Happy 13th birthday, Joshua!
We had some more rain roll through earlier this morning, but
we had great weather for the rest of the day – including for Joshua’s party.
Since it was raining, Tai Chi was indoors this morning, and
we went with a light breakfast before Dad left for work, and Mom, Violet, and I
all spent the rest of the morning working on the family business while Alicia
watched Ethan and Ehlana. Lunch was
another easy-meal, and then I was set free to meet up with Rowen and do a
little bonus practice on our bikes while we waited for Michael and Tim. We’re still working on the tricks, but we
pretty much finalized the routine we’re going to be doing. It’ll probably need to be adjusted a bit as
the parade goes along; but we should be able to run through everything we want
to do once every hundred yards or so of the parade route.
Michael had been finished work for the day after the noon
clean-up; and we had time to go for an uninterrupted swim without Nora feeling
the need to get Tim away from us today – probably because she was busy getting
ready for Joshua’s party most of the afternoon.
We all needed to do that too, but Rowen and I didn’t start doing that
until after four o’clock; and we didn’t need all that long to get showered and
dressed appropriately for an outdoor party at Joshua’s family farm. I even had time to pack my overnight bag and
drop it off at Rowen’s house before Violet gave us – Michael, Rowen, and me – a
ride there.
We were a bit early, but that just gave us time to have a
little visit with Joshua and Sally before most of the members of the couples
club arrived practically at the same time; and the tween games began. That started with Vanessa and Nora’s grand
entrance. I have no doubt that they’d
have earned top votes for hottest girls at the party if the boys were allowed a
secret vote that wouldn’t get them in trouble with their girlfriends. Michael agreed with me when I asked him, but
before any girls reading this start thinking bad things about him; he also had
a few comments on what he thought about dressing up like that for an outdoor
party on a farm, and needed to assure me that Vanessa’s games were not going to
change how he felt about me.
I guess that one big advantage of being a Magi Master tween
is being able to know what others are feeling, but Michael doesn’t know that I
can do that; and I’m glad that he trusts me enough to be honest – even with
tween-dangerous topics like the hotness of other girls.
Vanessa seemed to be quite happy with Michael’s response the
first time he saw her, and that was definitely a bit tweeird to be getting two
very different empathic perspectives about the same scene that were
near-opposites. I’m trying to play nice,
but these stupid little games really are annoying – especially since it should
be fairly obvious by now that divide and conquer is not working on
Michael. Some of our friends have had
enough of it too; and Sally gets special mention in this report because she went
above and beyond the call to make sure that Michael, Rowen, and I were included
in most of the fun tonight. She could
get away with that because even Vanessa and Nora would not start anything with
the birthday boy’s girlfriend on his special day; but that didn’t keep Sally
from joining me on the receiving end of the glares and frowns.
Her help didn’t keep us from being kept out of the loop some
of the time, but even when that was happening – like during dinner – Sally made
sure that we had fun anyway. She had us
sit with Joshua’s brother, sister, and a couple of cousins when the ‘friends’
tables were filled with no room left for us.
Joshua’s the middle child in his family, so Michael had fun talking
football with his fifteen year-old brother, Ray – who is expecting to make the
team this year and help Kyle Landry to win a championship – while Rowen and I
kept nine-year old Gabrielle and one of her cousins entertained. We seem to have a talent for that, so I guess
there is some good that comes from being so awful at being a tween – we have a
lot of younger girls around town who really love us.
Joshua’s parents were putting on a fairly large party for
him, and there were more than fifty guests; which felt just like home to me –
though it was different being out on a farm too. Two things that I loved most were the extra
space that allowed us to have a half-dozen games going on at once before and
after dinner; and the pond that we could jump into to cool off whenever we
needed to do that. Those were also the
two best examples for why some of the girls shouldn’t have come to the party
dressed to perfection – and why croquet was the most strenuous game that
Vanessa, Nora, or a handful of the other girls and women played.
Rowen and I earned some bonus points playing games and
swimming from different groups of kids and tweens. Gabrielle, her cousins, and some younger kids
of family friends loved the fact that we were the only older girls willing to
swing out and fall into the pond on the knotted rope that was tied to a big old
tree next to the water; or play their favorite water games with them. Some of the boys were interested in us while
we were in swimsuits too; but not for the same reason. Rowen’s grinning right now as I’m writing
that because ‘Tommy’ was definitely one of the guys who were keeping an eye on
Rowen – even though I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that he didn’t even
realize that he was watching her a lot – especially any time there were other
boys hanging around near us.
