Ethan and Ehlana:
Happy 11th Birthday, Naomi!
Our report today is going to be a bit disjointed, but we want to start with the news that we’re currently on the road toward Cassie and Michael’s townhouse – as well as the hotel where we’ll be having a long weekend 5-star sleepover! This part of our story for today is a big change from the original plans thanks to Mother Nature and the rain and snow she’s sending our way tonight. The rain has already hit – back home, but we’ve managed to stay ahead of it so far; and plan on being at our hotel for the night before the snow catches up to us. The weekend away was supposed to begin tomorrow morning – after Naomi’s party and a sleepover, but the forecast convinced our parents to make the travel changes; and Naomi’s party was cut back to an after-school and dinner mini-party.
Skipping back to the start of our day, it stayed warmer than expected overnight, and our high for the day was still in the mid-forties, but we were indoors for most of the day anyway; so that didn’t really affect us very much. Naomi’s parents did a special birthday breakfast for her; we stopped in early before school to help keep the fun going for her with a couple of small gifts; and Naomi wants me to add that she was very happy with my response to seeing her dressed up for her school day. Ehlana’s adding jokes about that reaction not being as-good a birthday gift as Violet’s new car on her sixteenth or the boyfriend Rowen got for her thirteenth birthday, but I don’t think part two of that is fair; since I really wouldn’t want to give Naomi a boyfriend for a gift when that would mean replacing me! ;^)
Let’s try to get back on track.
Aiden was with us in time for those first gifts with Naomi; we eventually headed for school; and our academic adventures kept us busy when we weren’t having fun with ongoing birthday fun for Naomi. We couldn’t be with her in-class, but there were treats on her desk before first class and after each break; and we had a birthday lunch that was even better than we could have managed any other day of the week thanks to Friday Pizzeria pizza day. The Olde Bakery birthday cupcakes were great too, but even with extras and a fair bit of sharing; we still got razzed about not having enough for every kid and teen in the room. Naomi had a few more gifts to open at lunch; we had a good afternoon; and then we had to split up to head for our homes – at first because we expected to get packed and dressed up for Naomi’s party and sleepover. We each got the change in plans news once at our homes, and for Ehlana and I; we only needed to finish packing the bags that Mom nearly had ready for us; and change our clothing choices so that we’d be comfortable for the long drive ahead of us.
Our friends weren’t too-upset when they got the news as they arrived at Naomi’s house – or ahead of time if they heard about it from their own parents first. We jumped straight into party mode because of that; the guys got into video gaming; and the girls had music videos to watch while having fun with some quality girl chat entertainment that included commentary on tween guys. We don’t mention this very often in our journals, but Naomi is friends with all of her classmates too, and that one-year age difference is becoming an issue for us as some of her classmates are crossing over to the next level. That sounds funny even to write about after years of being teased about being the only two couples our age, but we can also add in the usual growth spurts and other physical changes to the mix; and that adds up to some sometimes-weird and awkward moments. All that really matters for the party and dinner, though, is that Naomi had fun; so did most of the rest of us; and then we wrapped up the party by seven-thirty and hit the road. Mom and Dad are both driving, but Dad and Naomi’s father have Zack and Eli in the truck while we’re with the Moms in the minivan. Naomi picked the back bench for better cuddling for us; so Ehlana and Aiden have the middle seats – and they’re cuddling together anyway thanks to some help from luggage and a couple of pillows to bridge the gap. While we didn’t get to have more play time and movies with our friends tonight, we have watched a movie and plan on starting a second once we’re done with this update.
We’re almost ready to do that, but should add that the rest of our friends headed home happy – especially since our weekend away meant sending leftovers home with them – pizza and cake packages for each of them to go along with gift bags that some of our friends pretended to be too-old for; and still liked because Naomi picked thank-you gifts that were tween-appropriate and fun. Zack and Eli haven’t been mentioned yet for the party side of our adventures, and we now know that they were on their best behavior because the consequences of messing up Naomi’s birthday would have been being left at home with Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne instead of coming with us for the weekend. On a side not, we’ve also heard that Brianna was torn between hoping for that so that she could come along instead – and bring Faith or another friend – and getting her parents to herself for three days. We’ll guess that Brianna is going to have an awesome, Zack-free weekend!
Finally, while we’ll have more to offer with our next update, we can report that Naomi’s birthday is going to wrap up with the first of three five-star sleepovers. Our parents are having fun with the jokes, but aren’t actually worried about having the four of us share one room – even when they are also sure that we’ll be in co-ed couples for the nap time parts of our adventures this weekend. Actually, when you think about that, even when we get to the teen years, they should prefer having all of us in one room; since they might have more to worry about if they booked two rooms and we opted for roommate swaps instead! ;^)
Ehlana is laughing at that – mostly because Naomi just assured us that there would be no ‘if’ about that swap part of my comment. Moving along from that thought, while we’ll be at the hotel with both sets of parents; Zack and Eli will be staying with Cassie and Michael. Naomi’s parents are happy about that for obvious reasons that we don’t need to elaborate on, but we’re okay with that part of the plan too – even though we’d have had fun staying with Cassie and Michael too. We need to wrap this up soon to still have time for that second movie. We’re past the half-way point of our trip and the usual break for snacks, drinks, and washroom pit stop; and we’re hoping for smooth sailing the rest of the way. The rest of the news from tonight can wait for our next report; so we’ll move on and get back to the co-ed cuddling and movie fun!
Until next time, this little blast from your near or distant past is written for you with love from Ethan and Ehlana Proctor – twin junior Magi Masters of the Light!
