Our Quarry Lake trip last weekend was
awesome; but I’ll have to rank our adventure there today – and all of the rest
of the fun we’ve had – higher on the best-ever family play days so far
list. The weather was perfect; there was
no major teen or tween drama; and everything from morning Tai Chi to our girls’
night sleepover has been a blast – even when we were doing some work here and
there or helping out with kid control.
There’s a lot to report, and I won’t cover
everything; but let’s start with a special mention for Jillian’s parents. Jim and Lily Wright are two of Uncle Rick and
Aunt Melissa’s best friends for a reason; and they fit right in with the adults
in our family – and the handful of friends they all spent time with both at
Quarry Lake and at home during dinner and the campfire. I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with them
today, but we did have fun with them when we were all playing or swimming
together. I’m really glad that they
decided to come and spend the weekend with us – and I know that Jillian is too.
Before I get to the rest of the report,
there is one news item that needs to be included – though this probably wasn’t
news to everyone today since it must have taken a bit of planning and
negotiation. Jonathan is not heading
home tomorrow as planned. He’s staying
for another week; and then getting a ride home with Christina and Josiah. Getting to spend the extra week with Jenny is
only part of that story because the second half of that news flash is that she’s
going to be going to spend the week after that with Jonathan, Christina, and
their family while Christina and Josiah are taking a week off to visit the
McEwans and have a little break before wrapping up their summer holidays back
here and then going on to college again.
I wonder if Jonathan will find an excuse to
come back again and spend another month or so with us until Labor Day?
In other teen news, Rebecca and Michael
worked the breakfast shift at the Inn this morning, and were both given the
rest of the day off to play with us.
That worked out especially well for Rebecca because Lucas just happened
to get the afternoon off too so that he could come out to Quarry Lake with the
rest of his family – though his father stayed and worked the farm until
mid-afternoon before joining us there.
The Nortons also stayed for the dinner and campfire at our house; and
Emma and Kylie are spending the night here with Dawn and Jillian.
By the way, the boys are not having a
sleepover tonight too. For some, like
Lucas, that’s because he has morning chores to help his father with before
church tomorrow; but the rest of the guys may just be getting too cool and
mature for sleepovers. Tim and Michael
certainly don’t do them nearly as often as Rowen and I do. Speaking of not as often – Rowen and I also
have Rebecca and Jenny here with us tonight.
I seriously doubt that Jenny would have joined us if Jonathan had been
going home tomorrow, but since he isn’t; she didn’t even need to spend two or
three hours saying goodnight to him after the campfire.
This update is jumping around all over the
place, so let’s back up and at least attempt a little order to the rest of the
report.
Tai Chi without Michael was a bit less fun
this morning, and even breakfast was a bit quiet because Dawn, Jillian, and
Violet went to the Inn for a special breakfast with their parents. Yes, we were invited; but Mom and Dad thought
that it would be nice for them to have some time without a big gang after being
apart for nearly two weeks. I didn’t
really mind that at all – it gave us a little break in the action too before we
started getting ready for our Quarry Lake trip.
We had help for that as the morning went along, ranging from kid support
from Alicia to food donations dropped off by parents – usually while kids or
teens were being delivered for the day too.
By eleven o’clock, we had all of the kids, teens, and adults at our
house; the truck and minivan were loaded up; and we had bonus drivers and
vehicles to help with the transportation out to the campground.
The teen and adult boys in our group would
probably tell you that their favorite part of the day was girlfriends or wives
in swimsuits time. For me, it was all of
the play time with my friends and family.
Whether Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I were playing with the twins and their
friends at the playground; hanging out with the other teens; having fun with
our favorite adults; or spending time in the lake staying cool, there wasn’t
any part of today that I didn’t think was awesome. Even the after-lunch football scrimmage was a
blast – particularly since our teen team won the game against the parents and
college teens.
We did have all of our favorite college
teens at the campground with us for at least part of the afternoon; though Jake
and Stephanie worked the lunch and dinner shifts at the Inn and only came out
to play with us for about three hours while taking an extended break from the
action there. Again, I didn’t get to
spend all that much time with them – or Violet and Dillon; but that’s just the
way these big family events seem to always go.
I always wish there was more time to spend with everyone, but trust me –
I’m way happier to have that problem than I would be going back to the way it
was with just Mom and me before we moved here!
I’m sure that Mom would agree – even on a
night when she and Dad might both be wishing for a few less kids in the house. It really wasn’t fair of us to have Dad spend
the day admiring Mom in a two-piece after spending most of a week apart and
then leave them with nowhere to go with that while having a house full of girls
– plus Ethan and Aiden.
