Cassie's Journal - August 30, 2014

I may have to change the name of this archive from ‘Cassie’s Journal’ to “The Witch Falls Sports Report’ if every day starts with football or baseball news; but here we go again with another sports update anyway.

Our ValleyView Arctic Vortex team won the Championship game over Ayres’ Avalanche; bringing the trophy home for the Wingboroughs and ValleyView Furniture.  Landry’s Lightning didn’t fare as well, and Michael and Tim’s team lost their match to the Fix-it Shop Storm.  For the Lightning, their loss was at least partly due to having one of their best players too sore and tired after the big football game win to play at his best.  They would have had two guys in that position, but I helped Michael out this morning before Tai Chi when I found out that he woke up bruised and stiff – something he didn’t really even notice last night while still on an adrenaline high after the game.

Rowen, Rebecca, Jenny, and I had a big cheerleading group for our game – and they had a mini-competition thanks to Aunt Deborah and Leah helping to cheer for the team her in-laws were sponsoring.  The action on the field was pretty good too, though while the game was close for the first four innings; we broke it open in the fifth and ended up winning fairly convincingly by a score of fourteen to nine.  That also made for a relatively short match, so Rowen and I had time to go home; have a cool-down swim; and get changed before heading back to the park to cheer for our boyfriends in their game.

Dawn came with us for that, and we had some junior cheerleaders stop in to help out for an inning here and there around their playground fun time; but we didn’t have a major squad for that game.  That didn’t make a difference, and while I wish that I could have helped Tim with a little Magi healing too; he also wasn’t the only reason their team lost the game today.  They gave up some runs in the first, the Storm had a comfortably-large lead by the end of the third; and both teams pretty much just cruised after that through to the end of the game.  I’m not suggesting that Michael, Tim, and the rest of their team mates didn’t try their hardest; but they didn’t collectively have enough gas in the tank to overcome a big lead and that showed up in the eighteen-to-twelve final score.  Michael and Tim were disappointed, but if they’d been told to pick either the football or baseball win; they’d have chosen this result in a second.

That’s it for the personal sports news, so let’s back up to the start of the day and go from there.  I already mentioned that included a pre-Tai Chi Magi healing; which made the morning work-out much more fun for Michael – and the thank-you hugs and kisses worked for me too!  He needed to head over to the Inn to help out there after that, and I was kept busy with helping out around the house and hanging out with my cousins.  We had the full country breakfast; cleaned up; took turns getting ready for the day; and then Dawn and I spent the rest of the morning on kid-control duty to keep all of the younger cousins entertained while the parents were mostly busy getting everything ready for an afternoon and evening of family fun, barbeque meals, and a big campfire.

This year, Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, Uncle Mark, and Aunt Grace were hosting the barbeques and campfire at their houses – though most of the action was in their combined back yards.  I missed out on the barbeque lunch because of my game; but our cheerleaders brought a picnic to the game that included food hot off the grill and cold salads while others ate first and then came to catch the rest of the game.  There was no end-of-summer trail ride this year because of everything else we have on the go; but backyard games, swimming in the river, and canoe rides were all play options for everyone – though I missed out on all of that too while playing or watching baseball most of the afternoon.

I was home in time for dinner, but didn’t have Michael or Rowen with me for that – he was back at the Inn as soon as he could get there after the game once he’d also gotten cleaned up; and Rowen had dinner plans with Tim and the Landry clan.  They all eventually came over for the campfire – though Rowen and Tim only stopped in for a visit since there was a family campfire going on at Lee and Sarah’s house too so they spent most of the evening there instead.

With Michael busy anyway, Dawn and I were again on kid control for dinner, and we had most of the cousins with us for a picnic by the river while the adults and older teens had their meal at tables in the back yard behind Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s house.  That didn’t give me much time to talk with any of them, but Jaimie and Kaitlyn in particular were happy to have Dawn and me to hang out and chat with while we all made sure that the toddlers ate at least some ‘real’ food.  We also had fun playing and swimming after dinner until dark when the campfire was started.  There was more parent and grandparent involvement for that play time; but I still feel as though I didn’t get to spend much quality time with my Uncles, Aunts, Grandparents, or older cousins.

