I haven’t seen them yet, but let’s start out this report by
welcoming the newest members of our town – Pastor John, Stacey, and Rebekkah
Burroughs – to Witch
Falls! Pastors Lewis and Martha must be thrilled to
have their son and his family home to stay; though I’m sure it’s been a busy,
crazy day for all of them too.
Busy and crazy would describe the morning action around our
house too. Mom, Ethan, Ehlana, and I
were all up early to see Dad off to the city; but we didn’t have time for our
usual cuddle and a nap with Mom after he was on the road today. Instead of doing that, the twins and I gave
Violet her wake-up call; I helped her with hauling her luggage downstairs and
we packed her car; and then she hit the shower and got ready for her own trip
before going over to Dillon’s house to get this things loaded up too.
Mom and I took turns getting ready for our shopping day
while taking care of Ethan and Ehlana; and then we needed to get over to the Inn by seven o’clock for the pre-shopping breakfast
buffet. One big change for this shopping
trip was that Ethan and Ehlana weren’t coming with us – they were spending the
day with Grandma and Grandpa instead.
They weren’t disappointed about that; and got to have some shopping fun
at the sales around town anyway. I liked
the arrangements today because Mom was able to have Miranda, Rebecca, Rowen,
and Michael come with us in the minivan.
I haven’t written much about the work that went into getting
this trip together, but I do appreciate everything that Mom, Aunt Leanne, and
the other volunteers do to make these shopping adventures possible. The totals for today were one-hundred and
four shoppers; twenty-one vehicles and drivers; twenty-five adult chaperones;
thirty-five teens (including four teen drivers); and forty-four kids and
tweens.
The dining room was full between the shoppers and the family
and friends who had come along just to share the morning meal. Mom, Uncle Adam, and Aunt Leanne sat with
Violet, Dillon, and his parents to have one last little visit before the two
teens got on the road too; so I sat with Rowen and her family while Ethan and
Ehlana were with Grandma and Grandpa.
Miranda, Rebecca, and Michael were all working right up until it was
time to hit the road for Crystal Springs; so except for a quick good morning
kiss in the kitchen before I went to have breakfast, I didn’t see Michael until
we met outside and climbed into the minivan.
As always, we were in the last group to get on the road once
Mom and Aunt Leanne had made sure that everyone else was accounted for and in
the correct vehicles; plus we needed to say goodbye to Violet and Dillon –
though they were on their way by about half-way through the shopper check-off.
Note to me: add
Dillon’s parents to the bonus hugs list.
They’re kid-free for the first time in twenty years or so; and may need
them for the next few weeks.
I missed having Aunt Leanne with us today, but Miranda is an
awesome stand-in; and she even had some fun teasing Michael and me so we wouldn’t
miss Aunt Leanne’s jokes. That was fine
with us for everything except one particular joke that seriously annoyed
Michael – though he didn’t let his mother know that.
What could be so bad?
The combination of reaching the sixty-two inch milestone and having
brilliant blue eyes. He was sick of the
five-foot-two, eyes of blue song and jokes right from the start. Rebecca could commiserate, since she’d been
on the receiving end of that kind of razzing when she’d hit that comedically
important mark for ever blue-eyed person; but she didn’t try to intervene
either. She did advise Michael that it
got worse if you fought it – especially with your friends. Since his best friend is class practical
joker extraordinaire Tim Landry; that’s really sound advice.
Michael didn’t have to wait to have that confirmed because
Tim and his mother joined our group after we crossed paths twenty minutes after
we got to the Mall. They’d been part of
one of the groups that had left for Crystal
Springs first; but Tim
was happy to hang out with Michael instead of his cousin, Carolyn, and the
group of girls she was shopping with.
Kyle was at the Mall too, but he’d gone off with Erin Green and some of
their friends.
Sarah, Carolyn, and the rest of their group wandered in the
same direction as we were going for the next twenty minutes, but Michael and
Tim were usually in different stores than the girls; and had Miranda and Tracey
helping them with their clothes-buying decisions. That was easier for Miranda, but Tracey and
Sarah Landry know how to handle their boys; and while Tim occasionally gave his
Mom a hard time; she usually won most of their little fashion skirmishes.
Rowen and I didn’t get to spend much time with Michael and
Tim during the morning, but we sat together during lunch; and then we were
given an hour to do some running around on our own so we could take care of
more of the gift shopping we all had on our to-do lists. That had the bonus of giving the Moms time
for some personal clothes shopping too; so it was a win-win for everyone. One cool part about doing that together was
that we started doing some ‘friends’ gifts together. Rowen and I have been doing that for a long
time now, and though Tim seemed to be a bit weirded out to be doing that with
us; he liked the idea of splitting the cost and being able to get better
gifts. Michael and I paired up for some
specific gifts too – like his Mom’s birthday and my parent’s anniversary. It’s a wonder we didn’t need to buy a trailer
to get everything home; but we managed to pack everything into the van – except
for a few bulk supplies from Wal-Mart that we sent with Dad when he met up with
us for dinner.
Before I get to the dinner with Dad part of the story, we
still had more Mall fun and the Wal-Mart visit after Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I
met up with the Moms again. Rowen and I
were pretty much set up for back-to-school clothes by then, so we dealt with
shoes and some accessories that gave us a chance to pick up a few more girl
gifts too. When we were ready to leave
the Mall, Mom and Miranda coordinated a shopper check-in with everyone in our
collective groups. We had seven vehicles
and a bit more than a third of the shoppers come with us to Wal-Mart while
everyone else either headed for home or to do something else. Rebecca and Jenny wandered around Wal-Mart
with Michael, Tim, Rowen, and me while the Moms were busy dealing with the
boring shopping; though we split up a few times while picking out some specific
gifts – for Tim and Michael.
