Ehlana, Ethan, Naomi, and Aiden:
We’ve had an awesome day, but it’s also
getting late; so we’ll keep this short.
Our morning wake-up call was early, but we still took time for Tai Chi
by the river and breakfast before hitting the road for the city. Aunt Leanne and Aunt Grace each had one
friend and a load of kids coming with us for the day, but we still only had a
small caravan – and no plans to hang out together all day while shopping at our
favorite mall and stores. The trip was
fun, but uneventful; and we were ready to get out of the minivan and get to the
shopping by the time we arrived.
This was our first time in the mall or big
box stores since the start of the pandemic – for the kids in our larger group;
so the changes in shopping habits seemed weird – starting with wearing our
masks. That, by the way, is not
something that is being done the same way everywhere in the country – or even
in our area, but we’re not going to get into the politics of personal choice
and societal responsibility tonight; since we want to stay happy – and keep
this as short as possible.
Yes, co-ed cuddling for the night might
have something to do with our interest in moving on from this update! ;^)
We had some interaction with our family and
friends while at the mall, but stayed in smaller groups – even when we met up
for lunch at the food court. That was
weird too, since social distancing, masks, and having food and drinks is a
challenge. That’s why we took our
lunches to go and ate outdoors – though we stayed at the mall to do that. Fortunately, the weather was great; since we
didn’t really have a back-up plan; and eating in the cars even on a rainy
summer day would still be uncomfortably-hot.
This is not leading to a short update; so
let’s make the rest of this quick; and we can always fill in the gaps tomorrow
night.
We shopped at the mall all day, since we do
have two days here; said goodbye to the rest of our home-town shoppers when
they moved on to other stores and we headed for our hotel; since they headed
home by dinnertime or early-evening. Dad
had already taken care of checking us in for the second room, so getting
settled in didn’t take long; and we took turns getting ready for our dinner
plans with the Malloys while waiting for Dad to get done work for the day. He needed to get ready too. We went out to the Malloy’s house; picked up
a take-out dinner order along the way; and then we had that meal at tables in
the back yard. We kept Valerie and
Marcus entertained while our parents enjoyed the time together; we went to the
park after dinner for a while; and then headed back to the hotel. Mom took us to the pool for a swim while Dad
got started on his prep work for his meetings and court appointments for
tomorrow; and now we’re ready for bed and just finished our bedtime visit with
Mom and Dad.
They’re in an adjoining room; though that
doesn’t really have anything to do with why we’re allowed to be in one room;
and we don’t expect the doors between the rooms to be opened again before they’re
ready to do that in the morning. No further
details on that are wanted or required! ;^)
Mom still had fun taking pictures of us
again tonight, though you’d think that the jokes would be getting worn-out by
now; and our parents already have enough of those cuddle pictures to fill a
photo album or two. We’ll enjoy this
while we can; since our parents won’t likely find this as cute once we’re
tweens and teens. That’s a commentary
for another time – like in two or three years; so let’s move on and wrap this
up.
The only other news we wanted to include in
this update is about Cassie, Michael, and their friends. Residential halls opened on campus today, and
while most of their friends are living off-campus this year; that did still
mean the ‘real’ start to the on-campus activities – though they are all at
least supposed to be modified for social distancing and other virus-related
restrictions. We really hope that works
for their college; since Cassie really does want to get back to the in-person
classes; and doesn’t want an outbreak on-campus to mess that up.
We’ll keep you posted on that news over the
next few weeks, but that’s enough for tonight.
We’re going to fall asleep to a movie now; enjoy the cuddle time with
our favorite cuddle buddies; and then get back to the shopping again tomorrow!
This is Ehlana Proctor and gang; live from our
not-so-hidden, five-star sleepover location for our little Magi of the Light
group – and May the Magi Force be with you!
