Ehlana and Ethan:
In our little corner of the world, you have to love warm weather days in February, and that is especially-true when the highs reach the seventies! Sure, it wasn’t that warm first thing this morning, but it was warm-enough for Tai Chi by the river; that made for a great start to our day; and then we had a hot breakfast before eventually heading off to church. We’re into the lessons and messages leading up to Easter as normal for this time of year. We had a good morning through the first part of the service and then during Sunday school; everyone was a bit happier thanks to the nice weather; and the lure of the great outdoors did not keep Pastor John from leading a longer service. That’s why we didn’t get home until close to noon. It was just the four of us again for that meal, but we really just had a snack; and then we had a gang of family and friends meet up with us for a group bike ride. With most of the afternoon available, we decided to attempt a ride out to Quarry Lake and back; hit the trail; and enjoyed the exercise and social time while getting that full, round-trip ride accomplished.
Okay, that isn’t a major feat even for some of our younger cousins, and we’ve done the ride faster too, but we had the time; and enjoyed the adventure more thanks to the leisurely pace and extra stops along the way for exploring along the trail and at Quarry Lake. Some of our fellow bikers needed to be home in time for one of the buffets at the Inn, but we weren’t doing that too. That was entirely because Dad took the afternoon off for the biking; so he needed to work in the office tonight. Ethan and I helped Mom with making a light dinner while Dad got to work; we enjoyed that meal in the sunroom; took care of the clean-up; and then we joined Mom and Dad in the office for some family business work. Mom let us work for a couple of hours; bath or Jacuzzi time followed; and then Ethan and I had a short music practice before getting to the usual bedtime computing and twin chat.
There haven’t been any major changes for good when it comes to world news, and that’s basically-true for bad news too; so I won’t get into any rants tonight. We’re definitely not happy with the status quo when what is happening is so awful, but there is no point in repeating the same stories over and over when nothing changes. Don’t get too-excited; since there are still many topics that I can offer commentary on instead – and I’m in the mood to go there!
Scaring Ethan by writing about teen and tween girl issues is tempting, but I’ll save that for another night; and go with a local infrastructure update instead. The moderate winter-weather has led to more outdoor work, and while the available hours of warm are limited; progress is happening that puts some of our favorite projects ahead of schedule. At the top of our list is the new construction for the seniors’ community and cottages sections of town. Work has resumed on main roads and the needed infrastructure that includes water, sewage, power, and gas lines. Foundations may be started soon for the first batch of homes and cottages; and we could definitely get the first buildings finished ahead of schedule and in time for summer occupancy. We are really looking forward to having some of our favorite people spending more time here once they have their cottages; so stay tuned for more updates on that story as it develops!
Since we were out on the trails today, let’s also mention that the ‘southern’ trail has been worked on again too, and that’s actually an easier project because there isn’t any need to also install any piping or cables. They are still building the trail to last, but the extra work time helps because they can dig up the path; put down the trail base; and leave it to settle until it is ready for the next layers. As we’ve mentioned before, we are going to love the extra biking options once this trail is linked to the rail trail that is south of us and just in time for our teen years; so we’ll be even-happier if it gets finished ahead of schedule. Finally, for tonight, and since we were at Quarry Lake today, let’s write about their expansion plans for this year. Our favorite campground is expanding into a second quarry! They’re adding a third lake and an all-new campground and campsites, and while that is everything they expect to have ready for this summer; that is just the start of the plan for the new quarry. We know that a second, bigger rock wall is in the works – along with a zip line that might take the riders over the lake! That will definitely be awesome; and we’ll keep you posted on that story too – especially whenever we get around to playing out there and checking out the new lake.
That’s pretty much enough for tonight. This has been another awesome day, and we still have a couple of warm days ahead of us; so we’re going to wrap this up, get some sleep, and be ready for the next round of fun and adventures with our friends.
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
