This update is coming to you in the early
hours of the morning because we’ve been busy having fun all night –
particularly with the Haunted Halloween Walk and the teen sleepover adventure
that we set up earlier today. I’ll get
to all of that in a minute; but let’s start this report from the beginning of
the day.
Tai Chi by the river was as fun as always
with bonus aunt, uncle, and cousin company – though Zack didn’t exercise with
us – he sat in his stroller and watched the show while we worked through our
warm-ups and forms. It’s been a while
since we’ve done that with Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne; and I think that she
wanted to come over today because we’re running out of time for outdoor Tai Chi
– plus she might not be in the mood to exercise at the same time we do for a while
once she starts dealing with the morning sickness that could hit any day
now. They had breakfast with us, and so
did Michael; but then they all left to get on with their own chores and plans
for the day while Dad and I got to work in the yard and Mom took care of Ethan,
Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden while doing the usual Saturday morning house cleaning
and laundry.
Thanks to the big yard work day last
weekend, the work today was a bit easier; and we were done by one o’clock when
we stopped for lunch – or more accurately; we didn’t stop to eat until the work
was finished. We’ve had a gorgeous
weather day, so going out to play after that was an option; and I met up with
Michael, Tim, and Rowen to do that after lunch.
We took Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden along with us for that to give
Mom and Dad some time to do some business-type work in the office without
having kids to deal with too; and we biked over to the park to play for a few
hours while Michael was on his afternoon break.
The teen sleepover plans started to come together then, but the fun at
the park included a pick-up football game that Michael and Tim played in – and had
Ethan and Aiden do with them for a while too; and the playground action with
all four younger kids and some of their friends that included some quality time
practicing our pretending skills as the park was temporarily infested with kid
and teen ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and other Halloween-themed creatures.
Some of the guys also kept an eye on the
college football games using tablets or phones, and Tim was regularly doing
that too; but in addition to the teen sleepover talk; the other top chat topic
for Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I was what we were going to do for Halloween and
what our costumes were going to be this year.
Our plans for Halloween are still tentative, but we are not going
trick-or-treating for sure, and if the weather cooperates; we may be handing
out candy at my house and doing a Halloween Haunt. We’ll work on that next week, but we’re not
going to go crazy on that until we know for sure that we won’t be getting
rained on or something; since we would be doing that outdoors and it wouldn’t
be fun if we were cold and wet. As for
the costumes, the boys are going to be zombies; and Rowen and I are going to
dress up as ghouls – I mean girls – from Monster High. None of that is particularly original, but we’re
also going to be very busy this week – especially with the football game on
Thursday night this week because of Halloween being on Friday.
Since Miranda was busy with the Haunted
Halloween Walk tonight, I went to the Inn with Michael to help out with the
dinner rush, and while his Mom couldn’t skip working in the dining room with
just one extra set of hands; we did all put in extra effort so that we could
all be done work early before getting started on our Halloween play time. I’m skipping the details, but by the time we
closed the Inn for the night, my sleepover plans were approved; and the guests
included Michael, Tim, Rowen, Rebecca, Lucas, Jenny, and Lance. By the time I met up with Mom, Dad, and the
twins; Ethan and Ehlana had gotten approvals for sleepovers too – at Aiden’s
and Naomi’s houses.
I wonder why they didn’t want to hang out
with four teen couples tonight?
Actually, I don’t; but I’ll get to that in
a bit.
The food and game booths were set up along
Witch Falls Road by the time Michael and I left the Inn; the road was closed to
traffic; and there were already lots of people gathering to wait for the first
walking tours to start. We went home
first, and while Michael also packed an overnight bag before meeting up with me
again at my house; we both took the time to hit the showers and get changed
before heading back to Witch Falls Road with my family to get started on our
evening entertainment plans. Since we
still had Naomi and Aiden with us then, we also met up with the Drapers and
Seagers; and Rowen and Tim caught up with Michael and me not long after we
started playing some of the games – all of us trying to win some prizes for the
younger kids – including Hailey and Eli.
We needed to add Zack to the kid prize-winning mission when he joined
the group along with Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, Uncle, Mark, and Aunt Grace; but
we had to split up getting that done before and after our turn going on the
Haunted Halloween Walk.
As always, that was the best part of the
evening entertainment, and though I should probably want to share Miranda to
give more people a chance to do the walk with the best story-teller in town; I’m
going to be a little selfish and just be glad that she wants to lead our group
each year as much as I want to hear the stories from her instead of one of the
other walk ‘narrators’. The actors in
the skits change a bit each year for various reasons, but the skits don’t
change much; and some of the props are the same as they were back when the Haunted Halloween Walk was
started.
I was thinking about that a bit tonight
while on the walk – what it must have been like back when the first group of
drama and Halloween enthusiasts wanted to start doing the walk. That was back in the fifties – the nineteen-fifties
for those of you who might be reading my journal in the future after
twenty-fifty. It’s funny to think about
some of the older seniors in town as being those same young adults and teens;
though I totally can see Grandma Eleanor or Grandpa Grant acting in the skits
or leading the walks back then. Not so
much for some of the other grandparents around town; but then I have no idea
what things were really like around here back in the fifties and sixties. Being a Magi back then was probably a very
interesting time.
That has me picturing some of them openly
using their Mogi gifts in certain situations and not having anyone realize it
was anything more than a hallucination; but I mentally digress and should move
along.
