Ethan and Ehlana:
The Galleria wine and cheese party is definitely the top news around town today, and while that is true for us too; we had bonus surprises with the early weekend guests’ arrivals of the Malloys and Proctors! No, we didn’t actually know very far in advance; and yes, we might have been able to find out early if we used our Magi Sight for every little detail of our future. We don’t do that; and had a lot of fun with our cousins and friends! Before we get to that; let’s cover the rest of the news for today.
We’ve had another rainy day – though the wet weather has pretty much ended for a little while tonight; and we were actually able to stay dry for the walk home from the Galleria tonight. Tia Chi was indoors again this morning; we had fun with Cassie and Michael at breakfast even with a standard school day food-fare; and then our school day was a bit of a wind-down toward the holiday weekend. The academic highlights included a quiz and test; and we finished one science project that included a presentation to the class.
We got the surprise news after getting home; Mom put us to work to help with getting guest rooms ready and do some other chores; and we had that done by the time the Malloys arrived. Naomi and Aiden helped us out with that work; stayed for dinner; and then we all headed for the Galleria. We were among the first guests to arrive, so we got to wander around while the parents got involved in the social celebration. Let’s take that opportunity to do a first report of the actual stores – in order of our first ‘official’ tour.
We bypassed the cafe because we didn’t want to take drinks or snacks into the stores. Our first stop was Sapphire Jewelry and More – our town’s first ‘real’ jewelry store. Vanessa and Nora may have been closer to rivals than friends to Cassie and Rowen when tweens and teens, but they are friends now – if not really close; and we’re happy for them as they begin their business owner adventures. We’re going to love their store a lot too; and the timing is great for us too – and I do mean for both Ehlana and I; since gifts for favorite girls are sure to be found at Sapphire! ;^)
Rawhide is the newest clothing store in town; it has a western ranch theme; and carry everything from hats to boots that any cowboy or cowgirl will appreciate. Aiden and I should sign up for our cowboy boots soon – especially if Ehlana and Naomi gain some height advantage over us for the next couple of years!
Riverview Sportz will be competing with some of the other stores in town, but they’ll also have new, local products including team uniforms that they actually make here and other sport supplies that haven’t been available in town. Add in seasonal sporting goods geared toward the area campers and campgrounds; and they should do well! Riverview Collectibles is self-explanatory; and they carry everything from coins and cards to toys and on to figurines and more. Eco-Art is the second of the collectibles-type stores; and all of their offerings are green-friendly arts, crafts, and other products. Finally, for the niche, trendy stores is Witches and Wizards – the legend-themed shop with a great view of the falls and statue. The store won’t be putting the Universal Studios’ Harry Potter stores out of business anytime soon, but it will be popular with locals and tourists; and carry an awesome selection of all things magic.
The final two stores in the Galleria are Spinners and the Witch Falls Multimedia Studio. Spinners carries both physical and digital music and movies, and while that is awesome; we really loved finding out that they will also be carrying local music and videos produced at the studio next door. They already have a small display of music and music videos from local bands; and that display included another surprise for us – a digital song or music video that Cassie and Michael recorded! After seeing that; Naomi basically advised us that we’ll be scheduling some studio time and recording some of our music and a video or three too. That might not happen right away, since the studio will likely be very busy during this first summer; so we’ll let you know about that whenever we start getting into it. The studio is cool too; includes a recording studio; a ‘green-screen’ room for creating videos; and they also have mobile gear for off-site videos that will likely begin with things like weddings or other celebration events.
That first loop of the Galleria wasn’t the only one, but we took a break for snacks and drinks; joined in on the fun along the atrium walkway and hallway; and enjoyed all of the chat time with family, friends, and neighbors as well as at least one more visit to every store. We stayed for about an hour and a half; and then headed home – in-part to make room for more visitors. Our house was picked for the hang-out location for the rest of the evening; and the lounge was where the kids and teens ended up for video gaming and hanging out together. The teens included Micah and Jeremy; so Jaimie and Kaitlyn were happy. Having that fun on a school night left us with time limits, and we didn’t do any sleepovers, but we are planning them for the weekend – or camping adventures; so expect at least some of that fun to be reported on over the next few updates.
Once our guests headed for their homes, we helped out with getting Valerie and Marcus into beds and sleeping; and now we’re winding down toward nap time while the parents are staying up late with Cassie and Michael. That’s all we have for this report, and this has been a great early start to the holiday weekend; so we are expecting big things for the next five days! Stay tuned for all of that fun; we’ll wrap this up now; and get some sleep so we’ll be ready for all of those adventures!
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!
