Happy 2nd Anniversary, Uncle
Nick and Aunt Deborah!
They’ve had a good day, and are getting a
kid-free night with Leah at Grandma and Grandpa Ayres’ house. I’ll cover the anniversary dinner when I get
to that part of the update for today; but will leave their overnight
entertainment to your imagination – should you choose to go there. I definitely don’t plan on doing that!
It’s been a beautiful, hot day; and though
we started out with Tai Chi and breakfast; the main news of the morning was the
start of football training for Michael and Tim.
Why is that news for me? Because
Rowen and I did a lot of the training with them. Not everything, since we weren’t particularly
interested in doing push-ups, sit-ups, or the rest of that part of their
work-out; but we did help with some of the drills and practice.
Just in case Tim eventually has a different
version of the story; I’ll mention here that he did not win any of the suicide
drills that Rowen and I ran with him and Michael – unless you consider getting
to watch your girlfriend running in front of you a ‘win’. To be fair, the drills were set up that way
on purpose, and Rowen and I were spotted ten yards; but the boys definitely did
not catch up to us before we crossed the finish line. Before any guys reading this start thinking
that Michael and Tim must not be very good, try to keep in mind that Rowen and
I are pretty fair athletes; and the goal was to give them a real challenge –
while making suicide drills just a bit more fun for them. They have a few inches of height on us now
too, but that’s offset easily enough with better technique at the turns. I do expect the guys to start winning
eventually; but that definitely didn’t happen today.
While those drills and a couple of others
were fun, my favorite part of the practice was quarterbacking their route
running practice. I may not be able to
throw a rocket sixty yards down the field, but I did inherit some math skills;
so I can toss a football to the exact spot it’s meant to go for any route – and
I have all of the passing plays memorized from the games I watched last season. Tim wants to work on new plays too
eventually, but we didn’t do that today.
Rowen helped out with the route-running practice by doing a few
different things – including being our running back for some plays and playing
defense or blocker for others as Michael and Tim took turns running routes or
trying to defend them.
You’re probably wondering by now why I’m
even writing this much about football, considering how little interest I
personally have in the sport. I’d be
happy doing anything else with Michael, Tim, and Rowen too, but the boys really
want to play football; and I’d rather help them with that than not spend that
time together – especially when it’s going to be a lot of time if they make the
school team this season. We had fun with
it today too, and like the sport or not; I can actually help the boys to get
ready for training camp and have a real shot at making the team.
That said, I don’t have anything else
football-related for today – other than to mention that tomorrow’s practice is
going to be at the Norton farm. We didn’t
do that today because Michael had his chores to do too; and we are going to
need to bike out there and back for those practices so Tuesday works
better. Today, I helped Michael with
those chores; but we went for a cool-down swim with Rowen and Tim first before
doing that. After Rowen and Tim moved
on, Michael and I helped with getting the lawn and garden work done. We went for another pair of swims with
Rebecca, Jake, and Stephanie when we needed to cool off; and had the work done
by one-thirty when we stopped for a late, snack-lunch.
Once we had the work out of the way,
Michael and I met up with Rowen and Tim again; took Ethan and Ehlana along with
us; and spent a couple of hours playing at the park. We rode bikes; swam; and ran around at the
playground – most of that with quite a few kids and teens since the park was a
very popular place to be this afternoon.
I don’t even think about it sometimes, but the park is the best place
for most kids and teens in town to go swimming.
I’m okay with a little break right now; but maybe I’ll see about setting
up a few swim and play afternoons at my house for some of our friends who don’t
have back-yard access to the river – or doing things like canoe trips. Another big group bike ride would be cool too
– Maybe we could shoot for Maple Valley this time!
