Ethan and Ehlana:
Happy 1st Anniversary, Jeff and Carolyn Morris!
While Cassie’s and Michael’s friends have probably had a happy day, and their anniversary was news at church; the stop story of the day was the great weather with a high that topped eighty degrees! That’s definitely the top news for our day, since most of the best fun we’ve had has been thanks to the awesome weather opportunity!
It was warm-enough for Tai Chi by the river this morning, so that helped to make for a great start to the day. A hot breakfast worked for us too; and then we had a lot of fun at church – especially thanks to Jaimie, Kaitlyn, and their boyfriends. The four teens were with our family for the start of the service; the girls collectively had fun trading stories about weekend-so-far adventures; and I’ll pretend that I didn’t hear at least some of those stories about my cousins – or anyone else as applicable! Ehlana and I are happy to know that everyone we love has had a good weekend, though, and that’s definitely true for today; since we spent a lot of time together.
After church and Sunday school, we came home; helped Mom and Dad with throwing together a last-minute family-and-friends’ barbeque lunch; and then that pot-luck event came together over the next hour as our aunts, uncles, cousins, and some friends came over to share that meal and a play afternoon with us. That wasn’t a Palm Sunday kind of celebration, and we should have mentioned that as part of our church news; since there were special moments during the part of the service we were at before Sunday school. That isn’t exactly true for the rest of our time at church, but helping with the rest of the prep work for the Easter sunrise service does, in a way, fit right in with Palm Sunday; and we loved doing that work with our friends and cousins.
Moving along, we – the kids – enjoyed that meal by the river – either on the dock, benches, or in lawn chairs while the parents and adults mostly sat at tables on the patio. We helped with the clean-up; and then our afternoon entertainment included taking turns with canoe rides to the falls and back; games in the back yard; playground action at the park; and a bike ride on the trails. Jaimie, Kaitlyn, Micah, and Jeremy spent a few hours with us – the family – from after-church to mid-afternoon, but then they split up to spend the rest of the afternoon with the Byrd or Green families; and wrapped up their weekend going to the early buffet at the Inn before heading for home. Ehlana and I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with them except as part of bigger groups, but that didn’t really surprise us; since Jaimie and Kaitlyn were in high demand – especially from their younger cousins. We did all have a lot of fun, though, and that limited time thing actually applied to a lot of other people too; so the only difference is that we get to see our local aunts, uncles, and cousins a lot more-often. I probably mention that sort of thing too-often in our journals, and should cut back; since we don’t actually spend a lot of time even thinking about what we don’t get to do when everything we do have to be grateful for is so awesome.
Ehlana and I didn’t get to see Jaimie and Kaitlyn again before they hit the road for home, but they did check in with Uncle Mark, Aunt Grace, Caleb, and Faith. After our play afternoon, we ended up having a quieter barbeque dinner with only the Carringtons while the rest of our family had other plans for that meal and the evening. Naomi and Aiden were with us for lunch and most of the afternoon, but they needed to be with their own families for the evening too; so this has been one of the few weekends where we really haven’t spent a lot of time with our best friends. Reading this in the future, you might be wondering why we weren’t with them instead. That likely will start happening more-often over the next few years, but for now, the biggest reason has more to do with parental jobs and timing of family events for the Drapers and Seagers than anything else – though we also generally have more family events too that are because so many of our parental units are also best friends as well as related to each other.
Our evening included some clean-up time after dinner; a walk with Silkie and some front porch visits; some work in the office with Mom and Dad; a Magi lesson with Mom; and then bath or Jacuzzi time. Thanks to some time phasing, that hasn’t added up to a really late night, but it is getting on and we should get some sleep now; so that’s enough for this update. We have a short school week ahead of us, but the awesome weather is supposed to continue for a few more days; so expect extra play time in our next few updates and less work as we roll through to the Easter holiday weekend. It is definitely feeling like spring now; and we’re excited and looking forward to all of the fun and adventures ahead of us over the next few weeks. Stay tuned or flip through digital pages to find out more while we call it a night and then get on with living those future – for us – stories! ;^)
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!
