Heirs of the Magi News Flash!

***Heirs of the Magi News Flash!*** Winter has, for the most part, been mild so far - or awesome for the month that Cassie and Michael spent in summertime-Australia! They are home now and will be working from home for most of the time until Easter. The hometown work will include getting ready for their next trip, but there will be a lot of fun to get in on and share with their favorite people - including their March Break trip to Florida adventure. All of your favorite Magi Masters will continue to work and play while their future plans unfold; so... ...Visit Witch Falls often to keep up with all of their latest stories; and Happy Reading!

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Cassie's Journal - April 4, 2015



Happy 2nd Birthday, Hailey!

Aiden’s little sister had an amazing start to her birthday today; and I know that for sure because we were there for a lot of the fun.  We weren’t invited to the party or anything, but Mom and Dad opted for taking us to the breakfast buffet at the Inn today instead of feeding all of us at home; and Hailey and Aiden were there too with some of their family.  Their parents were busy at the bakery by then, since the day before Easter is very busy for them; but grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins were all willing to help Hailey out with the breakfast buffet fun – and a lot of kids were in town for another Easter weekend event.

That would be the first annual Easter Egg Hunt in the park that the BMR lab sponsored.  Before I get to that part of the update, though; let’s back up and cover the early morning story first.

It was cold this morning – barely above freezing; so Tai Chi was indoors again today.  As I mentioned with the last report, Michael was working at the Inn this morning; so we were one short for our workout.  That time was the quiet before the storm of activity that kept us busy while everyone got up and ready to go out to the Inn and on to the Easter Egg hunt from there.  Mom, Ehlana, and I had fun playing dress-up and doing hair with Jaimie and Kaitlyn; though two of the boys were not impressed that we took so long getting ready – especially when we had a short wait at the Inn before we could be seated for the buffet.  Fortunately for Ethan and Jayden, we’re fairly good friends with the owners of the Inn; and Miranda gave them each a mini cinnamon bun to keep them happy until we were able to fill plates and sit down to eat.

I went into the kitchen to say good morning to all of my favorite people there, and though Michael got teased about our fairly enthusiastic hug and kisses; he seemed happy enough when he got back to work and I left to re-join my family in the dining room.  The breakfast buffet isn’t the culinary adventure that the dinners always are, but there are always one or two special dishes to go along with the staple breakfast foods; and I enjoyed trying them out along with my usual favorites – and didn’t have a problem with joining most of our group for a second trip to the buffet tables.

Yes, there are advantages to having a hyper-metabolism!

Working off the extra food wasn’t a problem today anyway; since we wandered around town and did a bit of shopping until it was time to go over to the park for the Easter Egg Hunt.  There were lots of Easter sales going on in the stores, and while I didn’t need any new outfits; one dress and a pair of shoes refused to let me go home without them – and most of the other women in our family had the same problem.  I’m including all of the girls because most of them were out shopping this morning too – even though they didn’t join us for the breakfast buffet.  We didn’t all try to shop together, but Aunt Grace and Aunt Alison did join us; and we bumped into everyone else at least once while making our way around town.

The shopping did mean making a pit stop at home to drop off our purchases on the way to the park; and then it was time to play again.  I haven’t mentioned the Easter Egg Hunt in my journal, but the Moms in our family came up with the idea of doing a bigger hunt this year that all of the kids in the area could do; and the town council didn’t have a problem with the plan once they found out that it was all-expenses paid by BMR.  Even with the cool temperatures this morning, we had a great turnout; and Aunt Grace and the other volunteers had put together an amazing couple of hours of fun for everyone.  I had a blast too, since I got to run around with Zack, Leah, Hailey, and some of the other younger cousins and friends.  I ended up with the small gang of toddlers because the KidZone friends wanted to hunt for eggs together, and Robyn wanted to hang out with Leah.  I had lots of help with the kids; including having Jaimie and Kaitlyn hanging out with us while also hunting for eggs too.

There were more than five hundred people at the park, and about a half and half mix of adults and kids.  The volunteers had hidden thousands of eggs, so each kid was easily able to find at least a dozen eggs; even with the over-achievers running around and gathering as many as they could find – or until their baskets were full.  Every egg had a treat of some sort; and then there were also several hundred ‘prize’ eggs that the kids took to a booth to trade in for the toy or candy that they won by finding those special eggs.  We made sure that all of the kids in our group found at least one of those eggs; and I’m fairly sure that the volunteers helped to make that happen for every kid – even if they basically had to drop one right beside certain kids that weren’t having much luck in the hunt.  I can report for sure that there were not any unhappy kids by the end of the event; and we definitely had a fired up gang of kids with us when we went home again by shortly before noon.

We had a barbeque lunch at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s for everyone and a play afternoon in the combined Carrington-Everett back yards; but the entertainment highlight of the afternoon for me was the optional trail ride that only a handful of us went on.  Rowen, Tim, and Michael all got to go with us for that, which was awesome; and Jaimie was happy to come with us this year – even though Kaitlyn didn’t get to do the trail ride despite really wanting to ride too.

Maybe we’ll see about getting her into some lessons this summer when they come to visit so she’ll be able to ride with us later this year.

Michael had the afternoon off because of helping out in the morning, but he also needed to be back at the Inn again right after our ride so that he could help out with the dinner buffets.  I could have helped out at the Inn today too, but didn’t; and instead chose to spend the time with my family.  Miranda and Jacob had the full staff available thanks to the two holidays; so I wasn’t really needed anyway.  When we got back from the ranch, it was play time in the back yard; and I played everything at least once, including a game of Frisbee and a short, toddler-sized soccer match.  I was also on kid control until dinnertime; and then got to have that meal with the grownups while other adults dealt with getting the younger kids fed and watered.

That was fun, and I got to spend some quality time with Uncle Blaine, Aunt Alison, Uncle Mark, and Aunt Grace.  We talked about the construction and work at the lab a bit; but mostly I got to hear about life in Granite Park for a while and we discussed plans for the spring and summer.  After wrapping up our meal with some ice cream and apple pie, it was time for some of us to get to work; and I was on the clean-up crew with half of the parents while the kids kept the rest of the adults busy and entertained.  It was time to start winding down after that, and we all had quiet evenings at home scheduled ahead of what is sure to be a long, very busy Easter Sunday.

Ethan, Ehlana, and I went home with Mom and Dad at seven-thirty, and while Mom and Dad needed to do some work in the office; I helped Ethan and Ehlana to get ready for bed and then we came up to the lounge to watch a movie while waiting for Michael to join us once he was finished at the Inn.  He was set free early, and only missed the first twenty minutes of the show – and cuddle time with me.  The rest of that time with my brother and sister was fun, and so was getting them tucked in for the night after that; but the alone time with Michael was the highlight of the night for me – and hopefully for him too!

Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay together and play for hours because we need to be at the church very early for the sunrise service; but we did have as much fun as we could with the time available.  Michael went home at eleven; Mom and Dad wrapped up their work in the office then; and then I helped them out with playing the Easter Bunny before we came up to our rooms for the night.  That was another little blast of fun; but I was ready to hop into bed by then and Mandy was already there waiting for me to join her.

I’ve only done the basic computer checks tonight, and there wasn’t any family business work that needed to be done tonight; so I’m actually going to be sleeping before midnight.  That’s a good thing; since I need to get up by four-ish and be at the church for five to get set up for the service.  Yes, I could push that back a bit and use a time phase to help out with getting ready in the morning; but then it would be easier to do a self-healing when I’m tired.

If I just get to the napping, I won’t need to do either, though; so that’s all for tonight folks, and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!