Happy 18th Birthday, Violet!
I’m sure she’s having a very, very happy day – if for no
other reason than the fact that she and Dillon got to find out that they’re
both Magi this morning when they were both here for breakfast. Grandma and Grandpa came over early enough to
do the ‘official’ talk with her too while I helped Mom, Aunt Leanne, and Uncle
Adam with making breakfast; so I’ll guess that she had some bonus hugs for
Stephanie this morning when they met up before heading for their day in Crystal
Springs.
We had Uncle Nick, Aunt Deborah, and Leah over for breakfast
too, and we had fun doing a little birthday breakfast roast for Violet. There was only about an hour available for
that little party before Violet and Dillon needed to go meet up with Jake and
Stephanie, and the working guests needed to get to the clinic, office, or
school; so that felt like a bit of a mad rush.
Rowen and I were on the clean-up crew after everyone except Grandma and
Grandpa had left; and then we packed our picnic and got ready for a day of
biking and caving once we’d finished the post-party cleaning.
It was going on ten o’clock by the time we were on our bikes
and met up with Michael and Tim. As
expected, Nora hadn’t wanted to go biking and crawling around in caves with us;
and Tim advised us that he was in big trouble for going along instead of
spending the day with Nora. He was
joking about it, and wasn’t worried – especially since he also didn’t think it
was fair for Nora to act like she was about not spending a day with her while
not having a problem with going on the girls’ shopping trip with Vanessa on
Friday without him.
We biked straight to the caves, and then had lots of time to
explore them before having our picnic in the largest cave. Rowen’s telling me to write about the
suspicious sounds she heard a few times while we were exploring the caves. She thinks it sounded like people kissing,
but never saw what was making the noise when she or Tim shone their lights
around to find out where the noise was coming from; so it might have just been
their imagination.
I’m sure that it was just a coincidence that you saw grins
on our faces every time you looked, Rowen – or not. :^)
Moving along, lunch wasn’t anything particularly exciting,
since we’d packed to be as light as possible; but it was a lot of fun eating
our little meal in the cave. So was the
long bike ride we went on after leaving the caves. We went west this time; eventually went over
the closest bridge to Witch Falls that crosses the Ridge River;
and then biked back into town through the valley along Witch Falls Road. It was time for a swim once we got home
again; and that was at my house so that we could take Ethan and Ehlana in with
us for a while too.
We’d taken the chance that we might get rained on a bit
today, but we didn’t end up getting anything more than a sprinkle here and
there, and since we were going to have a nice night; Rowen and I decided to set
up a tent for one more camping adventure before going into a couple of work
days. We started doing that after
Michael, Tim, and Alicia all left; and had Ethan and Ehlana with us while we
raised the tent and then got all of the usual gear collected and moved into it. With Violet and Dad both away, Mom went with
another easy-meal night; and we all ate at our campsite – though Mom sat on one
of the benches while Rowen and I sat on the dock with the twins.
Michael and Tim started setting up a tent at Michael’s house
after dinner; and Ethan ran over there to ‘help’ them. Since he and Ehlana had been with Mom at the
time while Rowen and I were cleaning up the kitchen; she was the one running
after him – and Ehlana; since she’d quickly followed Ethan. Rowen and I finished up in the kitchen first
before walking over too; and we had a nice little visit with Miranda and Jacob.
News flash for us – One of Violet’s gifts today is a
five-star hotel sleepover in Crystal
Springs. She probably knows about it by now unless she
hasn’t opened her gifts yet at her birthday dinner. I’m sure they’ll have fun; and that I won’t
need the details that Aunt Leanne will want to hear all about tomorrow after
they get home.
Once Miranda had given us all the latest news from around
town, we left Mom to continue chatting with them while we took Ethan and Ehlana
over to the park to try and wear them down a bit before bedtime.
That’s where we were when Ethan was captured – or rescued –
by pirates.
I really loved seeing Ethan’s happy surprise when Michael
snatched him from the playground while Tim protected them from the little band
of girls who had obviously been holding the poor boy against his will; and they
made their escape in their pirate ship canoe.
Rowen, Ehlana, and I had to then go after them; sneak into the pirate
camp; and un-save Ethan – while Mom, Miranda, and Jacob watched the show and
laughed at us from the back porch.
Once Ethan was back in our custody, Rowen and I returned the
twins to Mom, and then we went for another swim with Michael and Tim that
Rebecca joined us for. Miranda and Jacob
invited all of us to do a bedtime snack with them after that; so we stayed for
another half hour or so before Mom decided that it was time to take Ethan and
Ehlana home and dunk them in the tub before putting them to bed. Rowen and I helped her with that before going
out to our campsite for the rest of the night.
I was getting that warm fuzzy feeling again when we saw
Michael and Tim set up a tent too, and wasn’t surprised when they came over to
hang out with us shortly after we were in our tent. We ended up sitting on the dock and talking
for quite a while; followed that up with a late-night swim that was quietly
exciting and fun – though Michael and I probably felt that a bit more than Tim
and Rowen did – unless they were doing a little underwater hand-holding or
bumped into each other in the dark a few times too.
Are you blushing, Rowen Emerson? Yeah, it’s probably just the light from my
computer making it look that way.
We had another little snack after our swim that pretty much
demolished the little supply Rowen and I had brought out with us; and we sat on
the dock again and talked until Rowen and Tim each made up a lame excuse to
leave so that Michael and I were on our own for about ten minutes before he
went back to his tent. I’ve already mentioned
that riverside goodnight kisses are something that I love a lot, and it’s a
good thing that Michael feels the same way; since we’re going to need to share
them on a regular basis this summer.
Let’s just go with one blanket thank-you, Rowen. It’s going to get old fast if you keep asking
me to thank you every time you make it possible for Michael and me to have a
little alone time like that.
Since you’re out of work for the junior matchmaking mission
you were on for Aunt Leanne; maybe we should find something else for you to do
that doesn’t include teasing me about Michael all summer – like getting you and
‘Tommy’ together.
That’s not inconsistent at all – you want to be dating him
while I hadn’t crossed over and didn’t want to date anyone when everyone was
trying to push Michael and me together.
The shopping trip on Friday could be phase one of your personal
matchmaking plan if you’d like. I enjoy
watching his eyes popping out of his head when he sees you in a swimsuit as
much as you like having fun with what’s going on with Michael and me.
Don’t be so pessimistic, and let’s give ourselves a little
challenge instead. I think that we can
get him to kiss you before the Labor Day weekend is over.
Stop laughing, and no, I’m not using my Sight – even if I
did; I’d only see both futures where you either did or didn’t share a kiss.
We both have to work in the morning, though, so I do see me
finishing this update so I can turn off my computer and we can get some sleep;
or we’ll be wishing we didn’t sit up all night talking.
Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging
out!
