Final exams are done for another year!
The even better news is that the amazing
summer weather is still with us!
I was half-expecting Mother Nature to mess
with us and have it start raining about ten minutes after we were finished our
last exam; but that didn’t happen. Being
done school early was a great bonus too; and Michael, Tim, and Rowen came home
with me so that we could hang out until they needed to be at work or elsewhere
by four or five o’clock. We hadn’t
planned anything specific, but when Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden suggested a
camping night with the four of us as their supervisors; we were good with the
idea; so we used that time to set up two tents and then go for a swim in the
river to cool off because the temperature had climbed to over one hundred – at least
for the ‘feels like’ index.
Michael needed to work the dinner shift at
the Inn and Rowen was working at the store, but when they left; Tim wasn’t sure
if he’d be working at the shop or at home – though he was hoping for going out
on calls with his Uncle and cousin if that was an option. I took the night off, but checked in with
Miranda first to make sure she didn’t have any last-minute problems; and was
glad to find out that she didn’t need me tonight. I really needed the break, and Mom sensed
that too; because she put me in charge of kid control instead of helping with
the dinner part of the dinner and baseball night she’d booked with most of our
family and some friends on the baseball team.
Since Hannah is subbing for Aunt Grace this season, the Drapers and
Seagers were on the guest list; so I had a lot of kids to keep up with.
Yes, maybe the cooking would have been
easier, but I did have some grandparent support; and the play and swim time was
a lot more fun!
Dinner wasn’t anything fancy – just standard,
easy-meal barbeque fare, and by the time we sat down to eat; we needed to hurry
to get through the meal and do the clean-up before going over to the park for
the co-ed baseball game. I was on kid
control again at the park, but didn’t have any problems keeping up at first
while the kids all stayed near the ball diamond to watch the start of the
game. Our Olde Bakery Bandits were up
against Sheldon’s Pub Pirates; and the hot weather brought out quite a few fans
for both teams. I would have been happy
to watch the game, but most of the kids were bored before the end of the first
inning; so we headed for the playground with some other teen and grandparent
support; played there for a couple of innings; watched the fourth inning while
the kids demolished the ice cream treats that the Grandmothers had done a run
to the Emporium for; and then we went for a swim in the river and some more playground
fun.
By then, we’d started to lose some of the
younger kids to nap mode – including Brianna; so the grandfathers shuttled
tired toddlers to the ball diamond bleachers so that grandmothers or other
non-players could have cuddle buddies for the tail-end of the game. The Bandits won the game eleven-to-nine, and
while that was a close end; they’d had a lead for most of the game; and the
Pirates weren’t able to catch up before running out of outs in the
seventh. Rounding up the kids by then
was easier because I had Rowen and Tim with me by then, and while Michael ended
up working until close; he caught up with us shortly after we got the campfire
started that Ethan and Ehlana talked Dad into setting up for us.
After a long week, I’d have been okay with
getting our camping started by then – and the sleeping; but cuddling with
Michael and winding down with some songs and stories was fun too. We didn’t have a huge gang for that campfire,
but the Seagers and Drapers stayed for a while; Michael’s parents wandered over
and talked with the rest of the parents for a half-hour or so; and Uncle Nick
and Aunt Deborah stayed with the kids until Leah fell asleep. We’d only gone with a small fire; put it out
at a bit after eleven; and then it was time to get ready for bed and out into
our tents by the river.
I have my computer with me because we used
it for some bedtime YouTube video watching while Ehlana and Naomi wound down
and fell asleep. While they did that,
Rowen and I sat outside the tents with Michael and Tim; and Ethan and Aiden
used iPads and games to get to the same place as the girls – though that took
them a bit longer. The teen time was
really great; reminded me again that the four of us are not spending enough
time together lately; and ended with goodnight hugs and kisses that have me
thinking that Michael and I need some alone time soon too.
Too bad we don’t live on a planet with
longer days! ;^)
After Rowen and I got into our tent and
snuggled in with Ehlana and Naomi; we talked quietly until she dozed off while
I worked on my computer and we both listened to music. I hadn’t planned on doing any work tonight,
but some came up via email that I didn’t want to leave until Sunday night; so I
took care of that – and then did a full computer check after that. The long days are apparently a problem for
sleeping early tonight; but I’m nearly ready to do that now.
There are a few things I want to mention,
though, so let’s do that before I wrap this up and call it a night.
First up, I didn’t mention any practices
this week. I should have, because the
news was that I didn’t have any. That
decision wasn’t mine, but some of the other teens in the band, and on our
praise and baseball teams requested getting the week off because of exams; and
their requests were approved. I’m glad
that I didn’t have those practices on top of everything else; but would have
fit them in if needed. We’ll likely need
to work harder next week to get ready for games and the Fourth of July weekend;
but we’ll see how that goes. Violet and
Dillon weren’t hanging out with us tonight, but that was mostly because they
haven’t spent a lot of time with Josiah and Christina while busy with Andrew
and Isabelle’s wedding; so they were hanging out together for dinner and the
evening after they all finished work for the day. I haven’t had much of a chance to talk about
the lab with Ehlana, but she’s been pretty happy; so I’m sure that she’s having
fun getting to work with Uncle Adam and Dillon so far this summer.
I’m not expecting a very exciting weekend –
even though we had a lot of fun today; but then we want to do some extra work
now so that we can have it a bit easier for the Father’s Day weekend. Since Dad will also need to get ready for his
week in the city next weekend; that’s even more important. A bit more play time tomorrow would be nice,
but I’m booked for the full day on Sunday at the Inn because Miranda needs to
give some of her full-time staff off to make up for the extra hours they put in
during exam week. There’s a lot that I
just haven’t written about from the past week that I’m just not going to get
to, but one thing I will add that was confirmed tonight is that Jacob and
Miranda are going to head out to see and meet the new Bishop baby next Monday and
Tuesday on their days off. That’ll be
fun and tiring for them, and Michael and Rebecca will need to pick up some of
the chores slack while they’re gone; but they’re looking forward to a couple of
parent-free days too.
Party at the Stone house! ;^)
Oh wait – that might be what Jake and
Stephanie are thinking! I’ll keep you
posted on that too!
I guess that’s enough for tonight. The last week of school is pretty much all
play and no work, so I feel like we’re practically starting summer holidays
already – with the camping and campfire helping out with that. Let’s hope that we’ll manage to make time for
a lot of fun around the inevitable work with summer jobs and everything
else! For now, the only thing I want to
make time for is sleeping; so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
