August 2009 Report

August went by way too fast. It is hard to believe summer is over and the boys are about to go back to school. Can you believe I'm going to have a Sophomore and and Senior in High School. It's too depressing to even think about. The past 18 years seem like a blur, I wish I could go back and do it again, right this time. Oh well sa la vie.

We did a lot of boating during the month. In addition to copious amounts of wakeboarding, water skiing and tubing we also explored some uninhabited islands, found a rope swing and spent lots of time dozing in the sun with frequent dips in the water to keep cool.

One Saturday the boys and I pulled the boat out and drove up to Lake Wallenpaupack, PA for the day. It was a really nice lake and we had a great day in spite of the fact that it was the busiest day of the year [according to some locals we talked to] and the skiing wasn't all that great due to the ruff water. Regardless we had lots of fun.


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Kim and I went to the State Fair, we tried to talk the boys into it but they didn't think it sounded very fun. Boy were they wrong. Kim and I had fun looking at all the animals both human and farm, and enjoyed a funnel cake. I should have raised my boys on a farm, they have no idea what work is.

I know it may look funny, but these guys are very serious about their craft, don't dare laugh when you see them. Kim spent the rest of the time trying to convince me that she should have one of these little horses as a pet. Ya right.

The Sheep Klan of the KKK was well represented.


The fact that we went on the last day didn't help the "freshness" of the vegetable art competition. See what the boys missed!


Brandon has spent the month of August working out hard for football. He has just finished his daily double practices. It was a pretty brutal schedule. Everyday 8AM-11AM morning practice, 11AM-1PM Lunch [can't leave HS, why I have no idea], 1PM-4PM afternoon practice.

Then wouldn't you know it; we went out on Saturday 8/22 to do some water skiing and B was getting out of the boat at our favorite "on the lake" restaurant to tie us up and hit a nail sticking out of the dock. To make it worse it wasn't just a puncture but he managed to slice it a good 1 1/2". So in addition to spending an evening in the ER to get 7 stitches he has also had to miss the two scrimmages at the end of summer practice and who knows how fast he will be able to get back to full speed. He got his stitches out today [8/31], but it is still very tender since the cut was deep and right on the front pad of his foot. Hopefully he will be able to run on it in the next couple of days.

See the white trail going down his foot and up the leg. This is the Novocaine they injected into the cut and it was by far the most painful part of the whole thing according to Brandon.

I [Rob] had a trip to Memphis (first time) and was hoping to see Graceland while I was there, but the place is only open from 9-5 so all I got was pictures from the outside. It isn't in the best part of town, I guess it used to be nice, but now not so much.

Gate at driveway
I know it is hard to see, but his two plans are there to tour through

Again hard to see, but the house is up in the trees

Wall pictures from the front of the estate. Yes I wrote my name on the wall, but forgot to take a picture.

I was in San Francisco for some meetings and got to get out and play some golf, and as you can see by this picture we were pretty close to the California wild fires. Golf was good regardless.


Jessica, Kim's niece [the one that lived with us for a couple of summers] had a very cute little girl this month, Lola, so we are proud of her.



On a sad note; our cat Cricket disappeared. She was ~15 years old so she didn't wonder much out of our yard so we don't know what happened to her. We looked all through the woods and around the neighborhood, but no luck. We aren't sure if she was just old and did the animal thing and went off to die or if she met an untimely end at the hands of some predator, but regardless we are sad to have lost her. She has been such a great pet and we will miss her. She has been a part of our family just about as long as the boys so it seems strange not to have her around.




Have a great back to school September.