Happy Un-Independence Day, everyone!
I mean Happy Fourth of July!
Can you believe that Mom and I are already
celebrating our fifth un-independence day here in Witch Falls?
We’ve had another amazing holiday that
started out with Tai Chi; and got better when Michael advised us that we were
all on the holiday breakfast guest list at his house. Mom and Dad rounded up a few quick donations
to send along with Michael; we all got ready for the day; and then went to
Michael’s house to enjoy the awesome food that Jacob and Jake had cooked up for
all of us.
In case I haven’t mentioned it lately,
girls – Michael’s mine; I’m keeping him; and that isn’t just because the food
is better at his house!
That is a really great bonus, though! ;^)
It was also an amazing blast of fun with
our families too; and I loved every minute of it – even the clean-up that we
needed to rush through so that Michael and I could get to the school to help
out with setting up ‘our’ trailer for the teen praise team. We were the first teens there, but the truck,
trailer, equipment, and our driver were; so Michael and I got to work setting
up the sound system. We had that nearly
finished by the time Anna-Marie and Calvin joined us. Shane and Tegan were only a couple of minutes
behind them, so once we were all together; we worked together to get the
banners up along the sides of the trailer that covered the wheels; set up
Anna-Marie’s keyboard and Michael’s guitar; and finished setting up the trailer
the way she wanted it so that everyone watching would have at least two of us
facing them at all times.
We had our sound check, warm-up, and a
quick run-through of our little selection of songs; and Anna-Marie spent some
time coaching Michael and me on performing instead of just singing. I’ll be the first to admit that Michael and I
haven’t jumped around on stage, danced, or done anything else than just play
and sing during any of our duets; so doing more than standing there and holding
the microphone or stand didn’t feel comfortable at first; but we had fun with
it – and definitely entertained Anna-Marie, Calvin, Shane, and Tegan while we
practiced ‘our moves’. There was still
time left before the start of the parade when we were finished our practice; so
Michael and I wandered around to check up on what Rowen, Tim, and the rest of
our friends were doing.
Rowen was with the school band, and they’d
warmed up already too, so we took her along to track down Tim. He wasn’t doing anything ‘in’ the parade, but
he had spent the morning helping his father with getting equipment to the
school yard; getting the bigger float trailers ready; and since his father was
driving one of the tractor-trailers; he was going along for the ride. They were both still working, so we gave them
a hand while talking with Tim; and that ended up taking all of the time we had
left before needing to get back to our own trailers. We still had a bit of a wait, since we weren’t
right at the front of the parade column; so Michael and I mostly just chatted
with the rest of our group and sipped on bottles of water to stay
hydrated. It wasn’t too hot or anything,
but the sky was clear; and we were going to be singing a lot for the next
three-quarters of an hour or so.
All of our songs were upbeat, and most of
them were well-known enough for a lot of people to sing along with us. As with last year, it was different being in
the parade instead of watching it; and missing out on seeing what everyone else
was doing – though we could see some of the action ahead of us; and caught some
of the parade behind us while we packed up out on River Road. I haven’t really decided how to rank our
parade time this year compared to last yet.
The biking was definitely more exciting; but singing with Michael and
the others was really special too even without the cool bike tricks and air
time. having people sing along was
awesome too, but then there were some moments when we just had people listening
to our music and harmonies that made it near as special as the duets Michael
and I have performed together.
I’m sure that you can guess that our
favorite part of the parade was when we passed our families – for all six of
us. Anna-Marie, Michael, and I all had
our families watching the parade along Quarry Road between Witch Falls Road and
the park; so that last section of the parade route was the best for us. It also felt a little strange to be singing
with Anna-Marie while her oldest brother was hanging out with Christina and ‘my’
family; and Michael’s cousin, Erica, was with Caleb and the rest of Anna’s
family.
I know, but I’m still getting used to some
of the things that everyone else here just thinks of as small-town normal. It’s no wonder that the six degrees of
separation game never caught on here – you’re an outsider if it takes more than
two steps to connect virtually everyone in Witch Falls.
Moving along, once we were through the parade,
our driver parked on River Road so that we could pack everything up and put it
in his truck; and then Michael and I walked back to our homes with Anna-Marie
and Calvin – the boys taking care of getting Anna-Marie’s keyboard home. Michael and I only split up long enough to
get changed at our houses. Mom and Dad
already had our truck loaded up by then and Ethan and Ehlana were at the park
with the other cousins and being spoiled by the grandparents; so I went over to
Michael’s house and helped out with getting their minivan loaded before we
walked back over to the park and met up with my family. We helped out with getting food for the kids;
and then staked out an area at the ball diamond so that we could both watch the
game and cheer for our team.
