Happy 21st Birthday, Violet!
Her birthday breakfast here was a bit wild,
but that was our chance to celebrate with her before she and Dillon headed for
Woodvale. They’re staying there
overnight; and will be back here in time for the late buffet at the Inn so that
they can spend most of today and half of Father’s Day with her family. That’ll be a lot of traveling for them, but
will be fun the rest of the non-driving time; and I’m glad that they can do
that while I’ve been busy around here with chores all day.
Before I get to that, though; let’s back up
and do a quick review of the campfire and camping adventure last night. Michael made it here not long after I wrapped
up the last update and went outside again.
The usual campfire highlights kept us entertained – including the
stories and music; and one swim in the river to cool off for about half of
us. With a busy day booked for Saturday,
we wrapped up the campfire at a bit after eleven o’clock; got the younger kids
ready for bed and into their sleeping bags; and then the teens mostly hung out
by the river or on the dock and we talked for nearly an hour while waiting for
the least-sleepy kids to finally crash into nap mode for the night. Michael and I didn’t get to have any alone
time with that, but we did have fun talking with Rowen, Tim, Rebecca, and Lucas
before we were ready to get some sleep too.
I can add a bit of tween news to this part
of my report too; though I wouldn’t dream of saying anything to the
participants in this newly budding little teen drama. Jessica has got her sights set on Patrick,
and now that she’ll be going into Grade Seven in September; he’s apparently
noticed that she’s a very pretty twelve-year old.
Is it just me, or do guys suddenly seem to
notice things like that more often when girls are in swimsuits, shorts, and
tees – particularly at that age; and at the start of summer? ;^)
I am not the only person to notice the
changes going on between Jessica and Patrick, since I caught Rowen smiling a
few times while watching her brother anytime he was close to Jessica or
watching her; but she didn’t say anything either – including to me when we were
in our tent and alone except for our sleeping junior camper buddies. It’s just a matter of time for Jessica and
Patrick now, and I would not be surprised to see them at least semi-officially
a couple by the Fourth of July holiday.
Stayed tuned; and I’ll keep you posted as the story develops. Before I move on, though; yes, I’ll be okay
with Patrick moving on from his crush on me.
It happens to all of us; and would be pretty awful if we couldn’t move
on from our first crushes. Sure, I had a
younger brother of my crush to fall in love with, and Aunt Leanne was still
available once Uncle Adam caught up to her, but we’re exceptions; and you know
what I mean. ;^)
Moving along, I had one wake-up call
overnight that required a trip into the house followed by some quiet girl chat
time; so I didn’t get a lot of sleep.
Morning Tai Chi was great with the bonus exercise buddies that included
Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne; and then we had a major breakfast to prepare that
was thankfully helped with all of the donations. That meal and birthday celebration was
outdoors; we had a blast doing that with everyone; and it was a lot of work for
those of us on the cooking and clean-up crews.
Add in the kid control; and it was non-stop action pretty much from the
end of Tai Chi until kids and teens started packing up and heading home – or getting
picked up by parents or other relatives.
Violet and Dillon left shortly after eating because they wanted to be in
Woodvale as soon as possible, but while I joke about them missing out on all of
the work; Violet would have had a get out of work free card for her birthday
anyway.
I didn’t have one, though, so once the
breakfast clean-up was finished; I moved on to cleaning up the campground and
getting all of our own gear put away.
After that, it was time to get started on the chores. By then, Michael, Tim, and Rowen were all off
to work or elsewhere too; so it was just Dad and me for that while Mom kept
Ethan and Ehlana entertained with some indoor chores that they helped with
while doing relevant Magi lessons to help with their work. Too bad Dad and I couldn’t do our yard work
that way. We’d have been finished in
no-time – or nearly so with a time phase.
Instead, it was an all-day job.
We took three short swim breaks including the one we had when we stopped
for lunch; but it was all work the rest of the time until I needed to grab a
shower and get ready for my ball game at six o’clock.
