It’s been a hot, sunny, rainy, and
occasionally stormy weather day around here; and that’s made for a very strange
first day start to our cousins’ hometown holiday this year!
Rain kept us indoors for Tai Chi; got in
the way of lunch; and was responsible for a rather abrupt end to our campfire
tonight. On the other side of that
weather line, the sunshine we had for the rest of the day ensured that nothing
stayed wet for long; our barbeque dinner didn’t get rained out; and the two
ball games that I was most interested in today were a go. We hadn’t set up specific plans for a camping
night, but the overnight forecast had us opting for a girls’ night sleepover on
the third floor instead of camping anyway.
The thunderstorm going on right now as I write this is a fair
confirmation that we made the right choice.
It’s also really late right now too; so let’s
keep this short and then I’m going to try to get a few hours of down time
before we’ll be up and going again.
Tai Chi indoors just isn’t quite as much
fun as it is by the river, but we made up for that drop in fun level with
breakfast for twelve. The rain had ended
by then, so going out to play after the clean-up was an option. Dawn, Jillian, and I did that; took Ethan and
Ehlana along; and collected some friends along the way as we biked around town
and played at the park or wandered along Witch Falls Road and visited a few
stores. The hot had us picking up ice
cream at the Emporium for our morning snack break; and swimming in the river
was an option too anytime we felt the need to jump in.
The parents hadn’t made any plans for the
morning, so having us out of the way just made it easier to get some work done –
or spend time hanging out together.
Uncle Rick and Aunt Melissa also spent some time with Brianna without
any major competition for the baby attention while Uncle Adam’s cousins were
busy with the kids or doing other things.
Our rained-out lunch plans had been at the Carrington and Everett homes;
so we split up between the houses for that meal and ate in the dining rooms,
kitchens, or back porches of the two houses.
Dawn, Jillian, and I were with the group at the Everett’s house; and we
helped out with kid control that only semi-successfully included keeping the
younger kids dry as they chose to play in the rain as part of their back porch
dining adventure.
We had a short blast of sun and hot toward
the end of lunch; a bit more rain; and then the hot really kicked up a few notches
by the time I wanted to be at the school ball diamond to watch Michael, Tim,
and the Arrows play their game against the Cannons. Rowen and I had a few cousins along for our
cheerleading squad, but none of the parents came to the game; most of the
younger kids stayed at home or went to the park to play; and even our squad
kept getting diverted with doing other things – like biking off to the river to
cool off with a swim or go to the Emporium for ice cream treats and cold
drinks.
I don’t think that our lack of cheer squad
dedication had anything to do with the final results; but the Arrows came up
just short in their final inning attempt at a comeback and lost the game by a score
of twelve-to-eleven. Michael, Tim, and
the other guys weren’t all that disappointed, and pretty much everyone at the
game just wanted to get cool by then anyway; so the post-game action lasted all
of about ten minutes before we headed for my house. For Michael, Tim, and Rowen; they only came
over for a swim, snacks, and drinks before Michael needed to get to the Inn to
help out and Rowen and Tim moved on to his Aunt and Uncle’s house for their own
barbeque dinner plans.
By then, it was time for a bit of a mad
rush for us to get through dinner and the clean-up in time for Mom, Dad, and
the other co-ed ball playing members of our family to get to the park for their
pre-game warm-ups. Dawn, Jillian, and I
had another group of kids with us when we went over there too; and we played at
the playground until the game started.
After that, ‘they’ continued to play there, go swimming, or do other
games while Ehlana and I led the tiny little squad of cheerleaders that we had
with us for the game. We had a few transient
additions now and then; but it just wasn’t the same as usual tonight – mostly because
it really was just too hot to expect our cousins to be very enthusiastic about
hanging around and cheering – especially when about half of the players were having
a tough time staying motivated too. Our
cheerleading record is off to the worst start ever for any cousins’ vacation
since I’ve been here, though; and we’re oh-for-two this weekend. The Pub Parrots beat our Legal Eagles
thirteen-to-ten; and everyone once again seemed to just be happy that the game
was over and they could move on to do anything that included getting cool
again.
Having a campfire doesn’t seem to fit in
with that desire for cool, but most of us went swimming; and the fire was small
and meant to be the focal point for the family and friends gathering. As I mentioned, that didn’t end up being much
of an event anyway. Some of us could
feel the rain and storms moving into the area; we doused the campfire at a bit
before eleven; and either headed home or came indoors for the night. The sleepover plans had been confirmed for
some of us at dinnertime or into the evening; and we have Jaimie and Kaitlyn
with us tonight while Ethan and Jayden are with Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace. We’d talked about having Kara and Nicole with
us too; but they’re juggling sleepover time with aunts, uncles, grandparents,
and great-grandparents; so that didn’t work out for them tonight.
While it’s a girls’ night sleepover; boys
were not banned from the third floor until Michael and Tim needed to go home
for the night. This update is jumping
around a bit, and that’s at least partly because I’m tired out; but Rowen and
Tim joined us at the park near the end of the game and stayed with us for the
campfire because Rowen is doing the sleepover too; and Michael caught up with
us at the weather-shortened campfire after the Inn closed for the night. That’s something else that was different and
probably heat-related too – his parents, Jake, Stephanie, and Rebecca were all
too tired to come over for the campfire and they’d opted to stay at home
instead.
This isn’t exactly ending up as a short
report; so let’s try to speed this up.
While Michael and Tim were with us, we watched a movie in the lounge; we
– the girls – ‘kicked them out’ at twelve-thirty; and Rowen and I took care of
saying goodnight to our boys out on the front or back porch as we split up to
do that before sending them off into the light rain for their respective run or
bike ride home. Violet and Dillon are
here tonight, and Violet joined us for some of the girl chat time after that;
but they’d spent that movie time with the parents instead so that they could
have the bonus visit with Uncle Rick and Aunt Melissa before they head home to
Woodvale again tomorrow afternoon.
By the way, just for the record; I don’t
think that they’re seriously worried about having a house left standing to go
home to after leaving Chris and Martin alone there for a weekend. I’ll let you know if I’m wrong about that if
it actually ends up being a valid concern that proves out tomorrow! ;^)
Okay, the girl chat time took an hour and a
half or so; Jaimie and Kaitlyn are camping out in the lounge and sleeping now;
and Rowen’s in bed with Mandy and me – and she fell asleep about forty minutes
ago – not long after Dawn and Jillian headed off to their rooms for the
night. I’ve been doing my usual nightly
computer and email checks; got caught up dealing with a bit of family business
work; and wish that I was sleeping already too.
The work needed to be done, though; and at least it is out of the way
now.
Sometimes I am way too much like my parents
for things like that; but don’t worry – Aunt Leanne hasn’t totally given up
hope on me yet!
That is all that I have for tonight, and I
really am worn down; so I am out of here and off to dreamland now.
Until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
