A Summertime Memory

I love this time of year. Summer blockbusters are coming out. School is ending. Vacations that were planned in January are getting closer. I have found that the anticipation and planning of a vacation is usually more enjoyable than the actual execution of the vacation. There is so much to look forward to when you're planning: The food, the activities, and the people. When you're planning, you focus on the fun you will have. You usually don't take into consideration that the other families' kids have a low tolerance to sun, bad food, and bacteria in the wave pool. You just think, "Ooh! A water park! The kids will love being outside all day!" You don't think about the neighbor kids' problems until you're on your way home at the end of a long water-slide-filled day. The kids are sleeping in the back of the van. The sunburned neighbor kid is asleep on the back bench. Your favorite son is on the floor beneath him. As you're pulling into your driveway late at night, the queasy neighbor kid slowly sits up and mutters, "Oghughhh..." waking up your handsome son on the floor with a cascade of partially digested hot dogs, chips, Gatorade, Sprite, and powdered jelly-filled donuts. Then you pull your confused (yet extremely intelligent) son out of the van, strip off his swimsuit, and squirt him down in your front yard with the freezing water from the garden hose. Even though your son is only 9 years old and it's nighttime, he still gets embarrassed by being hosed down in the buff by his mom. You think, "Oh, he'll get over it." Guess what: I won't. I'm still afraid to walk outside at night naked. I still love you though, Mom.

Christmas Vacation

I just finished watching Christmas Vacation. It has been a family tradition for years now. "’Tis the season to be Merry." "A whole quarter!" "Are you serious Clark?" "THE BLESSING!" These lines can be heard at my house throughout the year. Chevy Chase was at his peak. What a funny, funny man. It seems like he hasn’t been given roles where he can really shine for quite some time. Fletch, the Vacations (minus Vegas), Seems Like Old Times, Three Amigos (one of my top 3 films of all time). These were films where his subtle, sarcastic presence really came through. I miss Chevy most at Christmas.

Every day the kids and I have begged my wife to "open just one present. PLEASE?" She hasn’t budged in 22 days.

I hope your holidays are filled with fun traditions. See you next year!

…SQUIRREL!!

Trampolines and "povers"

Thanks to everyone who came out to the LA screening of Pirates of the Great Salt Lake. It was a great success. I am excited to finally see this movie come into the light. I'll keep you all posted on the progress.

I just got a trampoline for the family this week. I had one growing up and loved it. It has been years since I've spent any real time on one and let me tell you, I'm not as young as I used to be. My back hurts. My thighs burn. I'm dizzy from the flipping and steamrollering. I think I'll use it more for sleeping out under the stars than for jumping. As a kid, that was always fun: piling on the blankets and pillows for a 'pover. (That's short for "sleep over." You see, you drop the "slee" and add the "p" to the "over." My friends and I thought we were really cool coming up with phrases like that.) It was always fun until we had to run inside because Dad forgot to turn off the sprinklers and we'd wake up frightened and wet trying to gather all the blankets and pillows and run in to the house. We'd end up throwing the blankets on the hard floor and I'd wake up in the morning with a headache and a cold. My mom was always hesitant to let me have 'povers because I would always come home with a headache or a cold or both. Regardless of the consequences, I still love the thrill of sleeping out in the backyard.

I hope to see you at one (or all) of my concerts this summer. Remember to tell Dad to turn off the sprinklers when you sleep out.