Welcome back to Witch
Falls, Jillian!
That was the surprise news of the day when Violet and Dawn
brought Jillian back with them from Crystal
Springs; though it
obviously wasn’t a surprise for Mom and Dad.
Having Jillian here also means that it’s just Mandy and me
in my room tonight; but I’ll get to that part of the report later.
First up, there was another toddler, middle-of-the-night
trip to the bathroom between the time Rowen and I finally got to sleep and
morning. There was a semi-conscious,
bonus goodnight kiss with Michael too, but by then, we both just wanted to get
back to sleep. Ethan and Ehlana provided
the Tai Chi wake-up calls for us; we met Mom and Dad by the river benches; and
they did the short form lesson with us instead of doing their own thing today –
mostly so they could have a little bonus play time with Ethan and Ehlana.
Since this was the last holiday breakfast for Jaimie,
Kaitlyn, Kara, Eddie, and Nicole; Dad cooked up their favorites while Violet,
Rowen, Dawn, and I helped with everything from the work in the kitchen to
getting cousins packed; Violet’s car loaded; and making sure that everyone got
cleaned up and ready for church. Michael
had gone home after breakfast, and by the time we met up with him again on our
way to church; – and his family – I was just about ready for a nap.
It was a comparatively cool morning, so there was no need
for a short, heat-relief service today; and Pastor Martha may have taken
advantage of that opportunity to add a little extra to her message today. I didn’t mind having the extra time with
Michael, but not all of our friends were as excited about the extended Sunday
school classes. That did mean that
Michael couldn’t hang around after the service, and I couldn’t walk with him to
the Inn because I was busy helping out with my cousins; getting them ready to
travel; and then doing the goodbye hugs and kisses when they left from our
house and Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s.
Once our five youngest guests were gone, Rowen and I got
changed; and then she helped me with cleaning up our campsite while Mom and Dad
were making lunch for eight. That was a
light and quick meal, and then Chris and Martin met up with Jonathan and headed
out on their bikes; Rowen went to work at the Inn; Dad hid in the office; and
Mom and I juggled entertaining Ethan and Ehlana with cleaning Jaimie’s and
Kaitlyn’s rooms and doing laundry. Mom
set me free when Michael stopped by to see me while on his break; and we took
Ethan and Ehlana for a swim and some back yard play time until he needed to get
back to the Inn again for the dinner buffet
rush. Since I didn’t have any cousins to
entertain or best friends to play with; Mom let me go along to help out too.
It had been a long time since I’d actually worked in the
kitchen with Rebecca and Michael; though I try to pop in for short visits at
least a couple of times a week – even if it’s just long enough for some hugs
and a cameo chat. I expected to get
teased because of that, even though I pretended to be there to hang out with
Rebecca at first – just in case she was missing Jenny while her best friend was
spending most of her time with Joel right now.
The happy hugs from Miranda were more than worth being teased by Jake,
Stephanie, and some of the other teens, and though I’ll still be busy with my
cousins for another week; I’m going to need to find time to hang out at the Inn
more often too.
Too bad the Magi Council won’t let me openly use time-phases
because I could use more than twenty-four hours in a day!
The rush at the Inn wasn’t as bad as on holiday weekends
when Jacob and Miranda are running extra buffet sittings; but feeding four
hundred people, and the ongoing clean-up that goes with that really can get a
bit wild. I really did work with Rebecca
a lot because she does more prep line work and he’s usually on the cleaning
crew with Dillon and the other guys.
Jake now cooks alongside Jacob; though he was also in charge of the
cleaning crew once the cooking was done for the night.
I missed dinner at home, and Violet, Dawn, and Jillian were
already home by the time Michael, Rebecca, and I were set free from the Inn –
supposedly because I did enough extra work that they didn’t need to stay with
everyone else. We were all ready to go
for a swim by then, and Dawn and Jillian were happy to go in with us. Ethan and Ehlana didn’t get Mom approval for
swimming too because they’d already been dunked in the bath tub by then.
We swam for more than a half hour, and then Michael and I
were left on our own by the river while Rebecca went home and Dawn and Jillian
went inside with plans to take turns borrowing my Jacuzzi. Once we were on our own, we stretched out on
the dock; watched the stars; and had a nice wind-down chat before deciding that
we both wanted to have a comparatively early bedtime after three late camping
nights in four days.
I was inside and changed into dry clothes in time to do the
bedtime story with Ethan and Ehlana, and after tucking them in; I hugged Mom
and Dad goodnight and went up to my room to wait for a turn in my Jacuzzi. I had a chance to chat with Jillian then
because she’d had her bath first; and Dawn had only been in the tub for ten or
fifteen minutes. Her parents had
surprised her with the trip news too; and she’s really fired up about spending
the week with us again this year. When
Dawn joined us after finishing in the bathroom, we only continued chatting for
a few more minutes; and then they went into the room across from Violet’s that
they’d decided to share for the week and left me to go have a long soak in my
Jacuzzi.
With the bathroom door closed and locked, I put up my wards
and did a little multi-tasking with my computer while I was enjoying the
Jacuzzi action. I wanted to get some
family business work done, and I was able to do that without needing to stay up
until two or three o’clock again – thanks to a little private time-phasing that
is allowed. I spent some extra time on
my hair tonight too, but still managed to climb into bed with Mandy by a bit
after eleven. I’ve been doing the usual
nightly computing since then. Jaimie,
Kaitlyn, Kara, Eddie, and Nicole are all home safely; and are both glad to be
back with their parents while also being sad that their holiday is over.
This is probably a good time to mention that Chrissy and
Josiah were late getting back to Witch
Falls. I haven’t talked to them, but Mom let me know
that they’d stopped somewhere to have dinner on the way home after dropping off
Kara, Eddie, and Nicole. If she’s not
sleeping when Chrissy gets home tonight; I’ll take a wild guess that Aunt
Leanne will be getting the rest of that story in more details than I’ll
probably need.
I guess there isn’t anything else to write about for
today. Dad will be leaving for Crystal Springs in the morning, and we don’t
have any special plans for the day – other than resting up a bit before the
next batch of fun starts with another canoe trip on Tuesday. Mom will need some extra help with Ethan and
Ehlana this week too – and with the never-ending work; but without our younger
cousins here, that won’t really mean more to do – just different jobs.
Right now, getting some extra sleep is my top priority,
so...
...until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor;
logging out!
