School is out, (some of the) stress is gone, the weather is awesome, and I don’t have to work Monday.  Life is good.

My sister came to visit on Friday.  We went out to eat Friday night, and then went home.  We’ve been limiting red meat, so I was quite thrilled to have that steak.  I think cows may be my favorite animal.  My softball game was cancelled (again) because of weather.  That’s life, I suppose.

Saturday we found ourselves at the Apple store, which would have been fun if we were buying something new.  Instead I had the opportunity to replace my wife’s iPod.  And it was 2 months out of warranty…how convenient.  I really like their setup, with the whole “Genius Bar” appointment thing.  I made an appointment, and they got right to me - ahead of time.  The guy was really knowledgeable and very helpful.  A lot of other retailers could learn something about service from the guys at Apple.

Anyway, today after my sister went back home, I took my little girl out to ride bikes.  She logged 8 miles on the Silver Comet Trail, which is pretty impressive for a 7 year old.  (Last time we went, she did 5 miles, but that was about a month ago.)  I’m going to try to take her regularly this summer, and we should be able to get her up around 15 miles per ride by the end of the summer.

After we got home, I mowed the back yard and burned my finger really badly when I grabbed the mower’s engine after it had been running for a long time.  It’s already blistered and it hasn’t quit hurting since I did it 2 hours ago.  That was easily the dumbest thing I’ve done in a month.

Tomorrow I hit the bike trails with Aaron.  That’ll be about 10 miles or so (off road - the good kind of riding).  Then I’ll come home, eat lunch, and clean the garage.  Aaron and his wife are coming tomorrow night to celebrate freedom, grill chicken, and play Wii games with us.  It should be a fun night.

I hope you’re all having a great weekend.  Be thankful for the freedoms you have and for those people who helped make those freedoms yours to enjoy.