Where should I begin? This has been an amazing, crazy, and busy
day!
This update is coming to you live from Camp
Proctor in the wee hours of the morning; and it feels as though it’s the first
time I’ve stopped running all day. That
isn’t actually true, since I did sit down now and then to eat and while
watching baseball games this afternoon and evening; but even then I was on the
go with cheerleading or babysitting duties.
Since I’m there anyway, let’s do the
baseball news. We had three wins today;
so we’ll also be having a busy holiday weekend with three championship matches
to go along with everything else we’ll be doing. We – the Arctic Vortex – played the Blizzard,
and while the game was close for a while; we won fourteen to ten, and didn’t
need to play the last half of the final inning.
Our win also put the Blizzard out of the championships, so we’ll be
playing the Avalanche next Saturday.
They won our regular season series two games to one, but we had the
better regular season record; and will be the home team for the championship
match.
The Lightning and the Beagles will have
home team advantage for their big games too; but the one big difference for
them is that they’ll be playing rematches against the Storm and the Beer
Buddies respectively. Michael, Tim, and
the Lightning were the away team today against the Storm, and while Rowen and I
had fun cheering for them; their game wasn’t really all that close. To be honest, I think that the Storm players
took it easy and coasted for the last half of the game after they fell behind
big and early. It was really hot again
today, and while going into the championship weekend on a loss isn’t great;
they’re a better team than they were on the field today. I hope that the guys on Michael’s and Tim’s
team remember that and don’t get too over-confident.
The evening game of our triple-header had
Mom, Dad, and the rest of the Beagles up against the Beer Buddies. They were the away team too, and while their
game was closer for the first half of the game; that didn’t show up in the
final score after our Beagles had big scoring innings in the fifth and
sixth. I know from the post-party recap
that Mom and Dad shared with us after getting home that the Buddies’ players
were all talking big about avenging the loss next weekend, but to be honest; I’m
not sure that they have the firepower to back that up this season – and we’ll
have Hannah playing on our team and serious about having the championship award
on the wall of the Olde Bakery instead of at the pub. Hannah may be a pixie compared to Mr.
Sheldon; but I wouldn’t pick him over her in a fair fight! ;^)
Now that we have the sporting news out of
the way for the day; let’s back up to the morning part of the report. That’ll need to start with the news that Jake
and Stephanie got off to the airport on time; and they are safely in New York
now too. They went out for breakfast at
the Inn with Stephanie’s parents, Rebecca, Michael, and three out of four sets
of grandparents; loaded up their luggage; did a round of goodbyes that included
Ethan, Ehlana, Michael, and me; and hit the road with Grandma and Grandpa
Wingborough. They had one minor travel
delay along the way; but weren’t too late getting to New York; and had time for
dinner and play time after checking into their hotel. It would be nice if they were here for our
camping adventure; but they’re probably more comfortable where they are – and glad
to be alone before starting another year of dorm life.
My day started with Tai Chi; Mom and Dad
went with an easy-meal breakfast while Michael was at the Inn for the going
away breakfast. Other than the
intermission to say goodbye to Jake and Stephanie; I spent the rest of the
morning working around the yard and setting up tents by the river. That was non-stop, rushed work because I
needed to stop early to get ready for my noon ballgame; and then I was off for
an afternoon of baseball, sun, and fun at the park. We’ve already covered the game results, but
there were a few other things going on too – like swims in the river to cool
off and a couple of ice cream runs to the Emporium. Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana were there for
all of my game; but my aunts, uncles, and cousins either skipped the game or
only came for part of it due to hot, cranky kids – or hot, cranky, expectant
Moms. ;^)
Ethan and Ehlana weren’t really given the
option to stay and watch Michael and Tim play their game, and while getting
them out of the heat was part of the reason; Mom and Dad really needed to be
home to help coordinate incoming camping gear and tent set-ups while also
getting ready for the barbeque dinner they were also hosting for most of the
Beagles’ players and their families.
Rowen and I did stay for the entire game; but we took three short breaks
for swimming or ice cream too – and we headed home as soon as we’d finished
congratulating our boyfriends for their win.
Michael helped out at the Inn at lunch, and
again after his game; so he missed out on dinner and the first half of both my
game and Mom and Dad’s. On the work side
of things for me, I didn’t actually end up doing much cooking or cleaning
because I was on kid-control with Rowen and some other teens from the time I
got home from Michael’s game – and have been ever since then. While the parents and some of the older teens
had dinner at tables near the house; Rowen and I were with the gang of kids
eating their food on the dock or by the river and tents – like we’re supposed
to do when camping.
