Happy 3rd Annual Un-Independence Day, Mom!
Happy Fourth of July, everyone else!
I’m exhausted, but still fired up too; even though it’s going on two o’clock now. Mandy and I are cuddling in bed, and I’ve been working on my computer while winding down.
We’ve had such an amazing day. Aunt Leanne and Uncle Adam came over this morning for Tai Chi and breakfast. Ethan, Ehlana, and I escaped after that, and went to play with Rowen while Mom, Dad, and Violet worked to get everything ready for the Fourth of July celebrations. After going to get Rowen, we went over to the park to check out the work going on there with setting up the booths, stage, and games; and then we walked over to the school to watch the first groups gathering to get ready for the parade while hanging out at the playground.
With about a half hour left to go before the start of the parade, we went home to check in with Mom and Dad; take care of a pair of diaper changes and washroom breaks; picked up some chairs; and went to stake out a spot along Quarry Road with enough room for Mom, Dad, Aunt Leanne, Uncle Adam, Grandma, and Grandpa. Just to make this point for posterity; we picked our spot first, and Michael and Tim set up lawn chairs for their families next to us because there weren’t any other spots left nearby that were big enough for both the Stone and Landry families. Aunt Leanne had fun teasing me about that, but there’s nothing to see there, so move along, please!
The parade really doesn’t change all that much from year-to-year, except for the participants. For me, the most notable change was seeing Rebecca and Jenny in the parade. They were clowning around with some of their friends, and at the risk of mentioning boys; I’ll suggest that there were certain members of their group that had prompted their interest in being a part of the parade instead of just watching it.
Jake, Stephanie, and Dillon were all in the parade too, and though Violet was invited to join them, they were all doing music; and Violet claims that her only talent in that area is an expertise with iPods and playlists. Since I heard her singing along to some of the songs today, I have my doubts about that, but I can see her being shy about doing something like that with two or three thousand people watching.
Rowen and I stayed close to Ethan and Ehlana during certain parts of the parade, and that helped us to avoid most of the water; plus we probably ended up with more treats because my adorable brother and sister draw a lot of attention. We had some free time once the parade wrapped up, so while Mom, Dad, and most of the adults in our family went to their homes to load up their donations and picnic supplies to haul over to the park, Rowen and I took Ethan and Ehlana with us, and went straight to the park with Violet. Our first stop was to meet up with Dillon, Jake, and Stephanie, and after leaving Violet with her best friends, we went to hang out at the playground until our parents caught up with us.
We had time for a quick lunch at the food booths, and then Mom, Dad, Aunt Leanne, and Uncle Adam were off again to meet up with their team for pre-game warm-ups. Rowen and I had a little time to ourselves while Grandma and Grandpa took care of the twins, but we were at the ball diamond with lots of time to help fire up our team with a round of hugs and kisses that Ehlana and Naomi helped us out with. Our cheerleading squad included Violet and Stephanie, but we had lots of competition from Carolyn Landry and her crew – including Rebecca and Jenny again. My favorite holiday cheerleading competitions are with Miranda, but we still had a lot of fun today too; though I doubt that our efforts on either squad made much of a difference in the game.
Landry’s Lasers were probably the favorite today, even though the Arrows were the home team for this match, and they really didn’t want to lose their first two games against the Lasers. The Lasers had more spectators on their side of the fences, but that was at least partly because Carolyn and her friends had a large contingent of eleven to fourteen or fifteen-year old boys that were there more for the Lasers’ cheerleaders than to support the players. This will be three times in one journal entry, but again, I was not at all amused when Aunt Leanne suggested that I try my hugs and kisses with every run thing with Michael instead of Jacob this year. Yes, he and Tim were cheering for the Lasers along with the rest of the Landry family, but setting aside the ‘ew’ factor; the idea wouldn’t work anyway. Seriously, Aunt Leanne, do you really think that my Mom and Dad would purposely go out and get hits if that meant I’d be kissing a boy my own age every time? If anything, that would have just helped the Lasers. Anyway, by then, I was wishing for a three and out on anything to do with boys, but that wasn’t to be.
The good news out on the baseball field was that the Arrows managed a fifteen to thirteen win over the Lasers, and even though the extra-curricular antics were as entertaining as always; it was a really good ballgame too. Violet, Stephanie, Dillon, and Jake helped Rowen and I take our junior cheerleaders, and Ethan, out for ice cream treats while the parents mostly headed home to get cleaned up and changed after a long, hot game. The four teens played with us for a while too until Mom, Dad, Aunt Leanne, and Uncle Adam returned; and then they went to hang out with the rest of their friends.
