On Summer 2025 Mixtape Draft

Boys,

In my drafts folder, I have started a handful of posts about a handful of things. So, instead of fighting through writer’s block and seeing things through, I am going to just hit you with a Summer 2025 Mixtape of things you both have been up to this year.

Since this is a four-person family, we’ll do a four-team mock draft of summer activities and things we’ve done so I can delete all those old drafts from my dashboard. The draft starts in 3….2….1….

1:01 Swimming

There were a few considerations with the first overall pick, but swimming edged out a few other activities and solidified itself as THE thing of the summer. Reagan, you finished your swim season a few weeks ago. You came such a long way and you cut your best times from last year in half. You’re also a diving board fiend, slide junkie, and would live at the pool if we let you.

Koen, you said “enough with my floaties!” and are now jumping in the water and maneuvering around like a pro. You’re not quite ready for the deep end, but your mom and I can tell how proud you are that you can swim like your friends and you’re loving it. I almost got you to go down the slide, but I think I might be able to wear you down and get you to go by the end of swim season.

1:02 Camping

Camping comes in at the number two spot in a classic Overcoming Expectations vs. Reality from your mom. I don’t know who was more excited — Jeff Bezos for the amount of Amazon camping gear that your mom bought ahead of the one night we camped, or me at the prospect of your mom having to brave the elements and get back to her Centerburg roots.

To the shock of everyone who knows us, your mom did great. Were there hiccups? Of course. Did your mom take one look at the porta-potty and decide she’d rather take her chances of being attacked by a wild animal than use it? Of course. But she slept in a tent, strung up some decorative lights that were way too small for the vibe she was going for (on brand), and even got in a dirty river after seeing some kid who lived there pull a cicada from the ground and eat it.

But don’t ask her to go camping again until at least 2027.

1:03 Sleekending

So Sleekend is a play on words because your grandma’s maiden name is Slee, and we got together for the first time in over a decade with her brothers. It wasn’t a long day away, but it was a good day. We also went to GRANDPA’S CHEESE BARN!!! on the way up and met Tutu, Jordan, Gigi, McKinley, Cora, and Tyler there. I don’t know if the actual place is capitalized, but your mom decided that the only way to say it was to yell it in the back-home accent.

So, loaded up with samples of cheese and fudge while I’ve been tracking macros, we got up to my uncle Dave’s house. It was fun to see all my cousins, meet and re-meet some of their spouses, and catch up with that side of my family. You boys splashed around in their pool and there was a little putting green next to the pool we used to play a “see how many shots it takes to make it in every hole” game. McKinley set the world record for fewest strokes and decided right then and there that her future was in golf and that was that.

1:04 Golf

[checks watch] This might be the longest I’ve made it into a post without talking about golf. Did I want to? Of course. But truth be told, I feel like your mom and I haven’t played as much golf this year as we did last year. That said, Reagan, you just wrapped up your PGA Jr. season. Here is the highlight reel.

• You and I tied for 4th place in the Kinsale Parent-Child and I was very proud of you for how well we played.
• At PGA Jr., your three-man team had an “eagle” putt on the third hole at Kinsale. The format was a three-man scramble, meaning all three kids hit and you pick the best shot. Then you hit your second shot from there and keep going until you play all nine holes. When you found out your team had an eagle putt, you had to run and tell your mom how you were going to eagle. Critics might point to the fact that your team didn’t use any of your shots, as well as how you + your team all missed the eagle putt. But to them I say phooey!
• You made a sick putt last night at your final match on the first hole you played. It was probably 12-15 feet and the look of joy on your face once it went in is the thing that keeps every golfer coming back.

We have a little work to do on keeping your feet still, having stronger form on your back swing, and generally just being in the moment and not having squirrel-brain, but otherwise, you did great this year.

2:01 Fire Alarms, Smoke Detectors, and Etc.

Making the turn on the summer draft would be all things fire alarm and smoke detector. Koen’s quick passion for smoke detectors, fire alarms, panels, actuators, batteries, and pull stations usurped car washes as his north star and one true joy in life. We don’t know where it came from, but Koen had a stretch where he would not talk to anyone in the house, rather create content for his “followers” by walking around the house and “hey guys’ing” everything he knows about smoke detectors. He would also just randomly chirp like a smoke detector losing battery life, and even had a “dee-uhh, dee-uhh” noise that sounded like a dying smoke detector.

We went over to some friends house who had Nest Protect smoke detectors. This means they will either talk to you, or send alerts to your phone if any smoke were detected. It’s now the only thing he associates with this friend group, and I fear it will always be that way. Sorry Andy and Kristen!

::UPDATE:: Since this blog was written, our new obsession is trains and train tracks — specifically Brio branded accessories. Our playroom upstairs is a revolving door of train tracks that changes every day. We still like smoke detectors, but things change quick in Koen’s orbit and we now love trains more than anything else in the world.

2:02 Hilton Head Trip

In a slide reminiscent of Aaron Rodgers in 2005, the Hilton Head Trip tumbled all the way down to the 2:02 when, in fact, it was probably one of the highlights, if not THE highlight, of the summer. First of all we drove down with you boys and honestly, A++ for how great you guys did in the car. There was a fair amount of screentime, but you didn’t hit us with endless bathroom stops or “are we there yet” questions.

Once we got down there, we did all the HHI things. We went to Salty Dog Cafe, the grownups had dinner at Harbour Town, we did the live music thing at Harbour Town, I got to golf, we went to the beach, rode on Jacob’s boat, and spent a ton of time at the pool. We went down with Savannah and her parents, Nash, Lucy and their parents.

2:03 Minecraft and Roblox

I assume I am like most adults who know very little about these two things, but are forced to hear about it on a regular basis. I did learn, through talking with other parents who are probably BS’ing just like I was, that Roblox isn’t as much a game as it is a platform where many games could be played. I’m pretty sure Minecraft is just a bunch of blocks running around and either chopping other blocks in half or building bigger blocks with smaller blocks. Whichever way is right, Reagan just zonks out for hours at a time (if we let him) on playing or watching other people play Minecraft. It is the most discussed things with his best friends.

2:04 Your Mom

Listen, everybody loves your mom. Your mom has been working her butt off this year at work and it’s been paying off. It allowed us to buy a golf cart and go on a lot of fun trips this year and it’s all been great. We just got a magazine that lists the top realtors in Ohio and for the first time in her career, she made that list and is very proud of herself. We all are.

But here is where things get dangerous.

Your mom has ALSO been playing very good golf. When you combine professional accolades with her last 3 scores being 36 (9 holes), 34 (9 holes) and 72 (18 holes), well, lets just say we’re having a hard time finding hats that fit her new head size. I’ll overhear things about how she might just have to go pro. Then, if Jacob (her caddy for Rauchdy Match) is around, he’ll gas her up even more and it just gets out of hand.

Like I said, we all love your mom, but if we don’t do something about this soon, she might just float out to space if she goes for a walk outside.

OK. All for now. It’s been a fun summer and we have a few more things left on the calendar — even some that are NOT golf-related. Reagan, you just got your tonsils out, so maybe there will be something on that later, but in the meantime, I hope we get to look back and say how much fun we had in Summer 2025!

Love,

Dad