I’m writing this while having a nice long soak in my Jacuzzi. One bonus to having no company here that I hadn’t really been thinking about at all is being able to do things like this with a little Magi assistance. The multi-tasking tonight is mostly because I’ve hit my limit, and need to get to bed early tonight.
Before I get to the daily recap, though Chris and Martin may not be coming here for many more summer vacations, we really need to get them focused on packing to head home again before Sunday morning. Dawn and Jillian were basically packed and ready to go by the time we went downstairs for breakfast. The boys were still throwing stuff in bags and running around when it was time for us to go to church.
That pretty much gives you an idea of the morning chaos around our house; with Tai Chi being the only quiet time for Mom, Dad, and me between waking up and walking into the sanctuary with about thirty seconds to spare before the service started. By then, I was actually considering staying home with Dad and skipping the trip to meet up with Uncle Rick and Aunt Melissa in Crystal Springs. Since we were going to be doing a little shopping too; that should give you an idea of how I was feeling. Dad’s going to be in Crystal Springs for the week, and needed to stay home and work, so Mom had the twins, Chris, Martin, and Jenny with her in the van when we left straight from the church; and Violet had Dawn, Jillian, Rowen, and me with her.
Second note to us: We need to work a bit harder on getting Violet and her Mommy together during the summer – especially since after next year, Violet will be away at college for five years too. She made Aunt Melissa cry when we met up with her and Uncle Rick. They’d ended up coming to Crystal Springs with Jillian’s parents too, so there was more than one teary-eyed Mom during our little reunion. Maybe if Dawn brings Jillian with her next summer, we’ll set the parents up with a weekend at the Inn or something.
We took care of the luggage transfer; had lunch at the food court; and then wandered around the Mall for a few hours. That was mostly to give Violet a chance to spend some time with her parents, and we followed that up with an early dinner at a nearby restaurant before it was time to split up and head for home again. While we were at the Mall, Martin and Jenny had gone off on their own while the rest of us had stayed together, and they needed a little time to say goodbye too; though that didn’t seem to require much talking from where the rest of us were standing and trying not to watch.
Rowen and I had picked up a little gift to give Jenny on the way home, but while Rebecca had at least seemed to appreciate my support and love, Jenny didn’t accept our offer to ride in Violet’s car for the trip home; and went home with Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana instead. Mom told me after we were home that Jenny hadn’t wanted to talk about Martin around Violet, but since she went straight to Rebecca’s house after we got back to town, I’ll guess that she didn’t want to talk about him with a couple of ‘kids’ either. I’m glad that Jenny could at least talk with Mom, and from what I heard; Ethan and Ehlana did their best to cheer Jenny up with some toddler entertainment.
That pretty much brings us up to now except for the daily report with Dad that Ethan and Ehlana could finally do with him telepathically while not needing to play at almost fourteen-month old babies. I may not have been thinking much about not using my Magi powers over the last few weeks, but I’m sure they have been. Dad was pretty much ready for his week in the city by then, so we did the full bedtime bath, snack, and story time routine for Ethan and Ehlana together, and I’ll just pretend not to know what Mom and Dad have been doing since going to bed early too.
Moving on, I’ve wrapped up the nightly email and entertainment checks; watched some highlights from the Olympics closing ceremony; and exchanged a few messages with Aunt Leanne. She and Uncle Adam, Uncle Nick, Aunt Deborah, and Christine are all still on their way home. They made a little side trip for a visit with Deborah’s family in Willow Grove after doing a brunch with Trish’s family; and didn’t end up getting on the road again until six o’clock. Mom and I will have to wait until tomorrow night for the weekend news report from Aunt Leanne. I’ll guess that there will be parts of that story that I won’t want to know the details of too.
It might be nice to have a break in the action, but with Dad away, and a lot going on in the three weeks between now and the holiday weekend; we’ll probably just have to enjoy the quiet moments when we can get them. That won’t be an option tomorrow morning – Mom’s already advised me that I’m drafted for the post-vacation house cleaning crew. Just thinking about that is making me sleepy.
Time to wrap this up; get out of the Jacuzzi; finish getting ready for bed; and crash.
Live from Witch Falls; this is Cassie Proctor, signing off!
