Be a Man!

Want to know how to be a man? Simple: be as swift as a coursing river, have all the force of a great typhoon, have the strength of a raging fire - and as a bonus, be as mysterious as the dark side of the moon. Daddy can be all of those, and more: because Daddy has lived through Summer Xtreme!

This is a tough week - five days of Navy SEAL boot camp where Daddy averages about four hours of sleep per night, and spends the rest of the time working on services and all the other things to get done. And that's not the worst part.

Today was the first day of Summer Xtreme, and as was our custom, we didn't get much in the way of sleep the last few nights in preparation either. There are just so many production details to cover, but the good news is that things have gone remarkably well. Tomorrow should be a great day too. Everyone is heading over to the Frances Meadows Aquatic Center, home to lots of water slides and big pools.

Every day there is a service, and during every service there are lots of videos and performances and a message - and part of Daddy's job is to coordinate much of this. As it all has to be "xtreme," that means it is all something over the top. I think we've accomplished that this year.

Unfortunately, not much time with family yet. I'll do a little of that tonight. Can't wait to go home and play Mr. Potato Head with Madison, or snuggle and watch a movie. Someday, she'll be coming here for the whole week.

This week, she may make an appearance here or there for certain events. We'll see - there's a lot going on at home too: for example, Madison's fourth birthday is exactly one week from today!