Heirs of the Magi News Flash!

***Heirs of the Magi News Flash!*** Winter has, for the most part, been mild so far - or awesome for the month that Cassie and Michael spent in summertime-Australia! They are home now and will be working from home for most of the time until Easter. The hometown work will include getting ready for their next trip, but there will be a lot of fun to get in on and share with their favorite people - including their March Break trip to Florida adventure. All of your favorite Magi Masters will continue to work and play while their future plans unfold; so... ...Visit Witch Falls often to keep up with all of their latest stories; and Happy Reading!

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Cassie's Journal - July 9, 2014



Happy 14th Birthday, Elliott!

It isn’t totally official yet, but I’ll guess that Elliott was happiest about spending his special day with Nora.  That little teen news story hasn’t developed quite as fast as the Jenny-Jonathan story; but it has when you consider that Elliott is a farm kid and Nora’s in town.  They have the same issues as Rebecca and Lucas when it comes to spending time together.  That might actually be one of the only reasons they haven’t ‘officially’ become a couple.  Word with the girls is that Nora’s more than a little surprised to find herself interested in one of the ‘farm kids’  That’s apparently quite a shift in perception for her – and probably more than a little scary.

They weren’t the only teen couple story at the party today – Lily and Kris were having fun together too, so I expect it’s just a matter of time before they join the couples club too.  Jenny and Jonathan are a hot topic with the girls too, with ‘hot’ being the operative word.  They didn’t get kicked out of the campground for inappropriate behavior or anything; but they are certainly pushing the boundaries – particularly with all of the young kids around.  At the low end of the hot spectrum, but earning some attention too, was Dawn and Jillian with Tommy and Julian.

The boys were not invited to go along with my family and cousins today, but they were able to hitch a ride there with Vanessa; since she was there for Elliott’s party.  Yes, that was fairly weird to have her there and watching her little brother spending all of his time trying to impress my cousin – and he was definitely interested in Dawn while Julian was infatuated with Jillian.  Michael and I don’t have any problems with Vanessa anymore, but she isn’t interested in being my buddy either.  She seemed to be a bit annoyed today, though I’m not sure if that had anything to do with her brother and Dawn or something else.  I am sure that she’s not happy with her single status right now – particularly now that Nora’s getting involved with Elliott.  She attracted some interest from more than a few guys this afternoon; but nobody she seemed to be interested in.

Before I get on with the party report, though, let’s back up and cover the morning action.  Michael wasn’t with us for Tai Chi because he was at the Inn by then, but we still managed to enjoy our workout without him – even if I did really miss the good morning hugs and kisses.  With just the five of us, we had an easy-breakfast, and then I helped Mom around the house for a while until she needed to get to the lab – though she only went there for an hour or so to set Andrew up with his work for the day before coming home again to start getting a picnic ready for our trip to Quarry Lake.  Rowen and Tim were working this morning too, so I spent a couple of hours in the office, and then helped Mom again until after we had the minivan loaded up and ready to go.

Elliott’s party didn’t start until after lunch, but we headed for Quarry Lake at noon – while Mom had driving support from other parents and teens during their lunch breaks.  Michael didn’t come with us then, since he was helping out with the lunch rush, but he did get a ride to the party with Rowen and Tim when they came out.  I spent that time helping Mom with kid control.  Dawn and Jillian helped too, but Jonathan was off and playing with Jenny pretty much from the time we got there – except for carrying one load of gear to the spot next to the beach where we set up our day camp.  We took the kids for a swim once that first blast of work was done; and then I had time to both help with getting them fed and having some food too before needing to move over to where Elliott’s parents were setting up for his party.

That meant helping out with a bit more work, but that was fun too because I started working with Elliott’s younger sister, Kylie, and her best friend, Emma Norton; and then we soon had Michael, Rowen, and Tim with us too.  Emma and Kylie were then set free to go and play; so they went and hooked up with Dawn and Jillian instead of hanging out with Elliott and his friends.  It was play time for us too by then, and while Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I had a little play time here and there with Ethan, Ehlana, my cousins and their collective friends; we spent most of our time with Elliott, his family, and our friends.

We swam, played football, Frisbee, and volleyball; and basically had a blast all afternoon.  Michael and I took one break when Mom needed some help getting ready to head home for dinner and have everything loaded into the minivan by the time her driving helpers returned to pick up the kids and teens.  She wasn’t on her own with the kids – Grandma and Grandpa were there; they had babysitting support from Alicia and a couple of her friends; and Violet and Stephanie had come out for a couple of hours too.  They were all still busy keeping up with all of the kids, though, so I’m glad we could help out – even though we weren’t able to do that during dinner or at the park while Mom and Dad were busy with their baseball practice.

