Do I go with the good morning, have fun on the shopping trip
hug and kiss with Michael or finding the perfect dress for the wedding and our
first date as the top story today?
Sorry, Michael; but I have to go with the dress on that one. Hopefully you’ll agree when you see it in
about two weeks!
Mom and I skipped Tai Chi again for this year’s trip day,
and we were busy enough just getting five of us ready; picking up Aunt Leanne
and Stephanie; and driving the minivan and Violet’s car over to the Inn by
seven o’clock. The breakfast buffet was
as awesome as always; and Rowen, Ethan, Ehlana, and I sat with Rebecca and
Jenny for that while Mom and Aunt Leanne sat with Patricia and Sylvia Bassett. When it was time to go, I did a round of hugs
in the kitchen with Jacob, Jake, and Dillon before taking Michael’s hand and
leading him into the back room for a little privacy while Miranda, Stephanie,
and Violet were busy saying goodbye to their favorite boys too. I’m sure that Michael got teased about that
even more than I did, but hopefully our family and friends will get used to it;
since that will not be the last kiss we share at the Inn.
Moving along, the travel groups were already loading up into
cars, trucks, and vans by the time Miranda and Stephanie pretended to drag me
out of the kitchen while teasing me about taking too long saying goodbye to
Michael. That little scene didn’t go
over well with Vanessa, but I tried to ignore the glares and got busy helping
Ethan and Ehlana get settled into their car seats for the trip before climbing
into the back seat with Rowen. Mom and
Aunt Leanne were last in once they’d matched all kids and teens up with their
drivers and chaperones; and we were in the last group of vehicles leaving on
our big adventure.
The trip there was almost exactly one ‘Cars’ movie long; and
that kept Ethan and Ehlana entertained while Mom and Aunt Leanne mostly talked
shopping and weddings; and Rowen and I chatted too, but also played some travel
games, watched the movie, and took care of getting anything that Ethan or
Ehlana needed. We had Patricia, Emily
Warren, and Hannah Draper’s groups with us still when we got to the Mall; but
Violet and Stephanie had left earlier with some other teen groups and was
already shopping by the time we got there.
Not everyone in the four cars and vans stayed with us to shop – Carolyn
Landry, Erica Bassett, Rebecca, and Jenny went off in search of their friends –
and adult-free shopping. Hannah had Liz,
Aunt Deborah, Hailey, Naomi, and Leah with her, and while they mostly stayed
close to us; they weren’t always in the same stores or departments of stores
with the rest of us – and they regularly took Aunt Leanne with them when
shopping for maternity clothes for Liz.
Phase One of the summertime mission that I was still trying
to convince Rowen to let me help her with had enthusiastic help from Aunt
Leanne, and moderation and good taste influences from our mothers. There were quite a few comments from all of
the women about how our fathers were going to react to some of our choices, and
I thought that was both fun and funny; but they’re both going to need to catch
up with reality if they expected us to come home with cute little Dora the
Explorer swimsuits and Disney-themed shorts, tops, and dresses.
Speaking of swimming, Mom found some new toddler floatation
devices called ‘puddle jumpers’; and picked up four of them for home. Ethan and Ehlana can swim without help
already, but can’t do that in public; so these puddle jumpers are perfect for
them, and the extras are for when they have friends like Naomi, Aiden, and
Sophia over – like for their birthday party at Quarry Lake
tomorrow. If you haven’t seen them
before, think water wings attached to a partial life vest that only goes around
the chest; and you’ve got the idea.
Getting back to the shopping, Rowen and I had a rotating
group of women keeping an eye on us while we shopped, Among the new clothes that earned special
commentary were most of our swimsuit choices; the two sets of biking shorts and
tops that we each picked out; and several of the tops and shorts we picked
out. The dresses all had both Mom and
Aunt approval, and while I didn’t actually find that perfect wedding-first-date
dress until we stopped in for Abby’s big sale after getting back to Witch
Falls; I did have two back-up choices from the Mall that will have to settle
for making Sundays or special events appearances instead of getting shown off
at the wedding. The dress shoes we found
at the Mall go with all of the dresses, though, so I won’t need to make an
extra trip to Taylors
for more shoes.
That’s probably a good thing, since I bought five pairs
today, including the dress shoes, two pairs of cross trainers, and a pair each
of dressy and casual sandals. The shoe
part of the trip was Violet and Stephanie’s contribution to giving the Moms a
little time off to do some shopping for themselves after lunch. It’s a good thing there were some decent
sales, or I’d need to work a lot more this summer to revive my poor little bank
account!
The only tweeird for me today was while we were having
lunch, and that was only because Vanessa and Nora decided that they needed to
sit close enough to us so they could talk about how great their morning had
been loudly enough for us to overhear – including detailed information on how
their own new summer wardrobes were going to have ‘the boys’ following them
around like puppies. I didn’t have any
doubts as to which boys they meant; but they ought to give Michael and Tim a
bit more credit for intelligence than that.
