It was freezing this morning – and I do mean water turns
solid kind of cold outside. That
probably wouldn’t feel quite so bad if it hadn’t been summertime hot here just
three days ago; and it didn’t exactly warm up much while Dad and I spent nearly
three hours doing yard work. Since that
wasn’t much fin, let’s just skip the details and move on.
Sleeping in only meant about an hour later than usual for a
Saturday, and even with waiting until after Tai Chi to wake them up; it was
about normal time for Dawn and Jillian.
Violet had made it home sometime before Ethan and Ehlana gave Mom and
Dad their wake-up calls, but we let her sleep until breakfast was nearly ready
while Rowen, Dawn, Jillian, and I took turns in the bathrooms getting ready for
the day. While Dad and I were working,
Dawn and Jillian played with Ethan and Ehlana, and Violet helped Mom around the
house. Alicia had the morning off
because she and Erin have been babysitting us since we got back from the
Haunted Halloween walk while Mom and Dad are out playing with their friends at
Sheldon’s Pub.
Before I get to our perspective on their adventures in
babysitting, there’s still a lot to cover.
I’m sure that Violet would have rather spent the day with Dillon, but
he, Jake, and Stephanie were all working at the Inn; so we got to play with her
this afternoon instead. Since Mom had
booked a trail ride for us, and then did a long Magi lesson with her while
Rowen and I took Dawn and Jillian out to play at the park for an hour; I think
that Violet managed to have fun while her boyfriend was hard at work.
Rowen, Dawn, Jillian, and I had fun too even though it was a
very chilly trail ride, and there wasn’t much action going on at the park while
we were there either. The hot chocolate
and warm pie snack break at home after the trail ride was great, and we wrapped
up the afternoon with some Halloween television action in the lounge that we
had Ethan and Ehlana with us for while Mom and Dad worked on making dinner with
a little help from Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne.
We were having quite a gang over for dinner tonight,
including Uncle Nick and Aunt Deborah; Rowen’s parents, brother, and Scott
Faulkner; the Seagers; and the Drapers.
Most of our guests didn’t come over until after most of the stores
closed for the day, and Mom timed dinner to be ready for then so we could sit
down and eat as soon as everyone was there.
It always feels awesome when we can all get together for a few hours of
fun together, especially when everyone is so busy; and we don’t get to have
evenings like this very often. That’s
probably why these moments are so special to me too – that, and the fact that Mom
and I didn’t really have any experiences like this during the first nine years
of my life.
Mom and Aunt Leanne had pumpkin carving planned for after
dinner; and only half-joked about doing that to get the Moms and Aunts out of
kitchen clean-up duty so they could do that with all of the kids while the guys
did the dishes. Since Ethan, Ehlana,
Naomi, and Aiden were the only kids that actually needed help; it was really
just chat and play time for all of us while we made a dozen jack-o-lanterns in
the hour we had between dinner and needing to head out to the Haunted Halloween
Walk.
Everyone in our group, except Violet, was going on one of
the first guided walks; mostly so that the twins, Naomi, and Aiden wouldn’t be
out late, or waiting around in the cold.
The narration and scary skits didn’t change much from year-to-year, but
I loved it just as much this year as I had my first time. Actually, since I know all of the guides and
actors now, I think I love it even more every year. For instance, I know now that ‘the witch’ is
always played by a Palmer descendant, and they try to do the same with all of
the other characters when possible; except, obviously, for the dark wizard. That’s not a problem, since there are always
lots of guys willing to volunteer for one of the coolest parts in the whole
production with the bonus of getting to play with lasers and the rest of the
gadgets and tricks.
While going on the walk was the most fun, we also spent
nearly another three-quarters of an hour wandering around the booths that were
set-up to do a little fundraising while keeping everyone entertained before or
after getting a turn at going on the walk.
We played some games, bought a few treats, and had hot drinks before
heading home again. All of the kids were
spending the night at our house, and once Alicia and Erin came over; the adults
were free to split up and get ready for their night out at the pub. Rowen, Dawn, Jillian, and I had until Mom and
Dad left the house again before Patrick and Scott transformed into little
monsters; and began their campaign of terror against us.
Okay, it wasn’t quite that bad, but they did do their very
best to bug us for the next few hours – especially while Alicia and Erin were
busy with Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden until the four younger kids were
tucked into bed for the night at around ten o’clock. Patrick and Scott were hanging out in the
lounge with us, but found their entertainment in heckling the movies we
watched; trying to gross us out, scare us, or pull off lame pranks. The only thing that was really scary about
all of that was finding out that Dawn and Jillian actually thought all of that
goofiness was more fun than annoying; instead of the other way around.
Even with the boys’ continual attempts to disrupt our movie
watching, we managed to catch most of Girl vs. Monster and The Great Ghost
Rescue. They didn’t go quietly, but
Patrick and Scott are in their second-floor bedroom now; and haven’t snuck up
here to pull any pranks on us in nearly twenty minutes. That might be because Dawn and Jillian were
both asleep during their last visit, and it just wasn’t as much fun for them
without the two girls giggling at their antics.
Rowen’s talking about getting to bed now too, so I’m going
to wrap this up so we can do that.
Say ‘goodnight, Cassie’.
“Goodnight, Cassie.”
