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Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Cassie's Journal - August 19, 2013



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!