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By Randy Gardner

What a way to start the summer, with temperatures only in the 50s and 60s. The kids wait all spring to get out of school and get to the parks and the pools and then the weather will not allow it. But it is early June.

Also the rain has been playing havoc with all the sporting events around the St. Louis area. Most of our ball teams have not played in the last four weekends due to rainy weather conditions and it looks like the pattern will continue.

This has been one of the worst springs so far for canceled games due to rain.

I always talk about getting out and doing things with your kids and I had a chance to take my boys to the baseball game to see the big team, the Cardinals. What an eye-opening experience for the boys as they walked into the stadium and saw the atmosphere of all the fans, the lights, and the loud crowd noise.

I wasn’t sure if they would sit there the entire time and enjoy the game but they did. They cheered along with the fans and would clap along to all of the chants as the players came up to bat. I’ve talked about the fans of St. Louis leaving games early but I found myself in that situation as we left the game in the eighth inning to beat the crowds.

I wasn’t sure about taking the kids to the game because of the weather that night and almost didn’t go, but looking back now I am so glad I had the opportunity to experience that with my kids. It has almost been a week and they are still talking about it, telling everybody that they run into that they got to go to the Cardinals game.

I guess that shows that we lead pretty boring lives as they are so excited over this one event. The one thing that I’ve learned through 11 years of having kids is that it is the one simple thing, it’s not what you buy them, it’s more about that you can build lifetime memories. I am trying to keep that in mind right now as I am experiencing my favorite thing in the world, camping.

Just joking, it is actually not my favorite thing but I am doing it this week because my wife and kids like to camp, so by the time you read this, my trout fishing adventure will be over and I’ll be back to my regular routine. I can’t wait. I just try to remember that these are memories that my kids will remember forever. If you get a chance to do something that maybe you don’t want to do and your family does, please do it; you won’t regret it.

And finally, a big thank you to Bob Lindsey the editor of the Independent News for working with me for the past 18 years. I love writing my column and I love all the feedback I get from everybody but he has to call me every Tuesday morning right before deadline and remind me that the deadline looms. This morning was no exception as I had to search for a wireless network to send this column back to him right before publication deadline. That is not the easiest thing to do in the middle of nowhere. But I guess it made it because you’re reading it and I look forward to being back in civilization later today. It makes you appreciate what you have everyday.

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