Ethan and Ehlana:
Happy 7th Anniversary, Neil and Michelle Ryan!
Happy 36th Birthday, Aunt Deborah!
Happy 8th Birthday, Alex Byrd!
Starting with the rest of the story from last night, the reception dinner at the Inn was another awesome food experience for us, and while we would love to say that for everyone, since we were helping with the youngest kids; we know for sure that at least the kids at our table did not feel the same way – though they loved their kid-friendly meals anyway! Best behavior didn’t keep us from needing to deal with a few messes too; so we were busy for that couple of hours while having fun too. That made for a different kind of ‘date’ night for us with Naomi and Aiden, but then that seems to be normal for us; and that trend continued when we brought a small gang of kids home with us from the Inn by dusk.
Surprisingly, by then we had three kids ready to be changed and put to bed for naps or more. Ehlana and Naomi took care of that while Aiden and I kept the rest of the kids busy in the lounge with video games, music, and more; and then we were all kept busy through until parents or grandparents began to pick up the kids that weren’t just with us for the night anyway. The details of those hours of babysitting really aren’t important. We survived; stayed up very late; and eventually got around to a co-ed sofa sleepover nap that wasn’t long-enough and has something to do with why we’re tired tonight.
The Palmer and Jennings clans had more wedding wrap-up activities today – including seeing their visiting guests on their way back home, but we weren’t in on any of that – other than some visits before and after church and Sunday school. We were busy this morning with getting everyone fed and ready for church; and then the family adventures for the rest of our day through dinnertime revolved around celebrating Aunt Deborah’s special day! There was a family barbeque lunch at the Ayres’ home; we played together all afternoon – though Dad also did some work in the office at home; and then we split up in time to get ready for the late buffet at the Inn. We were allowed to sit at a ‘tween’ table tonight instead of taking care of any younger cousins or kids; so we had fun while enjoying another amazing meal. We weren’t really in on the main event for our aunt that included roasting and gifts, but she had fun; and we collectively kept that culinary adventure comparatively-short because we were not the only people in the family getting tired by then. No comment on why our aunt and uncle might have been in a hurry to get started on their kid-free night!
Naomi and Aiden are with their own families tonight, and after coming home with Mom and Dad; our evening included some time phased work in the office; a Magi lesson; and bath or Jacuzzi time. We’re ready to sleep now, so all we have left for tonight is the Cassie and Michael update. We know that they managed to have a short vid-chat with Anna Marie and Cal last night that included live video of the Terracotta soldiers; and we know that they went on to have dinner with another couple that they met on that tour on their Sunday evening. They’re already currently into their Monday work day; and they’ll be busy with meetings in Xi’an while we sleep tonight. We’ll hear more about that in the morning with their end-of-day updates, so if anything newsworthy happens; we can pass that along with our next report – or you can get all of the travel details directly from Cassie’s and Michael’s various journals and work archives.
It is time for us to get started on our naps; so we’ll just move on and do that starting right now.
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
