I miss the care-free summers of childhood. There were few things in life that I looked forward to more than three months without any real responsibilities. It didn't matter if I had big plans for the summer vacation. In fact, the lack of plans was kind of the point.

Unfortunately, growing up means that most people no longer get a long summer vacation. As an adult, the closest things I have left that even resemble those carefree breaks from the real world are long holiday weekends. Those glorious, three-day holiday weekends that bring back that feeling of freedom that is now such a distant memory.

It's like my childhood summers were lions running wild in the savanna. Now, I get excited over cramming three months of adventure into three days, like I'm visiting my poor lion in his cage at the zoo.

That's why I try to soak up as much of that sweet, giddy joy as I possibly can over the course of three short days. This Memorial Day was no exception and I satisfied my need for fun, adventure, and nostalgia with friends and family.

I can't remember a Memorial Day at the Lake with better weather. It was warm and sunny and the water was remarkably warm for this early in the season. Saturday was filled with plenty of lake time... floating, soaking up the sun, and almost killing ourselves tubing. We also put the finishing touches on our homemade boats and capped the day grilling the thickest hamburger patties I've ever seen.

Sunday morning, we suited up for the 8th Annual Michael Kinnear Memorial Regatta. This was the year of the last-minute boats as most of our entries were built in a day. We also had only seven entries this year, but I'm confident that we'll have a stronger showing next year.

Matt had an ingenious boat design and pulled off a great last-minute Buzz Lightyear theme. He even finished third in the race!

Liz and I went with "I'm on a Boat" by The Lonely Island. I'm not sure I made a very convincing T-Pain and most of the adults didn't know what song we were talking about, but it was still fun singing while we were "blasting 5 knots, wind whipping our coats". And we won the race and brought home the much coveted Lac Capri Cup!!!

Sunday night was the traditional post-race dinner and awards ceremony. We had a ridiculous amount of delicious food (as is the custom), handed out trophies for the various race categories, and enjoyed some live music.

When my friends and I sat at Happy Hour and came up with a crazy idea to build boats out of anything that wasn't meant for boats, I didn't imagine the race would become such an event or that we would still be celebrating it eight years later.

Of course, all of that celebration meant a lazy Monday full of lakeside recovery and attempts to postpone the inevitable return to the real world. And now, here I am... back to the grind... counting the days until I get to relive my childhood again (even if it's only for a few days).