Other than some rain overnight that ended
shortly before dawn and more rain late tonight; it’s been a fairly nice and
very hot day around here. The rain that
was in the forecast for the day didn’t show up; though there was rain and
thunderstorms in the region that just didn’t make any stops in town. The threat of bad weather did keep us close
to home, though; so we didn’t do any major outings this afternoon.
I’m getting ahead of the storyline, though;
so let’s back up and start from the beginning.
Tai Chi by the river was a bit damp on our
feet and shoes; but we still opted to be outdoors and just needed to be a bit
more careful to avoid any slips on the damp grass. Michael came over to exercise with us, but
then he was home again to have breakfast with his family while I was busy for
the next couple of hours with helping out in the kitchen before and after
breakfast; handling kid control during breakfast; and juggling bathroom time
with all of the other girls. That was a
crazy-busy rush followed by the comparative quiet at church – at least during
the service and Sunday school before we headed home again and got back to the
busy while throwing lunch together for all of our collective families and some
extra friend invitees.
Michael wasn’t one of those lunchtime
guests because he was busy at the Inn all day, but we did have Rowen, Tim,
Naomi, and Aiden with us; along with some of their parents. The meal wasn’t anything fancy – just grilled
burgers and hot dogs with sides of cold salads and veggies; but that was mostly
because we were also booked for the late buffet at the Inn tonight too. Rowen, Tim, and I were on kid control during
lunch and the work crews on each side of the meal; but Dawn and Jillian spent
time with Violet, Dillon, and the parents before Uncle Rick and Aunt Melissa
headed home not long after we finished eating.
All of the weekend visitor parents headed
out then; with Robyn the only visiting kid to leave with her parents while her
big sister, Nicole, is staying with us for the week. In this case, the ‘us’ is all of us; and
Kara, Eddie, and Nicole will be doing sleepovers at at least five different
houses – including at least one camping or sleepover adventure at our
house. I’m not committing to any camping
nights for them; since we’re already through the first weekend and camping hasn’t
been an option so far. That seems
strange; but then it feels weird to be this far into the cousins’ vacation
without a major adventure yet. We haven’t
been to Quarry Lake, on a trail ride, a canoe trip to the whirlpool, or even an
all-day play day yet!
After the visiting parents left, we did do
some canoeing; swam a lot; and went to the park for some playground time; so we
managed to stay entertained without any extreme fun until it was time to get
ready for dinner at the Inn. Michael
played with us while on his afternoon break; but that was all of the time we
spent together for the rest of the day – except for my hugs and kisses visits
to the kitchen at the Inn before and after dinner tonight. The buffet meal was the highlight of the day
for our cousins; and the parents and grandparents were happy to trade the
expense of the outing for not needing to do any extra cooking or cleaning.
Since we’d picked the late buffet so that
all of the store owner members of the family could go along, we were at the Inn
until a bit after eight-thirty by the time we finished dessert; so we split up
after that and headed to our respective homes for the night. We only had Dawn and Jillian at our house
tonight, but Naomi’s here with Ehlana too; and Ethan and Jayden are with Uncle
Adam and Aunt Leanne – and Aiden got an invite to stay with them too so that he
didn’t feel left out. Since Mom and Dad
both had work to do in the office tonight, Dawn, Jillian, and I had Ehlana and
Naomi join us in the lounge for a movie; they both fell asleep before the end
of the show; and we put them to bed in Ehlana’s room between the first and
second movie we watched tonight.
Dawn and Jillian each only watched half of
that second movie because they took turns using my Jacuzzi; but I watched the
entire show while also doing a bit of work on my computer while multi-tasking
some girl chat time too. Violet stopped
in for a visit near the end of that movie, but didn’t stay long before heading
off to bed. She and Dillon are back to
work in the morning; so they didn’t want to stay up late for a third night in a
row. They weren’t the only people in the
house feeling the same way; Dawn and Jillian headed for their rooms shortly
after Violet left us; and I got ready for bed as soon as I finished cleaning up
the lounge from our little movie double-feature. I had a micro goodnight chat with Mom and Dad
while doing the dishes part of that work in the kitchen; and they headed for
bed them too.
Staying up late is relative for me, but I
have kept my family business work to the minimum; and I’ll still be sleeping by
one-ish if I wrap this up and call it a night soon.
Then again, that is pretty much all of the
news I have for today, and going off to sleep now is an option; so, until next
time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
