We’ve had such an awesome day; I guess the
only place to start is at the beginning.
Wake-up calls for Tai Chi are more fun when
they involve hugs and kisses with Michael! ;^)
That didn’t happen in my room, since my
wake-up call came from Ehlana and Naomi; and they didn’t come with me when I
went to Michael’s room. We had fun with
that; but still managed to make it downstairs to the kitchen by the time Mom
and Dad were there – and had put their first pot of coffee on to brew. It was warm outside this morning, but the
humidity had broken overnight; so it almost felt cool by comparison to the
extreme heat yesterday. Tai Chi by the
river was fun, thanks mostly to having Naomi and Aiden with us today too; and
then there was the added bonus that we got to catch part of Uncle Adam and Aunt
Leanne’s workout as we were finishing up and they were just getting started by
the river at their house. We don’t
actually time our workouts very well most days; so it was wonderful to see Aunt
Leanne. She’s as beautiful as I thought
that Mom was when she was still working out every morning right up until the
day the twins were born.
Speaking of Aunt Leanne, she’s probably
worked her last day for the rest of the summer today; though I won’t be
surprised if she goes into the office for regular visits now and then. I didn’t mention it yesterday, but in
addition to the new med center opening; the second new apartment building was
opened for early move-ins too. Dealing
with those rentals has been a big part of the work that Aunt Leanne and Claire
have been doing for the past couple of months; and it’s also why Aunt Leanne
can wrap up her work ahead of month end – the majority of moves are happening
early; and the apartments and rental houses that are being vacated will take
months or even years to rent out again.
Moving along, Mom and Dad had eight kids
and four teens to feed this morning; and it ended up being Mom, Rowen, and me
on the cooking crew while Dad, Michael, and Tim juggled getting ready for the
day with helping out with kid control. I
think that the girls got the easier of those two jobs – and the added bonus of
getting out of the clean-up work too!
Breakfast was in the dining room because we cooked pancakes and bacon;
but Rowen and I didn’t actually spend much time in there; since we just kept on
cooking food until the most-ravenous boys were filled up.
Yes, Tim and Michael were included in that
group of boys; but Miles was also particularly impressive with his ability to
devour pancakes while trying to keep up with Tim. He didn’t succeed, but if he had; I’d have
guessed that it’d be less than an hour before he’d have been going for a visit
to the med center to deal with the exploded stomach. While that is an exaggeration; Tim really can
eat a lot when he’s hungry – and it’s no wonder that the Landry boys have a
reputation for their ability to eat food.
Dad had to get to work; four out of six of the
kid guests were picked up by parents; and Mom was going to be spending the
morning at home with the twins, Naomi, and Aiden. Once the clean-up work was finished and Rowen
and I had gotten ready for the day too; we were advised that we were free to do
whatever we wanted to do for the rest of the day – at least until Michael and I
needed to be at his house for dinner and a wedding meeting. It took us about ten seconds to decide on a
bike trip to Quarry Lake, and a half hour to get ready to go; and then we were
on our bikes and heading out of town.
The ride out there was great – not too hot for
riding; and fairly quick because we were in the mood to push ourselves to see
just how fast we could do the ride this year now that we’re all a bit taller
and stronger. Quarry Lake was fairly
busy for a non-holiday week; and I’m sure that had everything to do with the
new attractions there. The rock wall and
zip line certainly had a lot to do with why we wanted to go there today – and it
was one of the first things we did there after locking our bikes up and going
for a walk around the place on our way over to the rock wall.
While the rock wall and zip line staff told
us that they already needed to book times for their customers, we lucked out
with an open slot that was a cancellation for our first climb; and then we
booked a second climb and ride for the afternoon. Rowen and I won that first climb up the one
hundred and ten foot wall, and while we were very happy about that; Tim advised
us that he and Michael let us win because they were having too much fun
watching us climb in shorts and tees.
I detected the danger of a long-running
joke being born with that today; and Tim reinforced that this afternoon when
Rowen and I won that climb too. True, he’s
only half-joking about that, but I also know that he likes to win as much as I
do; and he was not slacking off while we were climbing. We weren’t even officially racing anyway, but
I’ll also mention that we’re not even talking about winning by much; since
Michael and Tim are both really good climbers too – especially when you
consider that we don’t have much experience at all.
The zip line is a blast too – three hundred
yards of adrenaline-pumping thrills that start out high above the campground
with a great view and ends with a quick deceleration into a narrowing channel
that terminates on a large wooden deck.
