Sofa sleepovers with Michael are really
great, but Rowen and I had quite a bit of fun this morning doing wake-up calls
with our respective boyfriends when it was time to get ready for our adventure
at the Blue Ridge Ski Resort and hit the road as soon as we had everyone
together and loaded up into minivans and trucks.
We had to rush around a bit to get
everything done – including loading our gear into the vehicles; and I was an
even happier camper as a few bonus surprises were sprung on us as we gathered
outside of our house. Not only did we
have Jacob and Miranda going with us, but Philip and Liz decided to take the
day off to go along with Naomi – thanks in part to help for babysitting support
for Eli and Vicki’s assurance that she could actually run the salon for a day
on her own – even during the Christmas holidays. I was a bit surprised at that with New Year’s
Eve just a day away; but I guess that most of those party appointments will be
tomorrow anyway.
That reminds me that I’m overdue for a
visit with Liz; but that’ll have to wait for sometime after we’re back to
school.
Rowen’s and Tim’s parents had made
arrangements to take the day off too, and including Lucas and Peter; we had
lots of drivers and vehicles available for everyone. In addition to our gang, Miranda and Jacob
had offered to bring Jessica, Ryan, and Sophia along; Owen and Patricia had
extended their invitations to include Patrick, Scott, and Lindsay; and, as I
mentioned yesterday, Emma and Benjamin were with Lucas for the day. The Moms wanted to pair up for the morning
trip, so Mom, Miranda, and Liz had a full minivan with Ehlana, Naomi, and
Sophia with them. Patricia and Tracey
ended up with Rowen and Tim in the Landry’s SUV; and Michael and I went with
his father, Martin, Jessica, and Lindsay.
The girls chose us over going in the same vehicle with Patrick and
Scott; which is also why Dad and Owen had Patrick, Scott, and Ryan with them in
Dad’s truck. Peter and Jenny were on
their own for the trip because he’d need his car to get home from the ski
center; and Lucas had room for Rebecca, Emma, and Benjamin – though we did some
travel trade-offs at the half-way stops both ways so that Emma and Benjamin
could have more fun with the other kids and teens.
Michael and I got teased about it, but we
didn’t have a problem with claiming the back bench seat in the minivan so that
we could cuddle during the long drive – and I had a couple of naps that I’m
stating here were not just so that I could share multiple good morning hugs and
kisses with Michael – those moments were just really great added bonuses! ;^)
When I wasn’t napping, we had fun during
the drive – whether that was chatting with our travel companions; munching on
snacks or the breakfast food we picked up in Crystal Springs; or watching a
movie on the iPad or tablet that had been brought along for our
entertainment. We arrived at Blue Ridge
nearly a half-hour before the lifts opened for the day, but it was surprisingly
quiet there; and we were able to get the rentals set up for everyone in our
group by the time the lifts were running.
The teens and pre-teens were paired up and set free for the morning
along with some of the parents; but Mom, Dad, Philip, and Liz were in charge of
the youngest kids and novice skiers or snowboarders; and they’d apparently
called ahead yesterday to set up morning lessons for their group.
My top news there is that their instructor
was a hot, young collegian, and while it was fun to catch Emma, Jessica, and
Lindsay joking around about staying for those lessons too; it was a bit weird
for some of us to have more than one mother in our group joke about doing that
too – or warning Dad and Philip to keep a close eye on their wives all
morning. Let’s not go there; except for
adding that I’m sure that Aunt Leanne would have had fun with that – and agreed
about the hotness of their instructor.
Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I stayed together
for most of the day, but we also spent time with everyone else – whether that
was to do a few runs together or just cameo moments in passing; but the only
time we were all together was when we met up for lunch. The parents had collectively insisted on that
– if only to make sure that we were all still alive and well by then. We had so much fun today I don’t have a
chance of covering everything; but let’s see what I can do about mentioning the
highlights.
First up has to be skiing with Rowen. Yes, I do mean Rowen and not Michael; though
that’s always great too. Something
happens to my usually mild-mannered best friend when we get out on the slopes –
or on our bikes at home; and she becomes an amazing, fearless daredevil. Okay, I’m like that too; but nobody is
surprised by that with me. The point is
that even at a small ski center; the snowboarding tricks can be fairly extreme –
and there isn’t anything that Rowen and I aren’t willing to try when it comes
to the really cool tricks. Among other
things, Rowen and I played around with five-twenty inverted, side-by-side
aerials starting from both sides – something that scared some of our parents
when they were around to see us doing that.
Michael and Tim are fairly adventurous too; but the main reason why we can’t
pair up with them as successfully for tricks is because of the size and weight
differences between us. With a bit of
Magi power use, I could fix that problem, but that isn’t an option most of the
time when we’re not even all allowed to know about each other – and especially when
some of my favorite Magi are right there on the slopes with us; so we don’t
even try to have that kind of fun.
It would be awesome if we could go Magi
snowboarding, though; and that’s not even talking about the kind of tricks we
could do with a little Magi power help.
