It’s late, but I’m actually writing this
before getting to the work part of my day because we haven’t been home for long
after our long travel and play day at our favorite, comparatively-local
amusement park.
We’ve had an awesome play day, so let’s get
right to the news; and then I need to get busy with my family business to-do
list.
I really did only have a nap before getting
up and ready to go today; we packed up the vans, trucks, and cars; and were on
the road an hour and change before dawn.
Michael and I drove the minivan with the twins, Naomi, Aiden, and
Sophia. Mom and Dad had another load in
the truck; and I won’t do the full run-down here; but we did have a small
convoy of family and friends going along for this day trip. The trip to the amusement park was quiet for
the first half while the kids watched a movie and napped; they woke up when we
stopped to pick up breakfast to go and take washroom breaks; and then we had
fun making plans for the day the rest of the way to the park.
Most of our fun today was
family-rated. Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I
got to have an hour or so of teen time that included some extreme rides; but we
spent the rest of the time with our families and the younger teens and
kids. That seemed to be more important
to me today because of the college departures on the weekend; and I’m feeling
the need to spend more time with Mom, Dad, and the twins before I’ll be off to
college next summer too. The extreme
rides are still a lot of fun, but it’ll be a few more years before I’ll be able
to do most of those rides with the twins.
Maybe I should pre-book some trips for that
with them once they’re eleven or twelve – if they’re not too cool by then to
hang out with Michael and me! ;^)
I guess there’s no point in going over
everything we did today, but we did have a blast; and the weather was
nearly-perfect – if a tiny bit on the hot side by mid-afternoon. Picking on the weather forecasters when they
once again underestimate the hot never seems to happen while the complaints
roll in whenever they’re wrong to the bad-weather or cold side of things; but I
can’t help but wonder how the numbers are ending up so unpredictable this
summer. Yes, I know it isn’t the same,
but every time I think about weather forecasting; I can’t help but wonder how
long it would take us to bankrupt our family business if we regularly made ten
or twenty-percent errors with our investments.
Nobody would complain about that much extra profit; but big losses would
be a problem!
Anyway, that’s a bit off-topic – other than
I need to get started on that work and do it without those kinds or error
margins.
We had fast food lunch and dinner at the
park; stayed until close; and then hit the road for home. Aunt Leanne needed another fast food fix on
the way home while we did our pit stop, and most of the rest of us got snacks
and drinks too; but we made that stop fairly short and then we pushed on to
home. Michael and I had sleeping kids in
our minivan by the time we got home, so he took Sophia home while Mom and Dad
helped me with the twins, Naomi, and Aiden – after dropping their kids off at
home along the way to our house. I would
have liked to keep Michael tonight, being responsible won out; and he’s likely
sleeping by now.
Before I get to work, though; I want to
write a bit about the collegian exodus from town this weekend – though others
will be leaving over the next few weekends; depending on when their schools
begin their fall semesters. I’ve written
a bit about Rebecca, Lucas, and Jenny leaving for college; but haven’t
mentioned any of the others – including Violet, Dillon, Josiah, and
Christina. They’re all in their
post-grad year to earn their Master’s Degrees, but what I’ve been thinking
about a lot over the past few days is just how little time I’ve spent with them
this supper. Part of that is because they
have their own apartments and Violet and Dillon are newlyweds; but their lives
are just going to be different than mine too; and we won’t spend as much time
together anymore. That’s normal, but a
bit sad, so if there’s something to be happy about; it’s having Jake and
Stephanie here for a year before Michael and I go to college. They have their own life now too; but we’ll
at least spend a lot of time with them every week while working at the Inn.
Finally, for the college thing; I’ll note
that Rebecca and Jenny have crossed over to yet another level without me. The plans they’re making for their future
will make sure that I’ll be a bit behind them for the next five or six years,
so while this doesn’t feel weird the way it did when they crossed over and stopped
thinking that boys were gross and disgusting; I do feel a bit of a sense of
being left behind. Fortunately, I’ll be
here with Michael; so it never even crossed my mind to skip a year and be able
to go to college early.
I nearly forgot to add that all of our
favorite collegians arrived to their dorms or apartments safely; Rebecca and
Lucas are having a bit of culture shock; and Jenny apparently loves everything
about the crazy college world they’ve been dropped into and need to learn to
navigate successfully and safely. I’ll
have more on that as the stories roll in, but while their stories are more
personal for Michael and me; they have been the same as the alternate-reality
stories we’ve heard from all of our favorite collegians.
Okay, that’s enough for tonight. I really need to kick up my work into high
gear – including using a time phase; so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
