The slow, hot march toward summer's end

And so, it begins.

Or rather, it ends. Or at least starts to.

I'm as big a fan of the Fourth of July as anyone. I love the fireworks, the family gatherings, the cookouts, the parades.

But the problem I have with the Fourth of July is that it marks a pivot point. Prior to the Fourth, the summer is in its infancy, with all the freedom and possibility you can imagine. But once the holiday passes, the slow march toward summer's inevitable end painfully comes into focus.

The Fourth of July is an explosion of summer grandeur. But then the rest of the summer so often fizzles away, a slow bake in the hot Delta sun. The season that was once a clean slate of endless summer opportunity, becomes no more than a driveway littered with the burned-out debris of bottle rockets and fading days of glory.

A recent trip to the Wal-Mart Supercenter didn't do much to change the mood. By Sunday afternoon, aisles that once housed an infinite selection of summer cookout and beach gear were being cleared out to make way for the dreaded back-to-school aisle. Signs the once championed the "American Summer" were coming down, replaced by signs urging customers to "Do the Math" for back-to-school savings.

And a familiar tale has appeared in the "daily almanac" sections posted in this newspaper and many others: The days are getting shorter. At a slow-but-steady rate of a minute or so every couple of days, the sunrises are getting later, and the sunsets are getting earlier. It's but another reminder of the slow retreat of summer days.

Post-July 4 to late August is the dead zone. This is the time of year when life slows down around here. The excitement of the new summer has worn off, replaced by the hot, heavy afternoons that define mid-to-late summer in the Delta. Many vacations are already over. Baseball season is finished for everyone but the diehards. And many folks simply retreat into the sanctuary of their air-conditioned homes and offices.

A look at the calendar of events in the newspaper tells the same story. Gone are the Saturday's packed with community events. Most all that remains is the steady drone of civic club gatherings and city committee meetings. Only an occasional baseball tournament breaks the monotony.

It shouldn't be this way. Summer is too glorious of a time to simply hibernate away the last six weeks. There's still time for camping trips. There's still time for backyard campfires. There's still time for nights at the ballpark.

Sure, it may be hot. But I ask you this: Would you rather put up with a little hot sun and humidity, or spend a few days back in the darkened tundra that followed last January's ice storm? I, for one, will take the heat any day.

So fading as it may be, I intend to cherish every last moment of this summer. Because as inevitably as Wal-Mart will change is displays a month in advance of the next seasonal milestone, summer will indeed end. The leaves will change; the temperatures will cool. And before we know it, we'll all be longing for summer to arrive again.

That's why we need to cherish the one we've got. There's still time.

The things you learn while on vacation

In many ways, a vacation is an educational experience.

Sure, vacations are more often billed as chances to relax or have fun. And they often are. But my experience has always been that you can also learn a whole lot when you venture away from home.

My family and I returned Sunday from a vacation that took us from the Ouachitas of southwest Arkansas, across the Ozarks of Missouri, to the rolling plains of eastern Iowa. It was one-part family getaway, one-part visit to family, hence the jaunt across the Midwest.

But along the way, we had our share of adventures. We rode roller coasters and water slides in Hot Springs. We dug for diamonds outside Murfreesboro. We skipped rocks at the headwaters of the Spring River near the Arkansas-Missouri border. We visited old haunts in central Missouri. We played a pickup game of baseball on the Field of Dreams. We watched a barge move through a lock-and-dam from atop a bluff in Dubuque.

We logged quite a few miles on our Camry, and hopefully made a few memories along the way. But I can say I also returned home a little bit wiser.

For instance, I now know I am no fan of "car" vacations — nomadic trips where you're constantly on the move and living out of a suitcase. For my next vacation, I want to go somewhere and stay there. I've unpacked and repacked the car more than enough times over the past week.

I've learned that traveling wreaks havoc on my digestive system. My body just can't handle changing diets and hours of sitting like it used to. Honestly, I haven't felt "right" in days.

