Happy 2nd Anniversary, Grandpa
Grant and Grandma Eleanor! They’re celebrating
elsewhere today; but will be home in time for the holiday weekend.
The last day of June has been another
summer-hot, beautiful scorcher. Thanks
to Jake and Stephanie, it was also another amazingly fun day too. They offered to take a bunch of us out to
Quarry Lake for a lunch picnic and afternoon play day; and most of us ended up
getting to stay and play until dark when most of our families decided that
having dinner and a play evening there after work was a good plan too for
beating the heat.
We started the day with Tai Chi by the
river, and then Michael and I split up for breakfast; but then I went to help
out at his house with the ‘weekend’ chores for the morning so that we could go
to Quarry Lake earlier than we would have if the work there had taken
longer. While Mom was busy at the lab
today, she had Violet help out with the driving so that Michael and I could
take Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden with us.
Jake and Stephanie both drove and took loads of kids and teens with
them; Rowen and Tim got a ride there with his mother; and a few other teens and
kids ended up there too – either coincidentally; or because they heard about
the afternoon adventure from other friends.
Keeping up with five toddlers – including Sophia
– wasn’t tough because Michael and I had lots of help with that; and we just
spent a lot of time playing in the water.
We threw in some playground time and a couple of ice cream runs to the
campground store; and all of the kids and teens were happy campers. Rebecca would have liked to spend the day
with Lucas too, but since he was busy; she did at least have fun hanging out
with Jenny – though she wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about the flirting
that Jenny kept entertained with as they both were getting a fair bit of
attention from the boys around our age who were either visiting for the day or
camping at Quarry Lake for the week.
Rowen and I got some of that kind of
attention too, but no more than Michael or Tim did with some of the teen
girls. We met a few other teens too, but
for Michael and me; the only teens we spent any time hanging out with were ‘babysitting’
younger siblings or kids doing the same things that our little gang of toddlers
was doing.
Jake and Stephanie knew about the change in
plans for dinner, but they didn’t tell the rest of us; so it was a surprise for
nearly everyone when the parents and some of the working-age teens started
showing up by late afternoon. That wasn’t
the case for Ethan, Ehlana, and me; but we played along when Mom, Dad, Violet,
Dillon, and all of our local aunts, uncles, and cousins caught up with us at the
lake. We had our picnic dinner right
away, though that was mostly because Michael and Tim had to go back to town
early for their baseball practice. Yes,
Rowen and I could have gone back then too, but we weren’t all that enthusiastic
about doing that; and our boyfriends didn’t have to try very hard to convince
us to stay and play with everyone else and then just meet up with them again
once we got back to town.
So we stayed, played, and swam a lot more
right through until it was time to pack up when the park closed to day campers
at dusk. Tim was hanging out with
Michael at his house when we got back, and while they helped with unloading vehicles
there first; they came over to my house by the time we’d unloaded the minivan
and truck. Naomi and Aiden had been
taken home by then too; and Rowen had run over to her house to pack an
overnight bag for the last-minute sleepover we decided to have.
We went with a sleepover instead of camping
strictly for the comfort; though we were very tempted to set up tents and
invite Michael and Tim to join us.
Really tempted.
Fortunately, it was still hot enough that
the prospect of trying to get any sleep at all in this heat and humidity kept
us from doing that, and while we don’t have any major plans for fun and
adventure tomorrow; whatever we do end up doing wouldn’t be much fun on zero
sleep.
It isn’t as if we didn’t still have fun
with Michael and Tim before we came up to my room for the night. We went for a long swim in the river; went
for a walk; and then we split up into couples and got ‘lost’ for a little bit
of alone time before meeting up at my house again for one last bedtime
swim. Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana were
all in bed by the time Rowen and I came up to my room; so we pretty much just
took turns getting ready for bed and then joined Mandy for some cuddle and
computing time along with a lengthy girl chat that covered everything from the
action at Quarry Lake today to plans for the holiday weekend and my cousins’
vacation visits that will be starting on Sunday for either one or two weeks.
I took care of my usual nightly computer
checks and a bit of family business too; and Rowen provided the YouTube video
entertainment – this time going with a search from random acts of Fourth of
July craziness, mess-ups, or the weird and wacky. The only thing that amazes me with a lot of
those videos is that people actually seem to enjoy posting some of them. The cute and amusing ones are fun; but there
are way too many that I just don’t even want to watch.
Okay, yes, we usually watch them anyway;
but it’s like watching a train wreck – you know it’s going to be bad right before
it happens; but can’t look away.
There really isn’t anything else to add to
this month-end update, and we’re already into July now; so I’d better wrap this
up and get some rest. I sure hope that
July will be as much fun as the last half of June has been, but while I’ll have
to wait to find out whether that’ll be the case or not; you, lucky future
reader; can just flip the digital archive pages right now to find out – unless you’re
ready for a nap now too! ;^)
Whether you use this little month-end
divider for a rest or not, I am ready to call it a night; so, until next time…
…Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the
Light!
