Summer mission ACCOMPLISHED!!!
Rowen is still grinning as we sit here in our hotel room
bed; and she has so many warm fuzzies going on that some of them migrated over
to me to join the little gang of them that have been hanging out in my stomach
since Michael and I split up for the night.
I’m sure that some of you, reading this is the future, will
have known before now that ‘Tommy’ has been our code name for Tim; but that
revelation is mostly for those distant future Magi who will some day read this
just as I’ve been reading journals and books written by Magi thousands of years
ago.
There’s a lot more to write about for today, but I won’t
leave you hanging on this – Tim kissed Rowen tonight after they made up an
excuse to give Michael and me some alone time.
Rowen told me that one minute they were watching us holding hands and
sharing a little kiss while waiting in line for one of our favorite roller
coasters; and then, after turning to smile at Tim, he suddenly put his hands on
her waist; tugged her closer; and kissed her.
She’s not exactly sure how long that kiss lasted; but it was long enough
that Michael and I were out of sight by the time she looked to see if we’d
noticed.
Now that you’ve got those basics, I’ll back up to the
beginning of the story for today; and fill in the blanks when we get to the
most recent events.
While I’d been playing and then hanging out at the Inn yesterday, Mom had made sure that everything was
ready to go for this morning – including picnic breakfast packages for everyone
in each vehicle. That meant that we only
needed to get cleaned up and dressed; load our bags into the vans and cars; and
hit the road once the gang had gathered at our house. Tim and I switched places when we stopped for
our half-way there break, but he and Jenny were with Michael, Rebecca, and
their parents when we left town. Violet
and Dillon had Alicia and Erin with them; Rowen and I were with Mom, Dad,
Ehlana, and Naomi; Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne took Ethan and Aiden with them;
and Rowen’s parents only had Patrick and Scott with them. The four younger kids did a half-way switch
too, but that was mostly so that Tim didn’t have to spend the last half of the
trip with four girls; and wouldn’t completely ruin his reputation by watching
one of the ‘Cars’ movies with Ethan and Aiden.
We managed to keep ourselves entertained on the long,
uneventful drive; but the fun really kicked in to high gear once we were at the
amusement park shortly after it opened for the day. They’d needed to leave earlier than we had,
but Uncle Rick, Aunt Melissa, Chris, Martin, and Dawn were already there with
Jillian and her parents by the time we pulled into the parking lot. Going on a Monday and Tuesday works out great
because of the lighter crowds compared to weekends and holidays; and we hadn’t
even finished the reunion pleasantries, hugs, and kisses before we were through
the gate and free to play.
With thirty-two in our group, we didn’t try to stick
together all day, but only Chris, Martin, Rebecca, and Jenny left to start
hitting the thrill rides right away.
Violet and Dillon wanted to spend some time with Uncle Rick and Aunt
Melissa first, and while Alicia and Erin were only going to help out with the
younger kids for about half of the day; they stayed to help out with getting
the kids through bathroom breaks, set up with strollers; and came along on the
first couple of toddler-rated rides.
Michael and Tim wanted to get going so we could make the rounds of the
thrill rides that the younger kids were too small to go on; but they stayed
with Rowen and me so that we could spend a little time with Dawn, Jillian,
Patrick, and Scott first – mostly because they were not allowed to go off on
their own.
Though we weren’t getting any extreme thrills during that
first hour or so, I really loved getting to play with my brother, sister,
cousin, and friends, and since I don’t exactly have a lot of amusement park
experience; even sharing the kiddie rides with Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden
was fun for all of us. Tim entertained
himself by razzing us about those rides, but he also went with us; and helped
Michael with Ethan and Aiden.
When Violet and Dillon took Dawn and Jillian along to spend
some time just with them, Mom and Dad set Michael, Tim, Rowen, and me free
until we were all to meet up again for lunch.
