We had some early morning rain, but Mother Nature was nice
enough to move that out of town before we went outside for Tai Chi by the river
– though the lawn was still wet and we needed to be careful with our footwork.
Though teaching Tai Chi isn’t as relaxing as it is to just
work through the forms with Mom and Dad, it is comparatively quiet and fun –
and our lesson this morning was the only quiet Michael and I had until things
started winding down at the campfire tonight.
Michael needed to go to the Inn to help
out with the breakfast rush so that he could go on the canoe trip with us; and
then work the dinner shift too. While he
was at the Inn, I was busy helping with
breakfast; cleaning up; getting ready for the day; and packing for the day trip
to the whirlpool. That took a couple of
hours; and then we needed another half hour to get everyone organized and the
canoes loaded and ready to go.
Not all of my cousins were happy campers when we left –
Jaimie was the youngest allowed to go with us; and Kaitlyn and Kara in
particular weren’t happy to be excluded.
Dillon, Jake, and Stephanie were back at work today, though, and they
eventually found out that Violet and Chrissy had some fun plans for them
too. All of the younger kids are camping
tonight; so they’re all very happy now.
We have quite a few canoes, but needed extras today; and
Chris, Martin, and Jonathan were in charge of getting some of Uncle Adam and
Aunt Leanne’s canoes; while Violet and Rebecca brought two up from the Stone’s
house. Chris and a couple of his friends
were the oldest teens going along; and I’ve already mentioned that Jaimie is
the youngest. We’d invited Emma Norton
for the trip and camping; so she was dropped off when her Mom went in to the
office. Rebecca had signed up for today
and at least one night of camping; though the camping was only because Jenny
talked her into it so that she could invite Joel to hang out with us too. If that wasn’t enough tweeird, we had Nora
and Vanessa coming along with Tim and Martin.
Michael and I had Jaimie with us in our canoe, and we
paddled most of the way there and back paired up with Rowen, Dawn, and
Emma. There was a fair bit of horsing
around going on all day, but we were part of the group that mostly stayed out
of the way of the ongoing goofiness. I
wasn’t surprised to have Rebecca hanging out with us instead of with Jenny
while she and Joel were right in the middle of the tweeird zone; but I did find
it interesting that Chris and his friends ended up spending more time with us
than with the rest of the teens. It
really did feel like we were two separate groups – especially while we were at
the whirlpool and having our picnic; but that probably just ended up making the
day more fun as we all pretty much got to do what we wanted without too much
drama or tween and teen games.
I’m going to skip the personal tweeird news from today,
since it really was just a few blips in an otherwise great day. While I’m thinking about that, though,
‘Tommy’ needs to be mentioned again because he and his girlfriend were on the
canoe trip, and are here for the camping too.
He spent even more time watching Rowen today than yesterday, though I
guess we have spent a lot more time together than we did at Elliott’s
party. A quick memory check tells me
that the average per hour was nearly identical, but that still means that he
feels the need to check Rowen out about every three minutes. I can also add that he’s particularly
interested when Rowen’s taking clothes off or putting them on before and after
swims; any time there are other boys hanging out with her; and when she’s
swimming or playing games.
Getting back to the action, we took our time paddling to the
whirlpool, but still had a couple of hours available to play and have our
picnic before needing to head home again.
We had a big enough group that it felt a bit crowded in the whirlpool,
so our half of the group swam and played in the river to the south of the
whirlpool. We didn’t all have lunch at
the same time either, so when Martin, Tim, and some of the other guys led the
charge for the picnic baskets and coolers; we had a perfect chance to play in
the whirlpool with Jaimie, Dawn, and Emma.
The picnic that we’d packed wasn’t for everyone, but waiting
to eat still ended up leaving us with less food than I’d expected after Martin
and Jonathan were done sharing with their friends. Chris had to settle for one sandwich; we
split up the remaining salads; and finished off what little was left of the
snacks and desserts except for a few energy bars in case they were needed on
the trip back to town.
By the time we started paddling downriver, the members of
our group that didn’t enjoy certain aspects of being miles from modern
conveniences were not nearly as enthusiastic about a full day in the great
outdoors; and that created some motivation for speed that made the trip home
more than a half-hour faster than the trip to the whirlpool. The guest bathrooms at my house, Uncle Adam
and Aunt Leanne’s, and the Stone’s were very popular first destinations once we
were out of the canoes.
There was also a lot of work to do next too; starting with
getting the canoes unloaded, and some of them put away in the storage
barn. Then we needed to set up a bunch
of tents; and Mom and Dad needed help with getting dinner ready too. Michael and Rebecca had left for the Inn as
soon as we got home so they could help with the dinner shift there, and some of
the teens found a way to disappear while the work was going on; but we had
nearly everyone who was camping – except Michael and Rebecca – here for dinner.
