Summer is about over

It’s about the time on the schedule when things get busy again. There’s been quite a bit of a break for me lately. That’s helped me spend more time with family.

But in a few weeks, the events start up again and my wife and daughter will be back in school before we know it.

In a previous column, I spoke about spending a lot of time this summer at Adventureland. We certainly used our season pass enough to get our money’s worth.

I think we have all been there four or five times this summer. Maybe even more than that. Not always together as a trio. My daughter and I went once without mom and they went a few times without me.

I even stopped by on my way home from work one night when they were out of town. I wanted to ride some roller coasters that we don’t ride when all three of us are there together.

The Monster is the real deal. It’s easily the best roller coaster in the park now. My daughter’s favorite is The Outlaw. We ride that one at least five or six times when she’s with us.

We went once last week before the weather became a sauna again. We told our daughter it was probably our final time of the year, but that may not be true now.

My brother now has tickets for his family to go so it looks like we’ll have one more trip coming after school starts up again.

One thing that hasn’t happened as much as we’d like over the years is family reunions.

We had one of those this weekend. They are fun but also can be awkward when you are talking to people you don’t know or catching up with those you haven’t seen in several years. It was nice seeing all who could attend though.

I feel like we can do better at getting together more regularly, but since my grandmother passed away several years back, the effort to do so just isn’t there.

It’s no one’s fault. She just made sure there were regular family events on our schedules.

We hit up our first Iowa Cubs game of the season on Sunday. I was able to check out a few players from the other team. The Louisville Bats were in town, and they are the AAA affiliate of my Cincinnati Reds.

The Reds made quite a few trades this season to stockpile their farm system. Unfortunately, only one of those prospects they acquired in those trades is at the AAA level.

The fall seasons will be here before we know it. I have been compiling emails from area coaches about this year’s teams. I plan to make some phone calls to some coaches this week, too.

I have had a few photo dates and have a few more scheduled and plan to attend a few scrimmages, too.

On Friday, all five area schools have football scrimmages. Only Lynnville-Sully doesn’t play an actual opponent.

Newton hosts Pella Christian, Colfax-Mingo is scrimmaging Saydel on its new turf field and PCM is at home for a scrimmage against Pleasantville. Baxter, which should be very competitive this fall, is scrimmaging at Martensdale-St. Marys.

The first official events on the fall schedule are cross country meets. PCM goes to Knoxville and Baxter heads to Woodward-Granger on Aug. 22.

Newton hosts a volleyball tournament that also features PCM on Aug. 23.

The Iowa and Iowa State football teams also have had their media days.

The Cyclones graduated a lot of players from last year’s squad and enters this year with a lot of unknowns.

The Hawkeyes bring back plenty of players from last year’s 10-3 squad but the over-under win total in Vegas is only 7.5. I would take the over, but the schedule is tougher.

The 49ers beat the Packers again on the football field this past weekend. It was just a preseason game this time around, but it’s beginning to be a pattern with these two franchises.

My squad seems to be getting overlooked this preseason. I think they have one of the top defenses in the league and the offense should be top 15 or better, too.

I just don’t see how preseason rankers can have them outside the top 10 of best teams in the league. No matter what happens, I will indeed live and die with every snap.

Contact Troy Hyde at thyde@shawmedia.com