The big family campfires are always a hit, and we’ve had an especially awesome evening for it – not too hot while warm enough to stay in shorts, tees, and swimsuits.  Having the grandparents around to tell some old campfire stories is a kid-favorite, and Michael and I were again recruited for a couple of duets that topped the entertainment highlights list too after he came over with his parents and sister.  He and I took a turn playing campfire songs too, but Dad took care of a lot of that music earlier; and Jacob played for a while too shortly before he too Miranda home for the night.

Rebecca and Michael stayed at the campfire; and it wasn’t that long before it turned into a teen-only event when the parents and grandparents collectively took all younger kids along and went home to get some sleep.  Michael and I were both worn out by then, but we stayed up and hung out with Rebecca and my cousins until we put the fire out at one o’clock; cleaned up; and headed home.  I was seriously tempted to keep Michael for the night, but we both need to be ready for the Sunday service with the teen praise team; so snuggling and playing with Michael for a couple of hours wasn’t really a good idea.

Okay, it was a great idea; but not one we should act on.  Aunt Leanne would tell me that I’m spending too much time with my parents to be thinking about my responsibilities like that, and while she’d be right about that; it’s just the way I am – and so is Michael.  Other than that, I don’t think we’re too messed up though; so we’ll be okay even with our little flaws.

Anyway, while cuddling with Michael all night didn’t happen, Dawn stayed with Mandy and me again tonight so that we could have another bedtime girl chat while her brothers again took over the lounge with plans to play until morning – or until they passed out; whichever came first.  I’m sure that they’ll be very unhappy about doing that when their morning wake-up call comes from Aunt Melissa.  They might be able to get out of going to church on Sundays eventually; but they haven’t won that battle with her yet.

While I’m on the topic of cousins, I don’t have any teen drama to report from today with Chris, Martin, or Dawn.  They all spent some time today visiting with some local friends; but there were no boy-girl sparks or action going on.  Martin looked like he wished that was an option at the campfire while talking with Rebecca; but he knows that she’s off the market now.  It might have been interesting tonight if Jenny had come to the campfire too, but she was busy with her own family.

Speaking of Jenny, the McEwans aren’t here this weekend, so Jonathan isn’t here either; so she won’t be having any big end-of-summer-romance drama this year.  If the extra-curricular game action last night was any indication; Jenny doesn’t have a problem with that – and it’s only a matter of time before she finds her next boyfriend prospect.  She isn’t looking at any home town guys right now; but I do have the feeling that she wants to be part of the couples club again to be more comfortable hanging out with Rebecca and Lucas – and the other cheerleaders and their boyfriends.

It’s way too late to be spending so much time on that line of thought, and I really don’t have anything else to write about tonight anyway; so let’s just wrap this up and I’ll get started on my last nap of August.  It’s going to be a busy morning and early afternoon between the teen praise team service and Mom and Dad’s championship game; but then Michael and I will be free to spend the rest of the day playing with our family and friends.  That should all make for yet another great day; but I’ll let you know how that turns out with the next report.

Until then; live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!

Cassie's Journal - August 29, 2014

This has been one very crazy-busy day, and there’s a lot to write about tonight; but I’d better start with the football news since that is the biggest story in town tonight.

Our team is the talk of the town tonight not only because they won their game, but also because they did that mostly on offense; coming from behind after spotting Clairmont a two-touchdown lead in the first quarter.  That was big news because we were expected to lose the game, and maybe lose it big.  Clairmont is a perennial contender for the small-school state championships; we messed up their attempt at four championships in a row last year; and they definitely wanted to avenge that loss.  I can assure you that they were talking big before the game – and during the first half; including some not-very-sportsmanlike trash directed at our players – particularly when we were on defense.

They should’ve paid more attention to our offense.