Being officially on the babysitter side of
the equation tonight didn’t really feel any different, and while we were in
charge of the kids; Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I had a blast playing with Ethan,
Ehlana, and our friends. I had a major
squad of cheerleaders for the game tonight; though we needed to take some
breaks to cool off with treats or swims.
It’s really nice out tonight, and perfect for camping and sleeping
outdoors – not that any teens here are sleeping yet.
While I didn’t have any kitchen-related
work to do, that doesn’t mean it was all fun and games. Feeding a bunch of toddlers can get messy for
all involved; and just keeping up with potty breaks can be a full-time job if
you have enough kids that age around. We
didn’t have all of the teen and kid campers at the barbeque; but we had all of
them and extras for the campfire after the game. I won’t list everyone or even attempt to
cover all of the action going on here while the adults were playing with their
friends at the pub or elsewhere; but it has been non-stop action and fun.
That started with a swim in the river when
we first got back while Mom and Dad were getting ready to go out. The river actually felt a bit crowded with
that many kids and teens playing in it – even with being able to spread out
over several hundred feet. Of course,
that’s mostly because the dock is the best place to get in and out of the
river, and we kept the younger kids close to it while they played and splashed
around; but a handful of teens floated downriver too and hopped out again at
one of the other docks before walking back.
We waited until Mom and Dad were ready to
leave before rounding up the junior campers and starting the campfire. There had been older teen help for getting
everything from blankets and chairs to snacks and drinks ready for that; so we
pretty much just needed to sit down and get started with the songs, scary
stories, and toasting marshmallows and hotdogs in the fire. As usual, Michael and I were at the center of
the music side of the entertainment; while other teens took on the campfire
stories whenever we took breaks from playing and singing. Rowen, Tim, Rebecca, and Lucas were sitting
in chairs with us, and between the six of us; we also took care of Ethan,
Ehlana, Naomi, Aiden, Sophia, and about half of the six or seven-and-under
kids. The rest of the ‘official’
babysitters split up the rest of the kids and maintained overall crowd control
with the teens too.
The younger kids started dropping off to
sleep by eleven or so, and we tucked them into their tents when that happened;
but waited until a quarter to twelve to mandate bedtime for the rest of the
pre-school kids. Since we needed to keep
the music going too, Michael and I took turns getting the kids to bed; and we
basically did nothing but music or bedtime duties until after one o’clock when
we had every camper that wasn’t a tween or teen in their tents for the night –
mostly. There were hold-outs and pranksters
sneaking out of tents after that, but those boys didn’t really stand a chance
against masters like Tim and some of the other teens. They all had fun, though; so even the
goofiness has helped to make this one of those really great adventures.
Michael and I stayed by the tents once we
were finished getting our last group of kids into their sleeping bags, and
while there was still some music at the campfire; that was provided by iPod or
phone while the teens still there mostly chatted or told more extreme scary
stories. Other teens, conveniently in
couples, were off doing other things – canoe rides; walks; swims; or hiding out
in tents.
Okay, that last group of couples were
making out in tents, not hiding out; but Michael and I weren’t doing that –
unfortunately.
Instead of having any play time, we were
kept busy making sure that the junior pranksters didn’t get too far out of hand
or wake the younger kids; and we also handled any emergency potty runs or other
sleepy kid requests. We also had some
cameo chats with some friends; and I got to be the ‘bad babysitter’ when it was
time to have the campfire put out – even though I waited to do that until I
sensed Mom and Dad on the move toward home.
You’d have thought that I’d sent all of the teens to their rooms or
something by the reaction; though most of that was just goofing around too –
especially the complaints coming from friends like Jenny and Tim.
Michael and I had a quiet recap chat with
Mom and Dad after they got back, but they were tired out; and kept that short
and sweet before going up to bed. We probably
should have climbed into our sleeping bags then too, but didn’t. A group of us instead went for another swim;
and then we sat on the dock or benches and talked for another hour or so until
I got called away on another bathroom run emergency. It was after three before Rowen and I finally
zipped ourselves into our tent with Ehlana and Naomi after saying goodnight to
our boys and friends. I’ve been doing my
computer checks since then; mostly to get the news from Stephanie, Violet, and
my other favorite collegians.
With a huge gang to feed and only a couple
of hours to go until dawn; it’s way past time for me to get started on my nap
time; but I’m still a bit wired for sound too.
This really has been one of those really great days, and just as I was
anticipating having life speed up for us last night; I’m feeling revved up now –
as if I could just keep going twenty-four hours a day indefinitely.
Unfortunately, that isn’t true even for a
Magi Master, though; so I really do need to get some sleep while I can. It’s going to be a crazy morning feeding this
gang, getting ready for church, and breaking down our campsite; but I’ll let
you know how all of that goes with my next update. For now, I don’t really have any other news;
so, until next time...
...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of
the Light!