Mom and Dad had done a food pick-up at
Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s house before coming to the park; and then they’d
met up with their team for warm-ups while we’d been busy getting food and
drinks. The Olde Bakery Beagles were the
away team for their match against the Hair Hounds; but I’ll rather immodestly
report that they had a huge advantage with the cheerleading squad. I missed competing against Miranda today,
but, as she pointed out before taking the afternoon off – she didn’t have a dog
in the co-ed division race this year.
Yeah, I know, but dog-related jokes are
apparently just part of the fun this season.
Some of those jokes got the Hair Hounds in
trouble today. I know their players were
having fun with it, but our players only got motivated to try harder the more ‘olde
dog’ jokes they had thrown at them. Add
that to the amazing cheerleading that Rowen and I led with a lot of help from
Ehlana, Naomi, and most of the visiting Johnson and McEwan kids and teens; and
it’s no wonder that our team was up sixteen-to-eight going into the bottom of
the seventh; and the Hounds only managed two more runs before giving up the
last out of the game.
Michael and Tim didn’t join our squad, but
they stayed close and happily shared hugs and kisses with their respective
girlfriends. They also stayed with us
when I needed to help out with kid control after the game while the parents all
went home to get showered and changed after playing ball during a couple of the
hottest hours of the day; but that was fun for all of us too. We went for a swim; had an ice cream cone
break; and watched one of the stage shows until Mom and Dad relieved me of duty
and set me free until dinnertime.
The fun level kicked up a few notches then
because Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I caught up with Rebecca and Lucas – and they’d
been hanging out with Jenny and Jonathan.
Jonathan who, you ask? That would be Jonathan McEwan!
Take tween strange from the summer Jenny
and Rebecca were having their little summer love thing with Martin and Jonathan
and take that to a whole new level.
First, and most obvious is that it had been Rebecca and Jonathan, so
that had to be a little weird for both of them; but Jenny didn’t seem to care
at all. What she did care about is that
he’s fifteen going on sixteen; single; from out-of-town; and hot. That last criteria was her term, not mine;
though I do think that he’s handsome – in a cousins sort of way.
What is important to this report, though,
is that Jenny’s in love again, and since Jonathan will be here for the next two
weeks; I have a feeling that she is going to make his holiday here very
interesting. Rebecca may have found it
weird to hang out with Jonathan again while she was also with Lucas; but she
did like the idea of spending time with Jenny without anyone feeling like a
fifth wheel. The eight of us spent the
rest of the afternoon together. We
played some of the charity games; went for another swim; and the four guys
tossed a football around for a while with some of their friends while we – the girls
– sat with some of our friends and watched the action while having cold drinks
or frozen treats.
Michael and I needed to meet up with my
family for dinner, and we were on kid control while food was being rounded
up. Rebecca and Lucas had dinner with his
family, and Michael’s family just ended up with us so that Jake and Stephanie
could hang out with Christina and Josiah; but there was one little surprise –
Jonathan had Jenny with him for dinner too.
I’m not suggesting that they needed to get a room at the Inn or
anything, but the grin on his face and the hand-holding was all the evidence
anyone needed to guess that Jenny had already caught her guy – at least for the
next two weeks.
I have to wonder if that wouldn’t have
happened if Joel had been here for the holiday weekend with his father, but he
wasn’t; so we won’t find out. It could
get interesting if he does come to spend any time here while Jonathan’s in town
too; but we’ll cover that if it does become a story sometime this summer.
Before I move on to the evening news, I’ll
add that Jonathan is probably feeling a lot better about his visit here
now. He does have some friends here, but
after spending his holidays hanging out with Chris and Martin for the past few
years; I think he was feeling weird about being the only guy still coming for a
holiday here this year. He wouldn’t have
changed it because he wants to spend time with Christina and Josiah, but they’ll
be working too; so Jenny will be able to help keep him entertained whenever he
can’t hang out with his sister.
I’ll add two to all of our teen-rated plans
for the next two weeks too.
Dinner felt like a bit of a rush, and then
Michael and I had to help with the park clean-up before being set free again to
hang out with Rowen, Tim, Rebecca, Lucas, Jenny, and Jonathan again. We had time to play more games before the
dance started, and then we spent most of the next three hours dancing or
hanging out with our friends and families except for one swim intermission at
around nine-thirty. I mostly danced with
Michael, but we took Ethan and Ehlana out a few times too; and Jake and
Stephanie messed with us by cutting in for one dance too.
