Recently took a week off work and went home for a few different reasons: 1) See the family. 2) Force myself to use some vacation time. 3) Go back to Seward for the 4th/dad's birthday. 4) Catch up with some family and friends that I haven't seen in a while (including meeting my nephew for the first time). 5) Drive the Z home.

Back when I was 14 or 15, my dad taught me how to drive a manual on the red pickup that we used to own and I hated it. I remember the first day of driving that I got to the point where I wanted to pull over and just quit ... but obviously he wouldn't let me do that, and I kept on. The main reason? Probably the Z sitting in the garage all those years growing up. Always loved riding around in that with mom and dad and it basically is what drove me, no pun intended, to learn how to drive stick.

With that, I eventually learned and then my parents were nice enough to let me take it out a few times in HS. Most notably? The first date that Christi and I ever had. How many people can say they have been together with someone for almost 12 years and still can go cruise around in the car that brought them together (which we actually did this morning)?

With all that aside, my parents upgraded to a new 370Z and figured it was time to let the old car go. Luckily, they were nice enough to let Christi and I keep it in the family. So what else happened while I was out of town?

I spent an entire weekend at my parents lake house where I took out their boat as many times as possible. It definitely has to be the coolest boat name ever:

I also took mom out for a trip on the four wheeler going down the Platte River (where we eventually got stuck ... trying to help someone who was stuck):

And what's a trip back to Seward on the 4th without chugging some mint julep's out of coffee cans during the parade?