Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 29, 2024

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

***RESTRICTED UPDATE***

Cassie and Michael’s decision to chaperone Naomi’s class trip to D.C. has already proved prophetic.  They sensed the danger from another of Gwyneth’s goon squads in advance, but Cassie and Naomi needed to deal with the two women that were assigned the job of abducting Naomi out of one of the washrooms at the Smithsonian – and that’s why they made sure that they did that without any of Naomi’s girlfriends so that they wouldn’t be in the way when they went Ninja on Naomi’s would-be abductors.  The bad guys didn’t give up that easily, but Michael was there to help too when a second attempt was made at the hotel during the stop between the museums tours and their dinner plans.

For that little battle, they had eight goons to deal with; Cassie and Michael kept the noise to a minimum with wards and shields to protect everyone in the rooms around them while also having two bystanders forget that they saw anything happening at all.  The goons were left mobile-enough to make their escape, but they are apparently having very bad thoughts about Naomi and her talented chaperones; so they might not be done with these attempts against Naomi.

I will mention here that Ethan is not happy about this as we’re winding down toward nap time, but he also has a lot of faith in his future wife; so he is also not trying to talk Mom and Dad into letting him go there to be with Naomi – which he could and would do if really needed!  Yes, I’m mad at Gwyneth too, since trying to get at us through our friends is definitely a very bad decision, but we’ll hope that she will get the hint from what happened today and call off her goons.  Princeton is on a reading week, though, so that might be too much to hope for when there are definite risks that she’ll just try to help her goons to get the job done instead.

We’ll keep you posted on that if needed, but other than mentioning that Naomi is very proud of herself tonight; that’s all we have for this part of our report.

***END OF RESTRICTED UPDATE***

Naomi, Aaron, and their classmates and chaperones have been enjoying a play day at the Smithsonian museums – along with awesome weather with temperatures reaching the high-eighties.  Compared to that, our school day has been quiet – especially with so many of our own friends away for the week!  We still had fun, and the weather has been decent with a local high reaching the seventies, but I spent some extra time with Sophia while she’s missing Aaron; and Ethan has been quieter than usual and wanted to play in his archives after school so we didn’t go biking with our friends.  Aiden didn’t do that either, but he ended up helping out at the bakery instead, and we should get used to that, since the bakery will be getting busy as they gear up for the summer season; and Aiden will definitely be working there more-often.  Yes, I’ll probably help out now and then too, but I’ll be more-likely to work at the lab whenever Aiden needs to be at the bakery.

Moving along, we traded messages a few times with Cassie and Naomi today, but only had one vid-chat when they could get together and on their own to do that with us this evening while we were working in the office with Mom and Dad.  Our work-play time at the lab or archives helped to keep us busy and Ethan distracted from thinking about missing Naomi, and while he’s getting teased a lot already; I’m very tempted to join in on the jokes and book a room at the Inn for him for Friday night; since he might actually be the one to initiate Naomi’s welcome home hug and kiss and just keep it going for the rest of the day! ;^)

Okay, that probably won’t happen, but why let reality get in the way of having some fun?  Ethan and I were home from the lab on-time for a barbeque-and-salads dinner with Mom and Dad.  We took care of the clean-up; and then we worked and did a Magi lesson in the office until around ten o’clock.  Mom and Dad are working ahead this week because we all want to spend extra time with Cassie and Michael after they get home on Friday – though we do know that we will need to share them with everyone else that wants to spend time with them.  That, by the way, is going to be a lot of people, and will include Rowen and Tim as they get ready to move into their new house and deal with the rest of the work leading up to their wedding.  Cassie and Michael have allowed for all of that in their schedules; so maybe they’ll actually have enough hours in each day to keep up – and if not; they’ll just ‘make’ the extra time as they go along!

Okay, we are obviously getting tired, and since we time-phased some of our work tonight, that isn’t a surprise; so let’s just wrap this up and we’ll get started on some quality power-up nap time now.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 28, 2024

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 22^nd Birthday, Emma Norton!

Emma is away at school, so we didn’t have anything to do with her special day, but Mom and Dad did send a family gift; and we’re sure that Jimmy and her college friends will take care of helping her to have an awesome day!

Our top news of the day isn’t from here at home.  Naomi, Aaron, and their Grade Eight class and chaperones are in Washington D.C. tonight, and the surprise that they were greeted with on arrival was that Cassie and Michael met them there and are two of the chaperones too!

Cassie and Michael flew into D.C. after some nap time in Boston following their overnight flight from Europe.  They arrived ahead of the gang from our town; and had rental vans ready to go by the time that luggage had been rounded up and they could load up and head for their hotel.  The weather is warmer there with a high in the mid-eighties; and our friends left the rain behind and have a mostly-sunny week in the forecast for most of their visit too.  As for their visit so far, they’ve only had time to get checked into their hotel and go out for a late dinner; and now they are supposed to get a good night of rest ahead of their adventures on Monday that will include visiting the Smithsonian.  We’ll keep you posted on their travel news, but that is all we have for now.

