This has been a really great day, and Michael and I even
managed to have some alone time tonight while Mom did the bedtime story with
Ethan and Ehlana in their room and Dad got started on his homework after we got
back from the movie theater.
We packed a lot of fun into nearly every hour we were awake,
starting with Tai Chi for Michael, Ethan, Ehlana, and me that attracted a fair
bit of attention from other guests and hotel employees – especially because my
brother and sister looked so adorable and amazing. That was entertaining for everyone there,
including us; but then we needed to hurry to get dressed and ready for a play
day before meeting up with Mom and Dad again and heading over to the little
diner where Dad usually had breakfast on the days he’s working in the city.
Let’s again skip over what my parents may or may not have
been doing as an alternate morning workout instead of joining us for Tai Chi –
especially since their smiles when they did meet up with us were enough evidence
for anyone to make an educated guess about that.
The food at the diner is decent enough and always very fast;
since there isn’t anything on the menu that can’t be cooked in minutes – other
than the staple meats that are always being churned out. That works for Dad since he needs to be at
work anyway, but it didn’t leave us much time to chat this morning while we ate
– though maybe that wasn’t all bad; since four of us are too young to hear the
parental side of our overnight and early morning reports. Ethan and Ehlana happily took care of our
news and most of the meal-time entertainment; and they attracted more attention
again when we walked with Dad to the courthouse and sent him off to work with a
round of hugs and kisses. That may have
been a bit too small-town for some observers, but there wasn’t anyone who
didn’t smile when they saw the twins offering their enthusiastic good-byes to
Dad. I didn’t have any teens around to
worry about anyway, but even if I had; that kind of thing is never going to get
between me and Dad for things like hugs and kisses – even if that isn’t cool
for teens to do anymore.
Anyone who hasn’t had one or both parents in their lives and
then gets to have a really great family can probably relate to me on that one;
and I’m never, ever going to take what I have now for granted – no matter the
hits to my reputation. Michael gets
that, and while he didn’t share a goodbye hug with my father, he didn’t mind
having Mom put an arm around his shoulders while Ethan, Ehlana, and I were
busy.
After leaving Dad at the courthouse, Mom led us back to the
hotel and we took care of a couple of little chores in our rooms before getting
the minivan from the valet parking and heading out for some more shopping fun –
this time in the downtown shopping area instead of on the outskirts of town
where most of the big box stores and Malls are located around the edges of the
city. While I love malls as much as the
next girl, I also really enjoy visiting the unique stores and galleries that
can usually only be found in local and independent businesses instead of the
major chain stores.
In the downtown part of Crystal Springs,
my favorite shops include everything from antiques and crafts to junk shops and
used book stores. While I do admittedly
do most of my reading online or using e-books; there’s still something that I
really love about reading physical books – and I picked up a few used ones
today that I’ll read and then donate to the school library when I’m finished
with them. Michael picked up some comic
books, but most of them were for gifts for friends who are still into them. Ethan and Ehlana left that store with books
too, but that was really entirely for appearances; and they’ll be donating
those books to KidZone next week. It is
funny to see them carrying toddler-level picture books around today when they
were blasting through freshman-year science textbooks at home last week; but
they couldn’t very well rummage through the section of the store devoted to
used texts for the local colleges without getting the kind of attention they
don’t need.
There’s a nice little music store downtown that Michael and
I had fun visiting, and while Mom wasn’t all that impressed with the kazoos we
bought for Ethan and Ehlana; I don’t think they’ll play them to the point of
being annoying, and there aren’t all that many choices that are
toddler-friendly anyway.
Look on the bright side - we didn’t buy them the cute little
set of drums!
We didn’t actually buy very much of anything this morning,
but wandering around the shops was really entertaining; and kept us busy
through until lunchtime. The choice of
grabbing fast food today was made more because most of us weren’t all that
hungry after a big meal last night and breakfast at the diner this
morning. Michael’s appetite hadn’t been
affected, but that isn’t surprising; and he isn’t as scary to take into a
restaurant as Tim and some of the other guys back home are. It’s a really good thing that the Landry’s
have a successful business – they need it just to keep the boys in the family
fed!
The fast food stop also had the advantage of leaving us with
a bit more time for our afternoon adventure at SportsFusion. This was Ethan’s and Ehlana’s first visit to
the sports entertainment center, and while they’re too young for a lot of the
coolest activities; there is still a lot for toddlers to do there –
particularly the two-level playground that anyone can play on; but is geared
toward the younger customers. Michael
and I spent the first hour or so playing with Mom and the twins. That included doing the playground with the
twins while Mom talked with some other parents, and then we played some arcade
games together; helping Ethan and Ehlana to win some tickets toward the prizes
they eventually chose shortly before we needed to head back to the hotel.
