now I’m in Vegas at the Renaissance Hotel for a manager’s meeting. Last night I walked 2 miles to In-N-Out Burger and 2.5 miles back. Sure I could have eaten and hundreds of nicer places, but I was craving In-N-Out. There was a story on NPR last week about how the remaining co-founder died and that there is speculation that they may expand beyond CA, NV and AZ. OR would be a natural place to start, right?