The aerial flips and turns could last as long as we wanted them to with
a bit of telekinesis applied to our boards!
Moving along, I’ll pick snowboarding with
Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, Aiden, and Sophia as my next top highlight of the
day. Not surprisingly, they learned
fast, and while they weren’t trying inverted aerials of any kind today; they
were already ‘catching air’ by lunchtime; and going on the intermediate level
slopes by the afternoon. They always
needed help with the chair lifts, so there was always a parent or teen with
them for that; and Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I took our turns doing that –
including an hour or so of snowboarding that Jessica and Lindsay helped us with
so that the parents could go off on their own for a bit of kid-free skiing –
and it was skiing for most of the adults in our group. That does bring me to the next highlight; and
Mom and Miranda made the list for being the most adventurous of the parents.
They were on skis all morning; partly
because that made it easier to help with the younger kids while they learned
how to snowboard; but Mom and Miranda traded in their skis after lunch for
snowboards; and went on to prove that Michael and I came by our daredevil
impulses at least partly from genetics.
While attempting to keep up with Rowen and me wasn’t something they
tried to do; it was a blast to watch them do jumps and even a few one-eighties
and three-sixties. What was just as much
fun was watching them play with Dad and Jacob; since we don’t get to see that
side of our parents much – and I hope that Michael and I will be that happy
when we’re their ages.
Ethan, Ehlana, and I should try to do more
to make sure that our parents get to have more fun days like this one has been,
and as I think about that; they’re way overdue for a getaway weekend or
vacation. I’ll have to see what I can do
about making that happen for them!
I’m not forgetting to include the Michael
and me fun; but I’ll make it the last highlight for the day – which means that
I can’t quite go there yet.
The reason for that is because there were
other highlights that deserve mentioning.
Spending time with Michael’s cousins was high on that part of my list,
and while he had the most fun with Ryan; I loved hanging out with Jessica and
Sophia. Add in the friend fun with
Rebecca, Emma, and Lindsay; and we had some really great moments with the girls
today – including some cameos that not even some of the participants are aware
of – or admitting to noticing.
Let’s begin that part of the report with
Patrick and Jessica. Patrick is will be
thirteen next April; Jessica will be twelve in April too; and it’s fairly
obvious to some of us that they’ve taken notice of each other in more than a
neighbors sort of way. I’m sure that
Patrick has noticed that Lindsay is becoming a tween knock-out, and she’s
easily one of the most beautiful girls at our school; but he never looks at her
the way he was looking at Jessica today.
Maybe that’s at least partly some guy thing because Scott’s his best
friend; but I’ll guess that it’s more than that – and it’ll just be a while
before one or both of them are ready to deal with it. I can add that they won’t have an issue with
the timing for growth spurts that can be a problem for tween couples; since the
one-year advantage that Patrick has is apparently enough for him to stay just a
bit taller than Jessica as she’s hitting her first major tween growth spurt
must after he’s been into his. They
might not quite be ready to deal with it yet, but the attraction is mutual; so
we’ll see how long it will be until they take that next, inevitable step.
Yes, that will be a good thing for me too;
though Patrick has gotten over his crush disappointment – even if he might
still wish just a bit that things won’t work out for Michael and me.
Patrick and Jessica weren’t the only
pre-romance story of the day. Lindsay
and Emma both attracted a lot of attention from the boys on the slopes and
around the lodge. Lindsay was her usual,
kind self about the attention; but didn’t respond to any of that interest – and
stayed closer to members of our group the couple of times she had minor issues
with guys that didn’t want to give up when she didn’t return their
interest. Emma had fun flirting a bit
with a couple of different boys; but big brother Lucas managed to be around
often-enough to keep those suitors from getting too close to her for his
liking. He might not be the biggest guy
on the football team, but Lucas could be intimidating to any younger teens that
don’t know he’s such a gentle person.
Finally, I’ll mention that Ryan has a
serious crush on Lindsay – though he desperately tries to hide it. That reminds me of the stories about Uncle
Adam, but the one big difference for Ryan is that he sees Lindsay at his house
nearly every day; since Lindsay and Geraldine spend a lot of time with his big
sister. I’ll guess that Uncle Adam’s
crush issues would have been very different if Dad had been the younger sibling
and one of his best friends. I’ll guess
that Aunt Leanne would be as aware of his childhood crush as Lindsay is of Ryan’s
crush on her. She handles that fairly
well, in my opinion, and while she’s obviously not romantically interested in
an eight-year old boy; she is always kind and friendly with Ryan in a way that
works without hurting Ryan’s feelings.
She definitely handles her crush better than I ever dealt with Patrick,
but then her Mom is probably an expert on dealing with crushes and had great
advice for her! ;^)
For the guys reading this that have had
crushes on Abby, you survived; so I’m sure that Ryan will muddle through some
day too – or he’ll hope that Lindsay will follow her mother’s lead when it
comes to younger me too!
