Traditions, activities make it summer

MOSES LAKE - So. What makes summer?

Well, there are some objective things - long sunny days, sometimes hot days. Cherries, homegrown tomatoes and fresh corn. Shorts and sleeveless shirts. No school.

Well, yes, but - all of those are summer but they're not what summer is all about.

Summer is an annual trip to the Potholes with family and friends, or a regular golf date among family, or a sunny day at the water park with Mom and Dad.

Exactly. Now that's summer.

"Water park, Chico's Pizza, fireworks. Every year," said Jerry Brebner, of Buckley. Since 1996 Brebner, his family and their friends have been camping somewhere around Moses Lake, either on the lake or at the Potholes. The whole crew goes to play out in the sand dunes, on the water, and just has fun camping. Every Memorial Day weekend is spent camping in Vantage. That makes summer.

Eric Dimm, his wife Kimberly and their kids, of Federal Way, friends Mark and Erin Gallant and their kids, Kent, and the kids' friends, have been coming to the Potholes during July 4 week for a while. This is their fourth year camping, Eric Dimm said.

"Fifth year. Tiana, Jenny, Mikela," Kimberly Dimm said, naming off family friends who came along for the ride over the years.

Well, maybe only four years. "It couldn't have been five years. Because we didn't have the boat then," Eric Dimm said. The boat, and a nice boat it is, has the slogan "IT pays," on the side, referring to Eric Dimm's IT job for a Bothell company.

Whether it's four or five years, it's the same tradition. "Fourth of July week, every year," Dimm said. It's always the Potholes, and it always means the boat, tents, inner tubes, water toys, so much stuff it requires a small U-Haul trailer to move it all. It's summer.

It was the first trip to Moses Lake for Jeff Prichard, wife Christine and sons Greyson and Ethan, Poulsbo, but not their first camping trip. Camping is part of summer.

They made reservations at Potholes last fall, when the rain was coming down in Poulsbo. "We wanted to be assured that we would get sun and heat," Christine Prichard said. They go camping at least once a month during the summer, more if they can, and more trips after Labor Day.

Mark Sholtys, of Yakima, and his dad Mike, of Zillah, and the family get together every year at the Potholes. This year were about 21 people total, between parents and grandparents, kids and grandkids. The guys were out playing golf. "Golf is the guy part. And the early morning part." All the ladies were waiting back at the campsite for the guys to get done, before everybody hit the water.

Brothers Adrian and Isaac Loera, both of Warden, hit the tee right after the Sholtys family left the green. They try to hit the links a couple of times a month, when they can. "On a free weekend, yeah," Adrian said. It's summer.

A beautiful sunny Friday brought people from all over the state to the Surf 'n Slide Water Park in Moses Lake, so many that the parking lot and side streets, various pools and the whole park were full to the brim.

Ryan Messer and his wife drove from Puyallup for a day in the sun. That was also what attracted Sam Stevens and his family from Snoqualmie. Jeff and Melissa Keane and their daughters drove up from the Tri-Cities, since there isn't a really comparable water park between Pendleton and Moses Lake.

John Forsberg, of Seattle, was tying his kayaks to the top of his car before going to his boat, already launched and waiting at the Potholes dock. He added a fishing pole holder, so the kayak does double duty. "We bought them for fun and took up fishing," he said.

A trip to the Potholes is part of summer. "We come out here and kayak every year," he said.