Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - July 31, 2018

Ethan:

It’s the end of July; and now the countdown is on to Cassie’s move away from home and to college for the next five years.

While Ehlana and I worked at the lab this morning and then played with our friends this afternoon and evening; Cassie spent most of her time getting ready for her trip tomorrow.  The trucks and trailer are loaded; and she’s out for the evening at a small, early anniversary party for Jake and Stephanie.  Their special day is tomorrow, but they’re going away for a two-day celebration; Cassie and Michael will be gone too; and this was their chance to celebrate with their families and some friends before they leave.

I don’t actually have any news beyond that to report today.  I had fun in my archives; our play afternoon wasn’t much different than yesterday except for doing that with a few different friends; Aiden and I biked while Ehlana and Naomi were busy with their ball practice; and then we had some more play time after that before we took Silkie for a bedtime walk that included getting Naomi and Aiden to their homes too.

Ehlana will mention it if I don’t; so I’d better add that Naomi and I cuddled during our movie last night; and no – I don’t have a problem with doing that because I love Naomi a lot.  We’re seven; our parents have nothing to worry about; and I really wish that everyone didn’t think that it was such a big deal.  They do, though, and that would be bad for my reputation with the guys if they knew about stuff like that with Naomi and me; so I’m glad that my best friend and the girls keep that little secret for me.

This seems like a good time to wrap this up.  I want to get some sleep anyway; since we want to get up early and see Cassie and Michael on their way; so that’s all for tonight!

Ethan – out!

***

Ehlana:

What Ethan said; and add in the following news.

First up – Naomi tried for a sofa sleepover with him that didn’t succeed because of parental intervention and a move for Ethan to his sleeping bag on the floor while Naomi and I got the sofa; and Aiden was in a sleeping bag on the floor too.  As usual; pictures were taken first and forwarded to Naomi’s mother.

Next, I had an interesting morning at the lab; our latest experiment failed; and I’m getting a bit frustrated from hitting yet another dead-end.  You can read about the details of my work at the lab elsewhere in the archives, so I won’t go into what would be the boring details for most of you; but we’re not going t find a cure for the cold if our treatments don’t stop killing the test cells – aka ‘the patient’ we’re trying to cure.  We’re doing a great job of killing the virus too; but I’m sure that we won’t be selling anything that ends with not waking up again after taking the medicine.

Our Pixies practice went pretty well; and I won’t comment on the fact that girls are apparently supposed to love watching the boys play baseball; but the guys go biking and playing at the park instead of watching our practices – or even our games most of the time.

Finally, we’re heading to bed early so that we can rest up for another couple of work and play days that will include another sleepover with Naomi and Aiden while Cassie’s away; and we want to see her off in the morning too.

I am not going to write about Cassie being one step closer to leaving for college.  We can pretend to be in denial for another week or two.

Okay, that isn’t actually possible; but let me live with the delusion for another night! ;^)

This is Ehlana Proctor; coming to you live from what is now my past!

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - July 30, 2018

Ethan:

Life is returning to normal around here – and isn’t.

For the second part of that; Cassie, Michael, Rowen, and Tim are getting ready for a trip to take possession of the townhomes they’ll be renting for the next five years on Wednesday and Thursday; so the countdown is on for them to be leaving for college.

On the ‘normal’ side of things; Ehlana and I got back to playing at the lab and archives this morning; we had a play afternoon with our friends; Aiden and I had our ball practice tonight; and Ehlana and I have Naomi and Aiden here for sleepovers because we’ve missed just getting to hang out with our best friends.  Cassie was busy with Rowen and Tim while Michael’s working at the Inn on his usual days off so that he can have Wednesday and Thursday off; so we used the lounge for some video gaming; we’re about to watch a movie once we’ve all gotten ready for what might end up being a camping night in the lounge; and then we may do the same thing tomorrow except that Ehlana and Naomi will have their ball practice instead.

I’ll let you know how that goes, but I guess that’s it for tonight; I need to get back to the having fun with my twin and our friends; and I’m sure that we will have fun for the rest of the night too!

Ethan – out!

***

Ehlana:

I see that Ethan’s covered Cassie’s news – other than the ‘what’ she was doing today.  Here at home, she worked with Mom on chores around the house and family business work while we were at the lab or playing with our friends.  Once Rowen and Tim were done work; they were busy packing and getting everything ready to go into Dad’s truck tomorrow.  They’ll have a cube truck and trailer too, but that’ll be loaded up with all of their furniture from Valley View.

Side note – Garrett Wingborough may have caught Jen Warren; since by all girl chat accounts; they’ve become all-but-inseparable since going on their first official date on the Fourth of July!  I don’t normally comment on those stories in my journal, since I am only seven; but Jen is a bit famous around here for summer romances – possibly-legendary; yet this time seems to be different.

Moving along, I had fun at the lab; our play afternoon included riding the trails, swimming, and hanging out at the park; we had an early, easy-dinner; and then Naomi and I watched Ethan and Aiden’s practice.  We went for another short bike ride after that; came home with Naomi and Aiden for a sleepover; and just finished some video gaming in the lounge.  We’ll be watching a movie next, and that will be entertaining for me because Naomi is going to have some cuddle time with Ethan after having to play it cool for our cousins over the last week.  Aiden will let Ethan get away with that and keep his secret, but while he might sit with me while Naomi cuddles with Ethan; he’s not quite ready to take that step with me – and I’m okay with that.  Ethan loves Naomi and will do pretty much anything for her; but she’s the only one of us to truly be okay with ‘crossing over’ about five or six years sooner than we should – at least in private.

Okay, she’s been known to kiss Ethan in public too; but that does risk getting him into trouble with the other guys – even if all of the adults think they’re adorable.

