It was a fun day. Went to my niece Hadley’s birthday party with the family. Got to visit with my family and friends there, including running into my former Oculan coworker Matt “Jason” Pressley. Found out his kids will be going to Hallie’s school, Conn, as well, so we’ll run into each other far more often now.

After getting back (and jumping all over the inflatable house at the kids’ party), we got prepped to head to the pool but had to leave the pool 30 seconds after getting in when thunder was heard. We spent some time at home spraying down the kids in the front yard but then returned to the pool for the last hour they were open.

Dinner, then tired kids were tucked in. Kelly and I watched Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and laughed through it. It was a dead-on satire of the recent Johnny Cash and Ray Charles biopics.

Tomorrow the kids go to a playdate and I get some time to catch up on some projects. Then we’re likely to be at the pool again in the afternoon.

It sure is great to have the family together again!

I’m just beat tonight. Picked up a cold yesterday which kept me awake, as I couldn’t breathe through my nose well enough to wear my mouthpiece when I desperately needed it. If that wasn’t bad enough I was continually dive-bombed by a mosquito until I cranked up the bedroom fan.

Its also not been all that easy juggling work and the kids’ errands while Kelly has been away. Trips like this really make me appreciate her so much more. Add in today’s sweltering, nearly unbearable heat and you get one tired dude.

I’ve got an 8:30 AM meeting tomorrow and I’m hoping I’m conscious for it. Man am I glad a weekend’s coming up.

We got back from the balloon launches a little after 8 PM. The kids had a great time seeing the launch process. I wish we could’ve stayed for the recovery but bedtimes beckoned.

And mine is beckoning, too. I think I’ll be spending some time tomorrow night writing up these two wonderful events. And there’s yet another weekend day left.

Pretty busy day, today.

I spent the morning (and part of the afternoon) frantically putting gutter guards on the gutters of our house. The rush was due to the possible approach of a tropical depression, now flitting around the Atlantic off of North Carolina. So far today the rain has been negligible. But when it does come, the gutters will be ready. Since we’d moved in I’d wanted to get that done.

The best part about today’s work was watching the mosquitoes become confused when their watery nests were no longer available. I’m hopeful those caps will now save us some bug bites.

The wife and kids were at a birthday party while I worked. When they returned, we took one of our cars over to get new tires. Then we spent some time playing in the library before picking up the car from the tire place. Dinner followed, which itself was followed by family game night (the game “Sorry!”). Lots of fun was had by all.

Now its time to dig into my new library book, The Shock Doctrine. Should be entertaining.

I came home today to see Travis playing in his room. He was in the middle of changing his shirt, putting it carefully on a hanger to hang in his closet.

“Hey, guy,” I asked. “What are you doing?”

“I’m Mister Rogers,” he answered with a serious look on his face.

The kids watch Mister Rogers every day. Its wonderful that he’ll always be with us.

We went on another family bike ride this morning, this time all the way to the end of the trail north of Shelly Lake. The kids were awesome riders of their Trail-A-Bikes and it was good training for Kelly and me.

Surprisingly, there weren’t a lot of trail users. Or folks at Shelly Lake, either. We had a few other cyclists out there but the crowds were elsewhere. It could be that it was too hot for others. We had fun, though!

We’re back in Downtown Raleigh (TM) tonight after a wunnerful week with Kelly’s parents. Out of the six days we were there, we took the kids to the pool 4 days. We also got in a fun afternoon of bowling: my first game in untold years.

This morning before leaving, the kids and Kelly’s dad treated the rest of us to a “circus” performance. It was quite a hoot!

I’ve got some canvassing to do tomorrow morning and some house fix-up chores I’d like to accomplish this weekend. With some luck we can get in another family bike ride, too.

Looks like the A View Of The Cityblog has caught up to MT.Net on the issue of downtown’s one-way streets.

Let’s hope this issue builds some momentum and city and state leaders work together to improve downtown Raleigh’s traffic flow.