Getting back to today; I needed to be home
in time to help out with Uncle Nick and Aunt Deborah’s dinner party; so Michael
and I took Ethan and Ehlana home by a bit after four o’clock and got to work
again. The dinner wasn’t until six; but
we helped with everything from cutting up veggies and cooking to setting up
tables and chairs in Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s back yard. After a couple of weeks filled with lots of
family barbeques and adventures, this actually seemed to be a bit low-key by
comparison; but we had fun for the forty-five minutes or so that Michael and I
were there for before he needed to get to his practice.
The younger kids were finished eating by
then, so we took them along; and I had Rowen to help me out while Michael and
Tim practiced and we kept the kids busy at the playground. Since I’m thinking about them; this seems
like a good time for a Leah and Zack update.
Leah is fourteen and a half months old now;
and is at a very entertaining age now that she’s mobile and toddling
around. She wants to do everything that
the older kids want to do; and loves to run around and chase Ethan and
Ehlana. Zack isn’t running around
anywhere yet, but he’s at a fun stage too – crawling and sitting and playing
with his toys; and wishing that he didn’t have to play ‘normal’ baby out in
public while the rest of his cousins are having all of the fun. He’s developing a sense of humor that’s a bit
scary; and reminds me a bit too much of Chris and Martin. When the lab opens in September, maybe they
should make job number one discovering a way to weed that particular gene out
of the family pool.
It’s just a thought – I know that Uncle Adam
and Ehlana have other things they want to do first. Curing diseases and developing
drought-resistant crops are at the top of their list; but the women of the
world would appreciate a little less Neanderthal in some of the men a lot too –
and that would help to make the world a happier place for all of us!
I’m off-track again, so let’s get back to
the news. Leah and Zack do have a couple
of features that mark them as Johnson family cousins, though what most people
probably think is the most-obvious similarity – their blonde hair – actually didn’t
come to either of them through the Uncle Adam or Aunt Deborah at all. Leah’s hair and eyes are definitely from her
Grandma Lydia; while Zack got a lot of his looks from his mother – though his
blue eyes are much deeper blue – like his father’s. They’re both adorable, and while I wish that
I could spend more time with them; I guess that we do get to do more together
than most cousins do – and we’ll be able to play with them more often once they’re
both a little older.
We had fun hanging out together tonight,
and after the ball practice; we all went for a swim back at Uncle Adam and Aunt
Leanne’s house before Grandma and Grandpa Ayres took Leah home with them and
Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I went home with my family. Mom and Dad had some work to do in the office
then, so we took Ethan and Ehlana upstairs with us to the lounge. Michael and I got them changed and ready for
bed on our way there; but then they stayed up and watched a movie with us
before going to bed for the night.
Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I went for a bedtime swim after that; and then
I walked Michael home to say goodnight to him with a bit of privacy after Rowen
and Tim left for her house. We didn’t
spend a lot of time doing that because we’re all going to be up early for the
bike ride out to the Nortons; and that’s why I’m going to be sleeping before
midnight again – though that is going to happen in my own bed tonight instead
of while cuddling with Michael on the sofa in their living room.
Maybe I should have picked the cuddle time
with Michael instead! ;^)
Before I wrap this up, though, that does
bring up a couple of things that I should include in this update. The first is that Michael and I did not get
into any trouble for my late night at his house. We did get teased about it – particularly from
Aunt Leanne before and during dinner; but that was mostly just entertaining. The other thing doesn’t have anything to do
with Michael and me directly; but it is teen news. Word at the park is that Denise Burroughs and
Luke Taylor are a couple; and they’ve been hanging out together a lot on their
farms. Luke is in Rebecca’s class, and
nearly a year and a half older than Denise; and rumor has it that Denise has
been waiting to ‘catch up’ to Luke. Now
that we’re down to weeks away from being in high school too; I guess that works
for them now. That’s really only news
because it’ll add one more couple to the couples club in our class and reduces
the singles by one. There are a couple
of other reasons I’m mentioning it here too; but let’s leave them for future
updates.
I really should get off to sleep now, and
that’s all I have for tonight; so, until next time...
...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of
the Light!
