For today at least, we ended up having beautiful weather and
no rain at all. It ended up being so
nice that Rowen and I are doing our first camping adventure of the year
tonight, and this daily recap is coming to you live from our tent by the river. We’re not camping alone, but I’ll get to that
part of the story later.
My day started out by the river too, and Mom and I loved our
little Tai Chi break before we got started on the usual weekday morning
rush. I don’t have anything worth
mentioning to write about from school – it was just another uneventful day; and
everyone seemed to be as interested in getting the weekend as I was.
Rowen and I didn’t immediately get started on our weekend
fun after being set free this afternoon – though she’s telling me that she
thought our snack and homework time with Michael was fun for all of us; and I
guess she’s not really wrong about that.
Tim was busy hanging out with Nora and some of the other members of the
Grade Seven couples club, so he hadn’t been with us while we studied, and after
we had the work out of the way; we invited Rebecca to go with us and went for a
long canoe ride upriver.
Quit smirking like that, Rowen – it’s entirely your fault
that I was canoeing with Michael – you hopped into the canoe with Rebecca
before he could. Don’t give me any of
that ‘more evenly matched’ load of baloney you tried feeding us at the time
either. There was only one match you
were interested in setting up; and it had nothing to do with paddling abilities.
Mom and Dad were hosting a dinner and a holiday weekend
pre-cooking night, though it was past eight before Dad got home from Crystal Springs.
Michael and Rebecca were added to the dinner guest list when we got back
from our canoeing adventure; and the four of us were put in charge of
entertaining Ethan and Ehlana while the adults were busy in the kitchen or
working the grill. Grandpa and Uncle
Nick had that job; and they were cooking everything from hot dogs to steaks and
chicken. We – the kids – all had our
meal while sitting on the dock or one of the benches by the river while the
adults sat around the patio table on the back porch. Mom and Aunt Leanne probably spent as much of
that time in the kitchen as they did sitting down with everyone else, but
they’d wanted to keep the cooking going; and had needed to keep working.
Babysitting does have its perks, and getting out of helping
with the ongoing cleanup that was from dinner and all of the extra cooking was
a really nice bonus. Michael and Rebecca
stayed with us, though I guess we technically went with them at first; because
we stopped in to see Jake and Stephanie while we were on our way to the park with
Ethan and Ehlana for some playground fun.
The senior teens had gotten home from their trip, and I loved getting to
spend a few minutes with them, but they were just dropping Jake’s things off on
their way to visits at the Inn and furniture store; so we didn’t get to hear
much about their trip before they needed to be off and running again. There had been lots of kids at the park, and
Ethan and Ehlana were very happy to run around and keep all four of their
volunteer babysitters busy. Michael and
Rebecca didn’t know it, but we walked home in time for Ethan, Ehlana, and I to
be there to meet Dad and welcome him home once we sensed that he was getting
close. Rowen and I had been talking
about camping instead of doing a sleepover in my room while we were at the
park; and we had approval to do that by the time we’d finished having a little
visit with Dad and helping him get his bags into the house.
Some of us entered the tweeird zone then when Ethan and
Ehlana started bouncing around, doing their best normal toddler act; and sing-singing
“Camp too, Camp too” over and over again.
Would you like to take a guess who Ethan wanted to camp with? No, I’m sure the tweeird zone hint was all
you needed. I didn’t know whether I
should hug Michael for being nice enough to let Ethan ‘talk’ him into camping
with him; or bop my baby brother for pulling off a sneaky junior matchmaking
coup.
You do not need to ask Michael his opinion on that, Rowen
Emerson! Quit laughing.
Rebecca was invited to join us too, but she declined the
offer. She did stay and hang out with us
while we set up two dome tents and rounded up the usual camping gear; and once
we had everything ready, she and Michael took turns telling Ethan and Ehlana
some spooky camp stories.
Dad came out to our little camp at ten and invited us all in
for a bedtime snack. Rebecca did that
with us too, but then headed home when most of the cooking crew left for the
night. Dad and Michael got Ethan ready
for bed while Rowen and I did the same with Ehlana. We did a round of hugs and kisses with Mom
and Dad, and then got back to our camping adventure.
Let’s not think about what Mom and Dad are doing with their
semi-kid-free time after being apart all week.
Ethan and Ehlana weren’t ready to sleep yet, so Michael and
Ethan joined us in our tent; and he, Rowen, and I let the twins entertain us
until they were ready to crash. My time
in the tweeird zone didn’t end when the boys moved over to their tent.
I’m positive that Ethan’s need to call me over so I could
tuck him in was a totally fabricated excuse, and even if I’d had doubts about
that; his “hug Michael too” demand was way too obvious.
Don’t pretend that you don’t know that I did hug Michael
too, Rowen. Ethan didn’t pick that
moment to turn on his flashlight by accident either.
Anyway, Rowen, Ehlana, and I have been listening to music on
my computer since then; and I’ve been doing some random surfing along with my
usual bedtime checks. It sounded like
Ethan was playing games on his iPad with Michael after I left, but we’re not
hearing much noise from their tent anymore.
Ehlana fell asleep about twenty minutes ago, and since we’re going to
have the added work of a camp clean-up in the morning before Rowen needs to be
at the computer store and I’ll be busy with yard work; I’m pretty much ready to
pack it in for the night now too.
No, Rowen, I do not want to sneak over to Michael’s
tent. If you think he needs a cuddle
buddy, though, feel free to help him out with that yourself. We’ll all get teased about this enough without
making it worse. I won’t be surprised to
hear that we were camping in one tent with no mention of Ethan and Ehlana at
all by the time this bit of news has cycled through the grapevine a few times.
We really should get to sleep now, though, so I’m going to
shut this down now and we can do that – unless you really do want to sneak over
to the boys’ tent and stay there instead.
I didn’t think so.
Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging
out!