Having Miranda lead us on the walk was as
amazing as always, and the skits were awesome!
I loved getting to do that – and do everything else – with my family;
but Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I also went home early enough to get a few things
ready for our sleepover while Mom and Dad spent a little more time with Ethan
and Ehlana before sending them off with Aiden, Naomi, and their families for
the night. I had to get guest bedrooms
ready, so Rowen and I did that while Michael and Tim get things set up in the
lounge for a double-feature Halloween movie night. That included picking the movies, getting
snacks and drinks ready, and grabbing some extra throw pillows and blankets so
that four out of eight of us could be comfortable while sitting or lying on the
floor to watch those shows.
Rebecca, Lucas, Jenny, and Lance had been
booked for later Haunted Halloween Walks than we were, so it was after ten before
they joined us – though Lance had parked his car in our driveway after getting
to town before going to hang out with Jenny, Rebecca, and Lucas. By then, we had the work done; and had also
put two pizzas in to cook. We all had a
little chat with Mom and Dad while we waited for them to be ready; and then we
left slices with my parents before heading up to the lounge for the rest of the
evening while Mom and Dad opted to do a bit more work before bedtime.
That had nothing to do with keeping an eye
on the teens in the house; and they were sleeping long before we were finished
watching our second movie. The two older
couples in our group got to have the sectional sofa, and though Michael, Tim, Rowen,
and I sat on the floor while having our pizza snack and starting to watch the
first movie, we were all able to enjoy some couples’ cuddle time for most of
that next three and a half hours or so; the four of us on the floor paired up
and comfortable stretched out on the floor under blankets with pillows to put
our heads on.
I’m fairly indifferent to the horror movie
genre in general, and prefer the Halloween comedies or family-rated shows; but
that isn’t because I can be easily grossed-out or scared – I just don’t find
the stories or special effects interesting.
Cuddling with Michael and having fun with our friends was good, though;
so I had fun with that and mostly ignored the movies. Rebecca and Lucas were especially happy to be
able to spend that time together, since they really don’t get to do that very
often; and Lance and Jenny were possibly a bit too happy. I don’t really want to go there; so let’s
just say that there was more action going on under their blanket than there was
for the rest of us combined and move on.
That does bring us to the pre-bedtime
activities, which for Michael and I meant cleaning up from our pizza, drinks,
and snacks while everyone else took care of goodnight hugs and kisses before –
or while – getting ready for bed. I won’t
suggest that Michael and I didn’t have any hugs and kisses kind of fun too; but
that was peck-on-the-cheek entertainment by comparison. Rowen’s in bed with Mandy and me right now,
and we’ve been having some girl chat time since saying goodnight to our boys;
but Rebecca and Jenny have their own rooms.
Rebecca’s even in her room right now, and probably sleeping too; but
Jenny was not quiet enough for us not to hear her when she left her room and
somehow ended up in Lance’s room on the second floor. That’s weird for us; but probably even worse
for Lucas since he’s in the room next to Lance’s – and in the middle between
them and Mom and Dad’s room.
I have no idea what you’re thinking about
that as you read this in the future, but to be honest; I’m mostly just wishing
that Rowen or I had the guts to sneak downstairs and go cuddle with our
boyfriends too – though since Michael’s using Ethan’s room; I’d rather have him
up here with me instead of sharing a single bed down there. Jenny and Lance are one and two years older
than us, though, so maybe we’ll have the nerve to try that in a year or two
too.
Okay, yes, Michael and I had that sofa
sleepover together; but I’m pretty sure that Jenny and Lance are not currently
falling asleep from exhaustion like we did that night.
I should probably change the subject before
I’ll either need to go have a cold shower or sneak off and find out if Michael’s
still awake and wishing he was cuddling with me as much as I wish I was with
him.
While I’ve been doing my usual bedtime
computing, Rowen’s been keeping me entertained with her post-movie commentary
and some YouTube videos. I don’t want to
go into the details of some of that; but do want to mention that neither Rowen
or I are really warming up to Lance. I’d
really like to say that he fits right in with the rest of us; but he just doesn’t. That isn’t because of anything specific, and
he’s a nice enough guy; but we just have very different interests and he’s
definitely one of the small-town teens who dreams of a bright-lights, big-city
future. Jenny’s really happy, though, and
we want to do more with her; so I’ll keep inviting Lance to join us for other
sleepovers – and we definitely plan on doing more of them. Once a week is probably too much to hope for;
but we might be able to get away with once a month – especially if Michael and
Rowen can take turns having them at their houses now and then too. I’ll keep you posted on whether that works
out or not; but I especially want to try and do more to give Rebecca and Lucas
some extra chances to do things together.
It’s heading toward three-thirty now, and
Rowen and I should seriously start thinking about getting some rest –
especially since I’m going to help out at the Inn again for the buffets. We’ll also need to share bathroom time with
Rebecca and Jenny in the morning too, and I’ll definitely be drafted to help
out with breakfast for ten; so we’re going to have a busy morning – at least up
until we go to church. I don’t have any
news from my family business work or email tonight; but I expected it to be a
quiet family and friends news night anyway.
That won’t last much longer, and next week is going to be very busy –
especially when we add in some of the bonus entertainment we’ll be having –
like the official baby news that Aunt Leanne and Uncle Adam will have to share
with everyone.
All of that can wait for the appropriate
future journal updates, though, and I really do need to get started on my nap
time now; so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
