Daddy here. It's been a busy and active summer for the MansClan. A few weeks ago, mom had some meetings in Chico so I took Al to the weight room for football and then Izzy had piano lessons.
After we were done with piano lessons, we headed back to get Al. We had to wait for a few minutes for him to finish and it was starting to get hot. When Alex got to the car Izzy said, "We've been waiting for almost 10 minutes, I'm hot!!" He, being completely drenched with sweat and red-faced from heat exhaustion, was like, "Really?!" Lol.
We've had to say goodbye to Father George and Father Lawrence. Jake even got to serve at their last Mass here. They've been such great spiritual leaders for me and for this community. I'm really going to miss them. Father Lawrence heard my very first confession and I always tried to go to him when it was time for confession. Father George was the first priest I was fortunate enough to call my friend, and I will miss my friend and my spiritual leader very much.
Izzy and Mom got some fun color in their hair for the summer. Iz had to get a swim cap so the pool doesn't strip the color out.
Mom has been doing such a great job clearing out the garage we were able to get the car in too!
For the 4th of July weekend, we headed out to the houseboat. This time there was no driftwood and there was an island for us to play bolo on. Although, there were no hot twins for Al. There was however peninsula that stuck out the end of the island we were on and we watched people get stuck on it. The funniest one was when we were having breakfast and a guy came in too hot and got stuck. Papa was laughing out loud and when he finally started to calm down, from downstairs on Jason's boat we heard, "What a dumbass!!" and we all cracked up again.
We went tubing until the two broke and just had an all-around great time at the boat, like always. My bolo skills were on par this weekend and I cleaned house. We even stopped in the middle of the lake so we could swim.
When I got home, we got everything ready for the party. To our great surprise Sara and Dean were actually able to make it! Everyone had a great time, I sure love getting all of our friends together. Although my bolo skills somehow robbed me of corn-hole skills and I got killed by multiple people.
A few weeks later, Greg and Brenda were in town for their yearly visit and we were finally able to schedule a river trip. Alex had football camp on the weekend we went to Chico, so Doc, Greg, Nathan, Jake and I went and saw Spider-Man. That evening, all the adults actually got to go out for dinner which is always great. I took Wednesday off work to give Alex a few days to rest and we finally made it to the river.
I can't tell you guys how much it means to me that you enjoyed the river as much as I did when I was your age. It's still a little trippy for me to think the first time I went down with those two guys was almost 30 years ago!! You guys did a great job down and back and Alex even jumped off the main jump! I can't wait to get another river trip in, hopefully before the end of summer.
In addition to all the great fun we've been having, sometimes just real life stuff sneaks up. Izzy wanted to go with me to the doctor so I said okay. I love so much that you still love spending time with me, you foof.
A few weeks later we drove up to Greenville to meet up with the Tuckers.
It was time for us to make the trip to the mountain and spread GG's ashes. I'm so very thankful for Ken and Centella, for their generous hospitality and for knowing where we had to go on the mountain.
Great grandpa Al always loved that place, which is why he wanted his ashes spread there. The second time I went there was to spread Grandpa's ashes. This is the third time I've been there, to complete a loved one's final wishes. I'll have to go one more time, when Tutu's ready.
I'm very glad we decided to make a family trip of it, it would have been much harder to do without all of you there. Especially Alex, who walked down to the spot through the spiky manzanita with me and helped spread the ashes. Thanks for doing that dude, I really appreciate it.
We headed back to Ken and Centella's house and visited and had lunch. Had Jake not had a miserable ear infection we probably would have stayed a little longer. As it was we had to head home.
DeanO turning 50 this year, so Cory and I made him some Kansas City Chiefs corn-hole boards. I hope he likes them.
It's been sunny and hot all week, and mom wanted to throw a Shark Week party this Friday, calling it Shark Week brewhaha. That's just plain clever. So, I'll have to recap that party and our long weekend next week. We're going to go to Santa Cruz and celebrate Alex's 16th birthday. I always love that we have something fun right around the corner. I love you guys,
Daddy
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