We’ve had a beautiful day, though some rain moved into the
area around dinnertime. With as much
nice weather as we’ve had for the past few weeks, you won’t hear me complaining
about a bit of rain here and there – especially when we’re having a quiet night
at home anyway.
My day started out great with Tai Chi and then got even
better with breakfast at Michael’s house with his parents and sister. It’s a really good thing that I have a
hyper-metabolism – you really need to have one if you’re going to be fed by the
Stone family on a regular basis.
The front porch kiss teasing last night was mild compared to
having Mom, Dad, Aunt Leanne, Uncle Adam, and the twins meet up with us in
front of Michael’s house – especially when they found out what Jacob had cooked
for breakfast. Aunt Leanne has a great
sense of humor, but it’s very inconsistent to have spent so much time and
effort with her matchmaking for Michael and me only to joke about not waiting
long enough for the perfect younger man – one with an amazing chef for a
father.
That gave the adults in our group a starting point for an
entertaining conversation as we walked to the church while Rebecca, Michael,
and I walked with Ethan and Ehlana and talked about anything else. The only real news from church was that
Pastor John led his first full service today; and Stacey started moving into
her new roles with the Sunday school, kid, and teen programs by starting to
visit each of the Sunday school classes.
She didn’t make it to our class today, but she did visit the nursery and
see Ethan, Ehlana, and their friends.
While we hadn’t had any specific plans for the afternoon,
some of the parents decided to celebrate the return of day off Sundays with a
picnic at the park. Michael had to help
out at the Inn, so he wasn’t able to come; but
Rowen’s family; all of my family; and quite a few of our friends all signed up
for the impromptu pot-luck event. I
walked to the Inn with Michael; went home to get changed after that; and then
Rowen and I were sent on ahead to the park with Patrick, Scott, Ethan, and
Ehlana while the parents threw the picnic together before following us
there. We rode our bikes over, and took
the twins in their trailer so that we could go for a ride after lunch. Patrick and Scott went to hit the trails
right away while Rowen and I played with Ethan and Ehlana at the
playground. Naomi and Aiden were dropped
off with us when Philip and Liz got to the park. Hannah and Nathan were working at the bakery;
but had sent Aiden to hang out with Ethan while keeping Hailey with them.
We hadn’t heard that Tim was coming to the picnic too, but
he was there with his parents; and came over to the playground to help us out
with entertaining the younger kids while his father helped out on the grills
and his mother joined the girls setting up a large buffet table in the
pavilion. Lunch wasn’t holiday weekend
in the park kind of action, but it was busy; and we all had a lot of fun. While Rowen and I had been on kid control
duty before we ate; that job was given to the grandparents and others after
lunch while we were drafted to help with cleaning up and loading leftovers,
picnic supplies, and coolers back into cars and trucks before we could go back
to playing.
All of that was done by the time Michael joined us for his
afternoon break, and he was just in time for a football scrimmage game. Rowen and I have had fun playing football at
school with the guys, but playing on a team with Michael and Tim against three
out of four of our fathers was a total blast.
We were the only girls on the ‘kids’ team, but our Moms decided to
surprise us by playing on the ‘parents’ team.
Tim’s mother played too, and while the name of the game was fun; we were
actually pretty evenly matched teams. We
lost the game, but only because some of the guys on our team kept
underestimating my mother. I tried to
warn them that she’s a mathematical genius and can apply that ability to
throwing a football; but they wouldn’t listen and got burned for some big
plays. The fact that Michael and Tim
were faster than all of the men was the only reason it wasn’t a blow-out – the
‘old’ guys started running out of steam at about twenty yards. That’s the same reason why we were able to score
some points too – they couldn’t catch us if we made it that far without getting
touched down.
We didn’t play a long game because some of us still wanted
to have time for a bike ride and swim before Michael needed to get back to the
Inn, and though I really like to win; it was fun watching the parents celebrate
after edging us by a touchdown. Dad
hooked the trailer up to his bike so that I could ride some of the bike trails
with Michael, Rowen, and Tim while he and Mom stayed on the main park
pathway. We didn’t have a lot of time
for that because Ethan and Ehlana also wanted to do the construction sites
tour; and then we weren’t left with much time for the swim before Michael
needed to go.
Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne had brought Dad’s truck home from
the park, but we still needed to unload it; and Rowen and I helped with that
after Michael left while Mom was busy getting Ethan and Ehlana dried off and
changed. Once that was done, Rowen and I
went over to her house to finish our homework before dinnertime; and then I was
home again for the night before the rain started.
We had an easy-dinner meal, and I helped Mom with the
clean-up while Dad went to work in the office and Ethan and Ehlana stayed in
there with him and played on their iPads.
Mom did a Magi lesson with us after that, but then I was set free to get
an early start on my school night studies and work. I combined the first part of that with some
Jacuzzi time; took a break for the bedtime story and snack with Mom, Dad, and
the twins; and then climbed into bed with Mandy to get back to the rest of my
work.
I’ve put in some extra time on that again tonight, but
thanks to the early start; it’s only coming up on one-thirty, and I can handle
five hours or so of sleep better than three or four. Six or seven hours of down time would be better,
but that’s probably not going to happen regularly anymore; and I can get by
with less. For those of you who are
thinking that isn’t good for me when I’m only twelve, or that I don’t really
need to work this hard; don’t worry.
There are reasons why I need to do all of this; and mostly it’s because
I have a lot to learn if I’m going to be ready for my future. Sometimes I wish that work could wait for a
few more years, but that isn’t an option either. Going to sleep right now is, though, so I’m
going to shut down my computer; cuddle with Mandy; and get to that.
Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!
