Another wet morning kept us indoors for Tai Chi again. Exercising by the river is always more fun,
but I’m also starting to have a new perspective on why Mom and Dad – and Uncle
Adam and Aunt Leanne – enjoy Tai Chi more when they’re together. It’ll be a while before Michael and I have
that kind of synchronicity and communion while working through our forms; but
there is already a connection between us that’s different even from what Mom
and I have always shared since she started teaching me Tai Chi.
Michael didn’t stay for breakfast this morning – he was
going to the Inn to help out there instead; so
there were just the six of us for breakfast.
Violet and I helped out with making breakfast and cleaning up, and once
I’d had a chance to grab a shower and get dressed for the day; I took over
taking care of Ethan and Ehlana for the rest of the morning. Naomi was dropped off early so that her
parents could keep working on their new house before Liz needed to get to work
at the salon. She was starting to cut
back her hours a bit, but that really just means that she isn’t working twelve
or thirteen hour shifts anymore. Aiden
was dropped off later, after Mom and Dad were both gone and Alicia was in charge
again for the morning.
Since Rowen was working at the computer store, Alicia needed
to help me with the four toddlers. The
rain kept us indoors, and my room and lounge were play central. I had Disney cartoons playing on the
television, but that was mostly just background noise while we played games;
had a little music fun; and spent an hour making crafts with Alicia. That little diversion was mostly so that
Naomi and Aiden could give their parents first crafts for their new homes to
stick on fridges that were shiny, new, as-yet uncluttered, and
sterile-looking. That wasn’t a problem
at our house, but there was always room for new works of art in our kitchen,
the home and work offices, and at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s house.
Alicia and Violet made lunch for us, and Mom, Grandma, and
Grandpa came home to spend that hour with us before I was set free for the
afternoon. The parents had collectively
made a decision sometime this morning to drop the four toddlers off at KidZone
for the afternoon so they could play with some of their friends for a few hours;
and they were already on their way over there by the time Rowen came over to
meet up with me. Alicia and I were still
cleaning up from lunch, so Rowen pitched in to help while we waited for Michael
to join us.
The rain had pretty much stopped by then except for a
sprinkle here and there, so when we were ready to get started on our play
afternoon; we hopped on our bikes and went for a tour over to the new section
of town. There was still one moving
truck at the Draper’s house, and Mom had told us about the deliveries that had
been going on despite the rain this morning at all three new homes; but most of
the work going on when we stopped for three short visits was happening
indoors. Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace were
going to be nearly finished the big jobs today, but then they hadn’t needed to
juggle work and kids like the Seagers and Drapers had been doing.
Liz was working by then, and Hannah and Nathan were playing
tag so that one of them was at the house and bakery all day. I had hugs for all of my favorite people, and
then we moved on to check out the other house construction projects in progress
before heading over to the park. We
collected Tim along the way, and rode back into the woods to see what kind of
shape the trails were in after the rain.
There were a lot of puddles and mud on most of them, so we ended up
riding out river road and doing a country roads loop instead.
We’d been surprised that Tim wasn’t hanging out with Nora,
Vanessa, and the rest of their usual group of friends. He didn’t say anything about it, other than
to tell us that he’d wanted to hang out with Michael – and Rowen and me – for a
while before Michael was into another busy summer weekend at the Inn. There was a
hint of stress in his voice, and the expression on his face made it fairly
obvious that choosing to do that may have been a problem; but he was genuinely
happy to be hanging out with us, and we all had more fun because he did.
Biking the trails gives us more opportunities to do tricks
on our bikes, but even when we’re out on the roads there are still chances to
do some more extreme riding. We were
away from town for an hour and a half or so, and then went back to my house to
go for a swim and have a snack break. I
needed to go over to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s house to help out with
getting dinner ready for an expanded dinner and a movie night after that, and
Michael and Rowen came with me. Tim was
invited to stay with us and get added to the guest list, and I’m sure that he
wanted to do that; but he had plans with Nora instead, so he headed home when
we went to meet up with Aunt Leanne, Mom, Grandma, and Grandpa.
We were kept busy for the next couple of hours. Setting up tables and chairs was first, and
then we split the rest of our time between helping out with getting the food
ready and entertaining some younger kids when they started arriving for dinner
with their parents – including Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden. Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne had invited all of
their new neighbors tonight, though Liz and Hannah couldn’t come over for
dinner while they were busy at the salon and bakery. They did both stop in after the stores closed
for the night, but that just let them catch the tail end of the movie and a
little social break before everyone headed home for the night.
That jumped ahead of the story a bit. Grandma, Mom, and Aunt Leanne had decided
that we all needed to have a good meal after days of easy-make lunches and
dinners. That meant steaks and chicken
on the grills and several hot casserole options; along with baked potatoes and
corn on the cob. That made helping out
with feeding toddlers interesting, entertaining, and messy enough that it was
easier to dunk them in the river after dessert than cleaning them up with washcloths.
Aunt Leanne even ran a load of laundry
instead of sending home bags with food-covered clothes.
We didn’t have everyone stay for the movie, since there was
work still going on tonight at both the Seagers and Drapers houses; but it was
fun doing our first movie night with Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace – or at least
their first one as residents of Witch Falls.
Having Michael there was really special too, and though that was making
Rowen feel a bit out of the loop; she did have several cuddle buddies during
the movie – taking turns spending some time with Leah, Ethan, and Ehlana. The movie was a family-rated action-comedy;
and I pretty much just cuddled with Michael and enjoyed the show and the quiet
conversations going on around us while winding down from the afternoon work and
play.
After the movie and follow-up social break, Michael and I
couldn’t convince Rowen to stick around and go swimming with us; so we walked
home with Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana.
Violet had met up with Dillon by then and they were spending some time
with Jake and Stephanie; so we helped to get the twins ready for bed and tucked
in before going out to the river for a swim.
We’re not in any hurry to take things to more intimate levels – even to
the kind of making out some of the other couples our age don’t have a problem
with doing in public; but swimming together in the dark does lead to some
incidental contact that heats things up between us quite a bit. That’s all new, exciting, and amazing; and I
fall a little more in love with Michael with every one of those brilliant
little shared experiences.
We swam and played for more than half an hour, and then went
for a long walk around town before doing our goodnight hugs and kisses on his
back porch on our way home. Dad has an
all-day yard work to-do list ready for tomorrow, and I’m going to sleep as soon
as I finish this update; but I needed some Jacuzzi time before climbing into
bed with Mandy. I could have done my
nightly computing then too, but I really just wanted to shut down and enjoy the
moment; and I didn’t do any family business work tonight anyway.
Compared to the last few weekends, this is going to be a
quiet couple of days, with not much else except work and baseball going
on. Michael and Tim have a game tomorrow
afternoon that I probably won’t get to unless the yard work is done a lot
earlier than I expect it will; but Ethan, Ehlana, and I will be at Mom and
Dad’s game tomorrow night. They’re also
going to be taking Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace out to their first post-baseball
night out at Sheldon’s Pub; so Rowen and I are doing a sleepover, and our house
is babysitting central with Alicia and Erin Green doing that for Mom, Dad, and
the other parents.
I’m getting tired just thinking about all of that, so it’s
time to wrap this up and call it a night.
Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging
out!