I've learned that I can't go on vacation without frequenting Wal-Marts. I'm not sure a day went by on our trip in which I didn't set foot inside a Wal-Mart. Even after we pledged not to do so, we'd find ourselves in need of band-aids, or sunscreen, or bottled water, or something else, a day later. All the more reason to avoid nomadic vacations.

I've learned that my kids don't need thrill rides to have a good time. When quizzing Katie, 9, and Drew, 7, about their favorite parts of their vacation, neither immediately mentioned our trip to Magic Springs. Instead, they mentioned things like our visit to the National Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque, swimming in the various hotel pools, and playing the Wii with their cousins. It's something to remember when it comes to future vacation planning.

I've learned that when it comes to theme parks, there may be better options than Magic Springs, anyway. With more than a third of its rides closed, and some questionable customer service (not to mention a general lack of air conditioned spaces), Magic Springs was a bit of a disappointment. Next time we're looking for an amusement park within driving distance, we'll likely look to Missouri or Tennessee.

I've learned that Arkansas has some incredibly hot summers. Though from what I've heard, I didn't need to leave home to learn that one.

But most of all, I've learned that I like my home. I've known it all along, of course, but there's something about seeing your house — and your yard, and your bed, and your neighborhood, and your community — for the first time in more than a week that makes you appreciate what you've got.

It's good to be home.

A sports legend is born in the family room

On the baseball diamond, I am an all-star.

In the boxing ring, I am an Olympic champion.

On the tennis court, I am unstoppable.

In the bowling alley, I am a strike machine.

On the links, I am Tiger Woods.

And I do it all without even leaving the comfort of my family room.

I’m able to do all this via our family’s new Wii gaming system. We broke down and bought a system over the weekend. It was quite the blow to the pocketbook, but with four summer birthdays in our family, we’ve billed it as a birthday present for everybody.

And I should probably be honest. I’m not yet a baseball all-star, or a boxing champion. I may indeed be stoppable on the tennis court, and I don’t throw a strike very often in bowling. And on the links, I’m a lot more like Elle Woods than Tiger Woods.

But I’m learning, and having a lot fun. We all are. The Wii is a very different gaming experience. It’s less about the dexterity of rapid finger moves, and more about timing and grace. It forces you to get up off the couch and move around. It’s great for groups, and even Grandpa and Grandma White enjoyed bowling and baseball Sunday night.

The Wii comes with the bundle of sport games mentioned above. My favorite so far is probably tennis, though I still need to learn to swing more quickly when moving to my left for a forearm swing. My backhand is pretty solid, though.

For Drew, who will be 7 tomorrow, boxing is the big winner. He enjoys all things boy, whether its wrestling, playing sports or battling with Pokemon cards. So Wii boxing pretty much puts him in seventh heaven. We only have one of the required “nunchucks” required for boxing play, so there’s no head-to-head action, which is probably a good thing.

The family queen of the diamond is probably 9-year-old Katie. Perhaps all that time spent practicing for the 10-and-under fast-pitch softball league over on the Sportsplex has given her an upper hand when it comes to picking up the timing of the pitching.

Even my wife, Jena, is having big fun with the Wii. Jena’s never been much of a gamer, but she’s been enjoying all aspects of the Wii, from throwing strikes in bowling, to playing doubles tennis with me or Katie, to exerting pent-up aggression with boxing.

Of course the downside of this extra activity is that my body is not used to it. Jena and I have both woken up with sore arms, legs, backs and hips the past several mornings after playing the Wii the night before. I think I'm developing a case of tennis elbow. I might even need Tommy John surgery.

One of the funnest parts of the Wii is creating your own "Mii." A Mii is a cartoon version of yourself, which you then put into action in the various sports. With a wide variety of face shapes, hair styles, eye colors, nose shapes and other features, you can create a Mii that's an incredibly close likeness. And you can create other Miis just for fun. Katie created a character named "TigerFan." I like to play with a character I named "Jim Bob."