Mom gave me her cell phone, and that had Tim teasing me about her
keeping track of us with the phone’s GPS signal. Since Rowen was the only one who knew about
my link with Mom; she was able to really appreciate why I thought that was so
funny.
Rowen is still really shy a lot of the time when she’s in
groups or crowds, and especially with strangers; but she’s also as much of an
adrenaline junkie as Tim, Michael, and I are; and there aren’t many thrill
rides that she doesn’t love – with the minor exception of rides with too much
multi-directional spinning. That wasn’t
a problem this morning, because we kept busy going on all of our favorite rides
from last year, including the best roller coasters and my personal favorite –
the Sky Coaster. I am so going to have
to try bungee jumping some day!
While everyone checked in at lunch, we didn’t all end up
eating together. Rebecca and Jenny were
too busy flirting with some boys they’d met – Jenny’s word, not mine; and Chris
and Martin only wanted to grab slices of pizza and get back to the rides. The rest of us rounded up the various food
and drink choices while keeping the younger kids busy too; and then we watched
a stage show while eating.
As I mentioned already, Dawn, Jillian, Patrick, and Scott
weren’t being allowed to go around the park on their own; but we did get
parental approval for them to hang out with us for a while after lunch. That wasn’t all good, because Patrick is
still having problems being around Michael and me; but with Dawn and Jillian
along too, he managed to play nice while we went on a half dozen of the biggest
rides that we could all go on together.
Alicia and Erin helped out with the four toddlers while we
were doing that so some of the parents could go on some thrill rides too;
though Aunt Leanne was obviously not able to do that with them. We crossed paths and went on one ride with
our corresponding parents and one uncle; but that ended up being the only
thrill ride that I went on with Mom and Dad today. We were rounded up again in time to have a
little water park fun before dinner; and then we watched another stage show
while everyone had dinner together.
All of the Moms, including Aunt Leanne, went over to the
hotel with Naomi, Aiden, and the twins after dinner; and stayed there after
checking in for all of our rooms. That
left the Dads and Dad-to-be to keep Dawn, Jillian, Patrick, and Scott
entertained while the rest of us were set free again until we were supposed to
meet up again at the park entrance fifteen minutes before the park was closing
for the night.
Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I did another round of our favorite
rides together, and then Rowen came up with the totally transparent excuse for
why she and Tim needed to leave Michael and I alone for a while. In hindsight, she thinks that worked out
pretty well for all of us; but I’m sure she wasn’t expecting that there’d be an
earth-shaking, fireworks-worthy kiss just moments away when she set that up for
Michael and me.
What would you have done if you had known, Rowen? Make that suggestion a lot sooner; or be too
shy to suggest it at all?
For some reason, she’s more interested in talking about what
did happen instead of irrelevant hypotheticals.
Since we’re back to that moment, it’s time for the rest of
Rowen’s report on the big kiss. I
scanned my memories, and hadn’t been looking in there direction; so I didn’t
witness the kiss, and couldn’t help her out with how long it lasted. I’m sure that she wasn’t exaggerating the
moment, and the shared, wide-eyed astonishment that followed was probably
understated more than a little. Rowen
wasn’t sure how long they were in shock for, but she would have liked it if Tim
had held on to her longer before letting go of her waist and stepping
back. That decision might have had
something to do with the fact that he’d kissed Rowen speechless; and they both
needed time to process what had just happened between them.
Rowen’s kicking herself now for being so blown away that she
went into full-shy mode; and she’s sure that’s why nothing else happened
between them for the rest of the evening.
The timeline during and immediately after the kiss may be a bit fuzzy
for her, but she’s sure that it was a full five minutes before she could manage
to do more than nod, shake her head, or smile and shrug in response to the few
questions and comments Tim tried to fill up the empty space with.
If you could have managed some of those lines you’re coming
up with now, Rowen; that definitely wouldn’t have been the only kiss with Tim
tonight. I wouldn’t expect that you
would have just jumped in and started making out with him or anything; but a
simple ‘Wow’, or almost anything else would have been sending the right kind of
signals to him.
