Hello everybody.

Welcome back to another edition of Dog Dayz.

School is right around the corner. Summer went by way too fast. While I miss my friends, I don’t miss my homework. Anyway, sit back and enjoy.

At the beginning of August I went down to Sunriver, Ore., with my family and another family. Sunriver is a city, but I wouldn’t call it that — I would call it a community. Everybody in the town does everything together: From the one church and school district, to the outdoor theater with new movies every week. They even have their own water park. It’s an awesome and friendly atmosphere.

One of my favorite attributes Sunriver brings is bike trails. You can literally ride your bike anywhere. Need it be the store, the tennis courts, or the water park, there is a path to it.

Some of the best times I had during the trip were floating the Deschutes River and doing Paulina’s Plunge. Floating the Deschutes was really fun. It lasted about three hours and at the end there were some fun rapids. Some people in our group went in the water. It was awesome. Paulina’s Plunge, though, was the highlight for sure. The experience lasted about six hours and it was a blast.

We rode bikes with fat tires through trails and then hiked down to waterfalls. At the waterfalls were natural water slides that we got to go down. I wish I could show you pictures so you could get the full idea. I definitely recommend it for a great day.

Back from vacation meant back to football. As this is my first year of high school, I’ve learned that if you play football, your summer ends in August. However, I’m happy to get back on the field.

With two-a-days every other day it has been a real grind. While it’s been tough and tiring, it has been fun and I am looking forward to our games. In fact, the jamboree will already have happened by the time this comes out and hopefully Montesano did awesome. I won’t be playing because the freshmen team doesn’t play, but I will be there cheering them on.

Another part of high school football is selling Bulldog cards. This was new to me and a little intimidating. I have already sold a lot, but am trying to sell more. It has been an interesting experience going up and talking to people that I do or do not know at their doors trying to sell them. I want to thank everyone who bought one and contributed to the program. It really does help.

The Thunder drill was another first. This is where you have a runner and two blockers against two defensive linemen and a linebacker. The goal is to get past the defense and score. It was fun to be a part of. There were a lot of big hits and trucks and a lot of team and community pride.

While football and Sunriver highlighted my month, I did sprinkle in a few other fun activities. I went to the Grays Harbor County Fair on two different days. The rides and games were great as always, but the best part was just getting to hang out with my friends. Many of them I hadn’t seen much this summer, so it was great to catch up and have fun. I also enjoyed seeing all of my friends that raised and showed animals at the fair. I can tell they put in a lot of hard work and did a good job.

I also made it to the lake with my friends. My favorite thing to do there is tube, and we did a lot of it. We flipped twice and it was awesome. To me, that’s what summer is all about and I do wish we could have a little bit more of it.

But, it seems summer has come to an end. In fact, the day this comes out, we will be in school. I’ll miss sliding down natural water slides and flipping off my tube, but I am looking forward to battling it out on the football field with my brothers, maybe going to homecoming for the first time, and being a ninth-grade officer.

Oh, and it’s Seahawks season. Rejoice.