Ehlana and Ethan:
We have had an awesome day and weekend!
The weekend news from the Middle East and Ukraine doesn’t change that; and we’re trying not to let our concern for our world to mess with all of the hometown happy and love. Let’s deal with those news stories and the Cassie and Michael update first; and then we can go with the happier stories for the rest of this report so that we can keep feeling happy when we go to sleep.
The top news in the world this weekend has been the Iranian retaliation against Israel for the missile strike on their Syrian embassy. They fired several hundred missiles and drones at Israel; almost-all of them were stopped by Israeli defenses; and damage, fatalities, and injuries were minimal – though a lot of money was wasted on both sides with estimates on the defensive side exceeding a billion dollars. Imagine how much good could have been done with that money if we’d used it for our charities instead! If the leaders involved de-escalate now, we could all be okay, so we’ll hope for that; and be ready if the stupidity continues and Israeli military responds and attacks Iran in return.
The Ukraine conflict isn’t getting as much attention because of the problems in Israel, but Russia is continuing to destroy Ukrainian energy systems, and along with the ongoing fighting along the front that is going badly for Ukraine; and this change in Russian tactics is devastating for everyone in Ukraine as power outages and fuel shortages start affecting millions of people in all parts of the country. There has been talk on both sides about diplomacy, but the sides are so far apart on what they’re proposing; it is unlikely that we’ll see any serious negotiations anytime soon. Our national elections seem to be a major factor in why there isn’t any useful diplomacy happening anywhere right now, and while we think that to be stupid and short-sighted; it might be worse if this wasn’t an election year because our leaders might just chose to escalate into larger wars and conflicts if not for the worry over being tossed out of office in November.
On the Cassie and Michael front, they’ve moved from Moscow to Rostov-on-don; and they’ll be in the Black Sea area for the coming week – their third in the region. Most of their work will be charity related and geared toward helping refugees from eastern Ukraine – the ‘new regions’ of Russia – and Crimea. There will be business meetings too, but helping out on that front is related to the charities and creating new jobs in the region. Yes, they are close to the border and conflict, and they are planning a day trip into Crimea too, but we expect that they will be safe and don’t foresee any imminent danger for them from the conflict zone. They are looking forward to warmer weather on the coast – and they are around six-hundred miles south of Moscow; so the temperatures will be closer to what we’re getting here at home right now.
Okay, let’s move on to our own stories.
Our Saturday afternoon included setting up our campsite; cool-off swims despite the water being a bit too cold; biking; and back-yard games with our family and friends. We ended up with a gang of cousins to go along with our friends for dinner and our camping; Mom and Dad got a lot of parental support for dinner and most of those adults stayed for the meal and the campfire. Adult cousins, friends, and their next-gen kids were in the mix too, but we didn’t have any babies or toddlers with us for the camping last night. The pot-luck and barbeque dinner was a highlight of the day; canoe rides were added into the mix for our evening entertainment between dinner and the campfire; and we also helped out with some of the work as needed – including the post-dinner clean-up while most of our friends played instead.
The campfire was awesome, and in addition to the treats, snacks, and drinks; Naomi led our little band in an hour-long ‘show’ that kept everyone entertained; allowed for dancing; and put some of the youngest kids to sleep for their parents before they carried them home at around eleven o’clock. By the way, let’s mention that early campfire opportunities have a timing bonus thanks to the earlier sunsets; and that’s why we didn’t really have any issues with putting the fire out by around midnight. Sure, the teens and tweens in our group still stayed up much later than that while we hung around by the river and kept the chat time going – along with some late-night canoeing or walks for some of the couples in our gang. We still had ‘canned’ music to listen to while hanging out together, but we kept that quiet while the younger kids were sleeping in their tents. We eventually called it a night and got some sleep; some of us had co-ed cuddle buddies; and Ethan and I didn’t mind the teasing that went along with doing that with Naomi and Aiden respectively – including the fun that our family and friends had this morning.
We were still up at normal time for Tai Chi by the river; we loved having a large gang for that workout and quite a few spectators too; and the bonus highlight was with our friends that hadn’t seen Sophia and Aaron join us for a workout before today. Breakfast and getting ready for church kept us busy for the next couple of hours; we helped with the work; and there was a lot of parental support again for the meal and work; since taking everyone to the Inn for a special buffet breakfast wasn’t an option. We did eventually get to church on-time; the service and Sunday school were awesome; and we went back to work after getting home – this time to pack up tents and gear; say goodbye to most of our friends; and then help out with another family-and-friends meal – a picnic-barbeque.
We considered other entertainment options for the afternoon, but ended up staying close to home and taking it easy with biking, canoeing, park play, and hanging out in the back yard while enjoying the awesome weather and the high that neared ninety degrees! Naomi and Aiden stayed with us; Sophia and Aaron split their time between hanging out with us and their own families; and then we all still ended up together at the Inn for the late buffet. That was the food highlight of our day as usual; we helped out with younger, next-gen cousins while at the Inn; and then Ethan and I were on our own when we went home with Mom and Dad. We didn’t do any extra work in the office tonight, but Mom did do a short Magi lesson with us; and then we all needed to wrap up our day early ahead of Dad’s week in the city. Bath or Jacuzzi time just ended for Ethan and me; we’ve spent a bit of extra time on our bedtime computer checks; and now we’re pretty much ready to crash and nap until we need to be up early to see Dad on his way to Crystal Springs.
This really has been a happy weekend, and we have loved the extra play time with family and friends. We are also grateful to live somewhere that we can do all of this; and we’ll hope that we can bring that kind of peace and happiness to the rest of the world. That’s a nice thought to end on, so we’ll do that; and move on to get some sleep starting right now.
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
