Newlywed Neighbors

Last night, our new neighbors, M+K, tied the knot. They had their reception at the Firefighter's Hall for about 200 people. The boys didn't go, but should have; there were a ton of cute girls looking for dance partners.

Summer of Sun

Every weekend, we've been able to hit the G's pool and relax in the sun.

Had we known how nice the weather is here in Nebraska when we arrived nine years ago, we would have installed a pool when we bought the house. 

Rocketboy

The girls next door babysat their niece's son for a month this summer. He really enjoyed hanging out with the boys. We took him out to shoot rockets one breezy morning. All we had were C engines, which lofted his rocket up 1,000 feet. Despite a large hole in the parachute, the rocket drifted half a mile on its way down. Luckily we were able to recover it from a bean field.

Wheels

CP finally passed the written learner's permit test and is now on the road. He hasn't been that excited to drive until he actually got behind the wheel. Now he's a little more engaged. We stopped by some of the local car lots and that added to his excitement. Now he just needs to cut the grass a few more times to raise some money. 

Let's see... If the car costs $6,000, and you make $10 each time you cut the grass, how many times will you have to cut the grass?

Dogs' Lives

M pants incessantly, so we dunk her in the pool and then she calms down, relaxes, and is able to bask in the sun without cooking herself. She says she doesn't like it, but I think it has to feel good to cool down a bit.

The G's dog, P, loves the water!

Make Lincoln!

I drug the boys out to the Make Lincoln event at Turbine Flats yesterday afternoon. The event didn't officially start until 5:30, but we had to leave then for another event back at home. Most of the exhibitors were setup by the time we left, and the boys got to experience some fun maker gadgets.

Turbine Flats is a community of artists and techies that are in the process of renovating an old manufacturing building. They have a monthly "First Friday" gathering that we've been meaning to hit, but have not yet. One entire side of the building is covered by a Tesla mural. He's one of CP's favorite historical characters. 

The boys wanted nothing to do with going until I mentioned that there would be an Occulus Rift there. The Occulus Rift (http://www.oculusvr.com/dk2/) is virtual reality headset / game controller that not only has 3D vision, but also incorporates sensors that track your head movement. While playing a game, you move your head to look around rather than using a joystick. What you see in the game is calibrated to match your head's movement, so that it feels natural. Since we were there a little early, both boys got to play with it for ten minutes a piece. 

A highschool science club had a Van de Graff generator set up. Despite the humidity, it was able to produce some big zaps that made the boys jump.

As we were leaving, the band started to play. They were all kids! Turns out we have an Academy of Rock right here in Lincoln!! (http://academyofrock.org/). I need to see if the boys would be interested.

Full Rainbow

The other night we had a hellacious storm cruise over. As it passed to the east, the setting sun popped out and gave us a magnificent full rainbow and bits of a second one.

Fast Dog

M likes nothing more than hanging her head out the window and feeling the wind in her face.

Weekend in the Sun

This year the 4th fell on a Friday, so we had a perfect three-day weekend with sleep-in days. We started Thursday afternoon at the G's pool. It was hot, sunny, and fun. Later that night, SD talked me into cruising the golf course cart paths - he on his scooter, and me on G's bike. It was fun cruising thru the dark, watching fireworks pop up here and there.

We also spent all day Friday at the pool and then back to the hood for fireworks. This year everyone was on a budget, so it went pretty quick. 

Saturday we hit the pool again for more sunshine.

By Sunday, we were sunned-out, but we sat in the sun one more day. With the days growing shorter already, we have to take advantage of all the warmth and sun we can.

Bluesfest

For the first time since we moved here, we finally made it to Famous Dave's Bluesfest. We missed the first band, but caught the other two. Both boys whined about going "...but I don't like the blues!!" and complained until the band started. Then they started getting into it and tapping their feet. By the end of the night, they were on their feet in front of the stage having a good time. They came to the realization that maybe they actually like blues.

Last week, CP and I took a free bass lesson at Guitar Center. It was good for CP to talk with a real musician and get some tips and pointers. He really paid attention to the bassists in the blues bands. One of them had a bass like the one he plays, which made the music all that much better.

Speech Camp

CP finished up his summer speech camp yesterday. It ran for a week at the high school from 9:00 to 5:30 every day. He worked with some college coaches on a humorous piece. 

CP has really enjoyed the forensics program. All of his friends are involved as well as most of the cute girls in his class. It's fun to see them all in their suits up in front of an audience speaking with confidence and vigor. 

Silk

Our neighbors spent two weeks in China. While there, they visited an official state-run silk factory, where they got to see the process from cocoon to finished product. JP is busy looking for patterns for the yards of beautiful fabric she now has. 

I am enjoying my embroidered silk robe and shiny underpants. 

Selfie Saturday

Our favorite activity is relaxing on the deck in the afternoon. 

Cloudy Day

In addition to our beautiful sunny weather, we now and then get clouds and rain. 

Formula SAE

Lincoln plays host to the Formula SAE event. This is the third year of five, and we're hoping to get it for another five years. Teams from around 80 universities built 600cc mini indy cars and competed in all sorts of categories. I took a day off work and judged the business case presentations for the electric cars. Some of the teams were amazing! Over 200 people from the area volunteered to judge events and help run the event. Here's more info on the event: http://students.sae.org/cds/formulaseries/west/

The teams are judged for design, cost, weight, straight line acceleration, skidpad acceleration, endurance (15-mi race), handling, noise, and a business case. Most of the cars will do 0-60 mph in 3.5 seconds. The electric cars run 300 volt batteries and most have 100 hp motors and weigh about 400 pounds. With their sticky tires, they can pull 2 G's on the skidpad!!

Friday was sunny and hot at the airport. The drivers all had to wear firesuits under their racing coveralls. We were hot sitting in the stands. My friend volunteered as a starter - he stood out in the sun all day at the starting line. 

The boys had fun for about 20 minutes. Then GP started asking "Can we go home now?" "How much longer are we staying?" 

Roses of Summer

Nebraska is blessed with the perfect climate for roses. We have two bushes out the back door that produce 50 new blossoms per day. They keep JP busy. You can tell that it's summer when her arms are all scratched up from pruning. 

Dogs

We babysat our neighbor's dogs for a few days. The girls next door helped us by taking them for a walk every day and brushing their fur. We're used to M with her non-shedding poodle hair. Our house is now full of orange hair that isn't J's. 

Hungry Mouths

This year we had a pair of robins build a nest in the backyard spruce tree. They had a brood of four chicks that all made it out of the nest. It was fun checking up on them every day. By the end, there wasn't enough room in the nest for four fledglings. 

New Project Bass

A friend up at corporate knew I enjoy playing bass and lent me an instrument he no longer used. The neck needed more adjustment than Grampa's back and it had paint drips and a thick layer of grime on it. A little bit of TLC and some new strings brought it back to life and it plays like a champ. It's fun to try out different instruments. When I started, I couldn't tell the difference between a $200 instrument and one that cost $2,000. I'm finally beginning to be able to discern what makes up the difference in price. 

Stringy Helper

One of V's favorite pastimes is helping me change strings on a guitar. She is very helpful keeping track of where all the loose string ends are.