This update is coming to you late because
Dawn and I have been having a nice long girl chat with Violet while Dillon,
Chris, and Martin have been playing video games in the lounge. They’ve all gone off to bed now; but it’s
been a fun night having my cousins here a day early for the holiday weekend.
Uncle Blaine, Aunt Alison, and their kids
are here in town too, and while they’re staying with us too; Jaimie and Kaitlyn
are spending the night with Uncle Mark, Aunt Grace, and Caleb. They’re mostly doing that tonight because
Uncle Mark’s family will be getting here tomorrow; and there won’t be room at
his house for any extra sleepover guests for the rest of the weekend. Uncle Blaine and Aunt Alison spent most of
the evening over there too; but came back here once Jayden had run out of steam
and was ready for bed. Ethan and Ehlana
went to bed then too; which is why we didn’t have Ehlana with us for the girl
chat time.
Having a bit more than half of our family
home for the holiday a bit early has been the highlight of my day, which is why
I led with that news; but let’s back up and cover the rest of the daily report
from the beginning.
The rain mostly wrapped up overnight, and
while we had a spit or two of it today, that’s really all it was – a sprinkle
here and there. It didn’t get in the way
of Tai Chi this morning; we had breakfast out on the back porch because it was comfortably
warm and it was much nicer to be out there than indoors. Having an easy-breakfast made that choice
easier too; since we didn’t have much more than cups, glasses, and plates to
haul out there with us. Dad needed to get
ready for work after that, so I took care of the kitchen clean-up while Mom got
started on some other chores around the house.
Since the weather didn’t cooperate
yesterday, my jobs for the morning included mowing the lawn and weeding the
gardens. Though the grass was still
damp, I cut it first; and it was pretty much dry by the time I needed to do the
trimming work with the push mower and weed trimmer. I haven’t mentioned it in a while, but I do
really appreciate Dad’s new lawn tractor a lot.
It sure makes that part of my chores a lot easier and faster. With all of the rain we’ve had since
Saturday, the grass was as long as it normally would be after a full week too.
We haven’t been hit with the crazy amounts
of rain that they’ve had in other parts of the country, and the farmers are
basically happy campers around here; but I’m going to hope for some nice
weather for the weekend – and the rest of the summer. It’s really tough to have long, hot, lazy,
and sunny summer days if it rains all of the time!
Getting back to the story, it took me until
a bit after one to get the lawn and garden work finished; I hopped in the river
to cool off and get moderately clean; and then had a late lunch with Mom,
Ethan, and Ehlana on the back porch before going upstairs to grab a shower and
get changed. Michael came over by the
time I was finished doing that; and we spent his afternoon break playing with
Ethan and Ehlana at the park. That
included some bike riding and playground time; we stopped for Emporium ice
cream on the way home; and went for a swim before Michael needed to get back to
the Inn.
The Proctor contingent of our weekend
guests arrived just a bit before Dad got home from work. I was kept busy after that helping with
hauling luggage up to the second and third floors; and then giving Mom a hand
in the kitchen. We were hosting dinner
for most of our family, and while Mom had lots of other help too; those
volunteers didn’t start arriving until my aunts and uncles began wrapping up
their work for the day. Even Grandma and
Grandpa didn’t get here until five-thirty or so; mostly because they’d also
been doing the normal weekend chores early to be ready for the weekend – and for
their weekend guests.
Dinner was a bit of a crazy blur of fun and
work for me. The work came before and
after the meal, but to be honest, while I had fun too; being on kid control
duty while we ate was more tiring than the prep work and clean-up. I had Jaimie and Kaitlyn for support with
that, but Jayden was a bit fired up after being stuck in their SUV for hours;
Zack was cranky; and Leah was more interested in everything else going on
around her than in eating.
Scenes like that do remind me that I am
really, really lucky to have Ethan and Ehlana for my brother and sister. Even when they’re playing ‘normal’ kids; they
basically never take the act to the dark side of toddler or pre-school kid
life. Mom and Dad would surely tell you
that being parents of junior Magi Masters has other challenges; but I’d say
that the twins are doing better with that than I did when I was their age. That isn’t news, though; so let’s move this
along so that I can head off to sleep soon.