I have no idea whether the big, red splatter poster on the tower wall at
the end of the line is common for zip lines, but from what we’ve seen and heard
so far; the teens and kids think it’s funny – especially since the ‘blood
spatters’ are overlaid on a chalk outline of a sprawled body.
After the climb and zip line ride, we were
ready for a swim; and spent the rest of the morning playing in the lake and on
the slides. Tim advised us that the
girlfriends in swimsuits time was his favorite part of the day, and while he and
Michael were suitably impressed with our swimsuit choices today; we were having
fun with everything we did while at Quarry Lake. We’d wanted to travel as lightly as we could
for the bike rides, so we bought our lunch, drinks, and snacks today instead of
hauling all of that with us; and that also meant that we didn’t need to spend a
lot of time doing any work or clean-ups.
Our afternoon climb and zip line ride was just as much fun as the first
one; and we had more water play time too before it was time to head home again.
Our return ride was a bit slower, but only
because we didn’t want to push it again – and didn’t need to do that. We took more back roads back home too; mostly
so that we could ride in pairs and talk more easily than we can while riding on
Quarry Road in single file. There’s some
construction on Quarry Road too, so we avoided most of that too by taking the
back roads.
That work, by the way, is partly for the
Solar-Wind farm, since they’re running underground lines into town; but they’re
also resurfacing the road since that work was going on anyway. The road will be a bit wider, and while that
isn’t specifically for cyclists; that was one of the considerations when the
plans were drawn up. There isn’t going
to be a fully-paved shoulder; but there will be a wide strip of paving that
will be perfect for biking while keeping the cyclists and vehicles separated.
Michael and I were having dinner with his
family – and with Stephanie and her parents; so that meant waiting until after
the furniture store closed for the day.
We were back in time to help out with the work, and while that wasn’t
Quarry Lake kind of fun; we managed to keep entertained. Dinner was great too, but short for the two
of us that needed to get to the church for our teen praise team practice. It’s the last one that we’re having before
the holiday; and ended up being a short practice because half of the teens didn’t
come to it because they were either working, away, or busy doing something
else.
That practice meant missing out on part of
the wedding meeting; but Michael and I were given a micro-update on what we
missed when we got back; and we were there for most of the work that had been
booked for the evening. We had the
parents and full wedding party there for the meeting and work; so I especially
loved getting to spend some time with Josiah, Christina, Mitch Bassett, and
Lynn Jennings. Christina isn’t in the
wedding party, but Josiah is; so we get the bonus help – just as we also get
Lucas helping out when he can; though he couldn’t get away from the farm
tonight.
We worked until the parents were ready to
call it a night at eleven; Michael and I went for a bedtime swim; and then I
headed home by midnight – after we’d spent a bit of quality time saying
goodnight to each other. Violet and
Dillon were home by then; but everyone else in the house was already in bed –
and I only talked with them in passing on my way to my room; since they were
getting ready for bed by then too.
I’d write something about it sucking to
have to go to bed early because of summer jobs; but tomorrow is going to be a
work day for me too – just as it will be for Michael, Tim, and Rowen. Violet and Dillon won’t need to work as hard
now that the med center is open; so I hope that they get to have a bit more
play time – even though there will also be more work for the wedding starting
the week after the holiday.
Since getting into bed with Mandy, I’ve
been doing my nightly computing and a bit of family business work, but since I’ll
be working tomorrow too; there wasn’t much that I had to do that couldn’t wait
until morning. There weren’t any
non-work emails to deal with; and the rest of my computer checks didn’t take
long. I’ll still keep up with the latest
news of all types, but there isn’t really any pressure to make sure that I’m in
the loop for the latest in sports, entertainment, or current events news like I
try to do at school.
Just in case you’re old and have forgotten;
it can be a lot of work to successfully survive being a teen – even for a Magi
Master! ;^)
That does pretty much bring us to the end
of this update. My work day tomorrow won’t
likely be very exciting by comparison to the past five or six days; but a break
in the non-stop fun for a day or two will be good for me. Rowen and I should definitely rest up so that
we’ll be ready for the start of summer shopping trip to the city we’ll be doing
on Friday. I haven’t even written about
that yet, but Mom has been working on it; and we’re going to have a fairly
large group of girls going with us again this year.
I can write more about that as the trip
details are finalized over the next two days, and I’m ready to get some sleep
now anyway; so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
