I have a lot to write about again tonight,
but let’s start with something that’s just fun and totally unimportant.
We found out today that there is one very
big difference between cheerleader and football practices – and I’m not talking
about gender. Cheerleaders have the
option to practice indoors if it’s raining outside; while Coach Robinson looks
at rain as a training opportunity for his players. Rowen and I were very okay when Dani moved
our practice into the gym; though we will still be out on the sidelines rain or
shine for the games.
It wasn’t raining first thing this morning,
so Tai Chi by the river was an option; and then Michael stayed for breakfast
before going home to get ready for school.
Rowen and I met up with him and Rebecca at their house; and we walked to
school together. We had our first Day
One classes of the year, and that also meant that we had Mrs. Connor for both
home room and English – or first class of the morning. That happens with all of the high school
classes most of the time from what we’ve heard; though there are occasionally
exceptions for Grade Eleven and Twelve students if the optionals schedules need
to be adjusted – though that’s only when there aren’t enough students for
certain classes in a given year. For
instance, music classes might be split-grade some years depending on how many
teens sign up once it becomes optional in Grade Ten.
Anyway, English isn’t exactly a favorite
class for everyone, so starting with it on Mondays isn’t going to thrill some
of my classmates; but I like Mrs. Connor; and I’m going to have fun. Our computers class is with Mr. Sparks and we
wrap up the morning in Geography with Coach Robinson; so there were no new
teachers to work with all morning. Tim
did find out that Coach Robinson is different in the classroom than on the
field, but just in case you’re reading this someday in the future beyond when
Coach is teaching at the school; I’ll add that he does know his Geography even
if that might be unusual for someone with a major in athletics and sports.
There isn’t anything exciting to report
from our lunch break today; and my afternoon got off to a great start with
Science class because Mr. Seager is our teacher. While it isn’t always easy, science is probably
the one ‘core’ subject that most of my classmates like; if not all of
them. Mr. Seager is a demonstration kind
of teacher; and I’m sure that we’re going to have a blast with the experiments
he’s assured us we’ll be doing on a regular basis to go along with the ‘boring
stuff’. We started the school year out
with a couple of flashy chemistry experiments today, which is probably why that
was more fun than the two easier classes that we ended the day with. We had Mrs. Connor again for Health; and
wrapped up the afternoon with Mrs. Morris in Art class.
I already covered the news about our
cheerleading practice being indoors, and while we had the bonus of staying dry;
the workout was pretty much the same – except that we ran laps around the gym
and added a run through the school that included two sets of stairs for a
little bonus aerobics time. One bit of
news that I do have is that our practice times are going to change a bit
starting next week to accommodate other activities that some of us are going to
be involved in – like band and sports.
We’re going to do two lunchtime practices on Tuesday and Thursday while
the after-school workouts will continue on Mondays and Wednesdays. That’ll work for Rowen and me with band
practice on Tuesday; and will leave us with after-school study time on Thursday
so that we can still do game night at the Inn on Thursday too – unless Rowen’s
going to make Thursday one of her work nights at the store.
Rowen and I didn’t stay after our practice
to wait for Michael and Tim; and not just because it was wet outside. They both had things to do after their
practice anyway, so Rowen went to do some work at the computer store and I went
straight home. The bad news is that I
didn’t get to spend any time with Michael tonight; but I did get to do my
homework quickly with a little Magi-powered support. I did that after dinner because Mom almost
had the food ready by the time I got home; and then it was time for the family
business-future plans meeting with the full group.
There was a lot going on at that meeting,
but let’s start with the baby updates first.
Aunt Deborah, Aunt Grace, and their babies are all doing fine, and while
Aunt Grace and Uncle Mark are still getting used to the idea of having a Magi
baby; Aunt Leanne advised us that our little cousin is doing very well with the
pre-natal training she’s leading. That’s
going great for Aunt Deborah with her baby too; and I’m glad that they’re all
doing so well. It would be nice if I had
time to do more with them, but as usual; I could say that about a dozen
different things that would be nice to do but I can’t seem to fit into my
schedule.
The lab was open today for the first
official work day; and Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana were all there most of the day
with Aunt Grace, Uncle Adam, and the small group of employees they’ve hired so
far to work in the office, lab, and warehouse.
The twins spent a lot of time with Uncle Adam so that they could do some
actual work in the labs while Mom worked on the computer systems; and it sounds
as though they had a fun day playing with the cool toys. While they were at the lab, Uncle Mark worked
at the clinic; and he’ll be the only full-time doctor in town from now on. Uncle Adam is going to work full days at the
lab this week and maybe next week too while getting it up and running; but then
he’ll work half days at the clinic too and they’ll take turns being on-call at
night and on the weekends.
Since I’ve covered pregnancies and the
clinic now, let’s add in the discussion for maternity leave at both the lab and
clinic. Aunt Grace will be off at least
until the New Year or later; but she’ll still do some work from home and
probably check in at the lab now and then too.
Aunt Leanne and Mom will help her with whatever they can do – and Mom
can get away with that since she’ll be at the lab a lot working on the computer
systems anyway. Uncle Mark and Uncle
Adam are going to do the same thing with Aunt Deborah’s leave as they did last
time – by filling her shifts with part-time help to handle the administrative
work while dealing with the medical side of the nursing themselves. Grandma Johnson may insist on being one of
those part-timers; but they’re going to try to talk her out of doing that –
only because we all think that Uncle Adam’s grandparents deserve to enjoy their
retirement after spending most of their lives serving our little town.