Naomi’s finished with her turn in Cassie’s bathroom; so I’d better wrap this up and get back to the fun.

This is Ehlana Proctor; coming to you live from what is now my past!

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - July 29, 2018

Ethan:

This has probably been our shortest day in the last couple of weeks, but I’m tired; so this is going to be a short report.

We were up early; it was a bit of a crazy morning as we got ready for the big departure – and going to church.  I helped out with breakfast; getting Jayden packed; and hauling luggage out to Mom’s minivan.  Once our cousins were ready to go home; we walked or drove to the church.  Wrapping up our cousins’ hometown holiday with a church service probably wouldn’t be high on the fun list for most kids, and that might be true for some of our cousins too; but I had fun with Jayden, Aiden, and everyone else; and then we hit the road for our half-way meeting place with Uncle Blaine and Aunt Alison.

We drove for a couple of hours; had lunch and a visit with our aunt and uncle that lasted a couple of hours; and then we came home again and had a quiet rest of the day and evening.  Ehlana and I got together with Naomi and Aiden for a little while before dinner while Mom and Dad did some work around the house and office; we had dinner for four in the sunroom; and an even quieter evening of work and studying.

Now I’m in bed and ready to get a good night of sleep; and then we’ll get back to our more-normal summertime routine – starting with a return to the lab and archives for Ehlana and me!

Ethan – out!

***

Ehlana:

I had fun today, and we’ve had an awesome week with our cousins, but the news of the day for me is that I’m going to get to play in my lab again now that our cousins have gone home.

That’s really all I’m thinking about now – and I’ve had lots of ideas about our research while we’ve been too busy for me to work there; so I just want to get some sleep and be ready for that play time with Uncle Adam and Dillon.

Oh yeah – and Grandma and Grandpa arrived safely in China and will be resting up before getting started on their adventures there!

Compared to that, spending four hours or so in the van on a flying round-trip to get our cousins half-way home and a pretty good lunch in the middle of that drive just doesn’t seem like that big of a deal – even though we did have fun with that too.

That is all for tonight, though; so I’m out of here and heading off to some cuddle and nap time with Mandy.  She won’t stay with me once Cassie gets home from work unless she’s really comfortable and decides to stay; but she is still fun to cuddle with until I fall asleep on nights when Silkie’s with Ethan.

This is Ehlana Proctor; coming to you live from what is now my past!

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - July 28, 2018

Ethan:

Have a safe trip, Grandma and Grandpa!

Going to China for a month would be amazing, but if I do go there someday; it’ll be when I’m a bit older and can enjoy everything more than I’d be allowed to do at seven!

We’ve had another great day – and we’ve managed to have an amazing week with our cousins!  Tai Chi by the river this morning was good, and so was breakfast; but then we had a small blip to the downside on the fun scale when the Banshees had the audacity of winning their ballgame against Ehlana, Naomi, and the Pixies.  That was too bad, but the Banshees got a big lead early in the game; and there was nothing Ehlana or Naomi could do about parts of the game that were out of their control – or at least they couldn’t do anything without breaking a few Magi rules!

The yard work some of us helped with after that wasn’t really all that fun; but it was a small price to pay for the rest of the fun.  We finished up that work at lunchtime; and then we had the family canoe trip to the whirlpool with all of the aunts, uncles, and cousins.  That was a blast of fun – if you can consider canoeing a blast at all.  We only had a bit more than an hour at the whirlpool, but that was enough to tire out our younger cousins; so we had a few nappers on the way back – and at least two parents that claimed that they wanted to have naps too.

The final family barbeque of the week was at our house; I loved all of that food – and would be okay if we take a week or two off from barbequed meals.  Our last campfire was a few hours of wind-down fun for everyone – including most of our neighbors.  I have no idea whether that turnout was bigger because they’ll be glad to see our cousins go home tomorrow so that the town is a bit quieter; but that might be a fun joke to start up tomorrow at church.  We wrapped up the campfire at midnight; Jayden’s already crashed into dreamland; and I’m ready to get some sleep now too; since Tia Chi at dawn is going to come a bit early after staying up this late again.

We’ll have an even crazier morning than usual while our cousins get packed to head home, but that will be fun too; and I can always have an extra nap or two after they go home.  That’s it for this update, though; so I’m off to get some sleep.

Ethan – out!

***

Ehlana:

We – the Pixies – lost our ballgame this morning!  The Banshees got a big, early lead; and we never caught up.  That broke our holiday week cheerleading record, but then Naomi and I were playing; so our consolation for that loss was being undefeated as cheerleaders.

Yeah – that didn’t really help; though we pretended that it did.

We still went out for ice cream treats at the Emporium; and then we either played for the rest of the morning or helped out with the chores at home until lunchtime.  Mom and Dad had a comparatively-small group at our house for lunch; that was a quick meal; and then we met up with the rest of the family for our afternoon canoe trip to the whirlpool.  That might seem like too much for an afternoon, but since we had all of the younger cousins with us; only having an hour to play at the whirlpool actually worked out pretty well.  Our cousins also got to have that time to visit with their aunts, uncles, and cousins while paddling there and back again; so it was a really great afternoon for all of us.

Mom and Dad hosted the last vacation barbeque and campfire; that was another big event; the meal was great; and we wound down the hometown holiday with campfire music and stories that kept us entertained until midnight.  I’m writing this while getting ready for bed and the last chance for some girl chat with Cassie, Jaimie, and Kaitlyn before our cousins go home; so that’s all I have for tonight; and I’m off to enjoy that last bit of fun.

This is Ehlana Proctor; coming to you live from what is now my past!