It’s been a long day; I’ve stayed up too
late with my studies and work; and I need to keep this short because I’m really
only going to have time for a short nap before getting up to see Dad off on his
trip to the city. Grandma and Grandpa
are heading for Arizona in the morning too, and I want to have time to stop in
and see them on the way to school; so I might not have time for a second nap
after Dad leaves.
Tai Chi by the river was fun; breakfast at home
with a gang of kids, Michael, Tim, and Rowen was a crazy-busy blast of
entertainment and non-stop action; and our partially teen-led service at church
was good too – even if it could only come in second to the morning adventures
with my parents, friends, and all of the younger kids. Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I all needed to be
at the church a bit earlier than everyone else, so we didn’t help with kid
control for getting everyone there; but we also stayed until Mom and Dad had
some of my aunts and uncles there to help out with that before walking to the
church and getting ready for our parts in the service – whether that was music
for Michael and me; or the skit and scripture readings that Tim and Rowen were
helping with. While we had a lot of fun
during the service, it also went a bit long, so Michael needed to get to the
Inn as soon as we finished packing up his guitar and the rest of the usual
praise team gear. I walked him there;
sent him off to work with hugs and kisses before heading home to get changed
for a play afternoon at the festival; and then pitched in to help out with
making lunch.
My plans for the afternoon weren’t really
changed all that much, since I had planned on playing with Ethan and Ehlana
before going to the Inn to help out with the buffet shift; but I hadn’t been
thinking about Dad’s week in the city – or the fact that he needed to work in
the office all day today to get ready for the trip. That’s why I was drafted to babysit for as
long as I could this afternoon; and I took the twins, Naomi, and Aiden to the
park while Mom and Dad stayed home and worked.
I’m getting a bit ahead of the story, since
I’ve skipped over the small family lunch that Mom had needed my help with
cooking up for everyone. Grandma and
Grandpa, the Carringtons, and the Everetts all attended; and it was about as
busy and entertaining as breakfast had been – except with fewer kids at the
table. The lunchtime conversation was a
bit more advanced too; though Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne apparently didn’t do
anything fun at all with their second kid-free night of the weekend. We did talk about the dance last night, the
festival, and Grandma and Grandpa’s trip to Arizona; but stayed away from talk
about school or work.
The temperature this afternoon hovered
around seventy, so it was nearly-perfect weather for a play afternoon on the
rides at the festival. With four kids to take care of, I didn’t go on any
thrill rides; but I still had a blast going on all of the kiddie rides with the
twins, Naomi, and Aiden. They weren’t
bored with the rides or anything, and thanks to the pay-one-price wristbands;
they could go on the rides over and over again.
That did at least make it easy to keep them entertained, and I did have
some help with them from Michael while he was on his afternoon break; and from
Rowen, Tim, and some other friends while they met up with us and hung out for a
ride or two here and there.
Michael and I both needed to be at the Inn
in good time to help out with the buffet prep work, so we dropped the four kids
off at my house; I freshened up and changed; and then we went to the Inn and
got to work. I’m not going to say that
was all fun and entertainment, because we worked hard to keep up with a packed
Inn and what was probably closer to two and a half turnovers of the dining room
by the time the last groups of diners had been fed; but Michael and I did still
have as much fun as we could around all of the work.
For me, one of the entertainment highlights
was Jenny’s new boyfriend stories. She’d
been a bit unhappy about the buffet shift messing up her afternoon fun with
Peter, but then she’d also spent most of Saturday with him too; so they
probably spent more time together than Michael and I did this weekend. Calling Jenny and Peter a couple already
might be a bit premature, but she’s the one referring to him as her boyfriend
already; so I’m just going with the flow on that. It is fun seeing Jenny when she’s happily
falling for a new guy; and all of the teen girls working in the kitchen were
kept entertained with her weekend recap.
Some of the details were too hot for open conversation, but Jenny did
whisper a few things to Rebecca and me that were definitely too much
information for me. I’m not going to go
there, but I will add that Jenny is more adventurous than I am; and leave it at
that.
While I was busy working, I missed out on
the family buffet dinner at the Inn, and this time; I didn’t even go out to the
dining room for a visit with them because they came to the early buffet; and I
was too busy to take a break then.
Grandpa needed to enjoy one last buffet before leaving for Arizona, and
Dad was happy to spend the time with everyone before going to Crystal Springs
for the week; but then they also helped Jacob and Miranda out by making it a
quick meal and then moving on to make room for more customers. That worked out for Dad too, since he’d
needed to get back to work anyway, and while he did that; Mom, Ethan, and
Ehlana went to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s house for a couple of hours to
spend that time with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
I worked until close; walked home with
Michael, Rebecca, and their parents; and shared a quick round of goodnight hugs
and kisses before continuing on to my house.
Mom and Dad were working in the office, and Ethan and Ehlana were
studying, so Mom did my Magi lesson with me; and then I took care of getting my
brother and sister into bed on my way up to my room. Compared to the rest of the day, the bedtime
computing, studying, and family business work wasn’t newsworthy at all – even if
the family business work was more important when it comes to what I actually
accomplished.
My contributions to the family business are
really important, and I’m proud of what I’m doing; so don’t think that it isn’t
important to me just because I don’t write about every detail in this
journal. All of that data is available
elsewhere in the archives; and the reason I write more about things like
helping out at the Inn is simply because that work is more personal. Spending time with Michael, his family, and
our friends is always going to be more important to me – even when all we’re
doing is working really, really hard.
That is all of the news for today, and all
of the fun and work has me worn out now; so it’s time to get started on that
nap. We have another busy week ahead
that will be even busier with Dad away in the city, but since I’m tired and you
can just read ahead anyway; I’ll just skip the usual look at the week ahead
part of most of my Sunday night updates.
The fun is going to continue as we head toward Halloween, and I don’t
want to sleep through any of it; so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
