Naomi, Ethan, Ehlana, and Aiden:
I am writing this report so that Ethan can concentrate on cuddling with me. Yes, Ehlana could do this instead, but it is still Ethan’s turn; so we’ll continue to give her a break while still offering a girl’s touch to the news of the day.
Wait – I’m supposed to catch up for the weekend too? Well, that might work; since guys are notoriously oblivious to half of what actually happens when families and friends get together! ;^)
Seriously, though, I don’t really want to write all night to do that, so let’s cover the news for today; and I’ll think about what to offer for a weekend update.
This is my perspective, so my morning began with Tai Chi for one in my back yard. That’s different from what Ethan and Ehlana are used to, but while I love exercising with them – and with groups; I like the solitary, meditative starts to my day a lot too. Ehlana might be able to relate if she had an annoying younger brother, and while Eli is probably getting a bit better, that wasn’t the case this morning; and got worse once Zack arrived to hang out with him for the day. I did at least get to have breakfast before they met up, and they had plans to get started on; so that little blast of annoyances didn’t last long. I didn’t get to leave right away because I had chores to do – as did Ethan, Ehlana, and Aiden; so I got to that work. That included indoor and outdoor work; it took me until around eleven to get done; and then I met up with my best friends. Aiden got there first; we helped out a bit so that Ethan and Ehlana could get done their chores too; and then we went for a swim while figuring out our plans for the rest of the day.
By lunchtime, we’d decided on a camping night, so we set up our tent by the river after eating and cleaning up; and then we went out for a bike ride on the trails. It was really hot today, so we stopped for one swim break at the park and came back here early for another swim – with ‘early’ being compared to a normal play afternoon. By then, we had cousins and friends interested in camping too; my Mom-to-be approved all additional campers; and the yard started to fill up with kids, teens, and tents. There is a chance of a shower later tonight, but only a chance; so we took the risk – and don’t really mind when we do get a bit of rain while camping anyway.
While we – the kids – were busy hanging out and setting up the campground, the parents collectively put together the dinner plans – a barbeque with a lot of donated sides that were either dropped off or delivered along with volunteer support. Teen campers weren’t added until after they were done work; and Jaimie, Micah, Kaitlyn, and Jeremy were put in charge for the night with help from what ended up being a total of six of their friends – three teen couples. I use the term ‘in charge’ because that is true now while many of the parents are out at Sheldon’s Pub for a few hours after the co-ed ball practices. We went to the park after dinner for those practices – though the four of us spent most of the time there hanging out with the younger kids; and then we had a campfire here from then until a bit after eleven. We were in on the campfire entertainment without usual quartet harmonies that even our friends appreciate even while teasing us about it. We had fun with the music; the scary stories were fun; and then we helped out with the crazy-busy blast of weird that went along with getting all of the younger kids ready for bed and into their tents. Let’s not get into the annoyances from Zack, Eli, and a few of the other guys. It was mild compared to normal from them. Once the younger kids were taken care of, we had a riverside visit with the teens, but then we left them and headed for our tents – with the ‘we’ being the four of us and the rest of our same-age friends. The rest of our friends aren’t sleeping yet either, and are in groups in two tents, but none of them will be opting for co-ed camping.
Yes, we’re getting teased about that, but it is dumb; since we aren’t talking about doing that in two tents. When that changes, we’ll let you know in these journals, but knowing Ethan; don’t expect any details! ;^)
That is pretty much all of the news for today; so let’s move on to that weekend report.
Now that I’ve thought about it, I won’t go into the activity details; and offer my perspective on Ethan’s and Ehlana’s families. I have my family links through Aunt Deborah, and that is important; since the smaller Seager clan gets invited into the bigger gang instead of doing our own, separate holiday weekend parties. We – the Seagers – still have family fun too, but as I think about that; we generally do the same thing for the Ayres’ side of my family too. That sometimes feels weird to me, but we also see all of our Ayres’ relatives around town or at school on a regular basis; and don’t really do many bigger family gatherings – in-part because our parents and grandparents have such varied jobs or businesses that setting up those events is a pain and nobody seems to want to be in charge of putting on those parties.
