We could get rained on sometime early this
morning, but our camping adventure became too big to change without
disappointing a lot of kids and teens; and we won’t melt with a little rain
anyway. We’ve also had a blast today,
and will be doing a buffet breakfast at the Inn in the morning; so I seriously
doubt that anyone will mind if we do get a bit wet when it’s time to get up in
a few hours.
Let’s start with the morning events and I’ll
get to the camping part of the day soon.
Tai Chi by the river was better again with Michael joining us; though
that meant he missed out on the camping dinner while helping out at the Inn
during the dinner rush. Breakfast was
uneventful and we just had a normal weekday meal; and then it was time for me
to get to work for a while. I gave my
room a quick once-over; and then mowed the lawn today instead of leaving it for
Saturday when it would get in the way of our last family play day of the
vacation for all of the younger cousins before they head home on Sunday. I had that done in time to go for a swim with
Ethan, Ehlana, and our cousins; and then I got cleaned up for our lunch at the
Inn with the Grandparents.
That was a blast of fun, and though Ethan,
Ehlana, and I weren’t at the table with Grandma, Grandpa, and our Proctor and
Rice family cousins; we were right next to them with Mom, Dad, Violet, and
Dillon; and were able to talk with them quite a bit too. I’ll do an update on it on the weekend, or
maybe next week; but one of the top chat stories today was Grandma and Grandpa’s
upcoming trip. They’re going to be
taking Jaimie, Kaitlyn, and Jayden home; they’ll have a visit with everyone
there; and then head out on their Eastern Asia trip. I’d like to spend more time with them between
now and then, since they’re going to be away for six weeks; but that probably
isn’t going to happen when I’ll be busy with my cousins most of the time
instead.
We did have a fun time together at lunch,
though; and then I was off and running again – or biking – for the
afternoon. Michael was set free to hang
out with us when we were finished at the Inn, so I got to have a bit of bonus
time with him too – even though we were still pretty much busy the entire time
keeping up with the younger kids. The
biking, swim time, and playground action was all really great, and then we
moved on to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s when Michael needed to be back at the
Inn so that the younger kids could keep playing while being supervised and I
could lead the camp set-up crew of older kids and teens.
Using Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s, and
Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace’s back yards was an option; so we put the tents along
the lot line, stretching away from the river.
that was intentional because Patrick and Scott had gotten permission to
use the Emerson’s back yard for a camping adventure with most of their friends
too; so by the time we had all of the tents set up, we practically had one big
campground with just a bit of play space between the two groups of tents. There has also been a lot of inter-mingling
anyway; since siblings or cousins are split up at ‘our’ campsite or ‘theirs’.
I set up the tents for my cousins and
friends with help from Rowen, Tim, Jonathan, Jenny, and some other teens; but
left the rest of the work up to the other kids and teens that were joining the
adventure through other invitations.
Dawn and Jillian helped out a bit too, though they were also keeping an
eye on the younger cousins – and hanging out with Tommy, Julian, and some of
the other tweens as they joined the party.
While we were busy with all of that, the parents were collectively
putting together dinner for a gang that they didn’t really even have an
accurate number for. The good news there
for them was that other parents dropped off food to help out; which meant that
we pretty much ended up with a pot-luck barbeque dinner with a lot of different
options. For instance, we ended up with
a total of fourteen salad options – though there were several that were the
same but different recipes.
We needed to eat early enough for some of
us to get to ball practices, but that worked out for the parents too because
they were able to feed the kids and teens and then get rid of them for an hour
and a half or so and enjoy their own meal in relative peace. We’ve got two weekends off before our next
game; so our baseball practice was fairly relaxed tonight; but the big news at
the park was on the football field anyway.
With the camping going on tonight, Tim had enough guys to have a
scrimmage football game, and since Michael was set free from the Inn when
Rebecca was; he was able to join in for their mini-practice. From what I heard tonight; the guys are going
to try and have a game every Thursday night during our practices; so Rebecca,
Rowen, and I better get used to football talk with the guys at our Thursday
camping nights too.
