Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - August 31, 2023

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

We’re having an early bedtime because we can and we’re also tired after a long, busy chores day.  Before we get to that news, we should cover the rest of the story from last night.  Dinner, the park play time, and the fun with Cassie, Michael, Rowen, and Tim before we eventually got around to the co-ed sofa sleepover were all great; and we really loved having that time with four of our favorite young adults!  Cassie also had some fun news for us because she found out earlier yesterday that Rebecca is pregnant while having that morning break with her, and while that won’t be official for another week or two depending on when she’ll test positive at the clinic; we loved getting the heads up on that news!  The co-ed sleepover was pretty good too – though that was more of a nap; since we stayed up too-late again while chatting and not really watching any shows.

Starting the day with Tai Chi by the river and breakfast with Cassie and Michael was great, but then we all needed to move on to a chores day.  Ehlana and Naomi also had a morning visit to the salon for their back-to-school haircuts, but Aiden and I worked all day; and that was a trend for most of our cousins and some of the parents as we all worked to get ready for the holiday weekend that will be starting early for some of our incoming guests because they’re mixing work with the holiday festivities.  Cassie and Michael had a chores and work day too, but we had some fun with them too – mostly when our work at Aiden’s house crossed paths with them and we took a break with them for drinks, snacks, and a swim in the river.

We were busy until stopping for a late dinner that some of the parents joined us for at our house, but then Naomi and Aiden went home with their families; and we’ve had a quiet, short work evening in the office with Mom and Dad before being sent upstairs for bath or Jacuzzi time that we really needed.  A time phase helped us with getting done comparatively-early, and now that we’re cleaned up; we’re pretty much ready to crash and nap for the rest of the night.  The weather is looking awesome for the entire holiday weekend, and while we still have a bit more to do in the morning; we’ll be ready to play by the time our guests start arriving; and getting to play for most of the weekend will be an option!  This probably doesn’t sound as though our last day of August has been very exciting, and it hasn’t been, but we’re happy and feel pretty good about how much we got done today; so we’re okay with this uneventful ending – especially when we know that the start of September is going to be amazing for all of our favorite people.  Feel free to read on into our future, but we need to get some rest before getting out there to live those adventures; so that’s all we have for tonight!

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - August 30, 2023

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Faith’s birthday adventures were amazing for her – and a blast for the rest of us too!  For us, having Cassie and Michael home again is our best news of the week; so our play time at Quarry Lake, the birthday dinner, campfire, and camping night will have to come in second – and only for the work week; since we do have an awesome holiday weekend ahead of us!  While at Quarry Lake, we did a fair bit of swimming; got in on all of our favorite activities from the rock wall and zip line to the Aqua Bikes and water slides.  Faith’s birthday dinner included just a bit of time for us with Cassie and Michael, but we were busy helping out with the kids; and that trend continued into the evening and through to the campfire.  Cassie and Michael only stayed for the first hour or so of the campfire because they were tired after their long trip home, but their musical contributions were a highlight of the night; and we had fun with our music too.  The parents left it up to the teens and tweens to wind down the campfire, but we still stayed up late after that and the camping ended up being a lot of hanging out together into the wee hours of the morning and just a bit of nap time that wasn’t of the co-ed variety due to the junior tent buddies we had with us for the night.

That brings us around to today.  Our morning adventures included helping out with the large gang of kids and getting them ready for the day and fed.  That kept us busy for a couple of hours after the quieter Tai Chi by the river start to  our day; and then Faith, Brianna, and their buddies were set free while we moved on to help with the campground clean-up.  That work along with some chores at several homes after that kept us busy all morning, and while we were doing that; Cassie and Michael were spending time with his family – starting with a mid-morning break at the Inn with his parents, sister, and nephew followed by some play time with Luke because they kept him for most of the day while Rebecca went on to the Pizzeria.  We know that Faith, Brianna, and their friends stopped in for a visit with Cassie and Michael; they ended up joining them for lunch – along with Jake, Stephanie, and their kids; and then they played together for most of the afternoon in the back yard and on or in the river.  We stopped in for some of that fun, but spent more of our afternoon out on our bikes and on the trails; and now we’re doing this update ahead of helping Mom with making dinner ahead of our usual Wednesday evening co-ed ball practice ‘work’ with the younger kids at the park.

We do not have Cassie and Michael with us for that meal because they’re busy with Rowen and Tim instead, but we are going to do a co-ed sleepover at their house tonight; and expect that they’ll play with us – and the other kids – for at least some of the time while we’re all at the park after dinner.  That news can wait for our next report; since we don’t plan on taking our computers with us after the ball practices.  Speaking of that, we also should have mentioned that the usual ball practices were still on last night too because they are also the last practices before the championship games, but we were there for most of the birthday fun with Faith before our practices; and got home ahead of the campfire and didn’t miss much of the action.

Mom wants our help for dinner and we’re pretty much finished packing our overnight bags now; so that’s all for today.  Stay tuned; since now we’ll be busy getting ready for the holiday weekend tomorrow and Friday; and then we’ll hope for some quality, non-stop fun while we have a gang of weekend guests!

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - August 29, 2023

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 7^th Birthday, Faith!

We’re going to be too-busy today for any computing even later this afternoon; so this very early update is simply a placeholder along with offering best wishes for Faith’s special day!  Cassie and Michael will be home in time for her birthday dinner too, so that’s going to be awesome; and we’ll have all of the details with our next report.

