What a great weekend! I always consider the Fourth of July weekend the true opening of summer. June is usually overbooked and has inconsistent temperatures (especially early in the month). By July 4th, we have settled in for the summer. Of course, we now return to school August 10th, which is just too painful to contemplate. With no kids left in k-12 at my house, I could be on the college summer schedule, if I didn’t work at a high school. 

I always love the Fourth! Phil and Mel and their crew always come for the weekend, a tradition stretching back into the days at Lake Shafer. This year, Catherine and Chris came in from Ohio too. It was like a reunion of the youngest of the Weizeorick clan. Trent came home for the weekend too, bringing along a couple friends, and Wolfe (Taryn’s boyfriend) came in from Wisconsin. We squeezed sixteen people in the house overnight. On Sunday, we added a few day trippers when our college friend Matt joined us along with his longtime girl, Laura, and her daughter Carly. The weekend was full of life! Matt, Travis, and Phil  provided some live entertainment Saturday, and we filled the rest of the time with tubing, surfing, boat floating, redneck floating, swimming, singing around the fire, watching fireworks (others and our own), playing cards, and just enjoying ourselves. It was fantastic. Trent and his friends were good sports, being moved to different sleeping locations, depending on the demands on bedrooms. If I’m being totally honest, my weekend began last Wednesday watching my friend Rob’s Dead band play at a local venue. Thursday, I returned to Illinois to visit my niece, Becky, and her four kids, who were in town from Atlanta. I’ve had almost a full week of weekend. It’s like Trav’s version of guys’ weekend, which now extends from Wednesday to Monday. 

I failed to take many pictures. I have collected a few from my siblings, but it’s scattered. Sometimes, we are just too busy enjoying life to take pictures. The weekend didn’t end until Phil and Mel and their crew hit the road for their vacation to Tennessee Tuesday morning. After they left, I went back to bed, thinking I would catch a couple more hours of sleep. I was exhausted. As I was nodding off, I actually thought, “Nothing too weird happened! Success!” Right after that thought rolled through my head, my phone rang. I tried to ignore it, but I’ve never been good at ignoring things, so I answered. Trent left his work computer here. He was already supposed to be working, so it’s a bit of a problem if he is in Indianapolis and his computer is in Valparaiso. So, the sleep was tossed. I roused myself, dressed, smashed a cap on my lake hair and deodorant on my lake stank, and began the hamster dance to find Trent’s computer. Who knew where it was? He brought it so he could do social posts (which oddly don’t involve his crazy family at all) for work over the weekend. I checked every room in the house multiple times (remember, Trent changed sleeping locations… ugh). After 15 minutes, I was convinced that my house ate his computer. Trent was on the phone with me suggesting new locations to check. When I was checking under beds and couches and the top of the coat closet (Who even opened that closet? No coats in July!), I thought it was gone for good. But then, somehow it appeared on the top of the bookshelf in the sun room. It was probably moved there to clear the table for a game of Euchre. So, Trent used a half day of PTO and started driving north, while I drove south. In a bit of true Haldeman luck, I almost left without the computer, since I was trying to assemble my snacks and drinks for the 2 ½ hour drive halfway to Indianapolis and back. Luckily, as I buckled myself into Bert, I realized that I didn’t want to wear the tank top that I had hastily tossed on, because the seat belt was rubbing my neck. Just at that time, I also realized that I didn’t even have the computer. 

So, once again, seat belts save lives! We managed the rest of the exchange without a hitch. I also got to go to lunch with Travis and Megan (his nurse practitioner), since he was at his Crown Point office, which is right off the highway. I think his coworkers smelled me coming. I only talked briefly to them, since they all looked so… showered and pretty. 

Have a great week everyone! I love summer!!