There wasn’t a dock or groomed path around the pond, so
getting dirty feet went with the territory for anyone who did go swimming, and
you collected some more mud from the squishy, muddy bottom of the pond when
walking out; but the water was clear and refreshingly cool; and at about one
hundred yards long by maybe seventy-five yards at its widest; there was lots of
room to swim and play.
Michael, Rowen, and I had fun with the games we played
too. Our team won a volleyball match; we
all played football for a half hour or so; the younger kids had us play a couple
of games with them; and we wound up our gaming time with some Frisbee action
before everyone was rounded up for the campfire once it started getting dark.
The younger kids were with us for that until around eleven
o’clock, so the scary stories and music were family-rated. Michael took a turn playing guitar twice –
once before eleven and a second time shortly before Violet and Dillon came to
pick us up at midnight. Vanessa and Nora
were still doing their best even then to keep us at the outer limits of the
tween group, but Sally again intervened.
She and Joshua bridged the divide between most of the couples club and
where we sat by the fire with his brother, some of the other teens, and
Gabrielle and most of the younger kids.
Michael found out one of the advantages of taking the time
to play with the younger kids when he was kept fed by a steady stream of
toasted marshmallows and other treats – especially while he was playing guitar
and leading the sing-along. We earned
some little girl giggles whenever we held hands, and glares from Vanessa; but
other than a couple of hugs while we were playing games, the only romance news
to report was a short goodnight kiss when we split up at my house when Violet
and Dillon went inside; Michael went home; and Rowen and I walked over to her
place.
Don’t tell me you’re disappointed, Rowen. We all had a really good day; and I wouldn’t
even think about acting like some of the other couples were tonight –
especially when there were kids and parents around. That’s definitely one of the reasons why I
was glad that we left for home when we did; and you didn’t want to see any more
of that action either. There are some
things we just don’t need to know about our friends!
Moving along, Joshua’s party wasn’t the first ‘family and
friends’ birthday party we’ve had, but it was the one that felt most like the
parties and campfires are with my family.
That’s one of the reasons why this is one of my favorite ‘friends’
parties so far; though having Michael sharing most of the fun with me made
everything more entertaining and exciting.
We were able to leave the campfire without causing much of a disturbance
to the happily cuddling couples by helping some of the adults with a cleanup
and re-stocking visit before they either went inside until the end of the party
or headed home with tired out kids.
We were ready to leave when Violet pulled into the driveway,
and we took turns with condensed reports on what we’d each been doing this
evening. I’d missed out on dinner and a
holiday and wedding pre-cooking adventure, and Grandpa Duncan and Grandma Mercy
had made it to town not long after we’d left for the party. I haven’t mentioned it in my journals, but
they’ve just retired; and the week and a bit they’re spending with us is just
the start of their plans for a long, lazy, and well-deserved summer
holiday. Maybe they’ll even come to
visit us more often – or maybe take some trips with Grandma and Grandpa – we
can always use more volunteers for our charities!
Once we were back home, it would have been nice if the
goodnight kiss with Michael was the last action for me tonight, but it wasn’t –
thanks to Patrick and Scott. They were
ready to play their usual games; starting with a prank attack that was launched
the moment we walked into the front door.
Rowen and I played along for a while, but the boys kept going for too
long after it wasn’t fun or funny anymore; and, as usual, that meant that their
games came to an abrupt end due to a parental intervention at a bit after one
o’clock.
We were finally able to have some quiet girl time chat after
that, and I’ve been doing my nightly computing while we’ve been chatting. Rowen’s top topic was ‘Tommy’, and while she
is glad that he’s paying more attention to her, that didn’t happen at all during
the campfire because he was one half of the couple who could have been voted
most-actively making out tweens at the party.
I agree with Rowen that he does have some real potential, but if she
does ‘get her man’; I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that he’ll need to change
his ways when it comes to making out in public.
Her second-favorite topic was Michael and me, and I’m so
happy that we’ve been able to provide her with so much extra entertainment –
including when we’re together; when we aren’t; and for the regular
opportunities she’s getting to provide her best friend with commentary and
advice. I won’t be using any of her
suggestions for dealing with Vanessa and Nora, but her post-party observations
and jokes were entertaining for me too.
That’s why we’re still up talking when it’s going on two
o’clock despite the fact that we both have a busy work Saturday that’ll be
starting for me in about four hours or so.
With that thought finally making it to the top of our chat topic list,
it’s time to wrap this up and get some sleep, so...
...until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor;
logging out!
