We were having a work morning, and Rowen and I didn’t plan
on doing anything this afternoon other than take it easy and recover from a
couple of long, extreme play days; but there still ended up being a lot going
on.
That started with Tai Chi.
With Violet away, Mom, Dad, and I needed to get all four toddlers
dressed and meet Michael out by the river.
Naomi tried to follow along with Ethan and Ehlana again; and Aiden
joined them for about two minutes before deciding that he wasn’t quite able to
keep up with his older friends. He sat
on one of the benches after that and played with the cars he’d brought along
until we were finished exercising and ready to go inside again. Michael went home then instead of staying to
eat with us, and while Rowen was working at the computer store today; I ended
up spending most of the morning working with Mom. Alicia had the day off, so after Naomi and
Aiden were picked up; Mom combined a Magi lesson for the twins with some of our
housework so that we could get everything except the laundry finished in just a
couple of hours. I stayed with Ethan and
Ehlana when Mom ran some errands, and she brought back fresh bakery buns to
make subs with for lunch.
I met up with Rowen at the computer store today after Mom
set me free for the afternoon, and had a little chat with Patricia and Owen
while she finished having her lunch.
When she was ready to go, we did a construction site bike tour. There weren’t any major, visible changes in
the new section of town because they’re mostly working on the interiors of most
of the houses in progress right now.
Yes, there is still lots of time left in the construction season before
the outdoor work will mostly come to a stop, but quite a few of the crews are
also getting ready for the first apartment building construction that is going
to keep them busy this fall – and all winter for the interior work. The construction at the lab was more
noticeable, and though there’s a lot more going on there that you can’t see –
particularly in the basement levels; it’s cool to see how fast the steel beam
framing is getting done. I’ll guess that
the lab will be the talk of the town over the holiday weekend for most
visitors.
After our tour, we stopped in at the park to see what was
going on there, and what we’d apparently missed out on while we were away was
the unofficial start of football season.
Our school doesn’t start team training until the Monday before their
first game; but Kyle got some of his buddies to start working out with him
every day starting on Monday. They’re
doing that in the afternoons at the park football field; and they were still
getting together to start their workout when Rowen and I went over to the
bleachers to find out what was going on.
Tim was there with Kyle; and he joined in for all of the
drills that Kyle put his friends and teammates through for the first hour. For some reason, Rowen felt the urge to stay
and watch; so that’s where we were when Michael met up with us on his afternoon
break. Tim let him have nearly five
minutes with us before drafting him to join in on the football workout. Michael only caught the tail end of the
drills, and then he and Tim were put on Kyle’s team for a scrimmage game. Kyle only had six guys who were actually training
with him, and had either been on the team last year or were hoping to make the
team this year; but there were other guys – like Tim and Michael – who were
willing to join in for the game; so they were able to play with eight a side.
While Kyle and most of the other guys are a lot bigger than
Michael and Tim, they are the two best guy athletes in our grade; and did
pretty well against the older guys. It
helped a lot that they were on Kyle’s team instead of playing against him, but
Kyle did put the next-best offensive and defensive players on the other team so
they could train against him; so they weren’t just up against fluff
competition. They took turns playing
running back and wide receiver positions when their team was on offense, and
were the safeties on defense.
After watching the action this afternoon, I’m really glad
that Kyle’s on our team – and I’m sure his friends are glad too. Michael and Tim each scored a touchdown too,
but Kyle had three; got two of them on defense; and plowed his way through the
other team to lead other guys to big run gains over and over again. The toughest part of that for the guys on the
other team was that he was holding back so he didn’t really hurt anyone. By the time they were finished playing,
Michael didn’t have much time left before needing to get back to the Inn. We came back
to my house for a swim so that we could take Ethan and Ehlana in with us; and
then he and Tim both left while Rowen and I stayed and helped Mom with the
twins while she did some work in the office and made dinner.
Rowen stayed for dinner, and she and I did the clean-up
while Mom and Dad got ready for their baseball practice. They may have been tired tonight, but all of
the Fix-it Uppers’ players seemed to be off tonight; so maybe their motivation
level was just down after getting the big win last Friday night. After watching football for too long this
afternoon, Rowen and I were happy to take Ethan, Ehlana, and Naomi to the
playground; and Emma Norton joined us to play too. We need to invite her over for another
sleepover or camping night before the end of summer, but we all have a lot
going on between now and the holiday weekend; so we may have to settle for
having her at the camping adventure we’re planning for a week from Saturday
while the parents will be at the end-of-season party at Sheldon’s Pub. Mom and Dad need to have a break for the rest
of this week – especially since Dad will be busy getting ready for his week in
the city between now and Sunday. I
should talk to Grandma and Aunt Leanne about giving them a kid-free night this
weekend.
Michael met up with us at the park, but Tim was busy with
something at home. Dad needed to get
some work done when we got back to our house, but he and Mom came for a
cool-off swim with us first before leaving Ethan and Ehlana with Michael,
Rowen, and me to keep playing for an extra half-hour or so. Not even Olde Bakery bedtime snacks could
keep Rowen with us after our swim; and she went home then while Michael and I
took care of the bedtime routine for Ethan and Ehlana – including doing the
snack and story with Mom and Dad in the office before getting them changed,
doing the bathroom visits, and tucking them in for the night.
I would have been happy to have Rowen hang out with us, but
getting some actual alone time with Michael for an hour or so was really great
too – and something we’re going to need to make more time for in our busy
schedules! We cuddled on the sectional
sofa in the lounge; put a show on that we didn’t really watch; and had our
first actual make-out session. Before
you let your mind wander too far down that trail of thought; don’t forget that
Mom and I have a very close link. You
can trust me when I tell you that nothing happened – and definitely not as much
as we’ve seen other tween couples doing at some of the dances and parties over
the past year or two.
It was a lot of fun, though! :^)
Michael went home at eleven o’clock, and after saying
goodnight to him, and then to Mom and Dad, I needed to spend some time with my
Jacuzzi. It was time to do some extra
family business work tonight too; and that meant having another late
night. I started on that while in the
tub, and then I took a break while doing my hair and getting ready for
bed. I ended up sitting in the window
alcove for an hour and a half after that instead of working in bed; but that
was as much to keep me more awake than because of the view.
There isn’t anything specific of interest to report from the
work, but I did have some email from Dawn, Violet, Stephanie, and Chrissy
waiting for me tonight. Dawn and Jillian
were the center of attention today with their friends; and they wanted to let
me know that there were some jealous girls in Woodvale after they saw some of
the pictures she took of Michael and me.
I don’t think I’ll take Michael along for any trips to Woodvale for a
while just to be safe.
Violet and Dillon had a good day hanging out with her best
friends; and they spent the evening with her grandparents and parents; though
they’re going out with some friends tomorrow night. Stephanie and Jake are loving their first
week in New York;
and are missing home a lot too. They
aren’t having any problems getting around the city; though using subways,
buses, and trains is a serious culture shock.
The shopping sounds like fun; and they have tickets to their first
Broadway show on the weekend – a going away gift from her parents. Chrissy had an update reply for me too; and
though she and Josiah aren’t in the same residential hall; they’re spending as
much time together as they can around their own frosh week schedules – and all
of the orientation events they each need to attend. They’ll be starting classes on Monday; so I
hope their schedules will still give them lots of time to spend together –
that’s going to be a fairly important part of their involvement in our future
plans.
I guess that’s it for now, and my Tai Chi wake-up call isn’t
all that far away, so...
...until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor;
logging out!
