Happy 11th Birthday, Patrick!
Mother Nature decided to give him some
great weather for his big day, and while I didn’t get to enjoy much of that
warm and sun with Michael; Rowen and I had some playground fun with Ethan and
Ehlana after dinner.
While Patrick is fast-approaching the
borderline for what are and aren’t cool toys, Rowen, Tim, Michael, and I went
with giving him a pair of radio-controlled boats that he and his buddies have
already had out racing on the river; and I think we had a hit with our
choice. I know, and you may be thinking,
that boys of all ages love to play with radio-controlled toys, and that is
true; but those toys get a lot more expensive as the boys get older and probably
won’t be in some of our budgets anytime soon no matter how much Patrick would
love to have gas-powered planes, helicopters, cars, or boats.
Giving Patrick his gifts was the most
entertaining part of the morning for Rowen and me; and he even managed to get
through a birthday hug and kiss from me without getting too embarrassed or
flustered. He walked to school with us
and stayed long enough to thank Michael and Tim for the boats; but then he was
off and running to enjoy the day with Scott and the rest of his buddies. After that, the highlight of our school day
was the weather – getting to be outdoors at lunchtime and for Phys-Ed. There was more football after we ate our
lunches, but Rowen and I split our time between watching Michael and Tim play and
going for a walk around the schoolyard.
We had track and field in Phys-Ed; though we mostly did track work
because the field’s still too soft for some of the other activities.
Since Rowen and I needed to head over to
her house right after school to help her mother with the pre-party work in the
kitchen and yard. Michael and Tim still
went to Tim’s house to study before going on to their usual Wednesday night
work at the Inn and auto shop; though some football action may have gotten in
their way for a while before they managed to get to the studying. Helping Patricia was mostly fun; though that
started going downhill once Patrick and his friends arrived and they started
acting like a typical pack of ten and eleven-year old boys. Rowen was really glad that she didn’t have to
stay for the party; and we were both ready to leave when it was time for us to
get home and have dinner with my family.
Patricia was not really joking when she begged us to take her along;
though she wasn’t seriously going to leave Owen on his own with the gang of
boys.
Compared to the action going on at the
Emerson’s house, we had a very quiet evening.
Dad grilled some chicken on the barbeque to go with the side dishes Mom
whipped up for us, and though Rowen missed out on the Olde Bakery birthday cake
at her house; we had pie and ice cream for dessert. Our work at her house didn’t count at mine,
so Rowen and I were on the clean-up crew after dinner; but then we headed out
for the play time at the park with Ethan and Ehlana.
We spent an hour or so there, and then
Rowen and I did our homework in the lounge while Ethan and Ehlana studied in
the office – where Mom and Dad had been working since we’d left for the
park. Being on our own to study allowed
us to speed up our work with a little Magi power; and that gave us time for
some music fun before we went downstairs to do the bedtime routine with the
twins. Once Ethan and Ehlana were tucked
in for the night, Mom did a Magi lesson with Rowen and me; and that was my
favorite part of the night. We
definitely need to start doing that more often again than we have lately,
though as usual; I have no idea how to fit that in along with everything else
I’d like to be doing but never seem to have time for.
I also haven’t written about Rowen’s actual
Magi development in quite a while; so let’s take a moment to do that. Her grandmother thinks that her development
is affected by her bonus lessons with Mom; the training tips that Mom is
passing on to all Magi mentors; and our ability to use our talents without
adult supervision now that I can shield.
She’s right about that, but while we’re helping Rowen reach her full
Magi potential; she’s also still one of the strongest Magi of our generation. Her strengths include the elements and
transmutation; and while she’s only at the very beginning of her shielding
lessons, she’s showing the potential to be as good at that as Uncle Adam is –
and he’s one of the best in his generation.
Rowen isn’t as strong in telepathy, empathy, or telekinesis; but that’s
still relative to others and she’d rank somewhere in the middle of the pack
from strongest to weakest in all three areas.
That will fluctuate a bit until we’re adults, but while Rowen can still
do amazing things; she probably won’t be holding up any major farm equipment or
airplanes anytime soon. She’ll have to
settle for the equivalent of cars, trucks, and maybe the occasional bus.
I’m still hoping that we’ll get to test
those abilities someday soon in a more practical way than just applying forces
against each other and measuring the results.
That just isn’t as cool as moving big objects around would be!
Moving along, Rowen borrowed my Jacuzzi
when we came up to my room for the night; and I did most of my studying and
family business work while she was in the tub.
We had a bit of hair play time while she was getting ready for bed; and
we’ve been chatting and surfing the internet since climbing into bed with
Mandy. I’ve done my usual bedtime
computer checks too, though there isn’t anything going on worth mentioning from
any of that. We’ve mostly just been
having fun with the best friend chat time and watching some funny YouTube
videos. We’re not quite ready to call it
a night yet, but I don’t have anything else to add to this update; so I’m going
to wrap it up and sit back and enjoy whatever entertainment Rowen finds for us
until we are ready to nap. This may not
have been birthday party fun, but mid-week sleepovers are a lot better than our
usual Wednesday night part-time jobs; so it’s been a really good day for both
of us. With game night and another warm
day to look forward to tomorrow; I hope the fun will keep on coming for the
rest of the week and weekend.
Here’s hoping that’ll happen, but I’m out
of here for now; so…
…Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the
Light!
