Let’s start this update with mentioning how
hot it was today – and that’s not teen-rated hot; but the hot of the weather
variety! With the ‘real’ temperature in
the nineties; and the ‘feels like’ trying hard to hit one-ten; it was a good
thing that we had a river to hop in regularly to cool off while having our play
day.
While that blast of fun started quietly
with Tai Chi by the river and breakfast at home for eight; the first bit of
news to report for the day was the start of Tim’s summer football training at
the park. He didn’t have a large turnout
for that, but Michael was there; and I’m sure that more guys will being joining
in as they start getting serious about training for the upcoming season. Their biggest issue for those workouts now is
that most of the guys have summer jobs except for the newbies starting Grade
Nine in September. Sure, that was a
problem with the older teens the last two summers too; so maybe it just seems
like a bigger deal when even Tim needs to fit those practices into his own
summer job schedule – especially now that his father and uncle can use him for
more jobs than they could when he was younger.
I didn’t go to watch that workout, but used
that time to help Mom around the house instead.
That worked out for us; and then I was set free to spend the rest of the
day playing with Michael. Rowen and Tim
were working, so we didn’t get to hang out with them too until later; but that’s
going to be a new trend into the future that we’ll need to deal with because
Rowen will want to take her time off when Tim can; and that isn’t going to work
out with Michael’s schedule very often when he gets Mondays and Tuesdays off –
and works most weekends.
While we thought about going somewhere like
Quarry Lake or for a day trip on our bikes; we decided to stay close to home
today instead – mostly because of the extreme heat forecast. We biked the trails at the park this morning;
took regular swim breaks; had lunch with Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana; and then we
added the twins, Naomi, and Aiden to our play group for the afternoon. We took two canoes to the park; played at the playground; paddled
over to the other side of the river for a visit to the Emporium for ice cream
treats; and then paddled home after enjoying them while hanging out at the
falls and doing a bit of window shopping on the way back to the canoes. We stayed at home after that; played in the
back yard and in the river; and set up two tents so that we’d be ready for a
camping adventure.
When I was hoping that we could do that
tonight, junior campers weren’t part of my vision for that part of my day; and
co-ed camping definitely was. Ehlana and
Naomi made sure that I couldn’t say no to their request to camp tonight too;
thanks to a devastating combination of dimples, hugs, and kisses. Yes, I’m a softie, and caved in; but I do
still love camping with them – and Rowen – too; so it isn’t as if I’m being
asked to choose between something really great or awful. With the camping approved and set up, we also
went with an easy-meal barbeque dinner; that was a quick blast of fun; and then
we had Rowen and Tim join us not long after we’d finished the clean-up for some
more play time and biking at the park.
With the twins and their friends along, we
couldn’t ride the toughest trails, but we did have fun with them; and the four
kids are all junior thrill-seekers; so even riding with them can be very
entertaining. The swim time after we got
home again was great too; though Tim seems to think that he’s not getting to
have enough time with his girlfriend in a swimsuit this summer – a debatable fact
that he probably shouldn’t mention around four kids quite so often in one
night. There was still some time left
before dark, but we got the campfire ready to go and took care of a few other
little chores to finish getting ready for our camping; and then we had our
campfire from shortly after dusk until a bit after eleven o’clock. The early end to that part of our night was
strictly because it’s a work night; and we didn’t want to bother Mom, Dad,
Violet, Dillon, or the neighbors; but we didn’t go right to sleep after that
blast of food, music, scary stories, and general, all-around fun.
We had to get four kids ready for bed and
into sleeping bags; we – the four teens – went for a moonlight swim once that
was done; Michael and I had to switch Naomi and Aiden when they miraculously
ended up in the wrong sleeping bags while we’d been swimming despite the fact
that they’d been in the right tents when we’d tucked them in for the night; and
then we sat by the river and talked until nearly-one. That was later than we should have been up
because Michael is working the breakfast shift; but we needed the teen time –
nearly as much as Michael and I really are overdue for some quality alone time
that doesn’t include me passing out before we get around to any make-out type
of fun.
That isn’t something I should think about
too much right now; since switching tents with Tim isn’t an option when there
are junior campers in our tents; so let’s move along.
We split up and got ready for bed; Rowen
and I had a bit more chat time while I got started on my bedtime computing; and
then she fell asleep by sometime around one-thirty. I’d have liked the extra nap time; but the
work on the family business needed to be done; and it’s taken longer to do that
when I can’t kick up the work into time-phase gear. I guess that isn’t a huge deal for me, since
I don’t have to run off to work first thing in the morning or do anything else
other than help with the post-camping and breakfast clean-ups, but the work
still needed to get done; and I have more of it to do tomorrow too. The good news is that I’ll have time to do
that during the day or early evening; so going to bed in decent time tomorrow
night might be an option.
Now if only I could stop thinking about
doing that with Michael! ;^)
So much for not going there. Before I wrap this up, though, I should
mention that the lack of marching band and teen praise team practices on
Tuesday nights is just temporary. We
will be doing both again soon – to get ready for the Labor Day weekend for the
praise team; and for football season for the marching band. We won’t exactly be working up major
half-time show routines for the band; but we are going to play at the games; do
a bit of a half-time routine; and fundraise for our trip at the games – just as
we’ll do for the parades too. I’ll add
more on that as we get closer; but it’s going to be interesting to keep up with
everything at those games for those of us in the band and also on the team or
cheerleading squad!
Maybe we’ll see if we can work that into
the band routine – or our cheerleading!
That could be fun; though I doubt the guys can do anything with football
plays to go with a marching band; since I seriously doubt the other teams will
slow down to marching speed during their games.
Okay, I’m obviously too tired to be going
there, and it’s time to crash for a few hours now; so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