Yes, we did give up two touchdowns in the first quarter and did basically nothing on offense; but the second part of that was because we weren’t on the field much while Clairmont was on two very long offensive drives and didn’t get anything done on our one offensive chance between those drives.  What the Clairmont players and coaches didn’t seem to take much notice of was that Michael and Tim managed to break up every long play attempt with their wide receivers, and while Jeff wasn’t able to get them the ball in the first quarter; they both did good jobs running their routes and getting open.  What we were missing was exactly what Clairmont planned for exploiting tonight – the lack of anyone on the offensive or defensive lines to replace Kyle.

That’s the main reason why Jeff didn’t get much going at first – he didn’t have time to throw and our run game got stuffed.  While that probably seemed like the worst-case worries come true for some of the senior guys, our fortunes started to change in the second quarter when Michael pulled in his first official high school football catch that was good for eighteen yards; Jeff went right back to him on the next play for another eleven yard gain; and then hit Tim for twenty-five yards when Clairmont finally started to take notice of our comparatively small wide receivers.  Caleb Palmer ran for the short touchdown that finally got us on the boards; and then Clairmont came right back with two more scores – the second after getting an interception from Jeff deep in our end of the field.  That put us down by twenty-one; but we came right back at the end of the first half with Michael, Tim, Caleb, and Lucas all helping Jeff to get us down the field quickly and ending the drive with Tim’s first high school touchdown.

That really had him fired up – and Rowen too.  Since we’re up to half time in this part of the report, though, let’s talk cheerleading for a bit.  First of all, while it wasn’t as if Rowen and I didn’t know that we could get rained on; we had hoped that wouldn’t happen at our first game.  The fact that it did was both a good and bad news story.  Being wet off and on during the game wasn’t all that exciting, and that made it challenging to smile and cheer our heads off; but it was very cool getting to use our rain-themed cheer routine when Dani decided it was the perfect opportunity to do that tonight during the halftime show.

We may not be anywhere near as flashy as the big school, competitive squads, but we had a lot of fun tonight; and even the Clairmont cheerleaders were impressed with our halftime routine.  So were the spectators watching the game – including all of the members of my family that were at the game by then – though that wasn’t everyone.  Mom and Dad had brought Ethan and Ehlana to the game; though Mom went home to welcome our family when they got to town before returning with Uncle Rick, Aunt Melissa, Dawn, and the boys shortly before the end of the first half.  I’ll get to the rest of the family news later; but let’s stick with the cheerleading and football news for right now.

The rainy-weather routine that Rowen and I came up with was based on a ‘Glee’ mash-up that we saw a YouTube clip of while looking for music for our original routines.  I put the music mix we used together on my computer, and changed it up a bit; but this clip will still give you a good idea of what we did for our routine tonight – though I won’t suggest that we were that good!

Glee – Singing in the Rain – Umbrella Performance

While we may not be ready for prime time, so to speak; that was fun – and so was cheering for our team during the game.  That was particularly true for Rowen and me; and we had a lot to cheer about in the second-half of the game as our boyfriends were a big part of the comeback story for our team.  We scored three touchdowns in the third quarter, with Caleb and Tim each getting their second touchdowns of the game and Michael earning his first.  Clairmont scored a touchdown and field goal, so they still had the lead; but that was down to just three points going into the fourth quarter.  They scored another field goal and then we took our first lead of the game with another touchdown to put the score at forty-two to forty-one.  That was Tim’s third of the game; and that had his taller, tougher Clairmont defender looking more than a little angry and at least a bit stunned to find himself getting out-played by a ‘kid’.  We then proceeded to lose that small lead after giving up another field goal with just a couple of minutes left in the game; and then Jeff used Michael and Tim to get us down the field again with the goal being to get in position to kick for the win.  While that was the plan, Caleb broke through the line for a touchdown run instead and handed us the forty-nine to forty-four win.

Whatever happens during the rest of the season; our players are not going to forget how it felt today to earn this win.  Caleb and Tim – and to a lesser extent, Jeff and Michael – were the heroes tonight; but it really was a team effort and all of the guys are really proud of their collective effort.  I’d say that sentiment applies to our cheerleading squad too; and Rowen and I are particularly happy that we didn’t have any major mess-ups with any of our cheers or the halftime routine.  I know that Dani was very happy with us; and we were given lots of compliments after the game by our families and friends.