Elliott’s party was definitely more fun, and he had a pretty big family and friends turnout for the dinner part of the day – with most of his family coming out to the campground after finishing work for the day.  The meal was standard barbeque options, but it was the chat and play time that was the most fun.  We weren’t social outcasts or anything today, but Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I did end up sitting with Kylie and Emma; and Elliott’s older sister, Susan and her boyfriend.  The boys talked football, and Emma and Kylie were mostly happy to entertain us with their stories about the boys who had spent the afternoon trying to impress them – and Dawn and Jillian.  They weren’t making any love connections today, but that isn’t all that surprising – they’re both twelve now; but they’re also just going into Grade Seven in September.  Most of the boys in their year are still eleven and behind them on the growth chart; while the boys who are a grade ahead of them might not look at them as having serious girlfriend potential until the fall.  I know, that’s weird; but it happens – Grade Seven and Eight is okay, but Six and Eight isn’t.

I did find their perspective on Dawn, Jillian, Tommy, and Julian entertaining; though not necessarily very accurate.  They’re seeing more there than I do; but that’s easy to do when Dawn and Jillian are having fun with the guys.  There are even some genuine sparks there with Jillian and Julian, but I wouldn’t say the same for Dawn and Tommy.  The boys were still at the campground during the birthday dinner and the rest of the evening while waiting for their ride home again with Vanessa; but they weren’t at the dinner; and didn’t hang out with us at all until it was nearly dark and time to pack up and head for home.

There was more swimming, football, and volleyball after dinner; including a couple of matches that attracted more attention than just from our party group.  Considering how badly Tim wants to play football for our team this year, it seems like more than a coincidence that he’s getting more chances to play at events like birthday parties this summer; though that’s at least partly because he isn’t the only boy our age interested in the sport – especially with our team being the defending State Champions for our small-school division.  It doesn’t even seem to matter to any of the guys that even Coach Robinson has very low expectations for this season without Kyle on the team.  Add to that the fact that not very many niners make the team each year because of the size difference to the older guys; and most of the guys in that group of hopefuls have their goals set a bit too high.

No, I’m not saying that about Michael and Tim, but then they’ve actually worked a lot harder than most of the other guys – including many of the players who will be returning to the team this year.  Tim wants to do more than they have been – particularly over the last couple of weeks; but Michael’s been able to remind him that what they are doing involves a lot of exercise anyway; and is a lot more fun – particularly when it involves girlfriends in swimsuits.

I didn’t mean to get off-track and on the football topic; but it seems to be unavoidable right now when Tim’s spending so much time thinking and talking about it with Michael – and with Rowen and me.  Add in a bunch of other football fans like we had today; and it’s a wonder anything else goes on at all.  Oh wait – there’s that whole girls in swimsuits thing that does manage to distract the boys now and then.  That would explain why swimming was high on the fun list too – particularly since it’s been sunny and hot today.

Dad drove out to get Michael, Tim, Rowen, and me after their ball practice, and stayed long enough to have a chat with some of the other parents while the party clean-up was going on.  I’d missed the dinner and park action at home tonight, and found out that we also had a bonus overnight guest too.  Kara was spending the night with Jaimie and Kaitlyn at Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace’s; and Eddie and Jonathan are at Uncle Nick and Aunt Deborah’s; so we ended up with Nicole so she wouldn’t feel left out tonight.  I’m sure that Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne aren’t too disappointed to have a comparatively quiet night with just Zack and Christina home with them, though with the other kids and teens away; they might have Josiah staying overnight too.

Rowen and Tim didn’t stay long after we got back before moving on to spend some time at his house; but Michael stayed for a bedtime swim with Ethan, Ehlana, and my cousins.  He helped me with getting the twins tucked in for the night too; and then I spent a little time saying goodnight to him in a mostly non-verbal sort of way before he went home and I came up to my room to hang out with Dawn, Jillian, and Nicole.  While Dawn, Jillian, and I stayed up and watched movies in the lounge; Nicole didn’t last an hour before falling asleep; so we managed to move her into my bed without having her wake up – which is why Mandy and I have an extra cuddle buddy.

Violet joined us for a while too after she got home – without Dillon; and we had a fun little chat with her that included some joking around about how much fun they could have with sending pictures of Dawn and Jillian with Tommy and Julian to Uncle Rick and Jillian’s father.  That was a fun way to end the day, but we stayed up a bit too late too; which is why I’m just getting around to writing this update now.

We’re going to have a very busy day tomorrow, so I should get to sleep soon.  Our Thursday night camping adventure is confirmed already, and seems to be growing way out of proportion with the potential to be the biggest of the summer; but we’ll see what happens.  We also have the grandparents’ annual lunch at the Inn tomorrow, and Rowen, Rebecca, Jenny, Emma, and I have our baseball practice tomorrow evening.  There aren’t any specific morning or afternoon plans, but I’ll likely just be spending the day playing with Ethan, Ehlana, our cousins, and friends.  I’m sure that a lot of swimming, biking, and playground time will be involved.  I should also mention that dinner and camping will be at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s – and Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace’s; so Mom and Dad are going to get a kid-free night.  I’ll predict that they aren’t teen-free too; unless Violet and Dillon decide to stay at his house – or go camping with us.  They might pick option number two if Christina, Josiah, Jake, and Stephanie do that too; but Violet didn’t mention that during or chat tonight if they’re thinking about doing that.

Okay, that’s enough for now.  I’m ready to get started on my nap, and that’s pretty much all I have for tonight anyway; so, until next time...

...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!