The Wal-Mart time limit was two hours, and Dad had already
met up with Mom by the time we were supposed to meet them at the
checkouts. I knew that, but didn’t try
to rush my friends; and I couldn’t tell anyone except Rowen how I could
possibly know that anyway. Getting out
of the store didn’t take long, but then we did a bit of passenger juggling
before we could move on to the restaurant that Dad and Angela had picked. We traded Tim for Rebecca; partly because
Rebecca and Jenny wanted to have more fast food – and didn’t want to stay late
and miss the tail end of the sales at home.
Tim was good with that change, and the rest of the passenger juggling
was so that Patricia and Tracey could stay too while sending kids and teens
home who didn’t want to do that with us.
Including the Malloys, we ended up with twenty-one at our little dinner
party.
I really loved getting to spend some time with Terry,
Angela, and Valerie; though Rowen and I really only got to have Valerie with us
a lot at the kids’ table while the parents were busy having fun with their
friends. Valerie will be one in about a
month; and she’s at a very entertaining stage.
She’s very happy, giggles a lot; and wasn’t at all shy about sitting
with us instead of Mommy and Daddy. I
could have lived without the diaper change, but if Terry thought that one dirty
diaper was going to scare me after going through all of that with twins; he was
disappointed.
Michael and I were the only kids willing to be even remotely
adventurous with our meal choices; and I liked getting to try two new things
even though Tim and Rowen razzed us about sharing our food. I don’t see what the big deal is – we weren’t
feeding each other or anything weird like that.
We didn’t bug Tim about picking a burger and fries platter. Sure, it was a lot better than fast food; but
a step down from any burger option at the Inn.
I didn’t get to spend much time with Dad either, but we had
a little visit in the parking lot after dinner while Mom was busy with Terry,
Angela, and Valerie; and we had just seen each other this morning. At least now we only have four days left
until he’ll be home again. Miranda
rounded us up when it was nearly time to go, and let Mom and Dad have a few
minutes together too; but then he needed to get back to the hotel and his homework;
and we still had an hour and a half of travel time ahead of us. That break in the action was fine with me –
Michael and I cuddled all the way home in the back seat and talked with Tim and
Rowen while watching a ‘B’-rated space movie that we’d picked up in one of the
cheap bins at Wal-Mart. I’ll classify
that flick as so bad it’s funny; and I really wish that my memory would allow
it to be forgettable.
One thing that did work out for us was not needing to do a
lot of running around town dropping off boxes and bags to other houses like we
normally would when we take the van and truck.
We unloaded everything from our driveway; and Tim, Rowen, and I helped
Miranda and Michael with carrying all of their things home. I had to say goodnight to Michael after our
last trip to his house; and Tim stayed with him for a little while before going
home too. Rowen and I ran down to her
house to give her Mom a hand with unloading their minivan once she got there
after dropping off all of her passengers except Patrick. He helped too, but barely talked to me; and
disappeared into his room once the work was done.
I stayed for another ten or fifteen minutes to do the first
part of the shopping trip recap with Owen; but then headed home again to help
Mom with hauling bags upstairs and putting the supplies away that couldn’t be
left in Dad’s truck for the rest of the week.
Grandma and Grandpa were there with Ethan and Ehlana; so we had some
extra help to get the work done before getting cold drinks and sitting around
the kitchen table to tell each other bedtime shopping stories.
Trading dinner with Dad and the Malloys for missing out on
the big sales here was worth it, but Grandma, Aunt Leanne, Aunt Deborah,
Ehlana, and Leah had fun when they went shopping together; and I doubt that the
store owners missed our business all that much – especially since it just means
that we’ll be more interested in the Labor Day sales than we usually would be. Ethan and Ehlana had needed to stay up until
we were home, but Grandpa and I took them up to bed once they had their
shopping news fix; and I came up to my room right after Mom and I did the
goodnight hugs and kisses with Grandma and Grandpa when they were ready to go
home.
Before getting changed, I needed to deal with putting my own
clothes away; and I wrapped all of the gifts too before stacking them on the
usual shelf in my closet too. Mom had
opted for some Jacuzzi time after checking in to make sure everyone was home
safely from the city, and I thought about doing that too; but opted for a quick
shower instead before getting changed and into bed with Mandy. I was tired then, but Mom will want to get
back to my Magi lessons again; so I finished my archive homework and needed to
do some family business work first before getting to my usual nightly computing
and this journal update.
Since I didn’t even get started on that until nearly
midnight, it’s now after two; and I am past being ready to crash for the rest
of the night. I don’t know what we’re
doing tomorrow for Michael’s second day off from the Inn;
but since Jacob had to work today and we were away; he’ll have yard work for
sure. Maybe I’ll help out with that so
he isn’t stuck with it all day – they are one set of hands short now that Jake
and Stephanie are in New York. Whatever we do, I’ll need an early night
tomorrow night so I can catch up on my sleep.
We have Tim’s birthday on Wednesday; riding lessons and baseball
practice on Thursday; dinner and holiday weekend cooking on Friday night; and
baseball and the big kid campout and adult party and the pub on Saturday.
If the last week of August is that busy too, I’ll need to go
back to school just to get some rest!
Getting some sleep is my top priority for the rest of the night, so...
...until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor;
logging out!