It was still raining this morning, and since we didn’t
really have anywhere with enough open space to do it; we skipped Tai Chi this
morning. Uncle Blaine and Dad cooked
breakfast with some supervision from Jayden and Ethan while ‘the girls’ all got
ready for a big day of shopping and fun.
While I’m thinking about that, and that meal, it’s probably
a good time to write a bit more about my cousins’ beautiful house. It could be because I’m used to being in
houses with ‘traditional’ rooms that I think in those terms, but the kitchen
here is just part of one big, open Great Room that includes the kitchen, dining
room, and living room. I love the
design, and it’s awesome to be able to see and hear everything that’s going on
in all three rooms. That might be a bit
crazy on a holiday weekend with all of our family together, but I think it
would still be fun to try it out sometime.
The windows and patio door offer a great view of their beautifully
landscaped back yard. Unless the rain
stops, Jaimie and Kaitlyn won’t be taking me out to play on the big, fancy
playground set-up they have in the back corner of the yard; and I think we
should make our next trip here in the summertime so we can try out the pool
that Uncle Blaine hasn’t been able to open yet because of the weather so far
this spring.
I’m definitely spoiled to have my amazing bedroom, and I
love our own home, but since that’ll be Ethan’s home some day; I could really
love a house like this one. That’s
getting dangerously close to thinking about part of my future that I don’t want
to have front and center in my mind on a day when we’ll be spending a lot of
time dealing with Aunt Grace’s wedding; so let’s move along.
We had breakfast; Aunt Alison, Mom, and I were on the clean-up
crew while Jaimie and Kaitlyn took care of Jayden and the twins; and then we
headed over to the Mall to meet up with Aunt Grace, Aunt Leanne, and Uncle
Adam. Grandma Mercy and Grandpa Duncan
met up with us in time for lunch, but were skipping the morning part of the
shopping trip. This may be shocking, but
I didn’t actually buy much for myself today.
I picked up gifts for upcoming birthdays and other important occasions –
like Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s anniversary; there was a perfect ‘missed my
best friend’ gift that insisted on coming home with me; and I bought at least
one thing for each of my younger cousins, brother, and sister. I spent as much time helping out with them so
that Mom, Aunt Leanne, and Aunt Alison could shop with Aunt Grace; and we
actually tried to stay out of their way as much as possible.
Aunt Leanne could be a great wedding planner if there was
enough business for that sort of thing in Witch Falls
– and she didn’t already have enough on the go.
She has everything for Aunt Grace and Mark’s wedding ahead of schedule,
and that made the work they needed to get done today mostly fun. The one thing that did feel strange was not
having Mark here with us too. Uncle Adam
had a few things to take care of for him that was mostly so Mark wouldn’t need
to send extra shipments halfway across the country. We – the kids – were shopping with the guys
nearly as much as when we were all together, and that turned out to be a theme
through until dinnertime.
After meeting up with Grandma Mercy and Uncle Duncan, we had
lunch in the food court, and then Jaimie, Kaitlyn, and I found out that we were
going to an afternoon matinee at the movie theater with the Dads and Uncles
while the girls were busy with more wedding shopping and work; and the grandparents
were taking care of Jayden and the twins.
I’m sure that Ethan and Ehlana would have loved to go too, but needed to
play normal toddlers instead.
There weren’t a lot of kid-friendly show options, so we went
to see The Croods. I was about to write
that it was a fun little film, but wouldn’t make my top-ten list; and then it occurred
to me that I actually haven’t seem many more than ten movies at the theater in
my entire life, and it would be in the top ten of that particular list. I seriously need to get out more often!
The movie-going members of our family headed home from the
theater, and we met up with the grandparents and toddlers there. It had stopped raining by then, so Jaimie and
Kaitlyn wanted to play outside while we waited for the Moms and Aunts to get
home too. Jayden, Ethan, and Ehlana came
outside too with some help from Dad, Uncle Blaine, and Uncle Adam; and we were
able to play for nearly an hour before we needed to get ready to go out for dinner. That decision had mostly be made because Mom
and I – and Ethan and Ehlana – got to meet some of the members of Grandma
Mercy’s and Aunt Alison’s families; and that was too many people to have over
for dinner at Uncle Blaine and Aunt Alison’s house.
The restaurant was a nice, family-friendly place with a
wide-ranging menu. I was at a kids’
table with Jaimie, Kaitlyn, Ethan, Ehlana, Jayden, and six other kids –
including two who were my age. I had
fun, but spent a fair bit of that next two hours or so in the tweeird zone –
along with proving that I’m small-town, and too nice. I can live with that even if it costs me cool
points with the more sophisticated and worldly city tweens.
Noelle and Tyler are both cousins to Jaimie, Kaitlyn, and
Jayden; but one is through Aunt Alison’s family, and the other is through
Grandma Mercy’s. The tweeird zone
moments began almost immediately from the time the three of us were introduced;
though I guess Noelle and Tyler
had met before when they were both quite a bit younger. I don’t want to get into too much detail
about it, but Tyler
was happily flirting with Noelle and me; and though Noelle seemed to be
flattered, if not really interested; I was mostly just annoyed. That kind of thing is bad enough to deal with
from my side of the ‘crossing over’ line, but it must really be a pain on the
other side. I didn’t have much of
anything in common with either Noelle or Tyler, and the more we learned about
each other; the fewer tween status points I earned.
I am aware that in some tween and teen circles that it’s a
crime to be one of the top academic students, so that was one strike against
me. Being nice to my younger cousins,
brother, and sister was snickered at; and I got ‘the look’ several times while
Tyler or Noelle were watching me interact with the adults. If you’ve ever been a teen or tween, you know
what I mean by that, and though I’ll never think it’s fair; I am used to being
on the receiving end of it from time-to-time.
Thankfully, Jaimie and Kaitlyn were oblivious to the tween
drama, and kept me entertained while we ate and took care of Jayden and the
twins. Ethan and Ehlana knew what was
going on, and ran some interference for me with Noelle and Tyler when they
could. Aunt Leanne was busy, but I don’t
think she’d have tried any matchmaking fun and games tonight anyway.
Wow, I’m actually hitting the wall right now; so let’s speed
this up a bit. We had dinner, and then
we – the Proctors and Carringtons – went back to Uncle Blaine and Aunt Alison’s
house for the rest of the evening. We
went for a walk to the closest play park; spent nearly an hour there; and then
walked home again. Jayden, Ethan, and
Ehlana were in bed about a half hour after that, and Jaimie, Kaitlyn, and I
stayed up with the adults until Grandma Mercy and Grandpa Duncan were ready to
go home. I have Jaimie for my cuddle
buddy tonight, and she managed to stay awake and talk to me for nearly twenty
minutes before passing out.
I guess that’s really about it, and I’m ready to crash too,
so...
...until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor;
logging out!
