Ethan:
I’m going to leave this update to Ehlana;
call it a night; and get some sleep.
Ethan – out!
***
Ehlana:
We both had a late night last night, but we’ve
had a lot of fun; so I’ll be happy to write this report for both of us!
Let’s start from the end of my last update.
Our family and friends barbeque dinner was
as entertaining as always – even with the antics and amazingly-gross feats of
food fun that Zack led the way for with help from some of the other guys that
either joined in on the contests or goaded the boys on. Other than the usual requirements for
cleaning up after ourselves, we weren’t put to work before or after dinner –
beyond helping with kid control of the younger cousins; so we got to play most
of the time – including the usual backyard games, a swim, and short canoe
rides. There was a visit to the park,
and some of the older cousins went for a bike ride on the trails, but Ethan and
I – and Naomi and Aiden – continued to play with the younger kids; so we were
at the playground instead of on our bikes.
The campfire was the entertainment highlight of the night, and while we
didn’t get to spend a lot of time with Cassie and Michael – at least when we
weren’t sharing them with everyone else; they helped out with the musical
entertainment; Cassie told one of the campfire stories; and we sat in front of
them so that we could join in on the chat time now and then when they weren’t
busy talking with the other young couples sitting in the chairs nearest to
them.
That was our last campfire of the summer,
so it didn’t end until around one o’clock – though we – the kids – started heading
for our tents at eleven; and we were all supposed to be in our tents by
midnight. Naomi and I did that without
going to sleep then, but Ethan, Aiden, and Jayden had to deal with Zack, Eli,
and some of the other boys while they had some late-night fun trying to scare
the girls in the other tents; raid the campfire after three failed attempts to
sneak up on the parents, older cousins, and teens; and then they eventually
stayed up even later while playing video games in the boys’ tents after the
campfire ended and the remaining guests headed for their homes. Cassie and Michael have definitely crossed
over to that next level, since they didn’t camp with us. that felt weird, but then I’m sure that
Jessica, Patrick, and some of the other teens taking over those chaperone jobs
now feel the same way – if in a different way; if you know what I mean. ;^)
Moving along, our girl chat and
music-listening time didn’t last as long as that video gaming for the guys, but
we still didn’t get a lot of sleep before needing to be up and going again in
the morning. We had a gang for Tai Chi
by the river; Mom and Dad had lots of help for the major breakfast meal; and
getting ready for the church service in the park didn’t end up being as scary
as usual because we could dress for a play day at the park and the holiday
celebration – though most of the girls had some fun doing our hair and looking
our casual-best anyway. Our gang headed
for the park in groups that included pedestrians and truck or van loads to deal
with food contributions for the charity food booths; we were all at the park in
time for the teen-led church service; and I’m pretty sure we had the biggest
turn-out for that hour of praise and worship that we’ve had so far since Ethan
and I were born – mostly thanks to the visitors that came to the park from
Quarry Lake and the other area campgrounds.
While that service was awesome, the co-ed
championship baseball game at noon was amazing too – and this year we got to
have Cassie and Miranda on the same cheer squad. That has happened before, and disappoints
some of the spectators that love the sidelines competition between Cassie and
Miranda, but Sheldon’s Storm Chasers had their own cheer squad too; so there
was still a lot of fun to be had with the cheer squad battle! We won that contest – just as Mom, Dad, and
the Blizzard won their championship by a score of sixteen-to-eleven. Cassie and Miranda didn’t steal any
cheerleaders from the Storm Chasers’ squad, but by the end of the game; we
definitely had most of the spectators on our side; and we have Brianna, Faith,
and our other junior cheerleaders to thank for that; since they may have
personally hugged most of those people into changing sides.
We multi-tasked lunch with the
game-watching and cheering, and after the game; we had time to play some games
while our parents headed home to grab showers and get changed after their big
win. There was more play time after they
got back, and Ethan and I spent a lot of that time with Naomi, Aiden, and all
of our parents through until dinnertime.
There were some cameo moments with our extended family, other friends,
and Cassie and Michael while playing those games; and then Naomi and Aiden were
with their own extended families for dinner while we did the same with our
family. Cassie was with Michael and his
family for that meal; though the Bassett clan wasn’t far from ours; so we could
still spend a bit of time with them too – and Sophia ended up sitting with
Ethan, Jayden, and me. That blast of
food fun was great, but I didn’t actually eat all that much. I won’t claim that I’m hitting my holiday
weekend food limit yet, since we still have the holiday weekend buffet at the
Inn tomorrow; so let’s just suggest that I’m saving up now to have room for all
of that great food tomorrow! ;^)
The dance was up next on the entertainment
schedule – after the post-dinner clean-up.
Ethan and I ended up helping with that work instead of kid control
because the grandparents were given that task instead. Ethan and Jayden also went along to help take
pans and most of our day camp supplies home then too; which also allowed the
parents to get most of the vehicles back home again too so that they could
avoid getting caught up in the usual traffic jam that would be happening after
the dance when most of those campground visitors and all of the ‘farm’ families
headed home for the night.
My favorite parts of the dance included my
dances with Dad, Michael, and Aiden; Ethan’s dances, hugs, and kisses with
Naomi; and when Brianna cut in on Cassie and Naomi so that she could dance with
Michael and Ethan – proving that she is Aunt Leanne’s daughter and a lot like
Cassie too. I’m not excluding Ethan for
my dances – we didn’t get around to having a dance together; and I think that
we’re sub-consciously avoiding that right now because of the twin thing and how
everyone else reacts to things like that for us.
We’re getting past the point where being
cute and adorable twins is fun, so even if everyone still thinks that we are
that and then some; we’re going to avoid providing the opportunities for them
to tease us about it.
I wonder why Ethan and Naomi don’t have
that same problem with it comes to what everyone says about them – not!
Moving along; we danced and had fun with
our families and friends until the dance ended; helped out with getting our
tired-out younger cousins home from the park; and then Mom and Dad only had
Ethan and me with them when we got home for the night. It’s heading toward midnight now; I’ve had
enough fun for today; and that’s all of the news I have for tonight; so I’m
going to wrap this up and get some sleep.
We don’t really get to have even a full day of holiday fun tomorrow,
since our weekend guests will be heading home early and then we’ll have work to
do around here, but I want to be ready for the holiday shopping and buffet; we’ll
spend whatever time we can get with Cassie and Michael; and then see them off
and on their way back to school when they need to get going too.
I don’t want to think about that right now –
or anything else; so I won’t do that; and get started on that nap instead.
This is Ehlana Proctor; coming to you live
from what is now my past!
