The good news is that Mom and Dad put
Michael in the same hotel room with me for our five-star sleepover!
I’m sure that sounds perfect to any teen
couple, and way too permissive for responsible parents; but the flip side of
that good news is that we’re in our room with Ethan and Ehlana so there is
definitely nothing going on tonight that is not kid-rated entertainment or
fun. We have been having fun today,
though; and it’s been a really great day here in the city.
While we didn’t have a lot of time this
morning before needing to hit the road for Crystal Springs, we still had our
Tai Chi workout by the river at sunrise and went with a snack breakfast before
loading up the minivan and Violet’s car; meeting up with the rest of our
mini-caravan; and heading east toward the highway by eight o’clock. Stuart and Samantha Wingborough led the way;
and they had Stephanie and Jake with them.
Michael and I were with Violet and Dillon, and Rebecca was with her
parents in their minivan; along with bonus junior shoppers Jessica, Sophia, and
Geraldine – the three younger girls thrilled to be invited along on the
shopping adventure. Josiah, Christina,
Mitch, and Lynn were in two more vehicles; and between them, they had
Anna-Marie, Erica, and Carolyn, and Lindsay with them. Mom brought up the rear of our group; and she
and Angela were kept entertained for the drive time by Ethan, Ehlana, Valerie,
and Marcus.
The trip to the city was especially fun for
me because I actually got to spend an hour and a half with Violet and Dillon
without interruption. That certainly
doesn’t happen very often anymore; and I know that Violet was as happy as I was
for that chance to hang out together and talk about everything from work and
summer fun to weddings and upcoming college and high school plans. We needed to split up for a while and do some
vehicle shuffling once we were in Crystal Springs; and Miranda and Samantha led
the girls in the wedding party into the boutique for the final fittings of our
dresses while everyone else moved on to the mall.
Our dresses were perfect; and though
Stephanie’s fitting too quite a while as they took a lot of care with getting
her in and out of it; Miranda was especially happy to find out that Rebecca and
I didn’t have any problems with our dresses.
That was really more of an issue for me than Rebecca; but the guesses
made at my first fitting worked out pretty much exactly as expected; and I’ve
grown into the sizing – and not beyond.
Taking my dress in would have been an option; but we’d have had a
problem if I’d exceeded the capacity! ;^)
Miranda and Samantha had fun teasing us
while overseeing the action; and the jokes directed my way ranged from suggestions
that Stephanie should make a last-minute change in the bridal party to protect
Miranda’s baby boy from me to placing mock bets about whether we’d be having an
accidental sofa sleepover the night of the wedding. Rebecca was teased at least as much as I was;
but we were both okay with that bonus fun – especially since we’re also sure
that our respective boyfriends really are going to be blown away when they see
us at the wedding!
While we were busy, the guys went ahead and
began their search for the perfect tuxes; led by Jacob and Stuart while most of
the girls, Ethan, and Marcus fanned out around the mall for some quality
shopping time. The fathers of the bride
and groom kept the Moms and bridal party in the loop with texts and pictures as
they had Jake and the other guys try on different tuxes; and then Mom and
Angela were recruited for in-person approval of the final choice when they were
at that stage of the process before we were finished at the wedding boutique. Michael was one of the guys wearing the ‘winning’
choice tux, so I got to see a picture of that; we both got teased some more;
and the odds of that sofa sleepover went up to the point where none of the
girls would take the ‘not happening’ side of the bet anymore.
I didn’t get to see Michael in his tux in
person because by the time we got to the Mall; he was finished with his fitting
– as were about half of the guys. As we
were told several times, it may be totally unfair that the bride can see the
groom in his tux while he can’t see her dress before the wedding processional;
but I’ll guess that Jake was pretty much over the disappointment by the time
that Stephanie finished telling him how much she loved how great he looked in
his tux in a mostly non-verbal way.
While half of the girls in our group stayed for the rest of the tux
fittings; Michael, Rebecca, and I were set free until lunchtime. We met up with Mom, Angela, and their gang;
and then we also took over keeping an eye on Jessica, Geraldine, and Lindsay so
that Anna-Marie, Erica, and Carolyn could go and do their own thing for a few
hours.
It hasn’t been that long since our summer
shopping trip, so I didn’t really need to pick up anything; but that didn’t
keep me from finding two tops, a pair of shorts, a swimsuit, and a sundress
that wouldn’t let me leave the stores without them. I’m including the full shopping time in that
list; but only picked up the sundress before we met up with most of our group
for lunch in the food court at one o’clock.
Our afternoon shopping adventure included some wedding-related work that
ranged from a bride and groom visit to the jewelry store with the parents to
picking up the supplies for everything from decorating the church and Inn to
some of the treats that would be going into the gift baskets for the
guests. That was actually going to be
gift cauldrons; but that was as much for the chef reference as for a magical
theme for the night.
