How a long summer gets short

I have been eager for this summer for some time.  It will be the longest stretch off from work I've had since beginning this profession.  However, it's funny that my stretch from June 8 until September 4 is starting to fill with interruptions (but at least they are fun interruptions):

• For the first long weekend of the summer my wife (and daughter) will be away.
• For the first two weeks of the summer, all of us will be on the road in California.
• There's a pretty neat history workshop that could consume a week in mid-July.
• A half-week at the shore with family looks like fun.
• Let's mix in a baseball game with a cousin and a visit to Cooperstown.
• Oh, and let's not forget some sort of anniversary surprise for my wife.  

These are good ways to have a summer go by quickly.  I look forward to the 10 or 11 weeks I'll have with a four-year-old and a six-year-old, kids who are in the midst of an age where time with dad trumps all, and before time with friends becomes so much cooler. 

I resolve to spend as much of this at a pool and with other kids in the neighborhood as is humanly possible.