Before I get to the news from my day; let’s
being this update with the top gossip topic around here.
Liz and Philip left this morning for a
three-night, four-day tenth anniversary mini-holiday. Speculation about their three kid-free nights
is keeping the women at the top gossip hang-outs entertained, and while I do
not want to either join in on the speculation or hear any details after they
get back; I do hope that Naomi’s parents have a fun trip and break from both
the work and family responsibilities.
Naomi is staying with Ehlana while they’re away, and Eli will split his
time between Uncle Nic and Aunt Deborah and Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne – part two
of his entertainment schedule set up so that he can hang out with his best
friend, Zack.
Moving on, my day started out with Tai Chi
by the river; a quiet breakfast; and then a visit to the park with Rowen, Dawn,
and Jillian to watch and join in for parts of Tim’s first unofficial football
training workouts. He’s leading that,
and starting it this week because football season starts early this year
because of a late Labor Day weekend; and because none of the senior players on
the team this year haven’t set up anything yet – and apparently don’t plan on
any early training. Tim doesn’t want to
wait until training camp opens to start getting ready; and Michael is there for
his best friend – even if the extra work is a bit inconvenient with Jake and
Stephanie’s wedding now just a handful of days away. While they’ve talked to some of the other
guys about joining them; they only had three join them today – mostly because
everyone else was either busy with farm work or other summer jobs.
Since they didn’t have a big group to work
with, Rowen and I did some of the running drills with them. Tim used our participation to goad on the
other guys because we were faster than they were. Yes, we were spotted ten or twenty yards
depending on the drill, but don’t forget that Rowen and I really like to win;
and we won by more than that ten or twenty yards against everyone except
Michael and Tim – and they didn’t manage to catch us today either.
I guess that all of that running around
with my younger cousins last week paid off! ;^)
Dawn and Jillian were happy to watch those
drills even though none of the boys involved were ‘available’; and they had fun
playing the guys against the girls scrimmage with us – and the other
girls. We had a slight number advantage;
cheated outrageously with hugs and kisses interference with our respective
boyfriends where applicable; and won the short match three touchdowns to
one. For some reason, none of the boys
were especially disappointed over the loss.
Michael had some chores to get to at home
after their workout, so Dawn, Jillian, and I took the twins, Naomi, and Aiden
out to play for the rest of the morning.
We rode bikes; played at the park; and went for a long swim back at home
before having lunch with Mom out by the river.
The back yard was play central for the rest of the day. It’s been really hot out; and we – the teens –
decided to just hang out; swim; relax; and not do anything more strenuous than
tossing around a Frisbee, football, or baseball. ‘We’ included Michael, Tim, Rowen, Dawn,
Jillian, and me; but we had other teens stopping by to hang out with us too and
four junior playmates for most of the time between lunch and dinner.
We didn’t have a gang for dinner, but then
Michael and I weren’t at my house for that meal anyway – we were at his place;
and the dinner there was followed by a wedding meeting with the parents and
members of the wedding party. The dinner
was awesome, and while we had fun at the meeting; there wasn’t really any new
information or changes to the plans – just a review of everything that’s
already done and a chat about everything we’ll each be doing between now and
Sunday night – including the post-wedding day family plans on Sunday. There was some fairly interesting girl chat
time that was about wedding nights and the merits of European honeymoons; but I
don’t think the details of that conversation needs to be included here.
Stephanie keeps a Magi journal now too; and
maybe I’ll be old enough to read all about her adventures in Europe whenever
she releases it for other Magi to read.
Then again, she will be writing those honeymoon stories about my primary
little-girl crush; so maybe not! ;^)
Once the meeting and work was out of the
way for the night, Michael and I went for a swim while everyone else either
went home; on to other places; or wound down in the living room for a while
before heading to bed. I won’t suggest
that we did that just to get some alone time, but it was after dark; we had ‘our’
section of the river to ourselves; and some quiet, wet, and moderately hot,
underwater make-out fun was an option – though that also required being quiet
too; considering how well sound carries along the river. We played for nearly an hour; had some cuddle
time on the dock after that; and then it was past-time for me to get home for
the night.
Dawn and Jillian were already sleeping in
their rooms by then; Ehlana and Naomi were having a sofa sleepover in the
lounge; and Mom and Dad packed up and headed for bed too after having a little
update chat with me. Violet and Dillon
were still busy with Jake and Stephanie then; but they’re home and in bed now
as I’m writing this report.
I had a fair bit of family business work to
get done tonight after a weekend of mostly slacking off from all but the
must-do work; so I’ve been on my computer for the past few hours. I know it’s been too much tonight because
Mandy got tired of the noise and went to cuddle with Ehlana and Naomi instead
of with me about an hour ago – though she always at least checks up on anyone
in the lounge on a regular basis whenever the sofa’s being used for a sleepover. Without boring you with the details, my work
tonight included some fairly satisfying projects in Europe and Africa that will
help a lot of people; with my favorite being a work, school, and housing
initiative that will directly help people being hurt by a Hathorne Industries
company – and hopefully also seriously mess up their business when they
suddenly find themselves without nearly enough near-slave labor for their sweat
shop.
I’d apologize to them for that, except I’m
not sorry; and they don’t need to know about my involvement in that business
and charity.
Michael has one more day off before it’ll
be back to work at the Inn and also the big push to the wedding. We’re doing another teen trip to Quarry Lake;
so I should wrap this up and get what sleep I can to be ready for what will be
our last free play day of July. While
this hasn’t exactly been a best-ever fun kind of day, it has been a really good
one; and I’m sure that the rest of our week is just going to keep getting
better!
With that thought a fairly nice one to take
into dreamland, I’m out of here; and, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
