Michael was back to helping out at the Inn again today, but
he came over this morning for Tai Chi; and that was especially fun because we
had Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne with us this morning too. They exercised with Mom while I did the
lesson with Michael, Ethan, and Ehlana; but Aunt Leanne had fun teasing us
before and after we worked through our respective Tai Chi forms. With the three teenaged boys at their house
still sleeping, Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne stayed for breakfast. Michael stayed, and Uncle Nick joined us too;
so we had a pretty big group to feed.
Michael, Rowen, and I were on the work crews before and after breakfast;
and we ate in the dining room. Aunt
Leanne and Uncle Adam both needed to get to work, so though we had fun while we
ate; it didn’t take long to finish breakfast and then get on with the clean-up.
Mom set us free once the kitchen and dining room were clean,
but Michael went home then to do some chores before needing to go to the Inn to
help with the lunch rush while Rowen, Dawn, Jillian, Emma, and I went for a
bike ride around town and at the park. That
ride included a visit with Aunt Leanne and Emma’s mother at the real estate
office and a little window shopping when we wanted an excuse to get out of the
heat for a few minutes.
Naomi and Aiden were both picked up while we were away, so
we took Ethan and Ehlana with us for a swim before we all needed to get ready
for our lunch at the Inn with Grandma and
Grandpa. Mom was one of the
parent-helpers; and walked over to the Inn
with us. Grandma and Grandpa Johnson
were there too, and though Dillon and Michael were working; Chrissy invited
Josiah, and Martin had Vanessa join us too.
There is no doubt that spending an hour or so having a meal
with a rival for your boyfriend while she’s hanging out with one of your
cousins and sitting at a table with your grandparents qualifies as being in the
tweeird zone. Rowen, Emma, and I were at
least at one of the tables next to them with Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana; but there
were still quite a few moments – including Vanessa’s reaction to my hugs and
kisses with Miranda and Stephanie. She
at least wasn’t in the kitchen with me for the hugs and kisses there before and
after we had lunch.
Vanessa did have a different reaction to one comment from
Stephanie that she overheard. Stephanie
said something about me helping out last Sunday, and suggested that I could
help Miranda and Rebecca keep things at the Inn
under control when she and Jake were away at college. I don’t know if she’d ever considered a
future with Michael that included working with him at the Inn like Stephanie
does with Jake; but I have a feeling she was thinking about it today – and not
picturing herself doing that any more than I could see her working the prep
line; washing dishes; or eventually being one of the servers once she was old
enough. She may still not be ready to
give up on Michael; but there are definitely some signs that she’s not as
committed to her plans for him anymore.
Maybe by the time we start school in September there’ll be a
chance that we won’t start Grade Eight as strangely as we ended Grade Seven.
Moving along, while the grandparents were busy entertaining
their grand-children or great-nieces and nephews, the rest of us had a fairly
uneventful and quiet lunch. We didn’t
have any afternoon plans, and it was hot enough out that we ended up spending
some quality time doing nothing under the shade of one of the oaks by the
river. There were several long, lazy
swims too, including one with Michael while he was on his afternoon break; and
two with Ethan and Ehlana. Our afternoon
snack break included ice cream cones; and dinner was cold salads and mini sub
bun sandwiches.
Mom and Violet were playing baseball after dinner, so Rowen,
Dawn, Jillian, Emma, and I took Ethan and Ehlana over to the park to play and
swim while they were practicing with the Fix-it Uppers. I’ve been fairly successful until now in
avoiding game nights in the lounge, but Mom had insisted that it was time for
Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne to get a break; so Chris, Martin, Jonathan, and
their gang took over the lounge after dinner; and Jonathan was spending the
night at our house – and probably tomorrow night too. That doesn’t have anything to do with why
Rowen and Emma both went home tonight; but Rowen has been teasing me that it
was – both while we were still together; and a little while ago when we were
chatting online. Emma was going to be
heading home with her parents after their ball practice anyway.
There was a side benefit of having no sleepover buddies
tonight – and that Dawn and Jillian were both tired out by the time we got back
home from the park. Michael was finished
work by then, and Mom had two willing helpers to do the bedtime routine with
Ethan and Ehlana; so Michael and I were set free to hang out together for a
while. He wanted to go swimming first
after working an extremely hot shift at the Inn;
so we hopped in the river for a while first.
It’s possible we were seen from the lounge window, but if anyone was
trying to mess with us by getting the gaming gang to go for a swim break; it
took too long to get that to happen; and we were already out of the water and
ready to leave by the time the first half-dozen teens hit the water.
That seemed to be a very good time to go for a walk, so we
wandered around town for a half hour or so, and then sat out on his back porch
with cold drinks for another half hour before Michael was ready to get some
sleep. Yes, I played along, but then he
should have been more tired – I didn’t really do much work at all today
compared to him. The goodnight hugs and
kisses practice took a little while too, but I don’t think Michael minded
losing a little sleep to do that with me instead. :^)
Mom was doing some work in the office when I got home again,
so we had another little chat before I came up to bed. I’d closed and locked the doors to the lounge
before it had been taken over for the night, but it was still fairly noisy in
my room; so after getting ready for bed, I sat in the window alcove with my
computer, and plugged in headphones so I could listen to music while working on
the family business for a while.
I dealt with a couple of back-to-school issues; approved a
Halloween promotion; and reviewed some new product investment proposals aimed
at Christmas season launch and marketing.
It isn’t always fun having to make some of those decisions, but considering
the economic conditions in most of the world, we’re doing pretty well; help out
the best we can wherever possible; and don’t have any major problems. I really love the work where what we’re doing
makes a big difference; and we’re getting to be part of more of those
opportunities every year now.
That’s pretty much all of the news for today. I already mentioned my little chat with
Rowen; there wasn’t anything noteworthy in my email tonight; and though the
gaming may continue all night, I have riding lessons in the morning and need to
get some extra sleep while I can before we get to another busy weekend. I know that Chris, Martin, and Jonathan all
like sleeping in until noon or later, but even if that was an option for me; it
just seems like a terrible waste of half the day, so I doubt that’ll ever be
something I ever like to do. I also
wouldn’t want to miss out on Tai Chi with Michael in the morning either, so...
...until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor;
logging out!
