I guess this update needs to start with the
rest of the camping story from last night, but it’s really late; so I’ll try to
keep this short and sweet.
The campfire was a blast, and while we didn’t
have as many campers as usual, we did have extra drop-ins for the campfire and
more observers at neighbor houses catching at least some of the show. That was mostly while Michael and I were
playing guitar and singing; including the three duets that Ehlana and Naomi
requested from us. The neighbors wouldn’t
have heard the campfire stories that Rebecca and Tim told us; but there was
some audience participation – like when the four younger kids ran some toasted
marshmallows done to Jacob and Miranda; or when Jake, Stephanie, Violet,
Dillon, Christina, and Josiah all stopped in for a little visit and fun before
going to hang out at Josiah’s house for a couple of hours.
The campfire guests included a few of Emma’s
and Kylie’s friends; and the music attracted a few other teen drop-ins – though
most of them just stayed long enough for a little chat before moving on. Since Mom and Dad were two of the back porch
audience members, and they hadn’t come out to do that until after getting some
work done in the office; we got to have a bit of extra time for the campfire –
though we still wrapped that part of our night up by eleven-thirty. The boys put out the fire and cleaned up
while the girls took care of getting our four younger kids ready for bed and
tucked into their sleeping bags for the night.
Going for a swim after that was optional;
and Michael and I were with Emma and Kylie for the swim while Rebecca and
Lucas, and Rowen and Tim, decided to make a bit of alone time for themselves. That might have been fun, but I had some
toddlers to watch – even if they were sleeping before we were finished our
swim. Michael and I had a little chat
with Emma and Kylie too before they turned in for the night; and then another
visit with Rowen, Tim, Rebecca, and Lucas after each couple got back
again. It was after one before we all
turned in; so I’m glad that I didn’t stay up and try to do my usual nightly computing
or any family business work after that.
Rowen and I actually managed to get off to sleep fairly quickly; and I
got a pretty good night’s rest before getting up for Tai Chi in the morning.
Between Tai Chi, breakfast, football, and
then cleaning up our campground; it was a really busy morning. I’m not exactly keeping this short so far, so
the only thing I’ll mention from that part of the morning is that the football
workouts are getting more popular one or two guys at a time; and I don’t expect
that Rowen and I will be doing that with Michael and Tim much longer.
That has nothing to do with the fact that
the boys are winning as many suicide drills against us as they’re losing now. It’ll just be an added bonus! ;^)
Moving along, it was yard work time for me
once all of that was done and I was on my own for the rest of the morning. I mowed the lawn and spent the rest of that
time weeding the gardens until Alicia came home with Ethan and Ehlana. I had lunch with them, and then I took over
watching the twins for the afternoon while Alicia was helping Mom with other
jobs. We biked over to the park; spent
most of the afternoon there; and had Michael join us there while he was on his
afternoon break. We went swimming,
biking, played at the playground, and had an ice cream break at the Emporium
before sending Michael back to work for the dinner shift.
He was doing that tonight because of
baseball tomorrow – and because Jake and Stephanie were at the Palmers’ house
for a going away barbeque for Josiah and Christina. I haven’t mentioned that in my blog; but they’re
heading out to college tomorrow. That’s
actually a week early for them, but they’re going to stop for a couple of
visits with family on the way there; and then spend the extra time off getting
their books and supplies early instead of dealing with the mad rush starting
the day the residential halls open. I
think that’s a great idea; and plan on keeping that in mind when it’s my turn
to go to college in four years.
Violet and Dillon were doing that dinner
tonight too, and so were most of the members of Christina’s home town family;
so Mom and Dad only had Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace at our house for dinner and
baseball night. Ethan, Ehlana, and I
were okay with that because we got them all to ourselves for a couple of hours –
something that hasn’t happened much lately.
We went with a fairly easy dinner night, so we had more time to visit and
play; and then it was time to get to the park for the Beagles’ baseball game.
They played against the Hair Hounds tonight,
and Rowen and I had a pretty good little cheerleading squad - including Ehlana, Naomi, Leah, Hailey, and
a half-dozen girls who joined in just because they thought that we were having
fun and wanted to play too. All of the
younger girls were very excited when our team won the game; but our cheering
probably didn’t really make as much of a difference as our parents assured us
that it did. The Hounds weren’t having a
very good night; and we won eight-to-four in a fairly short, easy match.
Getting an early start to their night out
after the game was something that most of the players on both teams were happy
about, and while Mom and Dad got ready to go out to the pub for some play time
with kids their own age; Rowen, Tim, Michael, and I rounded up all of the kids
that we were babysitting tonight. We
took them for a swim; and then were having an ice cream snack break with them
by the time Mom and Dad were ready to leave.
We followed that up with getting all of the younger kids ready for bed;
we watched a Disney movie with them; and then put them to bed while Michael and
Tim led some video gaming for Patrick, Scott, and Ryan while Rowen and I played
some music with Jessica and Lindsay; had a nice little girl chat; and did a
mini-makeover with them before they were all sent to bed too – shortly before
Mom and Dad got home.
There was a parent-teen recap and a little
clean-up work to do in the lounge and kitchen; and then Michael and I were in
the living room for some cuddle time while Rowen and Tim stayed in the
lounge. That was fun, if only moderately
hot; and then it was suddenly way past our bedtime – and Michael and I headed
up to our rooms on the second and third floor after hearing Tim on the back
stairs going to his room once he’d finished saying goodnight to Rowen.
Some more girl chat was needed after that,
and I did a short version of the rest of my nightly computing before getting to
this update. Rowen and I are only going to
have time for a nap now, and we have a very busy day tomorrow, so even though I’m
skipping a few bits of news from the day; that’s it for tonight.
Until next time...
...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of
the Light!
