Happy 3rd Birthday, Ethan and
Ehlana!
They’re having a sleepover with Naomi,
Aiden, and Sophia now, and while they might still all be awake; I plan on being
off in dreamland a minute or two after I finish with this update.
We’ve had a really great day, but other
than Tai Chi this morning; I feel like I’ve been going non-stop since
then. I helped Dad with the cooking;
Michael came back over after getting ready for church to join us for Ethan and
Ehlana’s big birthday breakfast; and then he helped with the clean-up while I
took my turn getting ready for church too and had some hair and dress-up play
time with Ehlana. The twins were very
popular while we were at church; and they had a fairly large percentage of our
friends and neighbors take at least a moment or two to wish them a happy
birthday before or after the service.
That doesn’t happen with very many people, and usually just the most
senior seniors around town; but when you’re the only twins in town, you get a
little extra attention for things like birthdays.
I was right back into work mode by the time
we got home; and Mom, Dad, and I spent nearly an hour rushing around and
getting everything packed and ready for our trip to Quarry Lake. Michael went to the Inn to help with the lunch
set-up; but then he was set free in time to catch a ride with us out to the
campground. Rowen and Tim went out there
too both for the party and to help out with kid control and the work that never
seemed to end. We hauled gear from the
truck to the beach; kept a gang of two and three-year old kids busy and
entertained; fed a gang of kids, teens, parents, and grandparents; and kept
helping out all afternoon – whether that was taking kids swimming or to the
playground or keeping up with the ongoing work through until we loaded up the
vehicles and headed back to town.
That maybe doesn’t sound all that exciting
in that context, but even with a lot of work; we still had a really great
day. I’d also like to mention that one
of my personal favorite top moments of the day was seeing Michael’s reaction to
the new swimsuit I picked out to wear today.
That’s not exactly a toddler-rated birthday moment; but I didn’t pick my
swimsuits out on Friday with that in mind – and Michael definitely didn’t have
a problem with spending the afternoon with me while I was wearing it! Tim had a comparable reaction to a
girlfriends in swimsuits afternoon with Rowen; so I’ll rate our summer shopping
trip a complete success based on the evidence collected so far.
Getting back to the actual birthday party,
Ethan and Ehlana had a blast with their friends all afternoon; and then the
party continued back at home with a fairly large barbeque for our family, their
friends, and quite a few neighbors and families of their friends
attending. While not everyone was back
in time for dinner from Tory and Kyle’s wedding; Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, and
Zack did make sure that they were back in time to celebrate with Ethan and
Ehlana – even if they hadn’t been able to be with us at Quarry Lake too.
I’ll take a wild guess that Uncle Adam
would have preferred spending the afternoon with Aunt Leanne in a swimsuit
instead of being stuck in their minivan doing a long drive; but I digress. ;^)
Then again, while I’m in the danger zone
anyway; I’ll go ahead and mention that Dad liked Mom’s new swimsuit,
skirt-wrap, and top a lot too. No
additional information is required from a kid perspective there; so let’s move
along.
Michael needed to go and help out at the
Inn for the buffets as soon as we got back; and I spent the next couple of
hours rotating between the pre and post-dinner work crews and my dinnertime
stint on kid control as we attempted to feed a gang of little kids with as
minimal mess as possible. News flash to
parents who have forgotten the toddler years – teen boys may be scary when in
small, ravenous bands; but at least they do eat everything in sight instead of
wearing half of it! The good news for us
was that dunking kids in the river to wash off everything from hot dog
condiments to chocolate ice cream and cake was an option that we took advantage
of quite a few times.
The party was officially over after dinner,
but it took a while to wind down as our guests slowly headed for their homes in
small groups. Dad needed to go and hide
in the office right after dinner so that he could get his work done for
morning; but Mom and I still had lots of help from Grandma, Grandpa, and a
handful of rotating volunteers to get the rest of the work done; have a little
play time with Ethan, Ehlana, and their friends; and then eventually get the
sleepover part of the night moved into the ‘go-to-bed’ stage. I came up to my room once they were tucked
in, and since Michael stayed at the Inn until closing; we decided to just call
it a night early instead of getting together again for a while.
We’re getting some rain now anyway, so
getting a little extra sleep while it’s wet out anyway will make sure that I’m
rested up again and ready for a couple of play days while the Stone family is taking
the only two days off they’re likely going to have for the next couple of weeks
– other than the Fourth of July. The Inn
will be very busy for both the week of and week after the holiday.
I spent a little time in my Jacuzzi after
coming up to my room; did a little family business multi-tasking while in the
tub; and practiced the teen praise team music for a little while too before
climbing into bed with Mandy. While I
heard a bit about Tory and Kyle’s wedding tonight; I was out of the loop for
most of those chats with Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne. I’ll try to add a bit more of that news to my
next report once I do get the rest of the details.
Let’s wrap this up with a few bits of
birthday news from Ethan and Ehlana’s perspective. Without going into a gift-by-gift recap, a
top gift for each of them was the new bike that Mom and Dad gave each of them. No, they are not identical or boys and girls
versions of the same bike; but they are both BMX-style and have off-road
training wheels so that they can ride them just about anywhere – sidewalks,
back yard, or park trails. My days of
pulling them around in the trailer are going to be over sooner instead of
later, and while they could ride those bikes without the training wheels right
now if they weren’t stuck playing ‘normal’ three-year old kids; they were both
quite happy to have their own new ‘two-wheelers’. I guess we’ll have to pass on their trikes to
their cousins now. Kids – they grow up
so fast!
Ethan’s highlight of the day might just
have been his birthday kiss from Naomi, but if he admitted that to anyone; it
wasn’t me, and I didn’t hear about it.
All of the witnesses thought that Naomi’s gesture was adorable; and Liz
seemed to be very proud of her little girl – even while Philip made jokes about
needing to lock their daughter up until she was thirty or so.
Here’s a hint for you – oh wait; I’d better
not write that just in case my journals for this year are available to you,
dear future reader, before the event I’m thinking about right now actually
happens. I definitely do not want to
spoil any surprises!
Moving along, other highlights for Ethan
and Ehlana included pretty much all of the play time at Quarry Lake; the two-cake
dessert options that allowed them to each make a wish and then have a small
slice of each to go with their ice cream.
They did not need to be dunked in the river, but happily went in anyway
along with most of their friends; and now I’m sure that they’re having fun with
their sleepover.
Finally, we don’t actually have much of
anything planned for the week ahead.
There’s the normal baseball and teen praise team practice schedule; we’ll
be having our regular future plans meeting tomorrow night; and I’ll have the
usual family business and chores work to do; but there aren’t any special
events booked as of right now. We’re
also not going to have any of ‘our’ family home for the holiday weekend this
year, so we won’t have quite the same load of extra chores – though we will
probably give Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne a hand with getting ready for their
incoming family. That’s going to seem
strange, but then Michael and I are going to be extra-busy anyway; so that
might be for the best. I’d feel bad if
Dawn was here and I couldn’t spend much time with her while I was busy with
baseball, the teen praise team, and the time I plan on spending with Michael at
the Inn while he’s busy there.
Okay, I can think about stuff like that
once we’re closer to the holiday. For
now, though, I’m ready to go into nap mode for the rest of the night; so, until
next time…
…Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the
Light!