Is the Wii worth what we paid for it? Hard to say. I won’t be able to tell for sure for a few months. It was a bundle of cash, to say the least — probably more than I would have admitted being willing to spend a few months ago.

But what I like about the Wii is that it is providing family fun. It’s something we can do together. We can have family bowling nights without ever leaving our home. We can have family tennis tournaments without fighting the mosquitoes at Walker Park. And when it comes to skill level, the kids are on an even scale with the adults — they're definitely better at some games. And it sure beats the heck out of mindlessly staring at the latest rerun of Hannah Montana or SpongeBob SquarePants for the 903rd time.

So while part of me would be comforted to have the money back in my pocket, I am happy with the purchase for now. We’re having a lot of fun, together. Happy birthday to us.

Unofficially, summer the greatest season

As strange as it seems, it is still about 9 days before summer is officially here.

Of course, we all know summer is already upon us. School is out, the weather is warm, the mosquitoes are coming out in full force, and cookout season is going full blast. In other words, from a practical standpoint, summer has completely arrived. Though from a technical view, it’s still a few days away.

That concept was lost on soon-to-be 7-year-old Drew Sunday afternoon. Apparently, the difference between “practical” and “technical” is still too far off of a concept for the second-grade sect. Drew, whose birthday is June 18, was disappointed to learn that, technically, he has a spring birthday. I explained that in every other sense of the season, his birthday is, indeed, in the summer. But he was slow to grasp my exact meaning.

With every other member of our immediately family having a true “summer” birthday (June 27, July 23 and Aug. 9), I guess he didn’t want to be the odd man out. I suppose he’ll get over it someday.

And honestly, as far as I'm concerned, we can throw technicalities out the window and simply declare it summer right now. There's no sense it waiting to begin celebrating the best season of the year.

Summer has been my favorite season for as long as I can remember. Other seasons have their moments, such as the changing leaves and football season of fall; and the new growth and warm-up of spring. (There are no redeeming qualities for winter, mind you.)

But nothing compares with the pure joy of summer. Indeed, many of my favorite childhood memories are connected with summer.

There's the camping trips we used to take in our family's little Shasta travel-trailer. We'd haul it out to places like Yellow River or Lake MacBride, and spend weekends hanging out in the woods and sitting around the campfire. There would be Chinese lanterns hanging around the campground, and coolers stocked with wild cherry and grape soda.

There's the Fourth of July. We'd pile in the family station wagon, and sit in the parking lot at the All-Iowa Fair. Mom and Dad would spread a blanket on the roof of the car, and my sister and I would play with sparklers while we waited for the stock car races to end and the fireworks to begin.

Summer was a time for vacations. I remember trips to Fifth Crow Wing in Minnesota, where we would live for a week in a little cabin and spend our evenings angling for bluegill and sunfish. I remember the year when we drove across two states to visit the Black Hills of South Dakota, seeing everything from Mount Rushmore to Wall Drug to the Corn Palace of Mitchell, S.D. There was the year we went to Chicago — the first time I ever saw skyscrapers. We were awestruck at the view from the Sears Tower and amazed at the traffic in and out of O'Hare.

I remember eating burgers Mom would grill on our little Weber charcoal grill. I remember afternoons spent snapping green beans grown from our own backyard garden. I remember late-night runs to Dairy Queen.

But some of the best times were spent doing next to nothing — just sitting on the swing on our front porch and watching our neighborhood bask in its summer glory.

I hope my own kids will one day have just as fond memories of summer. We've been doing what we can to savor this special season. Just last weekend, we saw the Redbirds play (the kids even got to parade around the field via "Blytheville Baseball/Softball Boosters Night at the Ball Park.") In a few weeks, we hope to take a little vacation. We even camped out in the back yard a couple of weekends ago.

So even though it's not even officially summer yet, we're doing what we can to make it memorable. You have to, really. The worst part of summer is that it will go by in a flash. We're tying to savor it while we can.