Ethan and Ehlana:
Rain began to fall not long after we wrapped up our last update, but we made it to Cassie and Michael’s townhouse – and the hotel – before it cooled enough for snow; so our travel time wasn’t really affected by the weather at all. We spent the next hour having a too-short visit with Cassie, Michael, Rowen, and Tim; and then we left Zack and Eli with them; and headed for the hotel – mostly so that we could stay ahead of the snow. Mom took care of the check-in while the rest of us took care of luggage and parking; and none of that took very long thanks to everything that can be done online and ahead of time – along with a VIP account with the hotel.
We’ll begin the hotel sleepover news with the non-issue mention that our ‘kid’ room was connected to Mom and Dad’s room, and while we’ve already been teased about that; we’ll simply point out that the door between our rooms was only locked from one side and that wasn’t on our side! No other details for why that was done are wanted by the kids in our group; and won’t be written about here. We were all tired by then, though, so we only had a little bedtime visit with the parents after we were ready for bed; photos were taken of the co-ed couples in our room to go along with the jokes; and then we were on our own for the rest of the night. Our wrap-up chat didn’t last long as we began to fall asleep, and while I was the last one to crash last night; that was only because I wanted to be awake for a while to enjoy the cuddle time with Naomi.
We didn’t have parents with us for Tai Chi this morning; and that might be why we had extra spectators around while we exercised in an open area of the main lobby. Let’s skip over what our parents were doing instead of Tai Chi while we were doing that; and move on to breakfast that we ended up having at one of the hotel restaurants because we decided not to meet up with Cassie and Michael until the main roads were cleared. While a couple of inches of snow fell overnight and today, thanks to a combination of the warmer weather over the past few days and the rain that came first; cleaning up the mess included dealing with nearly as much slush as snow. That isn’t easy for anyone doing the shoveling for that by hand – a truth that Michael, Tim, Zack, and Eli can attest to after doing exactly that at the townhouses this morning, but Cassie and Rowen cooked up a full country breakfast for them in payment for their efforts.
The weather had a lot to do with why we ended up meeting up at the mall at around ten-thirty, and in addition to our four favorite collegians; we had extra shopping buddies join us for the fun – including May, Lee, and more than a dozen college friends – though not all of them were with us for the entire shopping adventure or the rest of our entertainment fun. Going shopping was part of the plan for this weekend, so changing that up a bit wasn’t really a big deal, and thanks to some of her birthday gifts; Naomi had most of her purchases paid for without extra help from her parents. Her boyfriend and best friends picked up a few bonus gifts for her too, but that was mostly in the nature of little treats that we can’t usually get at home. We loved the shopping, but it was the time with Cassie, Michael, and their friends that meant the most to us – including for Naomi as part of her weekend-long birthday celebration. We had a fast food lunch at the mall; moved on to an outlet mall later in the afternoon; and then we split up for a break at home or hotel to get ready for a night out that included a dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant – the one that Chloe introduced to Cassie and Michael; and then we went to the movies – again, along with some of Cassie’s and Michael’s college friends. We didn’t all go to see the same movie, but most of the kids and collegians picked the Spider-Man action flick, and while Naomi joked about it; she did not really want to go and see West Side Story instead. She wanted to see ‘Sing 2’ as well, but decided that the action flick on the big screen would be better; and we can always watch the animated movie on one of the bigger screen televisions at home. We enjoyed the movie and continuing family-and-friends’ time; followed that up with bedtime treats and drinks at a nearby cafe; and then we headed back to the hotel.
It’s late again, and we don’t plan on staying up much later, but before we wrap this up; this is a good time to offer an update on Cassie’s and Michael’s college friends.
There really isn’t anything for us to add for May and Lee, since we know more about them than we do for the rest of Cassie’s and Michael’s friends. They are a bit different around the rest of their friends, but that’s true for all of us; and that isn’t in a bad way for them – just different and mostly because their interests are focused on their education and the rest of college life. They are as happy here as when visiting us; so we’re happy for them too.
Madelana and Stefan are up next, and while we haven’t gotten to see them very often since before the start of the pandemic; they are definitely special to us since they stayed with us over their first college spring break. Cassie’s accelerated education hasn’t changed her relationships with most of her college friends, but she is still closest with May and Madelana; and Stefan continues to be one of Michael’s best friends – even after the football adventures left them with less time to spend over the last half of last year. While they still have a year and a half to go at school; we already know that Madelana and Stefan will be working together and for some of our family businesses – though they don’t know that little fact or that their current part-time jobs are through more than just Cassie’s and Mom’s business connections.
We’re not recruiting all of Cassie’s and Michael’s friends to work for us – at least to start, but that could be an option for the future; and we can also help in other ways. That’s brings us to Xia and Marcus. They came to the dinner and movie with us, and we’re including them in this update because they are also two of the friends that will be graduating this year. In this case, that will be with degrees in environmental engineering; and they are looking at focusing their future careers on urban reclamation and renewal instead of wilderness or rural projects. That could make their recreational activities more-challenging, since there aren’t a lot of mountains to climb in most cities or other extreme options like whitewater rafting or snowboarding, but then that’s true for Cassie and Michael too; and they don’t plan on moving away from home to anywhere they can have easy access to extreme sports! We can foresee some group trips for that sort of thing with Cassie, Michael, and their friends; so we’ll also hope that they’ll bring us along now and then too! ;^)
This next update is a bit different, but the Tope family is still close with Cassie and Michael; and they came along for the night out – in-part so that Tonya and Ross could hang out with the other parents in our group. That sounds a bit weird, but not actually any stranger than the fact that we’re just coming up on our tween years while Lysa is now a freshman and at college at the same time her Mom is still finishing up her degree; and Joss will be going to college the August after Cassie and Michael graduate. Our parents had fun with joking about their kids of all ages having dates for the night; and the teens added their spin on it with comments about co-ed hotel sleepovers and why Tonya and Ross didn’t seem to be as liberal about that issue as our parents obviously are. We’ll skip over the specifics of the parental response to that; and just mention that Tonya and Ross have a different perspective on teen adventures in dating and the risks of becoming too-young parents. Cassie and Tonya still keep in touch nearly-daily, and they get together at least once a month, so while their friendship might seem a bit unlikely; we’re sure that it will be one of the college connections that will last for Cassie and Michael. Finally, for the Topes, we should mention that Lysa didn’t end up following her Mom into languages – though she is planning on taking a minor in Spanish. She’s taking journalism; and is adding the language for better job opportunities – whether she chooses print or television for her future jobs. Joss still has time to work out his future college plans, but is leaning toward robotics.
This is really getting a bit on the long side, so let’s stop there; and maybe we’ll cover the rest of the college friends with our next update. We have another fun, busy day planned for tomorrow, and we’re also ready to crash and have fun with the co-ed nap time; so we’re going to get to that right now.
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!
