We returned from our weekend away about an hour ago. It appears that a good time was had by all. There was a note from my Dad this morning that said he was leaving on an Alaskan cruise today. We settled for Fort Worth, Texas. My guess is the scenery is much different on his trip than ours. It was our end of summer getaway before school begins next Monday. Let's just try to summarize some of the highlights and maybe some low lights in this note. It wasn't Alaska but it was still fun.

My daughter and I went to the Texas Rangers ballgame on Friday night. We got to the park in plenty of time to roam around before game time. Our seats were in our usual second level area. We discovered that the view is excellent and the breeze moves quite well up there. We were joined by over 40,000 others who wanted to see the Rangers play the Boston Red Sox. It looked like about half of the crowd was for the visiting club. It was a great game for 8 2/3 innings. One drawback was how long the game took. It started at 7:10 but ended about 10:45. The Rangers were one strike away from winning the game until the roof fell down around them. It took about six pitches for the Red Sox to score 6 runs to win the game. The aftermath was not pretty by any accounts. I guess most of the Ranger fans were sailors or at least it seemed that way from their language! We don't even talk that bad in most business meetings. We felt like we took a kick in the guts with how our team collapsed. Luckily we also had tickets for the following night.

Saturday was the night that all four of us attended. We had lower level seats that were perfect for my autistic son. Before the game we cleaned up to go and I sent him to get dressed. I didn't think anything of it until we noticed how his blue jean shorts kept sagging. It was about the second inning when I took a closer look only to discover that he was wearing MY shorts! Here is yet another sign of him getting too big for his britches. This game went much better with our team winning even if it again took nearly four hours to play. Even with the temperatures starting off at about 99 the breeze at least made it bearable. We shared this game with over 48,000 of our closest friends. The noise and energy was fantastic for a baseball game. Then, on the way back, we were passed by a motorcycle zooming down the freeway. What is odd about this is that he went by doing a wheelie! Yes, a guy went by us on a motorcycle with his front tire aimed at the stars. It was a good reminder that perhaps my mind is not in as bad a shape as some others.

Today was a lazy day for the most part. The Rangers played an afternoon game today. We opted not to turn into freeze dried human beings. We could see the game just fine on television in the air conditioned house. My part of such trips is mostly in the arranging and packing for the journey. Such a job can take awhile with four people scattering clothes from upstairs to downstairs. This doesn't even account my youngest with his video game stuff. We got on the road about 5:00 this afternoon. The trip was mostly uneventful but for the goat. What goat? We had a goat scurry across the interstate in front of us somewhere along Tyler. No, it wasn't a possum or armadillo but a goat. Three of us saw it so I know it wasn't just me nodding off during the drive.

It was good to be away for at least two days. My daughter got some school shopping done while my youngest led me on an obstacle chase in the mall. We got to eat at some different places than we have here. I saw some outstanding young ballplayers at the start of what could be outstanding careers. It isn't Alaska but it was still fun. Now we are home and ready to rejoin the rat race this week. The only problem with the rat race is that if you win the race, you are still a rat! Let's start the week thinking on that.

Bro. Trey