Now that the weather didn’t interfere with the Christmas fun
yesterday, I can wish that we’d had a bit more snow overnight, but there was at
least a light dusting of white on the ground this morning while not being
enough to make the bus trip to Maple
Valley a problem.
Rowen and I were a bit rushed this morning. She didn’t need to grab a shower, but I did;
and we both needed to do our hair and get dressed appropriately for another
cold-weather parade. Dad cooked up
pancakes and bacon for breakfast; and let us off the hook for work at both ends
of the meal. Michael and I both skipped
Tai Chi this morning too, but he made it over to my house nearly ten minutes
before Rowen and I were ready to walk over to the school by eight o’clock. We were among the first teens there, and
helped get the bus loaded with the same gear we took to the first parade. We were on the road by a quarter to nine; and
got to Maple Valley by nine-thirty. That gave us time to get everything set up on
the flatbed trailer; do our warm-up; and then we had a little time to get hot
drinks and take a break before needing to get ready to head out onto the parade
route.
I really liked the night-time parade, but we had more fun
today. One of the reasons for that, at
least for me, was because Mom and Dad brought Ethan and Ehlana to the parade –
and to see Santa after it was over. It
wasn’t really a lot warmer today than at the Pinehurst parade, so I was probably
just getting used to playing in the cold already; since I didn’t feel nearly as
uncomfortable being outdoors for about three and a half hours straight from the
time we arrived until we hopped on the bus and headed home again.
The festivities around Maple Valley
today felt a lot like they do during the maple syrup festival; and they even
had some of the same events going on except with a Christmas theme. We were near the front of the parade this
time, and the second musical act; so we had a great reaction from the crowds
along the streets. There weren’t any
teen booing incidents like there had been last weekend, but then our football
rivalry with Maple Valley is much more friendly than with some of the other
schools – possibly because their years of football glory are about as rare as
ours; so their players are in it for the fun.
I guess there really isn’t much to write about for our part
in the parade. Even with the third and
fourth part music that Michael and I play, we still need to mostly focus on our
music and conductor; so that doesn’t really leave much time for anything
else. Yes, I take in and memorize
everything that happens around me, and process more than most all of the time;
but describing all of that in writing isn’t really possible – not to mention
that the details at that level can be fairly boring. For instance, I’m sure that you don’t care
that I noticed everything about the guy checking my Mom out while his wife was
talking with her and their kids were hanging out with Ethan and Ehlana right
down to the small rip in his left-hand glove and there was a scratch along the
edge of the right lens of the sunglasses he was wearing that didn’t keep me
from seeing which parts of my mother he was appreciating.
Like I’ve noted repeatedly; having our photographic memories
isn’t always a good thing.
Moving along, this parade route took about forty minutes to get
through, so we were finished playing by ten to twelve. We had a five minute walk to where the bus
was parked; so it took nearly another half hour to get everything loaded up
again before we were given an hour to have lunch and check out some of the
festival action. Michael, Rowen, and I
were able to meet up with Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana for part of that time,
but we only had about twenty minutes to spend with them by the time they found us
after the parade was over. We picked up
some maple syrup in bottles that had Christmassy-themed labels and red ribbons,
and a few items from the craft sale; but then it was time for Michael, Rowen,
and me to meet up with the band and get on the bus. Mom and Dad stayed at the festival for nearly
another hour with the twins; though they ended up skipping the Santa visit when
doing that was going to take a lot longer than an hour. Ethan and Ehlana had done the pictures with
Santa last weekend, though, so they didn’t mind; and Mom and Dad didn’t want to
end up rushing around to get ready for their Christmas dinner and party.
We got home before they did even after helping to get all of
the band gear into the school again first; but that just gave Rowen and I time
to gather up her things and take them to her house. She went on to the computer store from there,
and Michael and I went to his house to drop off his saxophone on our way to the
Inn to check in with his parents. I couldn’t stay there long, but ended up
spending nearly a half-hour there when Grandpa Grant and Grandma Eleanor made
the Inn their first stop with Jake and
Stephanie.
Their experiences over the past four months have definitely
changed them; though not at all where it really matters. Stephanie’s changed her hair style, and the
more worldly and wise I could see in their faces wasn’t all from good
experiences – or higher education. They
were tired from all of the travel time, but the hugs and kisses were
enthusiastic; and we had fun for the bit of time they could spend with us
before Jacob, Miranda, Rebecca, and Michael needed to get geared up for the
dinner rush; I needed to get home; and Jake and Stephanie moved on to drop
luggage of at their homes and go to spend time with her grandparents and
parents while Jake’s family was busy.
