The top news story around town today was
the new house move-ins for the Carter and Byrd families – though they’ll be
moving in over the weekend. While that
is mostly a big deal for their families; it also gets attention from a lot of
other people because they have their new homes on two more of the riverfront
properties in the new section of town.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m including the news in my journal because
their daughters are the same age as Ethan and Ehlana; and will be classmates
and friends; so the twins are particularly excited for Caroline and Jennifer –
even though they don’t actually spend a lot of time together right now except
for on Sundays and the occasional common day at KidZone.
My day wasn’t move in to a new house kind
of awesome, but we did have one of those really good days – starting with Tai
Chi for two with Michael in Tim’s back yard.
I should amend that to state that we were the only two teens exercising
while we also had more than a few spectators watching us. Oh, and since you’re probably wondering; no,
I didn’t wake up this morning with Michael in my tent. We swapped tent mates about forty minutes or
so after I finished writing my last journal update. Rowen made that choice too; though it
apparently had taken her a while to convince Tim to agree since she was going
to return to our tent as soon as she saw the light of my computer go out.
If I’d known that was what she was waiting
for, I might have been tempted to leave it on! ;^)
Seriously, though, that was fun, and while
we didn’t get much sleep; I was still fired up this morning when it was time to
get going again. Tai Chi with some new
observers was entertaining, and so was breakfast – even if it was easy foods
like pop tarts, bakery treats, and fruit.
Having that many football players and teen guys was even scarier at
breakfast than dinner; but Michael and I were among the first to eat so we got
to sit back and watch the show without worrying about whether there would be
any food left by the time we got to the table.
If you’re thinking that I’m joking; I’m not. Tracey didn’t have to worry about leftovers
by the time Tim led the charge of guys over to the park for their football
training.
Rowen and I stayed to help Tracey because
Martin was at work by then. We helped
with the breakfast clean-up, and had about half of the tents down and packed up
by the time the guys returned to help finish the job. Some of the other girls and guys stayed to
help us; but that work also meant that Rowen and I had to wait until later for
our secret cheerleading practice. That
still worked out okay because Michael and Tim both went off to work at the Inn
and shop respectively; Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana were at the lab by then; and
Rowen and I had the house to ourselves for our practice. She needed to go to the computer store after
that to work too, so after we had what will likely be our last workout before
the tryouts start on Monday; I decided to mow the lawn early again this week.
Life feels like it’s about to kick into
overdrive as I write this tonight; but my afternoon was actually fairly quiet
and fun. I had the lawn mowed by the
time Mom got home with the twins for a late lunch; and then I took custody of
them for the afternoon so that she could do some running around town for
groceries, supplies, and the usual weekly shopping chores. We went for a bike ride that included a slow
spin over to the new section of town; played at the park; and went for two long
swims. Michael joined us for about half
of that fun while on his afternoon break; and we also had a ten minute play
intermission when we bumped into Jake and Stephanie and Ethan and Ehlana wanted
to make sure they said goodbye to them in case they don’t get to see them
tomorrow morning before they leave for the airport.
That’s what I was doing tonight after
meeting up with Michael after the Inn closed – spending some time with Jake and
Stephanie. While Michael and I were busy
with Tim’s party and work yesterday and today; Jake and Stephanie have been
getting ready to leave and spending time with their family and friends. Since Michael and I were away last night,
they were with Stephanie’s family; and they’re at Michael’s house overnight
tonight. There wasn’t much happening for
me between the afternoon play time and going over to Michael’s house because we
weren’t doing a dinner and movie night at our house this week. Everyone was either busy or away, so I just
did a quiet, easy dinner with Mom and the twins and we had a quiet evening at
home until Dad got home from the city.
I was there to help with unloading his
truck and we spent a bit of time together, but he was tired out; and I’m sure
that he and Mom went to bed at the same time Ethan and Ehlana did – and not
long after I left for the rest of the evening.
Jacob and Miranda weren’t throwing a going away party or anything – we just
sat around in the living room and talked for a couple of hours. The impending separation is easier for all of
us this time; so we had more fun and fewer tears. Jake and Stephanie also had some advice for
the high school freshmen in the room that was fairly entertaining; along with
Jake razzing Michael a fair bit. That
was all entertaining too; and it seemed to be way too soon when it was time for
me to go home and everyone else to go to bed to get some rest ahead of a busy
work or travel weekend.
While some Jacuzzi time would have been
nice, I didn’t want to wake anyone; so I just cleaned up a bit and got ready
for bed after getting home again. I had
some family business to deal with along with quite a bit of email to go
through; so I’ve been plugging away at my computer for a couple of hours
now. Getting some extra sleep would have
been nice, but I won’t have time for much computer work tomorrow; and Saturday
will be the start of the on-stop action that I’m feeling the anticipation of
tonight.
We have three ballgames; Mom and Dad will
be at the end-of-season party at Sheldon’s after their game; and we’re hosting
the camping adventure for the kids and teens.
Mom still doesn’t have the final numbers for that; but she’s prepared
for the biggest camping event of the summer.
The one big change for me this year is that they won’t have the usual
babysitters in charge – or at least not quite the same way. There are going to be paid teens supervising;
but Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I are part of that group. I’ll add more details tomorrow.
Bottom line, though, is that it’s going to
be a busy day; and then I’m going to help out at the Inn all day on Sunday
because Miranda and Jacob will be short-handed after Jake and Stephanie
leave. Then it’ll be non-stop action all
week next week with football, cheerleading, work, and getting ready for the
holiday weekend. Thinking about all of
that has me wondering why I’m not sleeping right now; so I’m going to just wrap
this up and call it a night.
Until next time...
...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of
the Light!