Here at home, we had a good start to our day – though Tai Chi was indoors and in pairs instead of together and we had very different breakfast meals before eventually meeting up at church.  The service and Sunday school were a bit on the short side, and that was mostly because of the Grade Eight class departure that had a hard time limit so that they could get to the airport on time.  That’s why Ethan’s goodbye with Naomi was too-short for them – and why we ended up playing at the lab or archives for the afternoon while Ethan was already missing Naomi a lot.  Of course it was raining too, so outdoor play time wasn’t really an option, but let’s not let facts get in the way of my storyline!  We did have lunch with Mom and Dad first; our afternoon work-play kept us busy through to near-dinnertime; and then we were home in time to help Mom with the cooking.  We fit in a vid-chat with Cassie and Michael while they were still waiting for Naomi, Aaron, and their classmates; that meal was a nice break with Mom and Dad; and then our evening has included some office work and a Magi lesson; bath or Jacuzzi time; and a short music practice ahead of a playing test we have coming up this week.  We’re overdue for some world news commentary; so let’s do that next and then we’ll wrap this up and get some sleep.

While there isn’t really much good news on any of the usual war fronts, we’ll concede that a wider war in the Middle East, at least so-far, has been avoided – particularly between Israel and Iran, and while the risks are still high; that has settled down a bit.  On the downside, though, our government just passed a bill to spend another ninety-five billion dollars on their war efforts around the world while sneaking in new powers for the deep state and other measures including the now-famous ‘Tik-Tok’ ban that will either end up with the end of that business in our country or forcing China to sell the company.  We won’t predict what that outcome will be, but either way, doing things like that will put all current and future international investments at risk, since companies and investors will need to at least consider the dangers that their investments could be lost basically on the whim of the leaders in our country.  Add in the plan to confiscate frozen assets from Russia; and our leaders are putting us on a dangerous path.  We actually do know what we’re talking about for this, since our family business and charities have needed to deal with issues like this in other countries – and never wanted to see happen here.  I don’t want to rant on about this, but our government really is wrong about this, and if they can do that to other countries and businesses; they could just as easily try to do the same thing here against anyone they don’t agree with or want to destroy.  Okay, that already happens here, but let’s not go there tonight either.

Moving along, the war in Ukraine is getting tougher for Ukraine, and despite having another sixty-one billion dollars worth of military and financial aid coming their way, but the time that happens; they might not have many people left to fight Russia and use those weapons.  Nobody seems serious about negotiating for peace; so it could be that we won’t see that happen until one side wins outright – and we don’t even want to think about when and how that could happen when both sides also claim that they are willing to fight to win at any costs.  Finally, tensions are rising in Asia and with China – with that Tik-Tok ban just one tiny part of the problems.  To be blunt, we think that our leaders are messing that up too; and it seems as though the war mongers in our government are in charge and doing their best to provoke yet another conflict in that region – whether because of Taiwan or through other ‘projects’ they have on the go to stir things up with other regional countries against China.  Without getting into the weeds on that, we really don’t understand why any of those countries go along with our leaders when most of them also have China as their largest trading partner, but then the same could be said for most of the other geo-political issues going on around the world that are led by our government.

That is more than enough for tonight, and we are getting tired; so that’s all for this report.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 27, 2024

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 1^st Birthday, Christopher Palmer!

Josiah, Christina, and their family are taking care of Christopher’s big day, and that includes some of our aunts, uncles, and cousins, but we’re not in on that party; and only did a visit with the Palmers and dropped off a gift this morning between breakfast and the start of our chores.

The rest of our Friday was awesome!  We actually needed to stay close to shelter while out biking at the park; beat a minor storm home; and then we spent most of the rest of the day indoors.  In addition to our four best friends, Mom and Dad had extra dinner-and-a-movie guests; we helped with work on both sides of that meal; and entertained some of the kids in the lounge – mostly for the boys that chose video gaming over the movie option that was family-friendly and didn’t include fighting, car chases, or blowing things up.  Ethan, Aiden, and Aaron dealt with supervising most of the gaming while the girls chose some quality chat time and a bit of music fun in my room.

Mom and Dad only had six tweens and teens in the house by ten-thirty; they joined us in the lounge for a bedtime chat and part of our next movie; and then we were on our own for the rest of the co-ed cuddling and sofa sleepover parts of our day.  We stayed up a bit too-late, but didn’t push that too-far; since we knew that another long chores day was on the schedule for all of us.  We loved hanging out together, though, and that has definitely been our favorite part of our past twenty-four hours or so!

Tai Chi was by the river this morning; we opted for a quick and easy breakfast that included fruits and bakery treats; and then Sophia and Aaron moved on to their own chores plans for the day while Naomi and Aiden opted to stay with us and we worked as a team at a total of five homes.  The forecast for rain and storms was an issue for us today, but not at first; so we kicked the work into high gear and mowed all of the lawns – including for Cassie and Michael’s and Grandma and Grandpa’s places.  Gardens, driveways, sidewalks, and porches were worked on after that, and we got wet and muddy by the time we finished everything on our collective to-do lists.  Since getting the work done, we’ve split up to grab showers and change; Ethan and I are also packing overnight bags; and we’ll be heading to Naomi’s and Aiden’s houses respectively for the rest of the day.

