Happy 14th Birthday, Rowen – and
Happy 1st Anniversary as a couple, Rowen and Tim!
You don’t need two guesses to know which
one of those milestones is most important to Rowen today; though the other one
does get her more gifts! ;^)
We’ve had an amazing day, with nice weather
with temperatures reaching well into the sixties this afternoon. Michael and I started out day with Tai Chi in
the pool room followed by a quick swim before going back up to our rooms to get
ready for a play day and pack up for check-out.
Breakfast was at the same hotel restaurant we were at last year; with
the big exception being that some of us were celebrating Rowen’s birthday today
when it was literally yesterday’s news last year. Everyone else in our collective groups were
celebrating the Championship win – just like we were doing last year; so that
was awesome too. There was only one
parent ‘with’ us for breakfast, and while he and Tracey had a gift to give
Rowen at the dinner at the Inn tonight too; he had a little game souvenir for
Rowen too – an autographed mini-helmet that he’d gotten Michael and Tim to
autograph sometime for her. It was more
of a gag gift; but she loved the thoughtfulness and quiet humor.
Tim, Michael, and I had gifts for her too;
and so did Rebecca and Lucas, and Sally and Joshua. The cheerleaders had a group gift for her,
but they did that later, at lunchtime, and since I was quietly asked for a donation
to the cause by Dani; I know that was shopped for while we were at the Mall for
the rest of the morning. The parents and
chaperones had done some organizing overnight, and while a few people headed for
home after breakfast, everyone else – including all of the teens and most of
the kids – went to the Mall with us for the morning; and stayed for a
semi-organized lunch and play time celebration at the sports entertainment
center here.
We have our Christmas shopping trip coming
up soon anyway, so Rowen and I didn’t need to do any major shopping today; but
we did have fun wandering around with the boys – and with Sally and Joshua
too. Rebecca and Lucas went off with
Jenny and Lance to do their own thing; but they mostly didn’t hang out with us
because we didn’t want to be wandering the mall in one huge group. We bumped into other friends now and then, and
had little cameo moments; and pretty much just played around for a couple of
hours until we needed to meet up for lunch at the food court. That was entertaining too, and Dani and the
other girls even tracked down a cupcake and candle so that Rowen could get a
bonus birthday wish while getting about half of the people around and in the
food court to sing the birthday song to Rowen.
That had Rowen blushing and looking embarrassed; but she sort-of loved
it too.
We were off to the sports entertainment
center right after that, and while it hasn’t changed at all since last year; we
had just as much fun this time as we were there for Rowen’s birthday on the
Friday night. More fun, really; because
we had a lot more of our friends along for the ride. That gave Rowen and me a bigger home town
audience to wow with our daring trampoline skills; we won our little race
against the boys for rock wall climbing; and Tim won this round of Laser Tag –
just as he did last year. Throw in as
many other games and activities as we could fit into the two and a half hours
we had available to play there; and then it was time to hit the road for home.
That felt very strange after spending the
rest of the day together, because the boys needed to head home on the bus with
the team while Rowen and I were sent home with Tim’s father this time – mostly because
he offered so that Ana-Marie and Erica could do something else before heading
back without needing to worry about having us home in time for Rowen’s birthday
dinner at the Inn. The trip was a bit
quieter, but we enjoyed having a couple of hours of alone time with Martin too –
something we don’t get to do really at all.
I think that I’ve done fairly amazing when it comes to the family of my
boyfriend, but Rowen’s aced out too; and Tim’s parents are seriously awesome –
even though they’re the quiet couple in their family compared to Lee and Sarah.
When we got home, Rowen and I had extra time
to get ready for dinner while Michael and Tim helped out at the school and her
parents – and Tim’s – finished up for the day at the store and dealership. The Saturday shopping wasn’t quite as crazy
as Black Friday; but there were still a lot of visitors in town today; and it
was a gorgeous day to be outdoors and wandering around town – or playing at the
park or on the river. Michael and I have
missed everything that’s been going on with our families yesterday and today,
and for my family; that included a trail ride this afternoon for some of the
parents and teens – though most of the guys were more interested in the college
football games. We missed out on dinners
with our families tonight too; though Michael’s grandparents, aunt, uncle, and
cousins were at the Inn for dinner – just not with us; and they were nearly
finished eating by the time we got there with Rowen’s parents, Patrick, and
Scott.
