Happy 15th Birthday, Vanessa!
What a difference a year or two makes! Last year, Rowen and I were off of Vanessa
and Nora’s hit list by summertime; but not far enough along the friendship
curve to get invited to birthday parties.
This year, Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I were all invited to Vanessa’s
party out a Quarry Lake; and we even spent a bit of time hanging out together
with Vanessa, Paul, Nora, and Elliott.
Yes, that’s been changing for a while now, and Paul did play football
with Michael and Tim last season; but it still feels a bit strange – even as it’s
also really nice to have moved on from the only major tween-teen drama I’ve had
in my life. I’ll get to the rest of the
birthday party parts of the report in a minute; but lets’ do a quick recap of
the morning first.
Tai Chi by the river was awesome, and I
loved getting to do that with Michael and all four of our junior exercise
buddies. The wake-up calls for Leah and
Hailey were fun too; and then I was on kid control through until we’d all had
breakfast; gotten ready for the day; and most of the kids had been picked up by
parents or moved on to other entertainments with my older cousins, aunts, and
uncles. It was time to tear down the
camp after that; I helped Mom with some chores around the house; and finally
got around to having a shower and getting ready for my baseball game by a bit after
eleven o’clock. I followed that up with
helping in the kitchen for the barbeque lunch we were hosting while some of the
other adults and teens helped out with getting Dad’s truck and Mom’s van loaded
up with the gear they were going to need for an afternoon at Quarry Lake.
Vanessa’s party was starting at one o’clock,
but Rowen and I – and more than half of the girls in our class – had our ball
game to play first before heading out to the campground. The strangest part of our game was that we
didn’t have any cheerleaders from my family because they were all on the way to
Quarry Lake by then. The top strangeness
there was that we – the family and friends cheerleaders – lost the two matches
last weekend that at least some of us were there to cheer for, but when we didn’t
have any cheering support today; Rowen and I helped our Piranhas win our fourth
match of the season. That’s a big deal
for us because we’re now assured of a spot in the championship game already
despite what happens in our last two games.
The Stingrays’ players weren’t very happy about the fourteen-to-nine
loss, but they do still have as good a chance of playing against us in the
championship game as the Sharks do.
We were the away team, so we played the
full game, but it was still comparatively quick; and we were able to be out at
Quarry Lake by three o’clock. The mix of
hot and humid motivated some of us to get through the game so that we could get
to the swimming and playing; and Rowen and I were not the only girls to run for
the lake and some quality time in the water as soon as we got there. Michael and Tim were both at the lake by then
too, and since they were already playing in the lake too; it only took a few
minutes to meet up with them and join in on the birthday party fun already in
progress. I’ll point out here that Rowen’s
hair is fairly noticeable, and Michael and Tim weren’t the only guys noticing
her right away; but Tim also seems to think that his girlfriend needs him for a
near-constant escort whenever she’s wearing a swimsuit. That’s likely the main reason he raced
Michael across the lake to us – and they can both swim very fast when
motivated!
The fun for the next few hours was a real
blast, but almost too busy to keep up with.
We swam; went rock climbing and on the zip line one time because both
were packed all day; and then had dinner jammed in among more water and games
play time through until Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I needed to get home to my
house by seven-thirty. My family had
been home again by dinnertime and that meal for them had been at Uncle Mark and
Aunt Grace’s, and Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s houses; but I didn’t have time
to check in with them because we were put straight to work getting ready for
the party that Violet and Dillon were throwing for Jake and Stephanie. We did get to hang out with them – and with
Rebecca, Lucas, Christina, Josiah, Mitch, and Lynn; since they were all helping
out with the set-up work too.
We originally had lots of help booked for
the set-up because we were going to have the party in the back yard, but while
it was still nice out when we got there; thunderstorms were moving into the
area for what was supposed to be most of the evening; so we needed to go with
the plan ‘B’, indoor set-up in the dining room, living room, and kitchen. Rowen and I made sure the lounge was ready
for some of my cousins, Ethan, and Ehlana; since they were all in the house
too; but they weren’t specifically invited to the party. I’m glad that Michael and I could attend,
since that wouldn’t have been an option if Jake and Stephanie were over
twenty-one and they’d had the party at Sheldon’s instead; but we didn’t exactly
party all night either. We were on the
work crew straight through from seven-thirty until the party clean-up was
finished at around two-thirty.
I’d have kept Michael for a sofa sleepover
after that, but there were already two sleeping kids on the sofa in the lounge;
so we left them there for the night and Michael went home with Rebecca and
Lucas. If Rebecca is lucky, she’s got a
cuddle buddy right now for the few hours of sleep that they’ll get before
needing to be up and running again.
Getting back to the second party of the day
news, Jake and Stephanie’s party didn’t start until after the Inn closed for
the night; and we had everything ready to go by the time that the guests of
honor arrived at nine-thirty with Jacob, Miranda, and a gang of friends from
the Inn. About half of the guests were
already here by then; the rest arrived by ten; and the party pretty much jumped
from quiet to crazy in the space of that half hour. Michael and I split our time between serving
our guests and working in the kitchen and keeping the appetizers and snacks
flowing. The mix of guests was about
even between the group that included most of Jake and Stephanie’s school
friends and the friends of the parents.
My Mom and Dad were officially guests, but they both still helped out
here and there when we – the party worker bees – got a bit behind on the
work. I won’t bore you with all of those
details; and the only important bit of news for the party is that Jake and
Stephanie had a really great time celebrating the imminent end to their single
status.
Wow – that’s now less than a week
away! How time flies when you’re having
fun!
While Michael and I were working, the
entertainment tonight included a few games that revolved around Jake and
Stephanie – like trivia about the happy couple that required fairly extensive
knowledge of their child and teen years.
There was a mini roast; a midnight buffet; and lots of chat time with
everyone enjoying the extended trip down memory lane. It wasn’t quite all work and no fun for us,
since we did have fun while we worked; but I was tired out when the party
started to wrap up at a bit after one; and exhausted when the work was finally
done and I tiredly saw Michael on his way home with a front porch hug and kiss
that we were both too tired to put much effort into making fireworks-worthy.
You’re probably wondering why I’m even
doing this update now if I’m that tired, and I did think about skipping it; but
I’ve got a busy day ahead tomorrow – starting in a few hours with Tai Chi
before I’ll need to get ready for church and head over to Michael’s house for a
last, Sunday morning family breakfast for Jake and Stephanie head for Europe
after the wedding. We won’t see them
after that until they get back from Europe next May; so there’s no way I’ll
miss that – or any other time I can spend with them between now and next
weekend.
I was still a bit wound up too, so the
email and computer checks, a bit of family business work, and this journal
update have given me something to do while waiting to be ready to sleep. It’s amazing that we fit this much action
into less than twenty-four hours, but since tomorrow isn’t exactly going to be
slow with that breakfast; family fun that includes seeing most of our cousins
heading home; and another buffet dinner at the Inn. I’ll likely help out at the Inn for a while
too; though I haven’t exactly figured out when I’ll fit that into my schedule
for the day – and it could partly depend on the weather; when my cousins head
home; and whether Mom needs me to help out at home with anything.
Whatever I end up doing with that, it’s
definitely time to crash for a couple of hours now, so that’s all for tonight;
and, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