I guess the progress for the new medical
center was next; and thanks to having so much nice weather; that construction
project is now slightly ahead of schedule; and the building will be closed in
by Thanksgiving unless the weather gets really bad this fall. As long as we hit that target; the clinic
will be ready to be moved there next June.
That means it’s nearly time to put another part of our plan into play,
and Aunt Leanne will start working on that soon. Some renovations will be needed, but the old
clinic would be perfect for the KidZone daycare – especially since the only way
they’ll be able to grow with our town will be if they can move out of Sharon
White’s house where they’ve been running the daycare since it opened a few
years ago. I’m sure that we’ll make them
– Sharon and Colleen – an offer they can’t refuse!
Of course, that would have nothing to do
with the fact that our family alone will need some of those new daycare spots
for our babies and toddlers, right? ;^)
Okay, we’ve covered the lab, clinic,
babies, and daycare; so let’s move on to the construction in the new section of
town. The big project there will be the
second apartment building; and the construction for that will be starting next
Monday. I’ve covered the overview of the
plan for that, so there isn’t any point in doing that again; but it is going to
be nice to have the extra apartments that are particularly nice for seniors who
don’t want to deal with stairs in houses anymore and young singles or couples
who aren’t ready for first houses yet.
That will cut back on the interest in the apartments over the stores
along Witch Falls Road; but we have some plans there too – starting with the
Inn.
That will be one of the few future plans I’m
going to be getting involved in because of my proximity to Miranda and Jacob;
though Aunt Deborah and Uncle Nick will help out on the Ayres’ side of the
plan. This is again something I’ve
written about already, so let’s just add that it’s nearly time to get that deal
done so that the Inn can be expanded to grow with our town – not to mention
being ready for having a second world-class chef joining the team in less than
three years. If we can convince Jacob
and Miranda to do the expansion – and talk Uncle Nick’s father into moving the
Haberdashery – by sometime in the Spring; they’ll have two years to move the
clothing store and then do the major overhaul of both the Inn and the
Haberdashery and apartments above it to make the new Inn.
This journal won’t be available to anyone
until years after that happens; so let’s just go ahead and admit that the Inn
expansion is basically a done deal already.
You can take that either as a high-probability use of the Sight for
Ethan, Ehlana, and me or that I’m that sure of my powers of persuasion in
convincing Jacob and Miranda that they really need to take that leap.
I skipped over some other construction for
the new section of town, but that’s pretty much the same as last fall with a
few new houses being raised in time for winter so that the interior work can
keep the construction guys busy during the cold months. A block of townhouses are going up too; but
that part of the expansion will be slowly added a block of units at a time as
needed. We definitely don’t want the new
section of town full at the expense of a bunch of empty houses on every other
street; so Aunt Leanne is keeping a very careful eye on that part of our
overall project.
That just leaves the non-family plans for
around town, and the only new business on the boards for this fall is the
second-hand shop that will raise money for one of our charities – though not
even the owners will know that. Aunt
Leanne reported that the deal for the store lease will be done by the end of
the month; and they’ll have the store ready to open by Thanksgiving. I already have my old clothes cleaned; boxed
up; and ready to go for whenever they start taking deliveries. There are other businesses or town
improvement projects being looked into for next year; including an Antique
store and work at the park. Ethan,
Ehlana, and I are getting involved with the park plans discussion, and in addition
to putting in a new playground; we’re pushing for expanding the park and
putting in a real trail system for both biking and hiking. We’d love to see something along the lines of
what you see in a lot of cities with a trail that goes all around the town and
connects everything; but all of that kind of work will need to go through the
town council along with coming up with the money in the budget; so that’ll mean
getting involved through the family business for the funding if there isn’t any
other options.
That pretty much covers the highlights from
the future plans part of the meeting, and I won’t bore you with the details of
the family business news that followed – other than to add that we’re
collectively doing better than ever.
That says a lot considering everything going on in the world right this
year; but that’s also why we need to do better – there are more and more people
needing our charities. That also means
that we’re going to keep getting busier; so getting more help with the family
business is something we’ll need to think about soon too.
I haven’t included a travel update yet
either, but there are better archive sources to get the details about those
trips from anyway. For the next few
years, the archive trips are going to be worth keeping an eye on as Grandpa
Grant and Grandma Eleanor lead the effort to bring all of the archives around
the world home to Witch Falls. The
charity trips continue to grow as new volunteers join the effort; but there’s
just too much of that on the go all of the time now for Mom or I to do more
than just keep track of the reports and offer direction to where volunteers are
needed. Nancy Emerson takes care of
everything else for us and is doing an awesome job.
Our meeting didn’t wrap up until nearly
ten-thirty; I helped get the twins off to bed for the night; and then Mom did a
Magi lesson with me while Dad worked in the office. That made for a late start to my bedtime
computing; which is why I’m just getting around to this update when it’s even
later than last night. The work and
studying is done, though; so I can get started on my nap without feeling as
though I slacked off on the work.
We’re in for another long day tomorrow with
the start of game night at the Inn, and with cheerleading practice and homework
to fit in somewhere too; it’s definitely time for me to crash and snooze for a
while so I’m out of here.
May the Magi Force be with you!