I am never going to live down those little
childhood games, but in this case, I got to dance with Jake Stone; so I’m okay
with that.
Sorry, Stephanie and Michael; but you can’t
blame a girl for things like that when it involves her little girl crush.
There was a lot going on at the dance, and
we had a great time; but there isn’t really anything else specific to add to
this report from my end of things. We
didn’t stay to the very end of the dance because we wanted to get a good spot
to watch the fireworks from; and that was when the next blast of fun started –
with Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden wanting to come with us to do that instead
of hanging out with Mom and Dad.
That was one of those moments for both the
three sets of parents involved in that decision and Michael and me. I’m sure that Mom and Dad would have rather
watched the fireworks with Ethan and Ehlana, but when Michael and I grabbed a
blanket and some drinks and went to join the rest of our teen group; we had
four toddlers with us. We got teased
about it too, but the girls also thought that the kids were adorable – especially
when Naomi sat with Ethan and held his hand and Ehlana did the same with
Aiden. Both junior couples were with
Michael and me, but we had support from Rebecca and Lucas on Michael’s side;
and Rowen and Tim on mine.
The fireworks show started about ten
minutes after the dance ended; and we spent the next half-hour or so watching
the always-amazing display that made for a perfect end to our celebration. That scene wasn’t exactly romantic for
Michael and me; but it was really great to share it with my brother, sister,
and all of our best friends; so I was a very happy camper when it was time to
rejoin our families; pack up our day camps; and head for home.
That was going to be the end of the night
for Rebecca and Lucas until Michael invited him to stay overnight and got Jake
to offer to give Lucas a ride home first thing in the morning so he could still
do his chores. Jenny ended up doing a
sleepover with Rebecca too, but that was mostly for the girl chat time that
they’re probably just getting to now.
She could have stayed and played with us after we were finished the
post-fireworks work and then gone home too; though maybe she’d been hoping that
Jonathan would get an invite too.
We had to split up for the home end of that
work, and then my house was play central for the eight of us while the kids and
parents went to bed. Jake, Stephanie,
Christina, and Josiah went for a swim before calling it a night too; but they
did that at Michael’s house so that they could have some time to hang out
without a bunch of younger teens or kids around them.
It was after midnight by then, but we were
still ready to party, so we swam; played glow in the dark Frisbee for a while;
swam some more; and then split up for some couples-only time. Michael and I stayed by the river; Rowen took
Tim home with her; Rebecca and Lucas went for a walk somewhere; and Jenny and
Jonathan wandered down to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s house to sit by the
river there.
Note to future Magi who spend any time
making out by the river – sound carries, so whatever you do does get passed on
if you’re not very, very quiet. I’d let
Jenny and Jonathan in on that little news flash; but then they’d know that
Michael and I heard way more than we needed to hear from upriver tonight.
And just in case you’re wondering, that was
not a problem for Michael and me. Our
public cuddle time will never ever be anything that we’d be embarrassed to have
anyone watching us see.
It was heading toward two-thirty when
Michael went home, though; so this update is coming to you in the wee hours of
Saturday morning. I may regret that by
tomorrow night; but I definitely don’t now because that was hands-down the best
end to a fourth of July for me ever so far.
I also don’t have to worry about helping with a house full of guests in
the morning and my weekend chores are done already; so I’ll be able to play
with my family tomorrow – even though Michael, Rowen, and Tim will all be busy
for most of the day.
We are doing the holiday weekend sale
shopping in the morning with the rest of the girls in the family, though, so I
should get what sleep I can so I’ll at least be ready for that – and my ball
game at noon. I don’t have a holiday
update from anywhere else around the family; but I’ll either hear about that
tomorrow sometime or when Violet and Dillon get back here on Sunday with Dawn
and Jillian – and Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace bring Jaimie, Kaitlyn, and Jayden
back for their holidays.
There could be some rain rolling through
this weekend to get in the way of all of the fun, but the timing on the rain
has been so hit and miss lately, that I’ll just wait and see what happens. If it doesn’t get in the way of our baseball,
barbeques, or campfire; I’ll be happy with whatever Mother Nature throws our
way. Compared to the east coast today
and their brush with Hurricane Arthur; we can’t really complain if we get a
thundershower or two roll through here.
Anyway, that is all for tonight, and I’m
off to dreamland now; so, until next time...
...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of
the Light!