I’ll skip the recap of the fairly scary tween and teen
dining demonstration; though there were a few things that happened that are
worth mentioning. I had a chance to talk
to Joel a bit; and it was interesting to see him around the younger kids –
including Ethan and Ehlana. I’m sure
that Jenny’s initial attraction to him, beyond the fact that he’s not from Witch Falls,
was the rebel teen persona. He was in
that mode all day, but since I spent most of my time during dinner and this
evening with the younger kids; I saw the gentle and kind way that he handled
every little kid encounter. If Ehlana’s
hug of approval for him was witnessed by too many of the guys; the reputation
he’s shooting for may be busted already.
Next up was Martin and Vanessa. They were both having fun while Michael was
at the Inn and Vanessa wasn’t spending half of
her time trying to get his attention or make him jealous. Be careful, Vanessa, or you might actually
find out that you like my cousin more than the boyfriend plans that you and
Nora have been working on for so long now.
Lastly, Chrissy invited Josiah to have dinner with us, and it’s obvious
that they’re a couple now. They each
have that ‘how did this happen?’ look on their faces, and I don’t know if
they’ve even admitted to each other how they feel; but I’m sure that they will
officially be a couple before Chrissy heads home in a week and a half.
Rowen, Dawn, Emma, and I had some teen support for a visit
to the park playground after we’d finished the dinner clean-up; and we had time
to play there for an hour or so and go for a swim back at home before getting
all of the younger kids cleaned up, changed, and out to the campfire. Michael and Rebecca made it back from the Inn in time for the swim; and Michael helped with Ethan
and Eddie while I was busy with Ehlana and Nicole.
There had been parental support to get the work done for the
campfire, but it was kids and teens only for the campfire. Michael was one of the guys drafted to play
guitar; and he played the first set until Jake, Stephanie, and Dillon came over
after closing the Inn for the night. That made him popular with the younger kids,
though they were all on our side of the fire anyway because we were more fun
than the tweens and teens who didn’t want to do any fun stuff with them.
With Michael playing guitar, and Ethan and Ehlana in our
laps a lot of the time too, our campfire experience tonight didn’t have room
for much romance; though there was more than enough of that going on with other
couples – too much, according to some of the younger kids. That made for some more tweeird moments that
I won’t mention because Michael and I had fun despite the tweeird; and we both
like helping my brother, sister, and younger cousins to have fun too.
Rowen and I have Ehlana and Nicole in our tent, and when
Nicole nodded off to sleep while cuddling with Chrissy and Josiah; we decided
that it was time to take both girls with us and tuck them in for the
night. We didn’t go to bed then too, but
we did stay near the tent in case Ehlana or Nicole needed us. Eddie and Ethan lasted a little longer, but
Michael brought them over to their tent at a bit after eleven. Jonathan had helped him take both boys inside
for bathroom breaks; and he carried Eddie out to the tent; but then he went
back to the campfire again while Michael sat and talked with Rowen and me.
It’s been another hot night, so nearly everyone went
swimming to cool off at least once; and Michael, Rowen, and I went in for a
little while with Dawn, Emma, Jaimie, and Kaitlyn when they wanted to do that
before getting into their sleeping bags for the night at a little after
midnight. Rowen was not very convincing
when she decided to go to bed too, but Michael and I still sat outside of our
tents and talked for another ten minutes before sharing a couple of soft
goodnight kisses and going into our own tents for the night.
Rowen teased me about wasting the opportunity, though I
don’t know what she expected us to be doing when there was still a bunch of
teens wandering around, swimming, or at the campfire. We’ve had other things to talk about since I
climbed into my sleeping bag and started doing my usual nightly computing. There’s been a lot to discuss, and while Rowen
is happy that ‘Tommy’ is showing so much interest in her; that plus was at
least evenly off-set by how much time he spent making out with his girlfriend
at the campfire tonight. Rowen’s picked
them to be the couple most likely to swap tent mates. That isn’t a happy thought for her, and I’d
like to help her out; but she probably isn’t wrong – and I won’t be surprised
if there are other co-ed tents.
I’ve got an early Tai Chi lesson, a big gang to help feed,
and our first riding lesson of the summer at the Ridge River
Ranch in the morning; so I should probably finish this up and get some
sleep. There isn’t anything to write
about from the nightly computing; and I only had a couple of quick things to
deal with for the family business. I’m
going to need to find some time to deal with a few other work projects over the
next couple of days; though I’m not sure when I’ll get that done when we’re
planning on one more night of camping and a canoe trip on Friday morning
especially for the younger kids.
Using a little Magi power to help with that isn’t an option
with so many guests, and it just occurred to me that I haven’t done anything
like that in a week – and may not again until after we’re done with the
cousins’ vacation visits a week from Sunday.
I don’t actually miss it much when we’re having so much fun, but it does
feel a little strange.
I do need to get some sleep, and shouldn’t keep letting my
mind wander off, so...
...until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor;
logging out!
