We did have a little thunderstorm roll
through early this morning, but other than waking us up and giving us a nice
little light show to watch; it didn’t really get in the way of our fun – and we
stayed nice and dry in our tents.
Okay, not all of us stayed dry, but for
those guys who went out to play in the rain; that was fun too.
It was clear and sunny by morning, and Tai
Chi by the river was awesome – especially because Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne
brought Zack along and joined us today.
They helped out with breakfast too, but with a big group to feed on a
weekday morning; that was all easy-food options with minimal clean-up. I am not at all surprised that not only all
of the bakery treats, but the boxes of pop tarts were demolished – along with
most of two boxes of cereal, a loaf of bread, and a fair bit of milk and juice.
For most of us, getting cleaned up and
ready for the day involved jumping in the river for a swim; and then we rushed
around to pack up our campsite; get canoes and gear into the river for our
whirlpool adventure; and packed a picnic.
Doing all of that took a while, and we added a few extra kids and teens
to the group by the time we left – including Tommy and Julian. They just happened to be wandering around on
their bikes and stopped in to see what we were doing when they noticed all of
the action going on in the back yard, and after checking with Dawn and Jillian
first; they were given the invitations to join us for the day.
By the way, guys – you do know that girls
don’t actually believe those ‘just passing by’ kind of lines, right?
Anyway, it was heading toward ten when we
finally started out upriver; with the only sad part of that was seeing the
disappointed younger kids watching us go – including Ethan, Ehlana, and all
cousins and friends under six. That
especially annoyed Eddie, since he’s five; but the age cut-off was really only
because we didn’t want to split up Kaitlyn and Kara just because Kaitlyn was a
few months younger. Mom and the aunts
had plans for the younger kids anyway, and they had fun; but it would have been
too much for us to add that many toddlers for the day and still have fun with
our cousins and friends.
Some of us had more fun than others, but
other than saying that; I’m not going to mention the teen drama that is
Jonathan and Jenny this week. I know
they’re older, but if Michael and I had moved that fast last summer; we’d have
needed to get married by late August!
Without having Lucas around, that part of
our canoe trip was weird for Rebecca, but she just hung out with Michael, Tim,
Rowen, and me – and with Jessica, Dawn, Jillian, and the other girls. We took our time paddling up to the
whirlpool, and some of us went for a swim or two along the way. Going for a swim was first on our to-do list
when we got there too; and then we had our picnic lunch before getting back to
our whirlpool play time. The usual water
toys helped to keep the younger kids entertained, and Tim had the guys toss a
foam football around for a while.
Rebecca, Rowen, and I also played unofficial lifeguards; though that
wasn’t really a problem since we didn’t have any novice swimmers in the group.
By the time we packed up and headed for
home at three, we already had some tired out kids, but they were all in one of
the three-person canoes; so it wasn’t really a problem if they had a nap or two
on the way back. We picked up the pace a
bit for the downriver half of our trip; and made it home by a little after
five. There was teen and parental
support for getting the canoes unloaded and most of them put away in the
storage barn again; and then we were on the move again – over to Uncle Adam’s
and Aunt Leanne’s house for another barbeque dinner. Not everyone stayed for that – Rebecca wanted
to go home by then, and some of the other kids and teens had other plans; but
Jenny, Tommy, and Julian all stayed for dinner – and the evening.
The last part of that didn’t really affect
me that much because Dawn and Jillian found out that they were doing a
sleepover at Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace’s with Jaimie and Kaitlyn while Jayden
was at our house with Ethan for the night.
What that meant for me was that once Dawn and Jillian had packed
overnight bags and headed out; I pretty much had the rest of the evening to
hang out with Michael, Rowen, and Tim.
We went for a bike ride and a swim, and then Rowen and Tim headed over
to his house when Michael and I were recruited to do the bedtime story with
Ethan, Ehlana, and Jayden and then tuck them in for the night.
That was convenient for us; since we
followed that up with some quality alone time in the lounge before Michael
needed to get home again. My hot factor
scale is probably a bit out of calibration right now since we aren’t having
enough alone time right now, but we had fun; and there are advantages to only
having swimsuits, tees, and shorts on when it comes to clothing-optional play
time. This is the first time that I’ve
written about anything like that since our one-year dating anniversary, so I’ll
also mention for the record that we’re both very happy with how we’ve each
developed over the past year. There is
some weird that goes along with sharing those intimate changes and experiences,
and maybe that has something to do with why so many teens go through these
years with multiple boyfriends or girlfriends, but for Michael and me; it’s all
just really amazing – and occasionally weird and funny.
Michael needed to get home in decent time
so that he could get some sleep before needing to be at the Inn for the
breakfast shift. He’s doing that because
we have another birthday party to go to tomorrow afternoon. Elliott’s party is at Quarry Lake again this
year; so we definitely don’t want to miss it.
The cousins will be spending the afternoon out there too, and I’m sure
there will be lots of other kids and teens there as usually happens when a
large group of kids and teens from town will be out there anyway. It should be another awesome day, so though a
little more play time with Michael would have been nice; I’m okay with a chance
to catch up on some sleep too.
Violet and Dillon may have been thinking
the same thing, because he’s at home tonight and she’s here – even though the
only kids in the house are on the second floor tonight; so another sleepover
would have been an option. Having a
little chat with Violet on her way to bed was nice, though – especially since
we haven’t gotten to do that much in the last couple of weeks.
I don’t have anything else for now, and I
really do want to be at full-power tomorrow; so, until next time...
...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of
the Light!