Michael, Rebecca, and I had one of the
shopping lists, and while we needed to split off from Mom, Angela, and the kids
to take care of some of that; we usually also at least took some of the kids
with us – with Jessica, Sophia, and Ehlana most happy to come along and help us
out. We had all of our ‘work’ done and the
bonus fun shopping by the time that Terry met up with us after finishing his
work back at home, and while we still had a bit of time left before needing to
move on; Mom decided to head over to the hotel a bit early so that we could
check in and freshen up before meeting up with everyone again for dinner. That had the advantage that Dad didn’t need
to drive out to meet us too; but let’s not review how happy he was about
meeting up with Mom in his room while Michael, Ethan, Ehlana, and I were in our
room. The smiles were more information
than we needed to have; and I’ll guess that Mom’s wards were up around their
room for more than the privacy. If you
absolutely must, think time phasing; use your imagination; and never tell me
about it if you do should I still be around when you’re reading this someday in
my future.
Yes, I do have a double standard for that
when it comes to my parents compared to me using time phases for making out
with Michael; but I’m a teen – deal with the inequity of it all and move along!
Dinner was a crazy-busy couple of hours of
non-stop fun. Angela had picked out a
surf and turf restaurant for us; we needed to be split up around a half-dozen
tables; and Michael and I were on kid control duty with the twins, Sophia, Valerie,
Jessica, Geraldine, and Lindsay while there were tables for the senior members
of the wedding party and the parents; the rest of the Proctor-Malloy group; and
the temporarily single teen girls’ club that Rebecca joined for the meal. I would have liked to spend some time with
the teens and adults too, but Michael and I were good with getting to spend the
extra time with Jessica and Sophia. Once
again, that’s another example of cousins that we don’t get to spend enough time
with despite the fact that they live on the same street with us; and Sophia
spends time with Ethan and Ehlana at least a couple of times a week.
We at least made up for that a bit today –
and tonight after dinner. The parents
either headed home, to the hotel, or elsewhere for a few hours after we left
the restaurant; but dropped all of the kids or teens off at the movie theater
so that we could wrap up our day with a bit of bonus entertainment. Michael and I were drafted to be the kid
control managers; and we had the same gang with us for our cinematic adventure
into the world of the Minions. The rest
of the teens split up and either went to see Jurassic World or Insurgent. I would have liked to see both of those
movies too; but I’ll guess that we had more fun watching the Minions thanks
especially to Ethan, Ehlana, and Sophia.
By the end of the show, they were pretending to be our Minions; and then
expanded their act when we met up with the rest of our movie-going gang outside
of the theater. Jake, Stephanie, Violet,
Dillon, Josiah, and Christina were all particularly amused when it was their
turn to be followed around by our three little Minions for a while before they
moved on to their next target.
Mom came to get Michael, Ethan, Ehlana, and
me while Miranda, Jacob, Samantha, and Stuart were there to collect their
passengers too after hanging out together for that two hours or so doing some
other wedding-related shopping; and then it was time to say goodbye when our
little sub-group headed back to the hotel while everyone else was going
home. It was going to be late by the
time they got back to Witch Falls; but most of the teens and parents are
working in the morning; and our favorite collegians decided not to spend the
money on a city sleepover that they’d rather have for going back-to-school – or
for their honeymoon in Jake and Stephanie’s case.
When we got back to the hotel, we had a
little bedtime visit with Dad in his room, but he still had lots of work to get
done by morning; so we kept that short.
Again, let’s not go into why Dad still had so much work left to do after
having several hours of kid-free time to get that done. Michael and I took Ethan and Ehlana with us
to our room; we took turns getting ready for bed in the washroom; and then we
put a movie on and got into bed – Michael and Ethan in one; and Ehlana and I in
the other. At the risk of future ruin to
Michael’s reputation, he did cuddle with Ethan while I cuddled with Ehlana, but
try not to give him a hard time about that – the twins are only four; and still
officially in the cuddling-is-cool years.
Sure, he’d have rather been cuddling with me; but Michael really loves
my brother and sister a lot too; and we had fun tonight while watching our show
until all three of my roommates for the night fell asleep.
I waited until the movie was over to get
started on my nightly computer checks; dealt with a bit of family business
work; and answered a half-dozen emails from family and friends – including a
couple from Violet and Rebecca that were mostly just to let me know that they
were home safely – and wondering if I was enjoying my sleepover with
Michael. Dawn and Jillian sent me an
email too; mostly interested in getting details about their upcoming holiday in
Witch Falls. Other than the extra work
that goes along with getting ready for a cousins’ vacation, I haven’t really
even thought about that much; and Mom and Aunt Leanne haven’t exactly put a lot
of time into planning for it either with everything they both have on the go
right now.
Maybe Aunt Leanne and I should just do a
little matchmaking for Dawn and Jillian and leave them to entertain themselves
for the next two weeks! ;^)
I’m so glad that their fathers will never
ready this – and don’t you dare pass this along to them, Violet!
Moving along, that’s all of the news for
today, and while I haven’t even come close to listing every detail; I’m sure
that bits and pieces of the action today will show up in future journal updates
– particularly when it comes to the wedding fun. Mom has some more shopping to get done
tomorrow; we’re going to visit SportsFusion for a couple of hours too; and then
we need to be home in time for dinner with a fast food fix for Aunt Leanne; so
I’m going to wrap this up now and join Michael, Ethan, and Ehlana in slumber
land. Our adventures in the city may be
more than half-done now, but I definitely want to be ready for that shopping
and play time by morning; so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