Michael and Tim were very popular after the game too; So Rowen and I didn’t even get to spend much time with them until later – once we’d all hit the showers and gotten changed.  The rain had thankfully ended by then; and it was nice to be warm and dry again.  We didn’t have much time to hang out together then either, but that was because Rowen and Tim needed to go to her house while Michael came home with me for a while.  I’ll get to that part of the story soon too; but let’s back up for a bit now and cover the rest of the day before going there.

With just six campers this morning, and five out of six of us needing to be at the school early for football and cheerleading practices; it was a pretty quiet, but still busy start to the day.  Michael and I joined Mom and Dad for Tai Chi by the river, and then we took turns working; getting ready for the day; and having breakfast.  Rowen and I only had a comparatively short practice this morning that was mostly just a chat and minor workout; and then we were set free until needing to be at the school again an hour before game time.  Michael and Tim had a longer practice that took most of the morning; but they also only had a light workout and spent the rest of the time having a game plan meeting.

Michael had to go help out at the Inn once he was set free, and I spent most of my late morning and afternoon mowing the lawn and weeding the gardens to get that done and out of the way for the weekend.  While I was doing that, Mom was busy with her weekly shopping and errands; and the twins were at KidZone with Naomi and Aiden so that she could do that work more easily.  We weren’t having a Friday night dinner and a movie this week, but Aunt Leanne did host dinner for the family – a little family barbeque that I missed out on while getting ready for the game with Rowen, Jenny, and the rest of the girls on the squad.

Instead of doing that, I grabbed a shower after finishing my yard work; had a snack dinner; and then met up with Rowen so we could do our hair together using those tips that Liz and Vicky were so nice to share with us.  There were some other tips for us too, but I don’t plan on going into that except to say that they were all about making sure that our cheerleading efforts remain family-rated; if you know what I mean.  Since neither Rowen nor I have any interest in becoming even inadvertent exhibitionists; we took those warnings and tips to heart.  Our first pre-game fun with the cheerleaders included a good warm-up; and group pep talk; and a little bit of work as we got everything set up for the game – including getting music to the audio booth and hauling our gear out to the field.

We also had a little meet and greet with the Clairmont cheerleaders, and even at small schools; that can get a bit weird – at least from my fledgling perspective.  Rowen was comparatively quiet while we were having that little meet and greet, but I was pretty much my usual hyper-active self; and we were both entertained while meeting the girls from Clairmont and watching some of the drama between girls on both squads that had already met over the past two years at the championship games.

By the way, I didn’t mention that, but some of the players and cheerleaders were looking at this game as a tie-breaker match after each school had a championship victory.  I asked Michael about that after, and our guys weren’t thinking about that at all – or they weren’t until after the game.  The Clairmont players aren’t very happy tonight, but that’s probably more due to the fact that their expectations were too high; and that happened because they seriously underestimated our team.  Of course, I’d say that it’s fair to suggest that our own guys and coaches were underestimating us too; so finding out that they could still play with the ‘big guys’ tonight was surprising for them too.

Back to the cheerleader meet and greet, I wouldn’t say that Rowen and I made any new friends in those short before and after game visits; but we did like some of the girls we met – particularly the Clairmont freshmen girls.  We needed to get to work warming up the crowd ahead of game time, and my favorite part of that was seeing Rowen transform from quiet and shy to cheerleading dynamo.  She hasn’t gotten over being shy, particularly when it comes to being at the center of attention; so that should tell you how badly she wanted to do this – both for her and Tim.

There isn’t really much more to add that I didn’t include in the game report already.  The sideline competition between our squad and the Clairmont cheerleaders was energetic and entertaining; and I already mentioned that our halftime routine was a hit.  Clairmont’s halftime show was good too; and what I really loved about my hometown friends and neighbors was seeing them support both squads in our efforts.  When I have some first-hand experience with away games; I’ll let you know whether that happens for us at other schools.

