The top family news of the day is that
Uncle Mark’s father and brother have finally conceded that he did not lose his
mind with the decision to move here and give up his stellar future in a
big-city hospital and private clinic in Seattle.
While his mother and sister had no doubt at
all about his sanity because they’ve loved Aunt Grace from the first time they
met her; it took a visit to the new med center to convince the men in Uncle
Mark’s family that he could actually practice ‘real’ medicine here instead of
whatever kind of backwoods doctoring they expected him to be doing here
instead. I don’t get why they were
surprised, since Uncle Mark and Uncle Adam got to design and equip the place
themselves without any major concern for budget. They don’t know those financing details, but
they are doctors; and can likely make a good guess; so the hints passed along
to them that BMR labs was the main reason for the quality of the center helped
to explain how a small town like ours could afford the advanced medical
services and technology. I’m glad that
they’ve come around; and Uncle Mark seemed a lot happier too after taking his
family on the tour and showing off his new workplace.
Uncle Mark had the day off, but the med
center was open for business; and Uncle Adam and Aunt Deborah were running the
show while he was busy. From what I
heard, there were no emergencies today that could be used to show off the new
technology for Uncle Mark’s father and brother; but having Uncle Adam busy with
that all day meant that Ethan and Ehlana couldn’t really do much at the lab; so
they took the day off despite really wanting to play there this week.
Play was the name of the game for Michael,
Tim, Rowen, and I today; and we were all given the day off after the busy long
weekend. The rain had continued off and
on overnight; but had pretty much ended about an hour or so before sunrise. It was still cloudy for most of the day and
we had a spit or two of rain here and there; but it was also cooler while still
being warm enough to enjoy our outdoor adventures. While we’d been set free from work for the
day, I wasn’t off the hook for helping with kid control. The twins had Naomi and Ethan with them for
the day; we had some of our cousins with us for different parts of the play
day; and had Uncle Mark’s five nieces and nephews to entertain for the hour or
so before lunch through until nap time for the younger kids by
mid-afternoon. We added Sophia to the
gang this morning on our way to the park playground, and kept her until
dinnertime; but she just joined in to play with the other four and five-year
old kids and added to the fun level for all of us. Michael and I especially enjoyed getting to
spend that time with his cousin; so that was a nice bonus too.
I’m not going to detail everything we did
today, but our fun included two visits to the park; some bike riding using the
trailer for taking pairs of the younger kids for rides; short canoe rides; swim
time in the river; and some back yard games at Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace’s
house. Lunch was there too; though Mom
and Grandma helped out with their potluck donations and help with the
cooking. We – the teens – had parental
support for the afternoon play time; and that’s when we were able to do some of
the bike and trailer rides and mini canoe adventures. We didn’t get to have a break during the
afternoon nap time for the younger kids; but we did get the older kids out of
the way and back to the park for more playground and swim time there so that
they didn’t keep the younger kids awake with their fairly noisy fun.
Dinnertime was another culinary adventure;
and it’s truly amazing just how much of a mess a lot of young kids can make
when having a meal together! The good
news there is that it was time for parents and grandparents to take over from
the teens to take care of that, and while we still helped out here and there
when the kids wanted us to do something with them instead; we actually got to
enjoy some chat time with some of our favorite adults while having dinner too. We also joined the clean-up crew after
dinner; and then we took Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden with us while it was
going to be wind-down time for the rest of the junior cousins – and their
parents and grandparents.
We walked Naomi and Aiden home – which meant
going across the back yards for Naomi; and then across the street for
Aiden. Once that was done, we came here;
moved up to the lounge; and settled in for some video gaming; a movie; and a
bit of quality cuddle time. Ethan and
Ehlana stayed with us for the gaming and a movie; and then Michael and I got
them tucked in for the night after going down to the office so that they could
say goodnight to Mom and Dad and have a little visit with them before going to
get some sleep.
Michael and I would have liked to have a
bit of alone time, but we were also overdue for some hang-out time with our
best friends; so Rowen and Tim stayed and watched another movie with us until
they – and Michael – went home at around twelve-thirty. I saw them out then, and Michael stayed back
so that we could share a goodnight hug and kiss that Tim interrupted with some
catcalls and jokes while still walking Rowen to her house; and then I came back
up to my room and got ready for bed. I
decided to only do the basic email and computer checks tonight; dealt with a
couple of minor family business jobs that needed to be worked on sooner instead
of later; and plan on being asleep within five minutes of wrapping this up and
putting my computer away for the night.
Consider that done; and, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