Mom took them back to the playground again and set Michael
and me free to do some of the activities that they couldn’t. We started out on the rock climbing wall;
went on the zip line twice; and played a round of laser tag before meeting Mom,
Ethan, and Ehlana for a snack break. We
had time for a round of mini-golf and a game of trampoline basketball after
that before getting together again and doing one last blast through the arcade
to earn more price tickets for my brother and sister. That still didn’t add up to any major prizes
for them, but we had fun; and they were happy enough with their little
souvenirs.
When we got back to the hotel, Michael and I took care of
Ethan and Ehlana again, and pretty much repeated our pre-dinner routine from
yesterday – except that we didn’t get dressed up for fine dining this
time. We definitely needed the showers
this time after the extreme afternoon play time, and with our evening at the movies
plan; I definitely didn’t want to be the wrong kind of fragrant tonight! Mom and Dad appreciated the alone time before
dinner time a bit too much; but let’s just pretend that I don’t know that and
move along.
We had a semi-fast food dinner at another diner-type
restaurant near the movie theater because we didn’t have much time to eat and
make it to the early show times. There
was enough time to give Dad most of the daily update and have him tell us what
he could about his work day; but the meal was a bit of a blurred rush and then
we were off and running again. Michael
and I had our choice of going to see the Lego movie with Mom, Dad, and the
twins or see something else, and though I was tempted to spend the time with
them; we opted to see Need for Speed instead.
I wouldn’t dream of offending all of the people that flocked to the
theaters to watch the Lego movie; so let’s just say that it isn’t something I’m
at all interested in and leave it at that.
While Michael and I liked our movie choice better than our
family-time show option; it was the getting to feel like we were on an actual
date that was really great. As always, I
love our home town and wouldn’t change a thing about our life there; but teen
boyfriend and girlfriend time does not feel like being on a date very often –
except maybe for school dances and weddings.
That changes once driving is an option, but Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I
all have a few years to go before that’ll be an option for us. Maybe I’ll do something about that – the
dating thing, not driving – and actually plan a date night now and then for
us. Going out to a restaurant when my
boyfriend’s parents own the only one we can go to isn’t exactly a date
scenario, and movie theaters aren’t an option in Witch Falls either; but picnics
for two and bike rides or canoe trips do offer romantic possibilities we should
explore more this summer.
That’s a bit off-track, and while it’s nice to think about;
let’s get back to the update – I need to get some sleep soon so I’ll be ready
for another fun, busy day tomorrow.
Need for Speed was about as advertised, and kept Michael and
me entertained if not exactly stimulated from a thought-provoking
perspective. The date-night feeling and
cuddle time was the best part of that couple of hours; and then it was time to
get back to the real world and meet up with Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana and
head back to the hotel. Dad had work to
do, but he and Mom took the twins with them to their room for their bedtime
story and a visit while giving Michael and I an hour or so of alone time in my
room. Since that was just about the only
make-out opportunity we’ve had; I’m sure you won’t be surprised to find out
that we took full advantage of the opportunity.
I also cheated just a bit so that we had more than that hour to play –
at least from a time-phase perspective.
Go ahead and laugh, but I’m not the only Magi Master in Witch Falls
to apply that particular talent to a romantic situation when ‘real’ time isn’t
available. Think back on your past if
you know one or more Magi Masters in your lifetime; and you might even remember
some moments when something like that happened.
I’m not going to suggest that Mom didn’t know that we were playing,
because that’s just silly; but I did make sure that Michael and I had time to
compose ourselves before going across the hallway to collect our bed buddies
when it was time to get them tucked in for the night.
That’s pretty much the end of the news for today. Ehlana and I had another girl chat after
doing the goodnight hugs and kisses and getting ready for bed. She’s been sleeping for nearly an hour now
while I’ve been doing some family business work along with the usual bedtime
computing. Rowen and I had a text-chat
too, and she’s going to be at my house for a sleepover tomorrow night so that
we can both hang out with Dawn and Jillian.
Violet and Dillon will likely be at his house tomorrow night since
they’ve been with her family for the past four days; but I’ll at least get to
spend some time with them while we do some shopping tomorrow before heading home
again.
We haven’t really missed all that much at home today, but I
do wish that Michael and I could have gone biking with Rowen and Tim, and
Michael would have had fun playing football with Tim and the other guys who are
happily helping Kyle get ready to play college football.
By the way – so much for a major break from football – it’s
barely been more than a month since the Super Bowl; and yet here it is back in
my journal news – even before baseball; which doesn’t start for us at home
until May! I’d better just get used to
it; since there is zero chance that Tim won’t be football-crazy for a very long
time; and drag Michael along with him for the ride.
I didn’t exactly want to end this report on that note, but
that’s probably better than writing about what Mom and Dad are probably doing
now that his work is done for the night.
Oops. Gotta run;
so...
...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!
