Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden:
Happy 45th Birthday, Mom!
Let’s begin this report by reminding future readers that our mother looks very young for her age, and yes; that’s entirely-due to her ability to self-heal while being beautiful is a genetic gift! ;^)
We also need to thank our cousins for taking care of Silkie while we’re away and in the city tonight and for the weekend. Mother Nature isn’t really cooperating for Mom’s special day, but we’ve spent most of the day indoors or in the minivan; so the return to cold weather didn’t get in the way of our fun.
Mom’s birthday began with our wake-up call; we had a first gift for her; and then Tai Chi was followed by a special breakfast party at the Inn with family and friends. That meal was an awesome adventure – though we were with the kids for that meal while Mom was roasted by some of her favorite adults. The food was great too; so we were all in a great mood when we left the Inn and headed home again to pack for our trip to the city! We weren’t in any hurry, but it didn’t take that long to pack and load the minivan. Naomi and Aiden caught up with us again with their travel bags; Leah and Hailey picked up Silkie for their turn at taking care of her; and then we hit the road by ten o’clock.
The drive to Crystal Springs was entertaining and seemed quick; we stopped at our favorite mall for lunch and some shopping; and then we moved on to the hotel to check in – and so Mom could get to her spa appointment on-time. Aunt Leanne and Aunt Angelina ‘surprised’ her by going to the spa with her; and we got to be ‘surprised’ with taking care of Brianna and Faith for the afternoon. That wasn’t a problem for us – especially since we did that at our favorite indoor sports center. Our cousins also loved the driver service too-and-from SportsFusion – though we had a different opinion; since those trips weren’t in limos or anything extreme. We did all like our driver; she was funny; and joined us for the ice cream treats side-trip that we wanted to cool-down with on the way back to the hotel.
The Moms that went to the spa were as-happy as we were with their adventures in pampering, but we didn’t chat with them very much right at first because we – the kids and tweens – needed to hit the showers and get dressed up for our evening out. By then, there were additions to our group, so Mom had lots of company while we got ready and waited for Dad, Uncle Terry, and others to gather at the hotel. The fun eventually moved to Mom and Dad’s favorite steak house, and that restaurant was picked over their favorite Bistro because that restaurant wasn’t really set up for handling large groups. We had that because quite a gang of family and friends came to the city for the dinner and party plans – if not for the night or weekend. Cassie, Michael, Rowen, and Tim met us at the restaurant too; and Mom loved that ‘surprise’ a lot too; since they’d needed to leave early to get here on-time; and needed some cooperation from their Professor-mentors to make that happen.
We were at one of the kids’ tables for dinner too, and had fun with our cousins and friends; the food was good; and we were still also able to spend some time with Mom, Dad, Cassie, and Michael. Mom got roasted again; there were more gifts to open; and then we eventually moved on to the theatre and the local troupe presentation of a classic musical – Mame. For anyone reading this in the future that might recognize the musical, we’ll simply offer our own opinion from the perspective of tween music lovers. We love most musicals, and think that the classics of our time are amazing and both entertaining and a great way to get glimpses of the past. That’s sometimes only true when those musicals aren’t revised for current political correctness, and we can report that this troupe did not go there and stayed true to the original musical. That doesn’t mean that Naomi and the Haunted Harmonies will be putting out a digital album of songs from old musicals, but we loved the show and can appreciate the brilliantly-crafted music.
We – the kids – are back at the hotel now; Ehlana and Naomi get Brianna and Faith with them for the night; and Aiden and I get Zack and Eli. We’re currently together in the girls’ room; watching a movie; and enjoying the snacks and drinks that we brought back with us – a fast food stop that was only for us while the adults that are staying for the night have already freshened up and gone out for drinks and food at the hotel’s most-popular restaurant-bar. We will not have any details from the rest of Mom’s birthday fun; so we’re getting to the end of this report. We’re watching a movie; our five-star sleepover will definitely be segregated tonight; and that’s reason-enough to wrap this up and enjoy the co-ed cuddling for the rest of the movie.
This really has been an awesome day – the best of our spring break so far; and we’ll hope that the fun will continue tomorrow! Stay tuned to find out about that; and we’ll move on to this last bit of fun with our cousins and friends!
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