The main reason I needed to be home was because Rowen and I
were semi-official junior babysitters tonight; and I needed to help Mom with
getting guest bedrooms ready for our incoming sleepover kids. Alicia and Erin were in charge tonight, but
they’ll both be graduating this year; and there’s a very good chance that I’ll
be one of the main family babysitters after Alicia leaves for college next
year. Just as a little side-note on
that; I wonder if Aunt Leanne will still be interested in negotiating
employment terms for me for that now that she’ll be needing my services for
that too.
Anyway, we didn’t have any extra visitors in the house when
I got home again; so the bedrooms and bathrooms didn’t take long to get ready –
thanks to some time-phasing Magi fun.
That left Mom and Dad with lots of time to get ready to go out while I
kept Ethan and Ehlana entertained.
Alicia and Erin came over at four-thirty, and were there early enough to
get set up for the pizza-making we were going to do with most of the kids. Our first incoming kid arrived shortly before
five o’clock, and Alicia and Erin started the pizza-making activity as soon as
we had six kids – including Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden.
Mom and Dad needed to be at the Inn
by six, and they left when Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne dropped Zack off with
us. Emma Norton was the last kid to be
dropped off, and that was just a few minutes after Mom and Dad had left. By then, the first custom pizzas were already
coming out of the oven; and she helped with getting the younger kids fed until
Rowen joined us and Alicia had the three of us make up our pizzas and cook
them.
The first few hours of the night were a bit crazy and
busy. The crazy mostly came from Patrick
and Scott while the busy happened thanks to all of the babies and
toddlers. The guys were distracted
easily enough once Michael and Rebecca joined us after they were set free from
the Inn.
They brought Tim with them, and he and Michael kept Patrick and Scott
busy playing video games in the living room while the younger kids mostly
watched Christmas shows in the lounge. I
spent a lot of my time with Zack or Leah, but they each had naps too that gave
me time to play with the twins, Aiden, and Naomi too.
All of that left me with very little time to spend with
Michael until after all of the younger kids were in bed for the night; and he
and Tim were still kept busy entertaining Patrick and Scott even after they
came upstairs and hung out in the lounge too.
Rebecca was ready for some teen time by then, and happily accepted
Alicia and Erin’s offer to watch a Christmas chick flick in the living room
with them, but while Rowen and I could have done that too; we opted for the
boyfriend time such as it was with the video gaming and two too many guys in
the room.
Rowen and I took care of Zack’s midnight feeding too; though
that was mostly because we’d been nearby after hearing Leah wake up but getting
to her just behind Alicia. Zack must’ve
known that the guys were having a gaming competition because he wanted to party
for a while with them; and was up until after one o’clock. He went to bed when Alicia put her foot down
and sent Patrick and Scott off to their room; took custody of Zack from the
‘softie’ junior sitters; and put him to bed again too.
That was the only couples time that Rowen and I got to have
with Tim and Michael, and that was really just a little chat and cuddle time
before we needed to clean up and get to bed too. Rowen and Tim had more fun with that last
part of the night than Michael and I did; but only because they were alone in
the lounge for fifteen minutes while Michael and I were in the kitchen and had
company – including Mom and Dad when they got home from Sheldon’s. Even our goodnight kisses were off the hot
chart at the wrong end; which isn’t making it all that easy for me to sleep
knowing that Michael is in the guest bedroom below this one while the girls
have the top floor. I’m sure there’s a
good reason for having Alicia, Erin, and Rebecca up here with Rowen and me
instead of Michael and Tim – though I’m very okay with having Patrick and Scott
on the second floor.
Rowen and Mandy are already sleeping, and I should be; but I
also expect Zack to wake up any time now and will probably just wait for him so
that Mom and Dad can sleep until morning.
They’ll need all of the rest they can get with the gang we have to feed
and get ready for church in the morning.
I don’t have anything else to report for today, though, so I’ll wrap
this up and maybe listen to some Christmas music until Zack’s ready for his
next bottle. Then it’ll be time for a
power nap before we’ll need to be up and running again.
Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!
