June 2008 Report

The month started out incredibly HOT but ended at a perfect 82 degrees. Summer in Jersey seems to always be a cycle of warm and nice building to hot and humid followed by some wild thunder storms and repeat.

With school now finally over the boys have been either hanging out with friends or trying to avoid jobs here at home.

Brandon graduated from middle school this year so now we have two high-schoolers. We went and did the proud parent thing and watched him march with the rest of the 8th graders. He also had several parties with friends so it was a nice end to middle school. He is excited to get to high school.

Chayce also finished school this month and is happy to be off for the summer. He is volunteering at the Seeing Eye and is enjoying it. Given our crazy summer schedule it was going to be difficult to hold a regular job so this works perfect. It gives him work experience and will work out nicely for his collage applications. Evidently volunteerism is a key thing colleges are looking for now days. He has been helping around the office and also walking dogs. Kim was hoping to get him in at the breeding center, but you have to be 19+ to work there.

So now I have to brag about my month.... First I had a great fathers day golf trip. I did catch a little heat for not being at home for fathers day, but hey it's supposed to be about me right? Well it started the Thursday before, I met my friend Ron from Utah in LA and we drove down to San Diego for the first round of the US Open. It was a lot of fun to watch Tiger and the other golf pros up close. It is incredible how good they are, I guess there isn't much hope for my professional golf career.

Thursday night we drove up to Huntington Beach and met up with DeLyle (a friend of mine from NJ) and Jerry (a friend of DeLyle's from Utah). We then went on an evening cruise up and down the CA coast on a 65' yacht owned by a guy DeLyle knows through his work. They fed us dinner and showed us a great time. Remind me when we are in Alaska and I'll tell you more about this boat and the life style this guy and his wife live. It was a reminder of how little the average guy has. The good news is I hit it off with the guy and he has invited me to drive the boat with him down to Baja Mexico this winter. Kim won't want to go on that long of a boat ride, but I'm pretty sure she will be happy to meet me there.

Friday Morning the four of us played 36 holes of golf at the LA Country Club. It is a beautiful private club that has two 18 hole courses and of course we felt compelled to play both. Second only to Augusta it is considered the most exclusive golf course in the US. So it was a once in a life time experience. The weather was typical So. Cal. 75 degrees and clear sunny skies.

The club house @ the LA Country Club

Our Foursome (left to right) Ron, Me, DeLyle, Jerry

LA CC North Course

This was on the LA CC North Course and believe it or not on the other side of this wall is the Playboy Mansion.

LA CC South Course. Very different landscape. The north had a very remote quiet feeling and the South course was in the middle of Century City.

Friday night we drove up to Palm Springs where we played on Saturday. They were the TPC courses designed by Jack Nicholas and while they were beautiful, they were also extremely difficult.

Palm Springs

Now I know what your thinking wow, that was some trip, and you would be right, but it isn't over yet. Saturday evening we drove up to Las Vegas where we had dinner and saw a show followed by 18 holes on Sunday morning. Unfortunately this is were it ends and I had to catch a flight home on Sunday afternoon. It was a great trip and I was very grateful to Kim and the boys for letting me go. Of course now the precedent has been set and the four of us now plan on doing this trip on a yearly basis, different locations, but the golf trip will live on. We'll see how it plays out.

Las Vegas

So just to be sure I had a perfect Golfing Month, a week later me and a couple of guys had business in Florida, so we flew down a day early and got a round of golf in. I'll admit it was on the warm and humid side, but hey it was golf.

I'm not sure if the rest of my summer can live up to June, but it sure would be nice if it did!

The boys and I have also been out golfing and they are getting pretty good, it won't take much for them to be better then me. We went out the other evening after work and finished the 18th hole just as it was getting dark, we then had a nice dinner at one of their favorite restaurants. The "Chatter Box" but we call it the "Circle Diner" because it is a round building and at first we couldn't remember the name of it years ago when we first started going there. It used to be one of those drive-in style diners. Kim was happy because she got to stay at home in the air conditioning and read a book.

Well have a great July and we will see you all in Seattle at the end of the month. I guess we can all predict what the blogs will be about next month.