While we were busy with baseball or
football, Ethan, Ehlana, the rest of our cousins, and most of the other kids
and teens hung out at the playground or went swimming. Moe swimming was at the top of the list when
we got back to our campground after baseball; so the parents had a bit more of
a break while we were doing that – though they also got a campfire set up and
snacks and drinks ready for when we started doing that once it started getting
dark. There was some more play time in
between the swim and the campfire that included a volleyball game that Patrick
and some of his friends started up; but Michael and I spent most of that time
playing with the younger kids. Tim and
Rowen played volleyball too, but Rebecca and Lucas played with us.
I wonder if Rebecca has noticed that he’s
as good with little kids as Michael is?
He is definitely going to be one of those really good fathers some day.
Moving along, we really have ended up with
a mass camping night here, so it actually felt a bit crowded around the
campfire – though some of the teen couples disappeared for a while here and
there. Canoe rides for two; walks; or
sneaking off to make out in one of the tents were all popular choices. I wish that Michael and I had been able to do
that too, but we stayed at the campfire and helped to keep the younger kids
entertained until it was time to get them ready for bed and tucked into their
tents. The music and scary stories were
as fun as always, so it wasn’t as if we didn’t have a great time anyway; but
Michael and I really aren’t doing very well on the making more alone time for
us part of our summer plans so far this year.
We were entertained all night through until
we crawled into our respective tents a half-hour or so ago, though; so let’s
cover a few of the highlights. After
putting Ethan, Ehlana, and most of the younger kids into their sleeping bags,
we rejoined the campfire action; played some more music; chatted with the other
teens and older kids; and then went for a moonlight swim before getting dry
again by the fire until it was nearly out.
There was a lot of teen and tween action going on around the campground
tonight too, but Rebecca, Lucas, Rowen, Tim, Michael, and I mostly just hung
out by our tents and enjoyed the show.
I haven’t talked with Dawn or Jillian about
it yet, but they both went for walks with Tommy and Julian after we put the
last embers of the fire out; and were gone for a half-hour or so. While I don’t have any details, there seems
to be a very good chance that goodnight kisses were involved in those
walks. I’ll keep you posted on those
stories. Romance wasn’t the only tween
or teen drama going on; and pranks are practically a given when you get a large
group of boys together. Lucas, Tim, and
Michael even needed to get in on that a bit to help defend our campground from
Patrick, Scott, and some of their buddies.
That was mostly entertaining too, though a couple of the pranks didn’t
work out very well; and some intervention was required to keep the peace. I’ll skip over the awkward moments that
mostly involved make-out sessions that were either too loud or accidentally
interrupted. I’m sure that everyone
reading this knows about things like that going on at any major teen camping
event around here; and I definitely don’t need to name names – not even for the
sake of posterity or historic detail.
While we didn’t get any alone time, Michael
and I did spend some time cuddling while chatting with our friends and waiting
for most of the campers to wrap up their fun and go to bed. That took until after one-thirty; and we were
ready to call it a night by then too; though Rowen and I have been talking quietly
while I’ve been doing my nightly computer checks and taking care of a bit of
family business work. As usual, we’ve
got Ehlana and Naomi with us; but they haven’t woken up at all, and probably
won’t until morning.
Before I wrap this up, I should add in a
few details that I’ve skipped. We don’t
have any college teens camping with us tonight; though we’re also not the
youngest teens either. Violet, Dillon,
Christina, and Josiah were all with us for dinner, and they stopped in with
Jake and Stephanie for part of the campfire fun; but for some reason; they all
picked warm, comfortable beds instead of tents and sleeping bags – and a gang
of kids and teens. I don’t really need
to wonder why, since the three couples are all taking advantage of kid-free
houses to enjoy their own sleepover adventures.
No details required there either!
Okay, it’s after two o’clock, and rain or
shine; I’ll be up early to help out with getting all of the younger kids ready
to go to the Inn for our breakfast buffet, so it’s time to wrap this up and get
started on my nap. In addition to the
breakfast, we also have a trail ride tomorrow afternoon; and a (mostly)
family-only dinner and play evening. I
want to be awake and ready for all of that, so that’s it for now; and, until
next time...
...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of
the Light!