Chris and Martin both needed to work their
part time jobs today before getting the extra time off this weekend and coming
here; so they didn’t get on the road from Woodvale until around four-thirty. The good news for them was that the traffic
wasn’t much of a problem for them; and they were able to make pretty good time
getting here. Since they weren’t going
to be here in time for dinner, they stopped for fast food in Crystal Springs –
and brought a fix along for Aunt Leanne despite the fact that we’d only
finished our meal about an hour before they got into town.
I’ve skipped a bit of time there, but my
post-dinner action included a bit of clean-up work in the kitchen before I
needed to get to my ball practice; and then I missed out on the action at home
while playing at the school ball diamond with my friends. All of my aunts, uncles, and cousins moved on
from our house after dinner, and as I mentioned; Uncle Blaine, Aunt Alison, and
the kids went over to Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace’s house to spend the evening
with them. Grandma and Grandpa stayed
later, and were still there having a visit with Chris, Martin, and Dawn when I
got back from the school; but they didn’t stay long after that before heading
home again.
Rowen and Tim came home with me, and Rowen
and I were in need of some swim time; so we did that – and had Tim, Dawn,
Ethan, and Ehlana join us for the water play time while Chris and Martin opted
to stay dry. My cousins moved on after
that for quick visits with Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne, and then with the gang
at the Everett house; but those were both just cameo visits. They came back here after that; and we headed
up to the lounge while Mom and Dad had already gone into the office to get some
work done. Rowen and Tim had moved on to
her house by then too; but let’s not discuss why they wanted to do that instead
of staying to hang out with us. If we
did that; I’d start thinking about not being able to have that kind of fun with
Michael tonight. We really don’t want to
go there – even if Michael and I both wish that we could have! ;^)
Michael did come over for a while after the
Inn closed for the night, but he’s working the breakfast shift in the morning;
and didn’t stay long. He played video
games with the other guys for a while, and we took a few minutes to say goodbye
out on the front porch when he needed to leave; but that was the full extent of
the Michael and me time for tonight.
Violet, Dawn, and I spent most of the
evening hanging out in the lounge with the boys, but we moved into my room for
the girl chat time; and kept ourselves entertained until Violet decided that
she and Dillon were tired out and needed to get to bed. They are working in the morning, and needed
to get the sleep; but it still felt strange to have both of them here for the
night while Chris, Martin, and Dawn were here too. It was inevitable that they’d take this next
step; but what might have been most-interesting about that bedtime scene is the
fact that Chris and Martin didn’t make a big deal of it.
They’ve come a long way since I first met
them five years ago!
Dawn stayed and talked with me for a while
longer; mostly so that Violet, Dillon, and Chris could take turns using the
guest washroom before she took a turn getting ready for bed. She and Chris are using the two front
bedrooms on the third floor, while Martin is on the second floor in the room
next to Ethan’s. Jayden is with Ethan,
and Uncle Blaine and Aunt Alison are in the room below mine; so we have nearly
a full house already. That’ll be even
crazier tomorrow after Uncle Rick and Aunt Melissa get here – especially since
we’ll have Jaimie and Kaitlyn with us for the rest of the weekend starting
tomorrow night too. We’re going to wing
it for that; but Dawn, Jaimie, Kaitlyn, and I will be sharing my room, the lounge,
and Dawn’s room in some combination for the next three nights.
That will also likely mean some late nights
ahead too, and I’ll need to get what sleep I can; so let’s wrap this up. After Dawn went to her room, I got changed;
hopped into bed with Mandy; and got to work on my nightly computer checks. There was some family business work that needed
to be dealt with that took more than an hour to wrap up; but my computer and
email checks didn’t take long. There isn’t
any major news to report from any of that; so I guess that’s all I have for
tonight.
The holiday weekend fun will be kicking up
a few notches starting in just a few hours, and all I need to be ready for it
is a bit of sleep; so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