My perspective on cousins is a bit different from Ethan and Ehlana. That’s related to the differences in our families, since they are the eldest of the first cousins just as I am – all of us are kids of parents with just one sibling, but I also know that my family is different too. My Mom and Uncle Nick are at least as close as my future father-in-law and his sister, but my Dad and Aunt Renee aren’t as close. They love each other and are friends, but have different goals and dreams – as is normal around here for any siblings that choose to move away from home. That isn’t a bad thing – just different; and explains why I have a different relationship with my Seager-York aunt, uncle, and cousins.
Gerald is now eight, so he fits in with Eli, Zack, and their friends. That’s true for Yvonne with Brianna, Faith, and their gang, but at six-going-on-seven; she doesn’t get along as well with Leah, Hailey, and their friends. Gerald and Yvonne are each quieter than either Zack or Brianna, but they had fun this weekend; and might come back and actually spend a week or two with us this summer. That’s definitely a change; and our Seager grandparents really hope that they will do that this year – especially when Aunt Renee and Uncle Brandon didn’t want to allow that when Gordon and Yvonne were younger or during the pandemic. I’d like to have that visit with my cousins; and hope that they’ll do that at the same time that Ethan and Ehlana get to do the usual summer vacation with their Proctor and Johnson clan cousins. Spreading that out over the entire summer would just get to be too much for all of us.
While I’m thinking about my aunt and uncle, they get along great with Aunt Deborah’s family – especially with all of the cousins around their age that also live in other towns and cities. I’m not including the Proctor or Rice aunts and uncles in that list not because they don’t get along, but because it is true due to the parents with similarly-aged kids – and that is mostly on the Johnson clan side of our collective families. I can add that we’re seeing similar dynamics for that with Violet, Dillon, and the rest of the newest parents, but that’s also different; since those couples have relationships that began pre-kids while still teens or collegians.
Since we’re doing relationships, I also want to mention that I really missed Cassie and Michael. They didn’t come home for the holiday because Cassie was busy with marking mid-terms; so they decided to skip the long drive; and celebrate a bit with their college-town friends. That included a barbeque with the Topes and other friends; and we can’t really mind that they do that when we know how hard Cassie has been working while away at school. We would be happy to go to them for a long visit, but that might not work this summer when Cassie is practically teaching a bunch of classes instead of only assisting the professors.
Finally, our own tween classification within the family is changing our relationships. More responsibilities are expected; and we’ll definitely be doing more babysitting and chores for our families. Babysitting specifically was mentioned over the weekend; and we expect that to begin soon – starting with Violet, Dillon, and their friends for their kids. While earning money isn’t an issue for Ethan and Ehlana, Aiden and I are not against the idea of making money to go along with allowances; so we’re happy with the idea. There are other jobs around town that we’re old-enough for now, but lawn care and gardening aren’t high on our lists when we already get enough of that at our own homes. We are thinking about that sort of thing tonight after Jaimie and Kaitlyn began their summer jobs today, but we’re also okay with waiting a bit longer for full-time summer jobs – especially when that’ll mean the bakery or salon for at least two of us!
Yes, Ehlana could end up with a job at the bakery too – just as Cassie was at the Inn with Michael, but it’s a laugh to picture Ethan helping out at the salon. Ehlana just suggested that the girls might like that a lot when we’re teens, and that’s convinced me that it will never happen! ;^)
Okay, with that funny little thought, I’ve had enough for tonight. It’s time to concentrate on cuddling with my boyfriend – the one that will never be allowed to have a service sector job of any kind that caters to personal care for women!
Until next time, this little blast from your near or distant past is written for you with love from Naomi and gang – junior Magi and Magi sidekicks of the Light!
