I may have jinxed Michael’s baseball team. The Wranglers lost today; and it might be
because Vanessa wasn’t helping Nora support them – she was at Quarry Lake
with Martin instead. That was their
first loss of the season, and Tim suggested to Michael and me that it may be
entirely my fault. He had fun teasing us
about that, but his suggestion that we break up to help the team get back on
track is not going to happen. Nora and
Vanessa thought that some of his jokes were funny, but I’d also like to smack
Tim because his little monologue reminded Vanessa that she was supposed to be
mad at me; and trying to get Michael interested in her. Hopefully she’ll also remember that Martin
helped her to have a really fun day at Quarry Lake;
and I doubt that Michael even crossed her mind once until we all got together
for the campfire tonight.
Other than that little blip of tweeirdness, and wishing that
Michael could have spent the afternoon at Quarry Lake
with us; it’s been a pretty good day. The Tai Chi lessons are going great, and
Michael, Ethan, and Ehlana are all able to work through the simplified form
with me. The twins continue to do a
modified version that’s within ‘normal toddler’ physical abilities; but anyone
who knows Tai Chi well enough would see that their postures are being done
perfectly. Michael is trying to match me
move-for-move; and I keep that in mind when doing things like the kicks so that
I don’t do more than he’s ready for yet.
He is catching on fast, though, and I only needed to show him a couple
of corrections this morning.
There were chores to do before we could head out to Quarry
Lake, plus we needed to get the picnic and supplies packed too; so after a
quick and easy breakfast; most of us got to work while Jaimie and Kaitlyn kept
Ethan and Ehlana entertained. Dad,
Chris, and Martin started on the yard work while I led the third floor clean-up
and started running loads of laundry.
There was some outdoor work for Dawn, Gillian, and me too; and then we
helped Mom with our contributions for the picnic. The chores were done and we were on the road
to Quarry Lake by eleven-thirty; and our camp was
set-up and we were swimming in the lake by shortly after noon.
We had a pretty big group with us, but there were lots of
other Witch Falls families spending the afternoon at
the campground too. Rowen had come with
us, but Patrick and Scott were there with some members of the Faulkner and
Palmer families. Rowen, Dawn, and I
spent a lot of time playing with Jaimie, Kaitlyn, and Kara; and Jaimie was
particularly happy when Lindsay Faulkner and Jessica Bassett wanted to hang out
with us too.
Note to me: Jessica,
Ryan, and Sophia are Michael’s cousins; and we should try to spend a little
more time with them – just as he’s been doing with my cousins all week. That’ll have to wait until at least a week
from now, but I’m sure we can do that; and Sophia already gets to play with
Ethan and Ehlana now and then when they’re all at KidZone.
Continuing the Quarry Lake report, we swam for a half hour;
stopped for lunch; played some games; visited the playground; and spent a total
of another hour and a half in the lake before needing to pack up and head home
again. Once we were back and had everything
unloaded and put away; Rowen, Dawn, and I set up three tents. We put sleeping bags in all of them, and
rounded up the gear we’d need for the night; getting all of that done with time
to spare before the parents and grandparents had dinner ready for us.
That was another fairly big group barbeque, but
comparatively quiet too after a long afternoon of sun and fun. Rowen and I were on the clean-up crew, and
skipped most of the grandparent-led park visit while doing that and then
helping Dad with getting everything ready for the campfire. We caught the tail-end of the park play, and
then went for a swim back at home again before getting the younger kids ready
for the campfire and camping.
The campfire was fun, and we had quite a few friends and
neighbors stop in at least for little cameo visits. Even after a busy day of running around, the
youngest kids were still wired for sound.
The lulling effects of the stories and songs were counteracted by the
sugar rush from marshmallows and s’mores snacks. That didn’t keep Mom and Aunt Leanne from ordering
the five-and-under kids to bed at eleven; and Michael, Rowen, and I helped with
getting them tucked into sleeping bags. We
also stayed near the tents after that too; and were pretty much out of the loop
for the rest of the campfire. Dawn,
Jaimie, Kaitlyn, and Kara decided they’d had enough fun by midnight – as did
all of the adults; and maybe half of the teens and tweens. We had a little chat with them before they
went into their tent for the night, and Rowen made an excuse to give Michael
and I a bit of alone time so we could say goodnight in a partially non-verbal
way before we split up into our own tents too.
Going to sleep while the campfire was still going on wasn’t
an option for me, so I’ve been doing a little work on my computer and talking
with Rowen since snuggling into my sleeping bag. We really should be getting some rest, but
Violet is the only teen still at the campfire who will be in the middle of the
same crazy-busy morning rush that we’ll have; and the other teens don’t sound
like they’re particularly worried about staying up late again.
There isn’t anything special to report from my work tonight,
but Rowen and I had fun chatting about Michael, ‘Tommy’, and commenting on some
of what we overheard from around the campfire – and from one couple that was
apparently oblivious to the fact that even whispers carry quite a distance
along a river. That moment definitely
qualified as too much information; and I won’t be recording the details here either.
I guess there is one news flash that I haven’t written about
yet, and Rowen brought that to my attention just now by telling me that she’s
thinking about working at the store tomorrow afternoon. Violet and Dawn are going to take Jaimie and
Kaitlyn up to Crystal
Springs and have a visit
with their parents and grandparents.
Grandpa Richard and Aunt Carrie are going to take Jaimie and Kaitlyn the
rest of the way back to Granite
Park from there. Dillon’s working at the Inn anyway, so
that’ll work out – and save Mom the drive; but the travel news for tomorrow is
actually that Chrissy and Josiah are going to take Kara, Eddie, and Nicole to
their half-way home meeting point.
That’s going to keep Aunt Leanne from doing the trip, so I’m
all for the idea; and giving Chrissy and Josiah two and a half or three hours
of alone time for the trip back is a nice matchmaking bonus – not that Aunt
Leanne’s services seem to be needed in this case.
With Dawn away for the afternoon and Rowen possibly working;
I could end up with nothing to do for five or six hours. That’s a novel concept; but then I’m also
sure that something will come up. If we
don’t get some sleep soon, that ‘something’ might just be an afternoon nap. That’s all I have for this journal update,
though, so I’m going to put my computer away and hope that the campfire action
is about done for the night so we can get some sleep.
Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging
out!