By the time I was ready to go, I only had
time to grab a hamburger to go before going with Rowen to the school ball
diamond. She was sent with food too;
though that was mostly because Mom found out that her dinner had been a Pop
Tart. I didn’t see the problem with
that, since it was a blueberry Pop Tart instead of one of the various chocolate
types; but Moms are like that sometimes!
Our team was up against Connor’s Comets
this week, and while we have friends on the other teams; I’ve decided that the
team rosters didn’t exactly turn out fair this year. Sure, there aren’t a lot of changes to the
last team I played on with Carolyn; but more of our players have grown up to be
some of the best athletes at our school; and that’s showing up on the
scoreboard. Twelve-to-eight was a closer
score than in our first game, but it wasn’t that close; and three of the Comets’
runs came in the last inning – and were nowhere near enough to have us worried
about losing – especially when two of those runs came with two outs on a really
good hit.
I haven’t mentioned Michael much yet, so I’ll
back up just a bit and mention that he did come over for part of his afternoon
break – and that was my last swim break from the chores too. He worked the dinner shift too, though; so he
couldn’t come to watch our game. Mom and
Dad stopped by with Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden and watched about half of
the game, but they didn’t come right away while busy having a late dinner; and
then Dad wanted to get home so he could work in the office. They left when we were ahead nine-to-three;
and we were on cruise control for the rest of the game anyway. Michael came over after he was finished at
the Inn; and got here in time to help me with getting Ethan and Ehlana tucked
in for the night.
They were ready to crash by then because
they’d already had a long day by the time they got home from the school; and
had a bit more bonus fun when Rowen and I brought some of our team mates back
with us for a celebration swim – after stopping at the Emporium for frozen
treats. Some boyfriends – including Tim –
were along for the swim; but we didn’t make a big event of that because most of
us had other plans for the rest of the night.
Everyone except Rowen and Tim were gone by the time Michael got to the
house; and then left after just a short chat with him that included Tim razzing
him about missing out on the girls in swimsuits fun.
Michael didn’t totally miss out on that,
but we didn’t go swimming; and you don’t need any additional details!
After Rowen and Tim left, Michael and I had
a chat with Mom and Dad in the office; took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana
into bed with some guy and girl chat time; and then we came up to the lounge to
watch a movie that we didn’t really end up watching. A sofa sleepover was very tempting, but since
it is Father’s Day – right now as I’m writing this; we decided not to do that
so he could be home in the morning. We
did have fun with that bit of make-out time, though; so we were both fairly
happy campers when he went home at midnight.
Mom and Dad were calling it a night then too, but we only took time for
a quick round of hugs and kisses – and an early “Happy Father’s Day” wish for
Dad before we split up to go to our own rooms.
Even though we’d had the swim after baseball, I still felt the need to
at least have a shower; so I did that quickly; cheated with a time phase to get
my hair done; and did a bit of family business multi-tasking with that for a
job that came up in my email.
I had that and the rest of my bedtime
computer checks finished by the time I got into bed with Mandy; so this is the
last bit of computing I have left before calling it a night and getting some
sleep. I’ll need the down time, since I’ll
be working the full shift at the Inn; and Miranda and Jacob are going with
three buffets again for Father’s Day.
While breakfast at Michael’s will be better food in the morning, I’m
going to be home for breakfast because I won’t see Dad much after that while I’m
at the Inn and he’s busy with getting ready for his week in the city. That won’t be very exciting for him, but we
will have fun in the morning, and he’ll be going to the late buffet with the
rest of our collective families; so it won’t be all work and no fun! I’d add a note about Mom helping him with a
fun, late-night start to his Father’s Day, but that’s more information than any
of us needs to have; so I won’t go there tonight. ;^)
Cut it out – that’s my Mom and Dad in the
sleeper berth on that train of thought you’re musing about right now!
I so wish I hadn’t mentioned that as I’m
wrapping this up and getting ready to get some sleep!
Oh well, maybe I can start my own train of
thought with Michael and me going along for that trip into dreamland
instead. Either way, it’s time to go
back to the real world now and get some rest; so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