That said – don’t feel too sorry for them. They may not have been able to get wild and
crazy; but I’m positive that they didn’t just crawl into bed and go straight
off to sleep. The toddlers in the house
were sleeping by then, and the rest of us girls were in my room or the lounge
making a fair bit of noise for the first hour and a half or so after the
campfire ended; so they did have some opportunity to play.
I’ll leave that thought there, and as
usual; if you’re using your imagination on that with my parents while reading
this in the future; please don’t ever tell me!
That’s totally gotten me off-track again,
though; so let’s get back to the main story.
We got to the campground in time to set up our little day camp site and
then go for a long swim before having our picnic lunch. Michael and I were on kid control for both
that first swim and helping to get them fed; but then we were free after that –
starting with the football scrimmage. As
mentioned, we won that game, but to be fair; the adult guys seemed to have more
trouble concentrating on the game than the teen boys did. It was probably the wives and girlfriends in
swimsuits that was the main problem there; but the only members of our group who
seemed to have a problem with that was the kids or teens who were occasionally
grossed out. I wasn’t one of those teens
or kids; but maybe my perspective is just too different. Maybe I should do a survey and find out if
that’s exclusively because of being a single-parent kid for the first nine
years of my life. This could just be how
every adopted kid feels about their new parent – if they’re as happy as we are.
My thoughts really are just randomly
jumping around tonight. Let’s try to
keep it together for the rest of the update!
We followed the football up with another swim; some kid-rated playground
action; and two more swims with some Frisbee teen time in between before it was
time to pack up and head for home. Some
parents, including Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne, headed home early to get started
on the barbeque dinner, so by the time we got home; that work was in full
swing.
This time, Michael and I were put to work
with the crew that set up the tables and chairs while Dawn, Jillian, Tommy, and
Julian were among the tweens tasked with watching the younger kids while
everyone else pitched in to get the pre-dinner work done. We had quite a few adult friends over for
dinner too – including a handful that joined the party after closing stores for
the night. Michael and I were on
meal-time kid control again, but had Rowen, Tim, Rebecca, Lucas, Jenny, and
Jonathan with us to help with that – along with most of the younger teens and
tweens – and the older kids like Jessica, Lindsay, Patrick, and Scott.
There were lots of food options, including
everything from hot dogs and hamburgers to steak, chicken, and shish kabobs off
of the grill; so most of us ate too much; and then got to spend the next hour
cleaning up the kitchen and yard before getting back to a little more play and
swim time until we gathered together again for the campfire. While that wasn’t the end of the night for
some of us, it was a great way to wind down an amazing day. The highlights for me included two more duets
with Michael that Aunt Leanne requested with other parental votes of approval;
the spooky stories; and the cuddle time with Michael while we sat with Rowen,
Tim, and most of the other teens.
One little change for campfire time tonight
was a comparatively early end to it.
There wasn’t a kid under ten with us by eleven; and the fire was put out
shortly before twelve despite a few disappointed teens. There were still quite a few people around us
when Michael went home, so our good night kiss wasn’t exactly a
remember-forever moment; but maybe we’ll get a chance to make up for that
tomorrow night – if we’re able to stay awake after helping out with the buffets
at the Inn.
I’d better not think about that too much
tonight either; so let’s wrap this up.
We – the girls – were changed, ready for bed, and gathered in my room
and the lounge by twelve-thirty. Jenny
picked out a movie that not all of us really wanted to stay up for an hour and
a half or so to watch; but we did stay up and have a fun little girl chat even
if we didn’t watch the show. Jenny and
Rebecca are still in the lounge and camping out there tonight; but the rest of
the girls are sleeping – including Rowen and Mandy. They’re in bed with me, but Rowen didn’t even
last through two YouTube videos before dozing off while I’ve been doing my
usual bedtime computing and a bit of family business work. That’s taken a little while since I couldn’t
do it with any Magi-powered assistance; so I’m only going to end up having a
nap before needing to get up and started on another crazy-busy day.
That’s going to include a big family
breakfast here; a goodbye luncheon for Dawn and Jillian after church; and then
a busy buffet shift at the Inn after I help Dawn and Jillian get ready to leave
with their parents tomorrow afternoon.
There was some talk tonight about staying for the early buffet; but they
decided against doing that and then still having the long drive home. I’d pick the drive over spending hours in a
hot kitchen, but then again; I’d only pick that option if Michael was coming
too. I am way overdue for a visit to
Woodvale, though; so maybe Michael and I should work on doing a visit there
later this summer.
I just have no idea when we’d be able to
fit that in!
It won’t be tonight for sure, and I really
do need to get started on that nap time now; so, until next time...
...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of
the Light!