While they’d had a very busy couple of
days, Miranda and Jacob still insisted that Michael and Rebecca take the night
off so that they could both be there for Rowen’s dinner party; and Lucas stayed
in town for that too. Jenny didn’t come
to dinner; and was with Lance in Maple Valley tonight instead – apparently the
compromise they’d made with his parents that allowed him to go to the game and
stay there overnight on the holiday weekend.
The rest of the teen guest list was fairly small because the rest of our
friends all had family commitments too; but all of Rowen’s family was there –
both the home town gang and the weekend visitors that were staying at her
house; but being hosted by her grandparents while Patricia and Owen were busy
at the store.
The food seemed extra-special after the
mediocre culinary experiences we had on our trip; but I won’t say it was a
best-of-the-weekend; because Jacob’s Thanksgiving dinner was a tough act to
follow; and the buffets tomorrow will be as amazing as always. What was awesome tonight was the friends and
family time; Rowen’s mini-roast; and seeing my best friend so happy. Whatever her birthday wishes were today; I
don’t see how having them granted could make her life any better than it is
right now – though with Rowen; it’s quite possible that her wishes are for
someone else – or for her future. I wish
that she gets to be this happy all of her life too!
Let’s not get into the details of the
gifts. She loved everything, and had a
handful of them to open – including the one that I brought along from Mom, Dad,
Ethan, and Ehlana; but Rowen could have gotten nothing at all and she would
have been just as happy.
Okay, mostly happy – we are still teens,
after all; and getting gifts is fun – even if we love giving them even more.
Michael and I were the only other teens at
the table with Rowen and Tim, but Rebecca, Lucas, and the others were at
neighboring tables so that they could still talk with Rowen too. Though we were celebrating her birthday, it
wasn’t a surprise that the championship football game was the top news story
here at home today; and everyone wanted to congratulate the guys – and hear all
about the game. That helped out with the
entertainment, and Rowen didn’t mind sharing the spotlight; but I think that
she was also ready to go home by the time we’d finished having dessert too –
though that wasn’t going to be a transition to some alone time with Tim.
Rowen wasn’t the only teen in the room that
needed to get home to family after leaving the Inn. I walked home with Michael after we spent ten
minutes talking with his parents in the kitchen; stopped in for another cameo
visit with his weekend guests; and then moved on to my house to spend a couple
of hours with my own family before bedtime – or at least the Rice family
contingent of it. The Proctors were with
Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace; Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne were spending the evening
with his family guests; and Grandma and Grandpa were there this evening after
spending most of the day at our house.
Violet and Dillon were still there; but only for the first hour before
they needed to get back to his house for their last night in Witch Falls before
heading back to school tomorrow afternoon.
That was a whirlwind of inaction; and that’s
exactly what I mean. I mostly sat on a
sofa with Mom and Dad; sipped on a hot chocolate, and had a blur of little
cameo chats with everyone – including giving everyone a condensed version of
the football game report from a cheerleader and girlfriend perspective while
skipping over some of the details that Dad, Ethan, and the other guys had
already passed on to everyone else. With
an early-morning wake-up call a necessity for all of us to get ready for church
and a busy day; a comparatively early bedtime was an option for some of us too –
though that didn’t include Chris, Martin, Dawn, or me.
After seeing the parents and grandparents
off to bed, Dawn and I took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana tucked in for the
night while Chris and Martin moved on to the lounge for some gaming action. They’re also watching the last college ball
game of the day; but the other guys are, at the very least, bending man-laws to
skip the rest of it in favor of the extra nap time.
Have you ever noticed that there always
seems to be a way around man-laws when it’s convenient for the guys; but that
rarely happens when a man-law can get them out of doing something they don’t
want to do?
Let’s not go there tonight. Dawn and I had a little visit with Chris and
Martin in the lounge after we’d finished tucking the twins in for the night,
but then we closed the doors between the lounge and my room so that we could
get ready for bed and then just surf the net of my computer and have some girl
chat time until Dawn fell asleep about a half-hour ago. I’ve been doing some nightly computing since
then, and had one little family business email issue to deal with; but I’m
about ready to get started on my nap time too.
Tomorrow really is going to be crazy-busy –
especially since Michael and I need to be at church early to warm up with the
teen praise team. I’ll be back at the
Inn for the noon buffet with my family; and then I’m booked to help out for the
rest of the day there. Our guests will
likely be leaving from the Inn as long as they get everything packed and loaded
up in the morning; so I won’t miss anything at home except for Mom and Dad
working in the office. I wish that there’d
been more time to spend with Grandma and Grandpa this weekend; but I guess that’ll
have to wait for when they’re home for Christmas.
That’s pretty much it for this update, and
I am tired enough to sleep now; so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