Moving this along, the post-game action including a bunch of cameo moments with our players, and Michael and Tim in particular for Rowen and me; our family and some other spectators; and another round of fun with the Clairmont cheerleaders and players.  Packing up our gear again; heading into the school to hit the showers and get changed; and hanging out with the boys while having a bit more social time as everyone got ready to go home – or hop onto busses for the ride back to Clairmont.  There wasn’t an after-game party tonight because of the holiday weekend; but I would have needed to skip it anyway even if there had been one.  Michael and I stopped in at his house on the way home so that he could drop off his gear and give his parents a quick game recap before they headed off to bed and we moved on to catch the tail-end of the Proctor-Rice family bedtime snack break and chat.

Chris and Martin were already in the lounge playing video games by then, but we went into the living room to hang out with the parents, Dawn, Ethan, and Ehlana for more than a half hour before the adults were ready to go to bed.  Michael, Dawn, and I took care of getting my brother and sister tucked in and off to bed; and then we came up to the lounge to hang out with Chris and Martin.  Michael joined in for the gaming for a while and Dawn and I mostly just watched them play and had a long chat about what we’d each been doing since her vacation here.  Chris and Martin gave me their summer reports too, but that took them about a minute each – they worked; hung out with their buddies; and chased girls – with the third part of that having a firm catch-and-release rule that they thought was hilarious.

The only thing I have to say about that is to advise Michael that he shouldn’t try that at home! ;^)

Michael had an extended curfew tonight, so I walked him home at a quarter to one so that we could share our goodnight kisses in relative privacy.  That was fun, and so was the more entertaining girl chat that Dawn and I had after hopping into bed with Mandy and closing the doors to the lounge so that the boys could keep gaming as long as they wanted.  Dawn might find her brothers’ girl chasing rules stupid, but I noticed that her own thoughts on how she and Jillian plan on dealing with boys and dating this school year is actually not all that different.  They are interested in dating; but not getting serious with any specific guys – at least so far.  I hope that Tommy Reynolds isn’t expecting Dawn to fall all over him this weekend; because she’d moved on within days of getting home again.  I’ll keep you posted if there is any news on that.

Dawn and Mandy are both sleeping now, and since I have a busy day and a championship ball game to play, I should be sleeping now too; so it’s past-time to wrap this up and join them in la-la land.  I haven’t had much family time yet, but this weekend has started off about as perfectly as possible with the big football win and an amazing start to our cheerleading careers for Rowen and me.  Hopefully we’ll be able to keep that awesomeness going with our baseball play; and then have some fun with our families for the rest of the weekend.

Stay tuned – it should be an amazing holiday!

Until next time...

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

Cassie's Journal - August 28, 2014

Michael and Tim made the football team today; and are the only freshmen to be selected by Coach Robinson.  Their extra training must have helped some of the other guys too, because Lucas, Paul Sparks, and Luke Taylor all joined their Grade Ten classmate, Garth Green on the team this season; and they all trained at least some of the time with Michael and Tim.

Other happy campers today include Jeff Morris, who was named team Captain and senior quarterback; Caleb Palmer; and both of Sally’s brothers – Alex and Mark.  I won’t do the full team roster; but all of the guys making the team are obviously fired up today; while there are others who are disappointed to find out that they won’t be playing this season.  Coach Robinson is going with a slightly smaller team than he had in the past few seasons; and quite a few of the guys will be playing both sides of the ball.  Michael and Tim will be two of those guys; and they’ll be our starting wide receivers and cornerbacks.  Lucas is going to start as a defensive tackle; and will also be sharing running back duties with Caleb Palmer on offense.

While that news was the highlight of the day for our boyfriends; Rowen and I had a busy day too.  The transition from tryouts to official practices felt a little strange with just eight girls; while Dani also took our collective effort up a few notches while adding in some team building work that included coming up with new cheers to add to the old, school standards and more recent favorites.  We’ll be doing one more shorter practice tomorrow morning, but while we still have some work to do to improve as we get back to school next week; I think we’ll do just fine tomorrow night.

Wow – it’s hard to believe that our first game is down to just hours away as I’m writing this!

