"Oh the humidity!"

With all due respect to Herbert Morrison as he gave the live play-by-play of the Hindenburg as it landed (well, crashed) in 1937, all I can say is, "Oh the humidity!"

While not as epic as the humidity and heat combo platter in Houston or Miami, we are in the throes of a heat and humidity fiesta that has made being outside pretty much awful. Running in it is a test of wills, to say the least. I ran last night and did speedwork with my group. It was 91 degrees and the humidity was pounding. It made speedwork more like slow work. I ran again this morning at 5AM and did some hill work at the end of my three-miler and I pretty much came home as sweaty as the guy/missing link in this picture:

No wonder Ben Stiller is in full repel mode!

It's like being back in Miami again. Feels like I'm running in the deep end of a heated swimming pool. Ugh...and I can hear the thunder rolling right now. More thunderstorms. More heat. More humidity. And maybe a tornado warning. Midwest summers...they're never dull.

A melancholy Father's Day

It's a beautiful summer Sunday afternoon, one of those that makes living in the Midwest awesome. Another awesome part of the day - Brazil won its match against the Ivory Coast in World Cup play. Some fine fake injury drama on the pitch too during the match made it fun to watch.

The day dawned early as I had church meetings starting at 6AM. I was out of the house before the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML and the Boy were awake. We connected later at church. Our service focused on the love of our Father in Heaven and I spent a great deal of the meeting thinking about His love and the tender mercies He has shown me and my family. I could not help but think of my late father and the love always showed me. This is the first Father's Day since his passing last September. This realization is where the day's melancholy kicked in. I miss him and will miss not talking to him today, to wish him a happy Father's Day and to once again thank him for all he did for me. I'm most grateful that we had those conversations while he was living and that I don't feel like things were left unsaid. They weren't. I'm glad we had the relationship that we did and I'm most grateful to know that our relationship has not ended. It's just "on hold" until we are joined together again. And we will be, of that I am certain.

So that sense of melancholy is still hanging around, to be honest. The girls are together in Utah and I'm missing the Highnesses. But the melancholy is offset by the other events of the day. When I got home from my post-church meetings, I was told to go take a nap. So up to bed I went and shortly thereafter, I got my belated breakfast in bed. Vanilla scones. Pretty darn excellent. And then it was time to read the Sunday New York Times with one eye while watching World Cup out the other. And now I'm getting psych'd for dinner - spicy pasta and shrimp with red velvet cupcakes for dessert. I've said it before and I'll say it again, there is nothing that the cupcake can't do. They are awesome.

So, while I'm a bit melancholy, I'm also know I've been blessed by tremendous examples of fatherhood in my late father and late father-in-law and in the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML's stepfather, Paul. I'm grateful for those examples and they all make me want to be a better father to my children every day. I am so proud of our Lady of BYU, CAL, and the Boy. It's an honor to be their dad. I am grateful for that privilege.

Weekend without the kids

So we got another peek into "empty nesting" over the last couple of days. CAL left to hang with Our Lady of BYU earlier in the week and the Boy has been gone since Friday morning at a church youth conference. He gets home later tonight. So what have the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML done?

- Saw "Toy Story 3" on Friday. It was absolutely incredible. It was pretty much perfection - from the story to the animation to the laughter...it really was perfect. We were the only couple in the theatre without children. That was kind of funny.
- I ran nine miles with the group this morning. Way more manageable today.
- I redeemed a couple of gift cards and added several more books to the home library. While on that trip, I picked up this gem:
Maple-Bacon Cupcake
Let me just say this thing was awesome. The cupcake itself was a maple-infused vanilla, with a maple buttercream frosting, topped with a crispy piece of sweet, sweet bacon. It was amazing. Kudos to the folks at Sugar Monkey Cupcakes for baking this thing up. Loved, loved, loved it. It was all I could do to not go back and buy a dozen.

- More errands. We went to an over-the-top kitchen and bath store to pick out fixtures for the upcoming redo of our Mike Brady designed demon kitchen. Umm...who would pay several thousand dollars for a sink? So after that trip into Unreality World, we were off to Home Depot, where as usual, no one was particularly helpful, but that was fine. Although kudos to them for hiding their kitchen sink aisle and turning it into a sink version of "Where's Waldo."

So in spite of not having the kids around, we are both pretty tired. Quiet night on the horizon. Maybe a couple of hours of World Cup recaps. Or maybe we'll purge some of the lame stuff on the DVR. Good times.

The One Summer Blockbuster I'm Really Eager to See

So far, I've seen exactly one of the big summer "blockbuster" movies. That one was the fourth installment of the Shrek series and quite frankly, it was not particularly awesome. And there's not been a lot in the previews that's forcing me into the theaters this summer. Except for one movie and it opens this Friday, June 18th. I speak of course of "Toy Story 3."

As a solidly middle-aged father of three where even my youngest is out of the target kid demographic for this film, I am all kinds of excited to see it. I can watch the "Toy Story" films over and over again. The story lines are crisp, funny, and are not the usual maudlin Disney flotsam and jetsam - thank you, Pixar for raising the bar. Although the Disney Parent Killing Machine is in place here (as usual, one parent is M.I.A. - so, boo, Pixar, for not raising the bar on this one).

Here's the trailer:


I'm not to proud to admit that there are things in these movies that have always made me remember that I don't have a heart of stone (although I still stand firm on my negative position on Valentine's Day). I cried in during the first ten minutes of "Up" and this scene/song from "Toy Story 2" still gets me:

Now usually for me, Sarah MacLachlan is the musical equivalent of nails screeching across the chalkboard. Not here. Maybe it's because I see so much of my girls' growing up in this song. Always gets me.

So who knows what will get me in the third movie. I don't care. I can't wait to find out.