Happy Birthday, Miranda!
Ethan:
We’re ready for bed early; I just finished having
a bedtime chat with Ehlana in her room; and now we’re actually going to go to
sleep instead of staying up late to do any archive or lab report reading so
that we’ll be ready for our first day of Grade Three tomorrow. Before I get on with the news of the day, I’ll
add that I’ve been thinking about skipping a grade a lot so that we could be in
the same year with Naomi – more than in the past; and that’s entirely due to
how much things have changed for us over the past year. That isn’t going to happen because we have a
plan for our future that we aren’t supposed to mess around with, but that doesn’t
keep me from wishing that we could work it out so that we could be in the same
classes with Naomi.
Okay – here’s the news of the day.
We got to have one last blast of Tai Chi by
the river with Cassie and Michael this morning, and they had breakfast with us
too while his parents were doing a breakfast buffet at the Inn and Rebecca was
sleeping in ahead of her last work day at the pizzeria before heading back to
school with Lucas tonight. After that,
the girls led the way for the holiday shopping adventure; Ehlana and I helped
out with some junior cousin kid control when our family guests wanted to get
their vehicles packed up for the trip home; and then we were at the Inn for the
first buffet. Ehlana and I didn’t get to
share that meal with Cassie and Michael – because we had to share them with
others instead. We were at one of the
kids’ tables; the food fun was a bit scary because Zack was at our table too
and doing his best to impress in a worst sort of way; and then it was time to
say goodbye to our departing family and friends – including Cassie and
Michael. They were last to leave because
they picked up Mandy on the way out of town, and while I’m thinking about that;
we haven’t mentioned Mandy because she’s been at Michael’s house with them
instead of here – though that may change for future holidays. That was an experiment, and while she
apparently had fun; Mandy may decide to stay with us from now on regardless of
where Cassie and Michael stay when they come home for holidays – mostly because
she didn’t get to spend any time with us at all.
Moving along – again; once Cassie and
Michael were on the road for their townhouse; it was time for Ehlana and I to
help out with the long list of chores that needed to be done next. Dad had work to do in the office, but Mom
worked too, and even though we hadn’t hosted any family while the Rice clan
cousins are away at college; there was still a lot to get done in the yard and
house. All of those chores really had us
feeling as though summer was done – especially when it came to putting the
extra bikes and canoes away in the storage barn – possibly until next spring;
depending on the weather at Thanksgiving.
We also kept busy until we stopped for a late, light dinner. After the lunch buffet, we didn’t really need
to eat at all, but there were leftovers from the barbeque; and we did work up
an appetite even if we could have skipped the meal instead.
Finally, Mom did a Magi lesson with us
after dinner while Dad got back to his work; we got our bags ready for school
tomorrow; and then we wrapped up our evening with the Jacuzzi or bath time and
the bedtime chat for Ehlana and me while Mom and Dad continued to work in the
office. That’s all of my news for today;
our school adventures resume tomorrow; and our usual routine will resume. I am looking forward to spending time with
our friends every day, and summer can’t and shouldn’t last forever, but we need
a bit of time to adjust every September; and I doubt that this year will be
different.
We’ll write all about that with the next
update, but that’s my report for tonight and I’m ready to sleep now; so I will.
Ethan – out!
***
Ehlana:
Ethan has the news from today covered
pretty well; so I’ll just add a couple of notes.
First, the girls had a lot of fun with the
shopping, and while I didn’t buy very many things; I did get in on the sales
for two new dresses that will be great for church and a pair of dress shoes to
go with them. There were other fun stops
too – like at the bakery and computer store, though I didn’t personally buy
anything at either store. Ethan and I
still got in on the bakery treats that Mom bought for us – including for
dessert tonight. Chores might not sound
like a fun way to end our holiday weekend, but after saying goodbye to Cassie
and Michael; the distraction helped us a lot.
A trip to see them may be an option if we can work that out, but they
won’t be home again until Thanksgiving; so this could be the longest we’ve ever
gone without seeing them in person since we were born – or since Cassie was
born for Mom.
I don’t want to think about that; so let’s
move on.
There isn’t any news to report for Cassie
and Michael. They’re back at their townhouse
now, but had a long trip; and that took a couple of hours longer than usual
thanks to the holiday weekend traffic. I
should note that they had assignments to get finished this weekend while at
home, but we weren’t around for any of that work; and they likely used time
phases to get everything done. That
actually was an advantage for them that came with staying at his house this
weekend, though since we only had a gang here for the camping night; I guess
that wouldn’t have been much different for our house this time – even if it
would be for most holidays.
Okay, that’s all for me too; so I’ll wrap
this up and head for dreamland and the extra sleep we’re going to get tonight.
This is Ehlana Proctor; coming to you live
from what is now my past!