For Ethan, that is all about spending time with Naomi before she leaves for Washington tomorrow, and they are at her house tonight so that she can multi-task that with spending time with her family too.  Okay, multi-tasking isn’t the right word, since I really hope that Naomi doesn’t plan on making out with Ethan the entire time and right in front of her parents and brother, but you know what I mean; so let’s move on!  We can report that Sophia has the same plan for tonight with Aaron and at his house; so Aiden and I are just going to enjoy the opportunity even though we won’t be apart for the coming school week! ;^)

That’s all we have for now, since the best parts of today for fun are still ahead of us; and we also do not need to comment on what our parents will do with their kid-free night!  There isn’t really any news for Cassie and Michael either, since they’re just making their way back to our country; and their overnight flight to the east coast will have them on this side of the Atlantic at a weird time due to the time changes they’ve been dealing with since leaving St. Petersburg.  Stay tuned for news about them that we’re keeping a surprise for a bit longer, and while you do that – or flip the next digital page in our future because you can’t want to find out; and we’ll wrap this up and get started on our respective play plans and sleepovers!

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 26, 2024

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 5^th Birthday, Bryn Jennings!

We hope that Bryn is having a happy day and we passed along our best wishes through her Mom while at school, but we didn’t see her today while she’s busy with her family and some KidZone friends.

Our day hasn’t been party-rated fun so far, but we are planning for better for the rest of our day – including a co-ed sleepover with our four best friends.  The weather forecast for the rest of the afternoon and evening includes thunderstorm risks, but we’re still going to attempt some outdoor time with our friends; and will stay close to home with the biking in case we need to try and out-run a storm and get indoors.  That’s also why we need to keep this short so that we can get out there with our friends; so let’s just save the rest of our stories for tomorrow and get out there with our friends.

Cassie and Michael are finished with their final work day in Russia and are likely sleeping by now; since their travel day will be starting early on their Saturday morning.  All of their work-related news has been awesome, and while there is a lot more that will be done in the coming years as new projects and partnerships develop; they are also ready for a break – even if that will only be while winging their way back towards home over the next couple of days.

That reminds us that Naomi, Aaron, and their classmates will be flying to Washington on Sunday, and we want to spend as much time with them as possible between now and then; so we’re out of here!

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 25, 2024

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 20^th Birthday, Jessica Bassett!

Happy 3^rd Birthday, Donald Reynolds!

Ethan and I haven’t had any involvement in either of those birthdays, but Sophia was in on a family vid-chat with her sister and they had sent gifts; so we heard about that part of Jessica’s special day while it was up to Patrick and their friends to keep her happy for the rest of the day even with all of the work they’re doing now to get ready for final exams.  Donald may be a future friend for one or more of our next-gen cousins, but we’re actually mostly including that info in our journal tonight because we only had the two names on our list for today.

As for our own day, we had a fairly-uneventful round of academic adventures without much outdoor time thanks to some showers that kept things damp even if it wasn’t raining all of the time.  The damp outdoors had everything to do with our choice to work-play at the lab or archives after school; we had fun with that for a couple of hours; and then we were home in time for dinner with Mom and Dad ahead of game night at the Inn.  We had a blast with our family and friends while at the Inn; didn’t win any titles for our family tonight; and I’ll mention that Ethan might have had more fun than most of us thanks to Naomi because she was more-interested in making happy memories with Ethan ahead of the Grade Eight trip next week to Washington!  She wasn’t done with that when we left the Inn, and that’s why we took Silkie for a walk while seeing Naomi and Aiden to their homes.  Yes, Ethan is still grinning from his goodnight kisses with Naomi, but let’s not tease him about that too much; since Aiden might resemble my brother right now too – whether he’s sleeping already or not! ;^)

Moving along, Mom did a Magi lesson with us after we got home again; bath or Jacuzzi time followed that; and we’ve kept the bedtime computing to a minimum tonight because we want to get some sleep and re-charge ahead of our last school day of the week and the weekend.  Cassie and Michael are already getting started on their last full work day in Russia as we’re getting ready to crash and nap.  Their Thursday included two charity site visits, a business luncheon, and a dinner with the leaders of a business-charity project.  They went out to play for a little while after that and checked out the local music scene with some new friends, but it is still wet and cool in St. Petersburg; so they haven’t done as much sightseeing as they would have liked to do while there.  Cassie doesn’t expect that to change for their Friday, so we might not have much more news from them through until they get back to our country by Sunday morning.  They will, by the way, need to do that with a couple of indirect flights thanks to the travel restrictions to Russia, but they also game time zones on the way back; so that will off-set the extra flying hours and flights.

Stay tuned for our weekend adventures news; and we’ll call it a night now and go get some sleep.

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