I know what you’re probably thinking, but Phase One of our
matchmaking challenge for Rowen and ‘Tommy’ is just the attention-getter. Finding out how amazing she is after that
will follow; and be the more important part of the plan.
Getting back to the shopping part of the report, when Violet
and Stephanie dropped Rowen and I off with Mom and the rest of our group again,
we found out that Hannah was taking everyone in her travel group – except for
Naomi – home early. Liz, Leah, and
Hailey had decided they’d had enough fun by then; and didn’t want to keep
playing with the rest of us anymore today.
Violet and Stephanie took a load of bags out to their car; helped out
with Hailey and Leah; and moved Naomi’s car seat over to Mom’s minivan so Naomi
could stay and go home with us.
The last hour or so at the Mall was really just a wind down
time, and we didn’t really pick up much more before moving on to Wal-Mart for
the supply shopping part of our adventure.
That was where Rowen and I took care of a lot of our friends and family
gift shopping to cover everything between now and the back-to-school shopping
trip. We kept Jessica, Ehlana, Naomi,
and Sophia with us while Ethan stayed with Mom and Aunt Leanne. Their shopping wasn’t as much fun as ours,
except maybe for the supplies they were picking up for wedding decorations and
gift baskets.
In addition to the gifts we needed to get, Rowen and I also
picked up a few new yard and water toys; including a glow-in-the-dark water
basketball and floating hoop that will come in handy for future late-night
swims. We had an hour and a half time
limit for that stop, and had everything we wanted to get done finished with ten
minutes to spare; so we picked out some travel snacks while waiting for the
rest of our group to catch up with us.
Getting through the check-out lines took a while even though
we split up to do that; and Dad met up with us while we were still doing that
after fighting his way through a busier-than-usual Friday traffic snarl. Nearly everything that we collectively bought
at Wal-Mart went into his truck, and there was time for a little visit while we
put Naomi’s car seat in his truck – though Ethan was going to use it so that
Naomi could go home with Ehlana. Rowen
and I were with Dad and Ethan too; so we got to spend the next hour and a half
giving him the detailed weekly update during the trip home. We all stopped for washroom breaks and fast
food before getting on the highway, but the traffic wasn’t bad once we were out
of the city; and we still made it home in lots of time to thoroughly browse
through what stock Abby had left at the end of her big sale day. Dad dropped Rowen and I off to do that while
he and Ethan made some deliveries before going home.
Let’s talk about the perfect dress. Think summer colors that accent auburn hair
and green eyes with the hot-factor style of a little black dress; and you’re
getting the picture. It earned Aunt
Leanne’s enthusiastic approval, and Abby suggested that I should have Uncle Adam
or Aunt Deborah over when Michael picks me up for the wedding in case he needs
CPR. I’ll let you know how that goes,
but I don’t plan on taking my aunt or uncle along when I go to pick Michael up
– they seem to forget that I asked him out on this particular date. While that was my shopping highlight for the
day, it was even better because we found a wow-worthy dress for Rowen too. ‘Tommy’ isn’t going to be at the wedding, but
if he sees her around while wearing it; he’s going to wish he was there.
By the time Abby was finished playing dress-up with us, we
were all ready to go home. Mom drove to
our house first so that Ehlana and Naomi could play together until Philip came
over to get his daughter; we unloaded the minivan; and Uncle Adam had already come
over after helping Dad with unloading Aunt Leanne’s supplies from the truck. There was time to get everything I had up to
my room before Rowen’s Mom got back to her house; and then I went along to help
her with carrying everything she’d had with us. We did a total of four trips between that
load; one more of her things from their minivan; and two other trips with other
supplies and clothes that included a few things for Patrick. He wasn’t saying much, and didn’t look happy
at all when we got to the part of our shopping adventure recap that brought up
the dresses and shoes Rowen and I had each picked out for the wedding.
I came home again after helping to tell Owen all about our
day, though Rowen and I had a little front porch chat for another ten minutes
or so before I left, and by the time I got back; the bedtime snack was already
in progress. Dillon and Violet were
there by then too, and though Dad had already been through the tween version of
events; we all had just as much fun getting the teen and adult perspectives
plus the parts of the trip that Rowen and I hadn’t been in on – like most of
Violet’s day with Stephanie. She’s found
an awesome dress for the wedding too, so Michael may not be the only guy in
danger of needing CPR.
Violet and Dillon wanted to hang out together and probably
not really watch a movie, but the rest of us were ready to crash by then – especially
with Ethan and Ehlana’s second birthday party tomorrow, so Uncle Adam took Aunt
Leanne home with some baggage handler assistance from Dad and me; and Mom and
Violet had Ethan and Ehlana ready for goodnight hugs and kisses by the time we
got back again. While Mom and Dad are
probably getting reacquainted, and Violet and Dillon are entertaining
themselves; I did a quick email check after getting changed and into bed with
Mandy; and plan on being asleep about a minute after I finish this journal
update.
Start the countdown.
Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging
out!