The younger kids in our group were tired
out by late afternoon, and while it would have been nice to stay later; the
slopes were getting icy by then anyway and harder to snowboard or ski on – even
for the best of us. A really good bribe
from the parents encouraged us to agree to skip the night snow fun in favor of
catching a movie in Crystal Springs. I’m
mentioning that ahead of the Michael and me part of my update because that
movie time was an important part of that story.
I’ll back up a bit for that, but I’ll wrap up the rest of the snow time
news by noting that we managed to return our equipment rentals; pack up; and
hit the road for the city in record time.
Now we can get to some of the memory
highlights that Michael and I made together today.
I’ve already covered the travel naps, hugs,
kisses, and the rest of the early morning fun.
The snowboarding entertainment with Michael included a lot of boyfriends
chasing girlfriends time; quite a few minor make-out moments in the snow; a
couple of snowball fights; and a lot of special cameos that we both shared with
our families and friends. Our lunch
break with our entire group didn’t keep us from making time for one of those
minor make-out moments while we didn’t have all of our winter gear on; and the
cuddle time in the minivan while we drove to Crystal Springs was a great way to
warm up after our afternoon in the snow.
I should take a moment here to mention that
Blue Ridge did an amazing job getting the ski center up and running in just two
days – especially when they’ve really only had yesterday and today available
for making snow and grooming the slopes.
They didn’t have all of the runs open yet, but they did get quite a bit
more snow than we did at home; so the base they’d really just started now might
survive if we don’t have any extended weather warm-ups.
We picked up fast food to eat while driving
to the city; and then the movie choice was a no-brainer with so many guys in
our group – the new Star Wars movie. Our
fathers have been fans since they were kids; the teen boys were hooked by the
second trio of films; and I’m sure that Ethan, Aiden, and most other young boys
will be hooked by this latest addition to the franchise. Ditto that for Ehlana, Naomi, and Sophia
thanks to the young Jedi heroine in this movie, and while the princesses in the
other movies weren’t exactly quiet and demure while the boys did all of the
fighting; they also weren’t Jedi or fighter pilots. I’ll admit that I was totally sucked in by
the movie, and all I’ll say in my own defense is that I think it’s okay to just
sit back and enjoy the show sometimes – even if it’s something that isn’t
particularly stimulating from a mental perspective.
The fact that we, as Magi, could do a lot
of those Jedi ‘tricks’ is just a really cook added bonus that makes these
movies especially entertaining for us.
Now if only I could have a real light saber and the rest of the cool
Star Wars gear. Flying to other planets
is just so tough for Magi without the space craft!
I don’t need to advertise for the movie in
a journal that nobody will read until the show is a classic – or long forgotten
– so I’ll just say that the movie lived up to the expectations for everyone in
our group. For me, the cuddle time with
Michael was great too; and I am so glad that we got to have lots of time for
that today! Some of us needed to pick up
fast food for another snack when it was time to head home; and Michael and I
got to go with Rowen and Tim for that last leg – mostly because all of the
younger kids were ready for naps by then and didn’t need to be
entertained. We had to flip a coin for
the back seat, but we won that toss; so Rowen and Tim were stuck with the
middle bucket seats that weren’t quite as comfortable for cuddling – even with
bags, blankets, and a couple of pillows that made it a bit easier for that –
but didn’t keep them from having the space between them due to the seatbelt
locations.
That last hour and a half of cuddling
included some quite make-out time too that Rowen and Tim ignored while trying
to have a bit of fun despite being right behind Owen and Patricia; but we also
had some fun quietly talking together and listening to music too. Though we’d caught one of the earlier show
times, it was still heading toward one o’clock by the time Michael kissed me
goodnight and walked home after walking me to my house from Rowen’s. Mom and Dad were home with the twins and
their best friends by then, and we had Naomi again because Aiden was staying
with us anyway instead of waking his parents in the middle of the night to
return him to them tonight.
I helped out with getting our day trip gear
inside and put away or into the laundry; Ehlana and Naomi talked me into doing
a sleepover in the lounge; so I took care of them while Dad handled getting
Ethan and Aiden into bed for the night.
Once Ehlana and Naomi were set up on the sectional sofa; we had a nice
little girl chat that needed to be quiet because Violet and Dillon were already
sleeping by then. Since that’s my first
mention of them; you’ll have guessed that they opted to stay and work at home –
and then they likely opted to enjoy an evening with the house to themselves –
though I won’t know that for sure until Violet tells me about her day in the
morning.
Mandy and I weren’t in my bed until
one-thirty or so; which is why I’ve only dealt with the work that I couldn’t
leave for tomorrow while doing my usual bedtime computing and computer
checks. That’s still taken me nearly an
hour and a half, and Ehlana and Naomi have been sleeping for more than an hour
now; so I’m pretty much past-ready to wrap this up and join them in dreamland.
That’s figuratively; since I wouldn’t
actually want them in the scene for the dreams I like to have most with Michael
in a starring, clothing-optional sort of way! ;^)
Suddenly, my interest in writing this
report has completely evaporated as my mind wanders to thoughts of Michael and
me having fun in a Star Wars-like setting; so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