While we didn’t have our extended family home today, most of the area campgrounds were full for the holiday week, and a lot of those campers had come to spend the day in Witch Falls. That meant that the games and activities going on around the park often had small waiting lines, but we managed to pack a lot of play time into the few hours we had between the end of the game and dinnertime. Rowen and I mostly stayed with our parents, Aunt Leanne, Uncle Adam, and the twins; though we also went for one swim on our own, and spent about a half hour hanging around with some of our friends at the playground.
Dinner was quick and easy with our comparatively little group, and then after eating, Rowen and I were free to play on our own while Grandma and Grandpa played with Ethan and Ehlana, and Mom and Dad were busy with their last volunteer assignment – helping with the post-dinner park cleanup. The main event of the evening was the dance, and the usual local pub bands were playing. Rowen and I stopped by a few times because that’s where Mom, Dad, the twins, and their friends were usually hanging out, and it was during our second visit that I was set up by Stephanie, Violet, and probably Aunt Leanne; though she attempted to profess her innocence.
I’d gone dancing with Ethan, and then with Dad; and it was while I was dancing with Dad that Jake cut in and asked me to dance. That was fine with me right up until Stephanie danced up to us with Michael, and the next thing I knew; she’d wanted her boyfriend back, and they left Michael and I paired up just in time for the start of another slow dance.
“Congratulations,” I told Michael with a rueful smile. “We’re the latest victims of Witch Falls Matchmakers Anonymous.”
Michael was blushing furiously, and was barely touching my hand and side. Someone had taught him at least the basics on dancing, so I didn’t get stepped on or tripped over. “I don’t think there was anything anonymous about it,” he countered; making me laugh. “So this is what a no-win scenario is like – no offense.” I laughed again and hugged him before moving away again quickly after catching the sudden grin on Aunt Leanne’s face.
“None taken,” I assured him. “Sorry about the hug. At least you’ll have the rest of the summer for your buddies to forget about this before we go back to school.” I smiled again as he continued blushing and looked worried about what this was going to do to his reputation with his friends. “We’ll get razzed worse if we don’t dance through the rest of this song, and when Tim and the other guys start bugging you, just blame it on me. I’ve probably teased Violet and Dillon too much; and this is payback.”
“I could say the same thing about how often I used to bug Jake and Stephanie when they first started dating,” he conceded. “I doubt Stephanie had to try very hard to get him in on this.” I laughed again, but managed to avoid a second hug.
“Lesson learned here. How about you?”
“And then some,” he agreed fervently.
Three minutes and twelve seconds after that, we were free to escape the dance floor, and I didn’t even see Michael again for the rest of the night. The fireworks were scheduled for ten-thirty this year because of it being a work day on Thursday. Other than that third visit to the dance at around a quarter to ten; Rowen and I spent the rest of the evening down by the river before meeting up with our families again in time to watch the fireworks. Rowen was nice enough not to bug me about being set-up for that dance with Michael, though she obviously thought it was funny. Some of the other girls did tease me, but I managed to survive.
Violet and Dillon were watching the fireworks with most of the other teens, and Patrick and Scott were off with some of their buddies, so Rowen and I had the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and Ethan and Ehlana to ourselves. I was briefly wishing that we’d gone to watch the fireworks with our friends too when Aunt Leanne suggested that she could help find cuddle buddies for Rowen and me so we wouldn’t be the only girls without someone to snuggle with. A little discussion about how cute Michael and I looked when we were dancing together followed that, and even Rowen couldn’t keep from letting out a pair of stifled laughs while my Aunt and her Mom were teasing me. Ethan and Ehlana were amused too, and for more reasons than the adults around us knew about. I really, really don’t want to think about any of that anymore, so let’s wrap this up.
The fireworks were as amazing as always, and after the big finale, it was time to pack up and haul our chairs, coolers, and picnic gear home. I helped Mom and Dad put Ethan and Ehlana to bed, and that took a while, since it was their first chance to freely talk with us both vocally and telepathically. Mandy and I came up to bed after that, and I’ve been doing email and wrote up some observations I had today for our Magi Project. This little recap has finally helped me to finish winding down, and I’m ready to get some sleep, so...
...live from Witch Falls; this is Cassie Proctor, signing off!
