Our day began with a very chilly Tai Chi
workout by the river that was still nice; but reminded us that we won’t get to
exercise outdoors for much longer this year.
Breakfast at Michael’s house for me was really special; and let’s give
half of the credit for that to Jacob and his gourmet menu; and the other half
to Jake and Stephanie for our breakfast video chat with them from Europe. They’re doing great; look amazing; and it
sounds as though they’re continuing to do really well with their studies while
also having fun with all of the new friends they’re making over there. They’re also starting to make plans for their
holidays, and while I wish they could be home for Christmas; they are going to
love their holiday adventures.
Compared to that, our day here wasn’t very
exciting; but I’ve still had a good day – even with a fair bit of work that has
included the buffet shift at the Inn and a lot of bedtime studying and family
business work. I didn’t get around to
any of that before spending a couple of hours at church and the afternoon
playing with Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden; and that’s when I had most of my
fun today. The church part of that
reminds me that I missed reporting a classmate birthday yesterday; so let’s
take care of that.
Happy Belated 15th Birthday,
Marcie!
I might have skipped mentioning Marcie’s
birthday completely, except her birthday trip to Crystal Springs yesterday was
a top teen chat topic during Sunday school.
She went there with her boyfriend, Allen, their best friends, and her
family; and they apparently had a really good day filled with shopping, a visit
to SportsFusion, dinner, and a movie.
Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I did have a gift for her that we gave her on
Friday because we hadn’t expected to see her on Saturday anyway; but that was
the total extent of our involvement with her big day this year.
After church, I walked Michael to the Inn
on my way home; helped Mom with making lunch for five after that; and after
eating and cleaning up, I took Ethan and Ehlana with me so that we could go out
and play while Mom and Dad needed to get to work in the office for the
afternoon. We grabbed our bikes;
collected Naomi and Aiden; and then went for a ride and some play time at the
park. Michael met up with us there
during his afternoon break; and he was able to play with us for nearly two
hours before we dropped all four kids off with Mom and Dad when it was nearly
time to get back to the Inn. I took a
few minutes to change and freshen up first; and then we were soon immersed –
literally – in the dinner preparations for four or five hundred.
Working in the kitchen meant missing out on
a family and friends dinner – even though that was happening in the dining room
at the Inn when Mom, my aunts, and a few friends collectively decided not to
cook dinner tonight and let Miranda and Jacob feed their collective gang
instead. I’m sure they had fun, since
Miranda and Jenny passed on some stories from the dining room to Michael,
Rebecca, and me; but we were too busy tonight for me to take the time off to
join them without making the work harder for everyone else in the kitchen.
I worked until close tonight; walked home
with Michael and his family; and stopped in at his house for a short bedtime
visit and chat before moving on and getting to the work and studying waiting
for me there. Mom did a bedtime Magi
lesson with me; I stopped in to say goodnight to Ethan and Ehlana when Mom,
Dad, and I all came up to bed; and then I started my work and studying with
some Jacuzzi multi-tasking because I really needed the tub time after a play
and work afternoon and evening.
The language studying is going really well;
the family business work is challenging and getting busier right now; and my
archive assignment tonight was so dull that it took a lot just to stay awake
through the thousand pages or so of extreme tedium. Let’s not spend any time going off on a
side-trip about some of the ancient Magi studies and research into our
abilities again; since I could better-use that time on my nap – which is all I’m
going to have time for tonight after spending more than four hours on my
computer tonight. For all I know, Magi
will be thinking or saying the same thing about my journals and research some
day in the future.
I guess the last thing I have for this
update is a look at the week ahead.
Other than the football game on Friday and all of the usual school,
practices, studying, and work on my normal schedule, there isn't anything extra
in the plans right now. Dad will be
getting ready for his week in the city next week too, so other than helping him
with another yard work day on Saturday; I don’t expect to have much time to
spend with him over the next two weeks.
No parties or special events to look forward to might sound really
boring; but a comparatively quiet week would be a good thing right now –
especially when we are just a couple of weeks away from the start of the
Thanksgiving-Christmas holiday blitz that will keep us busy until the New Year.
That’s thinking too far ahead when I’m this
tired; so let’s not go there and just wrap this up without a pretty little bow
and ribbons.
Until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
