Happy 15th Birthday, Denise!
I’ll get to the party news soon, but let’s
do a quick review of the rest of my day before doing that.
We’ve had rain today, and lots of it; but
that didn’t start until late morning; so it didn’t get in the way of Tai Chi;
breakfast out on the back porch; the round-trip bike ride to the Norton’s farm;
or the football workout. It did get in
the way of the move for the Ayres; and those of us helping out with that got
fairly damp a couple of times while moving furniture and boxes into or out of the
moving truck or other vehicles we were using for the hop across town to the new
townhouse. I did more work on that today
than kid control; which is probably why I’m less tired tonight than
yesterday. Kids are way tougher to keep
up with!
I could only help out until three-thirty;
and then needed to get home to hit the shower and get ready for the birthday
party. I spent an hour doing that,
though this wasn’t a dress-up party; and I needed to be prepared for a rainy
night on the Burroughs’ farm.
Michael met up with me at my house, and
then Rowen’s Mom picked us up so that we didn’t have to walk to the computer
store in the rain. Rowen and Tim were
already with her; so we headed straight out to the farm and were dropped off in
front of the barn that was the plan ‘B’ party destination.
I’ll mention here that getting a barn ready
for parties during the summer isn’t quite as easy as it is after harvest or in
the early spring, and while Denise’s family made it work for us; it was very
different to have a party around everything else that was still in the barn –
not to mention the smells that were heavy in the air thanks to the heat and
rain. It has cooled off tonight thanks
to the rain. Compared to the extreme hot
we’ve had for most of the past couple of weeks, it’ll be a bit cooler for the
next few days; but that’s relative and it is still going to be summer-hot if
not broiling out.
I don’t actually have a lot to write about
from Denise’s party. We had fun, but the
rain definitely put a damper on things; so it was a fairly low-key
evening. The only real news at all is
the same for every teen in my class this year; and Denise successfully passed
her test for her driver’s license. It’s
a bigger deal for the farm kids, and while I doubt that Denise will be a future
teen with her own car a year from now; she’s still thrilled to be one step
closer to more independence once she can get away from the farm on her
own. Since I’ll be one of the last in
our class to be able to get my license, having Denise join that club isn’t a
big deal for me; but Tim and Michael took notes today now that they’re both
getting so close to joining the club.
Getting into that with every birthday party
report this year will just get tedious; so let’s move this along.
We had a social hour before dinner; the
meal was standard teen birthday party grilled meats and mostly-cold side
dishes. With a large group of family and
friends for the meal part of the night; it was a bit crowded in the barn while
getting everyone fed; and the birthday gifts and dessert time was more than a
little too busy. Most of Denise’s family
left within an hour of the end of dinner; and it was play time after that. Despite the comparatively close quarters;
Frisbee and football were attempted; the girls mostly sat around and talked;
and at least a few couples wandered off in search of hayloft fun.
No, Michael and I were not one of those
couples; and neither were Rowen and Tim.
Rowen and I don’t have anything against the idea of hayloft make-out
sessions; but we do have a problem with doing that while there are a lot of
people around. You can feel bad for Tim
over that if you’d like, since he and Rowen didn’t get to have any alone time
after we got back to town tonight; but Michael’s still here with me as I’m
writing this. It’s a work night, so the
party wrapped up by eleven; and we’re way overdue for some alone time.
Michael is currently getting things ready
in the lounge for a movie that we don’t plan on actually watching while I’m ‘freshening
up’ and getting changed. I’m also
writing this update now because I’m seriously considering keeping Michael for a
sofa sleepover tonight – once we’ve caught up on that way-overdue make-out
time! ;^)
I’m nearly ready to get to that part of our
night; so let’s wrap this up.
While I’ve been busy with play and those
hours of moving work, I’ve missed out on most of day two of the Malloy’s visit;
and only had breakfast and lunch with them before they headed home this
afternoon. They’ll be back in September,
but this was the last prep work visit for Terry; and the bridge construction will
be starting the first week of September – or maybe a bit sooner for some of the
digging and ground work. Mom had a nice visit
with Angela and the kids, but she’s had a really busy couple of weeks too; and
is ready for a bit of quiet that won’t really happen for her anymore than it’ll
happen for me.
Michael, Tim, and Rowen all have a work day
tomorrow; so I’ll be working too – after football practice; or sooner if the
field is too wet or we have any rain. We’ll
be on a roll into the weekend after that; and I really should take advantage of
the time Michael and I have tonight; so that’s all for now, and, until next
time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