For today, though, we need to get going because we’ll be leaving for Quarry Lake soon; so we’re out of here!

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - August 28, 2023

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

It has been a bit cooler today, but our adventures didn’t change much from previous Mondays.  We played at the lab or archives all morning; picked up a picnic lunch and hit the trails for some quality biking fun with Naomi and Aiden; and only fit in one swim break before stopping in to check out Brianna and Faith’s last ball practice of the season ahead of our holiday weekend championship games.  Naomi and Aiden stayed with us for dinner with Mom and Dad, and they’re staying with us for a sleepover too; since we’ll all be helping out with Faith’s birthday party and Quarry Lake adventures tomorrow.  They’re currently taking their turns getting cleaned up, and we’re doing that early because we want to have a band practice so that we’ll be ready for our musical contributions to Faith’s campfire fun tomorrow night.  Mom did a Magi lesson with us after dinner, but we didn’t do any family business work too.

We’ll be starting the music fun soon; so that’s all we have for tonight.  Cassie and Michael are in San Francisco tonight and will do the last legs of their trip home tomorrow; so we don’t really have any news from them tonight – other than that we only have one more sleep to go before they’ll be home again!

That’s a happy note to end this report on; so we’re out of here and back to the ‘real’ world again!

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - August 27, 2023

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

The major barbeque dinner last night was awesome – even with quite a bit of work.  Our favorite co-ed ball team went on to earn the undefeated regular season with a close, ten-to-eight win over the Rawhide Rangers; and we spent most of that time helping out with keeping the younger kids entertained while at the park.  By the time we got home again, it was near-dark; we got started on the campfire with help from some of the parents; and then the teens were left in charge for the rest of the night while the adults got cleaned up and then headed for the pub and the end-of-season party for most of the ball players on all of the adult teams.

We don’t usually write about that at all, but should note that there are women’s, men’s, and senior’s divisions that are very popular; and more-serious too compared to the co-ed games that are mostly played for fun and entertainment.  There are also a lot of young adults involved with those teams because of the better competition, and we do keep track of the games and standings, but we’re also not really into watching those games – mostly because it would just take up too much time to try and watch every ball game in town.  We’re busy enough just keeping up with our family teams!  You won’t be surprised to know that the biggest sports enthusiasts are also the best players on the best teams in each division; and they have some fun rivalries too with parents and adult kids often either playing together or challenging each other on competing teams.  We don’t currently have any favorites, but if any of our favorite young adults do start playing in those divisions; we might need to expand our support in the future.

Getting back to our news of the day, the campfire highlights for us were our own musical contributions with Naomi and Aiden; the stories were fun; and we stayed up too-late having fun with the other teens and tweens.  The campfire wrapped up by midnight and we already had some of the younger kids in their tents and sleeping by then, but it took another hour and a half before we had most of the kids in their tents; and Zack, Eli, and some of the other guys were not interested in giving up on their games and pranks before they eventually got tired out and were ready to sleep.  The quieter, riverside chat time and co-ed cuddling was great, and while we didn’t get to have co-ed camping because of our junior tent mates; we were ready to just enjoy the nap time by the time we crawled into our sleeping bags.  We can also report that Mom and Dad had fun at Sheldon’s; they were not booked to be designated drivers this time; and we don’t need any details of what they might have been doing after going up to bed for the night!

Our morning began too-early, but Tai Chi by the river with the big group of exercise buddies was worth it; and we needed that calm before the post-camping storm that was our morning meal and getting a major gang of kids and teens fed and ready for church.  Aiden and I were on work crews before and after breakfast; Naomi and Ehlana helped with getting all of the younger girls ready for the day; and we all had a lot of fun – even if we were ready for naps by the time we got to the sanctuary!  Church and Sunday school were still fun, since we also helped out with getting the teens ready for the holiday weekend service with some prop and costume making; the service went long; and then we came home and helped out with another barbeque meal that Mom and Dad hosted because we also needed the extra hands to get our campground cleaned up and the tents and gear put away.  That meal and the work took about two and a half hours; the kids were set free to play after that; and Ehlana and I went biking with Naomi, Aiden, and some cousins and friends.  We did an ice cream stop at the Emporium along the way; two swim breaks were fit in with the trail riding; and then Ehlana and I were on our own for dinner with Mom and Dad – an easy meal of leftovers that didn’t take much work to prepare or clean up from; and that allowed us to get our evening office work started early too.

Dad had work to get done by morning too, but Mom, Ehlana, and I had family business and charity work to do; Mom did a Magi lesson with us; and we used a time phase to get more done in less time so that bath or Jacuzzi time could still happen at a reasonable time.  Getting all of that work done still takes a lot out of us, though, so it felt late by the time we hit the tubs to get cleaned up.  That does pretty much bring us up-to-date on this report, though, so that’s also pretty much all we have for our news.  As for Cassie and Michael, they’re nearly finished with their work in Shanghai.  They’ve been busy with a series of meetings on their Sunday and Monday morning, but they’ll need to head for the airport soon; and then they’ll be in-transit through until they get back here again on Tuesday afternoon home time.  That seems like a long time for us, but they’ll be having two Monday evenings thanks to the time change and crossing the international dateline; so it won’t seem that long to them – or actually be that long either!  That is their top news for today, though – that they’ll be on the way home to us; and we are very happy that they’ll be home again.

Okay, it is time for us to get some sleep; so we’re out of here starting right now!

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!