Articles
Foggy Mornings
Steam rose slowly from the lake as I ambled to the office. As I passed our lakefront park, I watched the parks grounds crew mowing the wet grass, edging the sidewalks, and blowing the debris into piles to be loaded to the back of their truck.
You Are What You Measure
We pulled into Revelstoke, British Columbia, ready to begin our Christmas ski vacation. The entire drive from central Idaho had featured rain, rain, and more rain
“You Can Do This!”
I checked my watch. It was 3 a.m. I was still tossing and turning. At wit’s end, I eased out of bed, trying not to wake my wife, walked into the bathroom, and started doing pushups.
Facilities That Move You
Both my 15-year-old daughters passed driver’s ed. All that stood in the way of an actual, honest-to-goodness driver’s license was 50 hours of daytime and 10 hours of nighttime driving—all conveniently tracked in an app—which meant no cheating or rounding up. Dang.
Gobble, Gobble
I packed the car—stuffing bags and gear into the rooftop box trying to make room for six people to sit comfortably for a long drive in our Toyota Highlander. We were headed west to San Raphael for our annual Thanksgiving holiday with family.
Fall Fun
The text pinged on my phone. I looked down to see a picture of my youngest twin daughter accepting a homecoming proposal from some young man who looked slightly embarrassed to be holding his sign in the middle of the high school hallway. I texted back: “What the heck’s going on there? I leave town for five minutes and boys show up?”
“You Can Do This!”
I checked my watch. It was 3 am. I was still tossing and turning. At wits end, I eased out of bed, trying not to wake my wife, walked into the bathroom, and started doing pushups.
Summer Fun
My dog, Snickerdoodle, hung his head out the window occasionally getting spooked by brush and branches scraping the side of the truck as the logging “roads” we travelled wound and narrowed and climbed. Eventually, we rounded one last bend and saw the trucks and excavators parked near an open meadow.
Publisher’s Note: Headwater Magic
Our home state of Idaho (and neighboring Wyoming) is home to wonderful rivers -the Selway, Payette, Boise, Salmon, Saint Joe, Malad, and the mighty Snake. If you follow these rivers to their end, you’ll find them running into the Pacific Ocean via the Columbia River, into Great Salt Lake in Utah and even all the way to the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast.
The Price of Fame
My brother was walking the streets of Chicago between meetings when he saw a familiar face coming towards him. He looked. Looked again. And then approached the man.
Battling Age
I turned 45 last month and realized (five years too late) my body was different. When I raced my 9-year-old twins across the front yard, they won. Huh? When my daughter dared me to do a pull-up, I did two. Two!
The Importance of Being YOU!
I was on the road with my oldest daughter—chasing the elusive soccer scholarship—when my phone rang. On the other end, my second-oldest daughter was in tears.
Shoulder Season
The twins snuck into my bedroom and shook my shoulder. I woke with a start and asked them what was wrong.
One Call Away
I piled the 8-year-olds into our trusty Honda Pilot for the 7:30 a.m. run to their Saturday futsal (soccer) game and backed out of the drive. I took a sip of coffeeСhoping it would magically turn the cold and gray January weather to 70 and sunny.
The Power of Public Spaces
I stood and watched as my oldest daughter and her 18U teammates competed against the best soccer players and teams from around the country in U.S. Youth Soccer's National League.
A Different Approach
Sometimes, the same-old, same-old doesn't work. Just ask my wife, Carol. Recently, she's been battling our oldest daughter, Marin, over a seemingly simple family rule.
Can you say, ТPiyo?У How about ТRoga?У
As the days turn to weeks and weeks to years, I sit in front of my computer organizing issue after issue of the world's self-proclaimed leader in parks and recreationСPRB magazine! All of that ТorganizingУ has been hell on my posture.
Cornucopia of Ideas
As September creeped closer to October, I worked with my kids to decorate the house for Halloween. Pumpkins were purchased and placed on the front porch. Gravestones with kitschy sayings like ТIХll Be BackУ were staked into the front flower beds.