Summer is coming.

Today was warm. It is a reminder that summer is coming. I went out this morning and looked at the pool. You would think that being a pool guy I would have a sparkling clean, refreshing oasis. It is not. I have lived here most of my life and I dread the heat. I hate the power bills, I don't love mowing the lawn, and cleaning the pool is probably my least favorite activity. On the positive side there will be lots of good times to look forward to this year. There will surely be lots of fun times, b.b.q's, family get togethers, and lots of friends who make their way to our backyard to dive into the pool or slide down the tube slide. I just hope that this year my kids and I get invited to at least one of these parties. It has been a long standing tradition in the Mecham (my siblings) family to crash my house and make use of the facilities whenever we (Me, Kathy and kids) leave town in the summer. Once when Darren was in high school I came home earlier than expected, I knew something was up when I walked into the kitchen and found pizza boxes and a pyramid of soda cans stacked to the ceiling on the kitchen island. I have come home from work to find cars sitting in the driveway and all over the street. I walk into the back yard only to find unfamiliar people swimming in my pool and working the b.b.q grill. I even once had some guy come up to me and welcome me to the party and ask how I knew the owners. We have tried locking the gates, putting broken glass on top of the walls etc... but nothing works. Shortly after our new neighbors moved in across the street, the Mechams threw a huge party, the neighbor almost called the police, but restrained and instead just kept a close eye on the place.
It seems like everyone in Vegas gets an opportunity to party at the Mecham house. When we were looking for new houses one of the homes that we looked at had a couple of young kids. One little boy kept staring us down. Eventually his Mom came up to us and said, "My son says that he thinks that he swims at your house all the time". Another time when we were on our way to Utah we were following a car pulling a trailer. The trailer started to fishtail and the car crashed. We were the first on scene and helped everyone out, making sure everyone was alright. After all the kids were safely out of the car the Mom that was driving looked up at us and said "Gee, I think I know you. We have been to swim parties at your house."
All in all it has become a game for everyone, and we don't really mind, but just once, could we please get an invite?