Having that game ahead of us is one good reason for me being asleep by now, but we’re doing our last camping night of the summer; and I’m not the only teen here to be a bit too fired up to rest.  Our cheerleading practice went long, so Rowen and I again only had a few minutes to spend with Michael and Tim at the end of their lunch break; and then we were off and running again.  For me, that meant grabbing a quick snack and then helping Mom for the rest of the afternoon around the house and in the kitchen.  I did a bit more family business work too; so I had that up-to-date going into the weekend and we pretty much have everything ready for our weekend guests and the pre-cooked meal menu ready to go.

Michael was at the Inn for the dinner shift again today, and he skipped our baseball practice because the guys weren’t having their football scrimmage tonight.  Rebecca got the night off so that she could spend it with Lucas; and he stayed after football practice to have dinner with her and do the camping night with us.  Our baseball practice was a tough one as Coach Claire worked us hard to get ready for our championship match on Saturday; and I’m sure that she does have us as ready as possible.  Now it’s just a matter of which team plays the best on the weekend.  Michael and Tim met up with us at the park as we were wrapping up our practice; and we went back to my house for a cool-down swim and snack break.

We’re just camping with the six of us tonight because Mom just has too much on the go tomorrow to handle a big group, and she even had the added bonus of Ethan and Ehlana ending up doing sleepovers at Aiden’s and Naomi’s houses for the night.  That leaves Mom and Dad alone in the house tonight, if not technically kid-free; but let’s not speculate on what they might or might not be doing with that free time – especially going into a weekend where we’ll have a house full of guests.

That thought does have me tempted to sneak over to Michael’s tent and... oh, that won’t work because we’re three in a tent tonight.  We wouldn’t have gotten away with putting up three tents, and four would’ve been a waste of extra effort for just a few hours of nap time anyway; but maybe I should have suggested a sleepover instead!

Moving on, we didn’t do a campfire tonight, but we did sit on the dock and benches by the river and talk for a couple of hours before splitting up for some couples alone time.  I’m sure that you can guess that football was a big part of that chat time – both for high school football and while the boys kept track of the college football games.  Tim’s probably still doing that in their tent; but that wasn’t high on the to-do list for Rebecca, Rowen, and me once we were in our tent for the night.  If tonight was any indication, though; we’d better get used to being immersed in football regularly from now until the end of football season – in February.

Before I move on from football, Tim is particularly fired up about college ball this season because Kyle will be playing; and his biggest problem this weekend is that his cousin will be playing a game while he’s busy with baseball and holiday weekend work and play.  With Friday night football ahead of us for the next few months, Saturday night could be one of our few date night options this fall; so it could be interesting to see whether Tim picks Kyle’s football games over play time with Rowen.  I don’t have to wonder at all about what Michael will pick for us, but if Rowen does have any problems with that; I’m sure that we can come up with some ways for her to convince Tim to change his mind about his priorities. ;^)

Rebecca, Rowen, and I have been listening to music and having a nice little wind-down girl chat while waiting to be ready to sleep.  Rebecca dropped off a little while ago, but Rowen is still hanging in there and both excited and worried about our first game as cheerleaders.  I’m not worried about how either of us will do tomorrow night.  I am excited too, though; and I’m sure that’s exactly the same for me as it is for the other girls regardless of whether I’m looking at it from the perspective of a Magi Master.  Being a cheerleader isn’t world-shaking or even nearly as important as my family business work; but it is still special for me to get to do that with my best friend and cheer for our boyfriends.

For the record, Rebecca still is not remotely interested in cheerleading this year any more than she wanted to join with Jenny last year.  She does plan on going to see more games to watch and support Lucas and Michael; but she’ll do that on her own – though I plan on helping her to get to all of the away games too if I can work that out for her.  It really would have been cool to have the four of us back together again like the way it was when I first moved here; but that’ll never be quite the same again – particularly now that there are boyfriends in the mix.  I do think that it’ll be better with us for the next few years while we’re in high school together; so I’m looking forward to that – and this has been a really good summer for spending more time with Rebecca.

I’m sort of dragging this out now, and should really just wrap it up and get started on the nap time; so, until next time...

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