Happy 5th of July!
No, I’m not losing it, though I am in a
pretty good mood; and just thought that July fifth deserved to not get
overlooked like it has every year in this country since we declared
independence. You just know that all of
the other fifths of the month are jealous of May fifth too!
My whimsical thoughts tonight might have a
lot to do with having a fairly awesome day – though you probably shouldn’t rule
out that I just spent too much time out in the hot weather. ;^)
The day started out great with Tai Chi by
the river for five because Michael was helping out at the Inn this
morning. Not having a house full of
guests turned out to be fairly awesome for Ethan, Ehlana, and me because Mom
and Dad decided to just take us to the special holiday weekend breakfast buffet
at the Inn and let Jacob and Jake Stone feed us again for the second morning in
a row. That was an awesome surprise, and
I especially loved the no clean-up part of that change in plans. Mom, Ehlana, and I also got to have a jump on
the holiday weekend sales shopping; though we ended up going to a few stores a
second time once we met up with Aunt Leanne, Aunt Deborah, and the rest of the
girls.
I didn’t get to shop with Rowen today
because she was busy at the computer store all morning; but I collected her on
the way home so that we could get ready for our baseball game and have a little
snack lunch before going over to the park in time for our warm-ups. There was a scheduling conflict with our game
and the family barbeque lunch at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s house, so Rowen
and I didn’t have much of a cheering section for the first half of our game;
but Mom and Dad brought Ethan, Ehlana, and a picnic lunch with them so that
they could be there – even though that meant missing out on some of the family
fun.
We – the Vortex – were up against the
Avalanche, and since we lost our first game to them; we were fairly motivated
to do better this time. The lack of
cheerleaders – particularly Aunt Leanne – for most of the game made things a
little less exciting for us, but we were playing a good game; and the Avalanche
only had a lead after their half of the first inning – the only lead they’d
manage to get all afternoon. They were
able to tie up the game again in the third; but we took the lead back in the
bottom half of that inning too.
Aunt Leanne did come over to catch the last
couple of innings and brought some junior cheerleaders along, but we had the
game pretty much in hand by then; and didn’t need to play the bottom half of
the last inning – earning a ten-to-six win that tied up our match-ups with the Avalanche
and gave us a two win, one loss record at the half-way mark of our season. Mom and Dad went home with Aunt Leanne then,
but Rowen and I took Ethan and Ehlana with us for the post-game ice cream
celebration and then we eventually went for a cool-down swim with them – and most
of the younger cousins – at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s house before hurrying
back to the park to cheer for Michael, Tim, and their team.
We missed almost the entire first inning,
but trust me – Rowen and I really needed to clean up first after our game. The Lightning and Thunder had only exchanged
runs in the first, and the game was tied going into the second; so at least Tim
wasn’t able to blame the loss on us later.
They did lose by a score of eight-to-six, and Michael and Tim were both
frustrated that their team could only manage one run in their last at-bat; but they
didn’t get up to bat anyway, so there wasn’t anything they could have done
about it. The difference between winning
and losing ended up hinging on one swing of the bat anyway – a grand-slam homer
that one of the Thunder players hit in the top of the fifth that had the
Lightning taking chances and trying to play catch-up after that.
Rowen and I got razzed about it by the
other guys, but we went along for the ice cream run because I wanted to spend
that time with Michael before he needed to get back to the Inn. We jumped into the river for a micro-swim
too; but then he needed to help with the dinner rush and I needed to get to the
family barbeque dinner at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s house.
That was already in-progress by then, so I
made up a plate and joined ‘the kids’ by the river where they were having a
picnic on blankets and towels – or sitting on the dock or benches. They told me all about the fun that I’d
missed while watching a boring old baseball game; and I played as much as I ate
because there always seemed to be at least a few kids at any given moment more
interested in playing or swimming than they were in eating. Helping out with kid control allowed the
parents to have more time to hang out and enjoy some uninterrupted chat time;
but it also meant that I didn’t get much of a chance to talk with any of the
adults and older teens. Tory and Kyle,
for instance, will be heading home again tomorrow afternoon; and I basically
haven’t talked to them at all beyond congratulating them and sharing a hug or
two and a few words here and there.
While I’m thinking about couples, Jenny was
at the barbeque with Jonathan – and for the rest of the evening. Since she was going to be helping out at the
Inn tonight with Rebecca, I’ll guess that she’s suddenly changed her plans for
the next couple of weeks. That probably
didn’t make too much of a difference tonight at the Inn because there are so
many barbeques going on tonight anyway; but I hope she doesn’t take the day off
for the buffets tomorrow. Miranda and
Jacob are going to need all the help they can get – which is why I’ll be there
all afternoon tomorrow for sure.
I helped out with the clean-up after
dinner; played and swam with the kids until the campfire started; and then sat
with Ethan, Ehlana, and the younger cousins and friends while Dad took the
first shift for the campfire music and the grandfathers mostly handled the
spooky campfire stories. Michael was set
free from the Inn not long after that; so I had both a cuddle buddy and a music
partner when we were drafted to provide some musical entertainment. His parents, Jake, Stephanie, and Rebecca
were there by then too, along with the usual group of neighbors; so we had a
fairly large audience. In addition to
doing some sing-alongs; we were asked to sing a couple of duets too; and doing
that together was as amazing as always – and more special to be singing just
for some of our favorite people.
Just for the future record, tonight’s duets
were a duet version of ‘Wanted’ by Hunter Hayes that we heard and liked on
YouTube by Haley and Michaels; and a version of ‘Let it Go’ from Frozen that we
made up for the younger girls in the crowd who are currently in love with the latest
Disney classic.
That little blast of fun was definitely one
of the highlights of the day for me; though the quiet time with Michael after
the campfire was special too. It
actually didn’t seem like very long before we got to that point in our day, and
it really wasn’t; because Mom and Dad took Ethan and Ehlana home for the night
at a bit after eleven when the other younger kids started going home or into
Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s house for the night. The older teens were staying up later, but
Michael and I opted to go back to my house then; help get Ethan and Ehlana into
bed; and then go for a quiet swim for two before ending our night with some
cuddle time by the river.
We were definitely tempted to spend that
time in the lounge instead, since my cousins will be getting into town tomorrow
night; but we’d both been running all day since dawn on just a few hours of
sleep; so staying up late again wasn’t really a good idea.
That’s also why I’m going to wrap this up
now and spend some quality time in the nap zone. Helping out at the Inn for all of the buffets
will make for a very long day, but I also need to be ready for my first Sunday
service on the teen praise team too.
With the weather looking like it’s going to cooperate so we can have the
service in the park; that’s going to be awesome; and I can hardly wait to find
out what it’s going to be like to share that experience with Michael. I’ll let you know how that goes with the next
update, so if you, reading this in the future can’t wait to find out what
happened; just flip the digital page.
For me; I’ll have to wait to find out in real time, which I’ll try to
speed up a bit with a little old-fashioned sleeping; so, until next time...
...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of
the Light!