I didn’t witness the kiss, but when Rowen and Tim caught up
with Michael and me again; she didn’t need to say anything before I knew
something big had happened to them. By
then, it was time to start working our way back to the park entrance, so we
went on a few more rides while doing that; and still managed to be the first
group there. Alicia and Erin were next,
followed by the Dads’ group. They had
Violet and Dillon with them by then, and Chris, Martin, Rebecca, and Jenny were
last; catching up with us at the same time, but from two different directions.
The trip to the hotel didn’t take long, and Rebecca and
Jenny only had time to tell Rowen and me a couple of boy-related stories while
we were in the minivan with Jacob and Dad.
I’m glad that they both had fun today, but I can’t help but find it
weird that Jenny doesn’t have a problem flirting with boys while we’re here
when she also refers to Joel as her boyfriend.
They could have paired up with Chris and Martin instead, though, so the
weird is relative – or not, in this case.
:^)
Rowen and I have Ehlana and Naomi in our room with us, but
they were already sleeping by the time we got here; and Aunt Leanne and Aunt
Melissa had been staying with them until we arrived while Mom was in her room
with Ethan and Aiden. Doing the evening
updates, goodnight hugs and kisses, and getting everyone settled into their
rooms took nearly an hour; so it wasn’t until Rowen and I were alone with our
adorable sleeping toddlers that we could talk.
‘The kiss’ has been our main focus tonight, and though that
ends our summer challenge; we talked about the next step for Rowen too. Rowen’s wondering if Tim’s talking about this
with Michael even as she is with me; and isn’t sure how to feel about that if
he is. I’ll be able to sense the answer
to that in the morning, but that won’t necessarily mean that I’ll be able to
ask Michael about it.
Stop worrying, Rowen – the only regret I can imagine Tim
having right now is that he didn’t kiss you again. We’ll be spending the entire afternoon at the
water park tomorrow, and after spending that much time with you in a swimsuit;
be ready to get kissed again if he gets another opportunity to do that.
We do need to get some sleep so we’ll be ready for another
long day of fun, but there are a few other things I should mention first. Last year, Violet and Dillon may or may not
have traded roommates with Stephanie and Jake, but this year they’re eighteen
and chose to stay in one room without asking for parental approval. Violet’s siblings and cousins really
appreciate all of her precedence trail-blazing!
This hotel doesn’t have a lot of adjoining rooms, but Mom was able to
book two of them so that Patrick and Scott could be next to Owen and Patricia;
and Dawn and Jillian are in the room next to Jillian’s parents.
I haven’t really mentioned them much in my journals, but
it’s no wonder to me why Jim and Lily Wright are two of Uncle Rick and Aunt
Melissa’s best friends. They’re a lot of
fun; fit right in with our family and friends; and they love thrill rides as
much as any kid. We should invite them
to come along once in a while for holiday weekends.
Chris and Martin weren’t hanging around with Rebecca and
Jenny today, but the four teens are probably still out exploring our hotel
right now. Since Rowen and I are
watching Ehlana and Naomi, we couldn’t have gone with them; but then we weren’t
invited anyway. Alicia and Erin were
asked to join them, but if Chris is still harboring any remnants from his
infatuation with Alicia last summer; he wasn’t given any opportunity to get
close to her tonight. That’s for the
best, since it wouldn’t be good for Chris and Martin the next time they were in
Witch Falls if Alicia’s and Erin’s boyfriends found out that they were trying
to hang out with their girls – especially since Erin’s boyfriend is Kyle
Landry. He may be as much of a teddy
bear as his father; but he’s a very big teddy bear!
It’s time to call it a night, though it may be a while
longer before Rowen’s completely wound down.
That must’ve been some kiss! :^)
We need to get some sleep, though, and that’s really pretty
much all the news I have for today; so...
...until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor;
logging out!
