By LIZ WALZ
What I did on my summer vacation
After the alarm went off this morning, my husband and I were talking about how fast the summer is going this year. This is an annual conversation, and as usual, I’m reluctant to acknowledge that it’s almost over. The difference this year is that I’m much more satisfied with our summer. Last September, we decided we would devote this summer to family time with our son, Nathan, now four years old. What we couldn’t have anticipated then was that our family’s cabin in the Thousand Islands region of upstate New York would be available for so much of the summer. Because the cabin is shared by my mother, her three siblings and their children, we typically make it up there for one week of vacation and two or three other weekends. This year, as of the end of Labor Day weekend, we will have spent 24 days up there. Read more >>
Our Memorial Day weekend plans were packed with activities. We took Friday off so that my wife and two girls and I could beat traffic heading north out of the Twin Cities and so we could spend some additional time together. My sister-in-law’s family had invited us to their cabin on a chain of lakes for the long weekend, and after our head start, they joined us on Friday night. Normally on these long weekends, I like to relax and avoid running from one activity to the next, but this time I got caught up in the flow. 
I love today. I love it because, for me, this is the first day of summer. It’s the Friday before Memorial Day. It’s the first of a number of more-than-two-day weekends I hope to enjoy this summer. It’s the first time I’ll be out on a boat this summer. And it’s a signal to me that it’s time to truly get excited about my top boating priority: muskie fishing. 