Ethan and Ehlana:
Happy 15th Birthday, Samantha Norton!
We helped Samantha with making her day special, but there is no birthday sleepover happening tonight because farm work starts really early and she didn’t want to do that even with a few of her best friends. Ehlana and I will include our annual note that Samantha is Naomi’s best same-grade friend, and while they don’t spend as much time together during the summers; they do hang out a lot during school days. That’s why Naomi and I spent a fair bit of time with Samantha today; so we also spent more time with their classmates too – including Aaron; so Sophia was part of that group as well. Samantha’s party was at Quarry Lake, and while we spent some time with other family and friends that went out to our favorite campground for the afternoon too; we were not put to work on any kid control while busy with Samantha’s party instead. We got to have fun with most of our favorite activities; spent lots of time swimming; and the picnic lunch was great too. Samantha’s birthday dinner was at the Inn, so we packed up in time to be there for the late buffet, and Naomi took Samantha and some other farm friends home so they could get dressed up for the event. Ehlana and I offered our home for that too, so we had farm friends with us when we met up for the walk to the Inn; and then that meal was a highlight of the party and day too as we enjoyed that culinary adventure in one of the small dining rooms along with Samantha’s family and friends. Along with the usual food, there was cake and ice cream for dessert; the usual birthday gifts, music, and roasting; and we’ll also report that there may have been one gift that Samantha appreciated more than others from a guy that we won’t name here quite yet, but we are sure will be more than a classmate to Samantha sooner instead of later! As mentioned, there is no birthday sleepover; so the party ended when we left the Inn, and after saying our goodbyes and walking Naomi and Aiden to their homes; Ehlana and I came home and got to work in the office with Mom and Dad. Thanks to the busy day-so-far, Dad had a lot to get done tonight; so we used time phasing and worked late due to everything we needed to get done in ‘real’ time due to the need for internet access. That’s why it is so late as we’re writing this; and we’re also getting tired. Sleep can wait a bit longer, though, since we still have more to write about tonight.
First up, Ehlana had a lot of fun with Aiden and his family last night – and we were all together at the park for the co-ed game that ended up being a blow-out, belated anniversary gift for Jake and Stephanie. The mercy rule was invoked – and only partly because the players were more-interested in moving on to the pub for some drinks and social fun when the game was decided before the end of the third inning. We didn’t get booked for any babysitting, but Sophia and Aaron did get drafted, and we want to mention that some of our friends are taking on more babysitting jobs than we are; and we’re good with having them get the teen income that we don’t need anyway. Ehlana wants me to mention how important that is for our friends right now – especially for the girls that will be doing back-to-school shopping over the next month. Naomi came home with me; we had a visit with Mom and Dad; and then we were on our own for the rest of the night. Naomi offers more details about us than I ever will; and I’ll only confirm that we had a really great night and were very happy by the time we did get around to the co-ed napping.
We were up early for Tai Chi by the river with Mom and Dad; the men in the house cooked and cleaned on each side of breakfast; and Mom and Naomi appreciated our efforts. Future readers might find it funny that it was the girls that cooked breakfast at the Draper’s home, but keep in mind that Aiden’s father does bake for the entire town and all of the bakery customers; so he should get a break now and then. We all had a good morning at church and Sunday school; and then we headed out to Quarry Lake as soon as we were ready to go; since Samantha’s family had pre-packed for the outing and headed out to the campground from the church. Let’s mention that the picnic lunch for Samantha’s birthday was a pot-luck event; and we brought donations and helped with the work. Mom and Dad, by the way, joined our family for the afternoon, and while we saw them a few times; they mostly enjoyed hanging out with the other adults and spent some time with their niece, nephew, cousins, and their best friends while we were busy with our friends.
Cassie and Michael are in Greece as we write this report. They flew there late on Sunday evening local time; and are already getting their Monday work day started and will have it half-over by the time we wake up in a handful of hours. They did a bit of work on their Sunday, but spent most of it sightseeing and enjoying some sun and fun on the coast. We might have had more fun at Samantha’s party, but they’re still getting to enjoy the more-exotic adventures; and we’re a bit jealous! They are really looking forward to both the work and sightseeing in Greece and Cyprus; and that’s especially-true for Magi Masters when it comes to the ancient history of the region. Ehlana does not want me to get into a long commentary on that history from our archives, but it is fascinating; and I recommend our future journal readers to get into that historic research – even if it might be boring for most of you! ;^)
Moving along, we’re only going to cover one news story from the weekend – not because it has been quiet on the news front, but to record yet another round of political stupidity that will get the world destroyed if our leaders don’t stop being idiots. This really is dumb, since this story began with social media posts offering literary sparring between various leaders in the west and Russia. From ‘our’ side, threats of invading Russian territory in the Baltics and decapitation strikes against Russian leaders were made while on the Russian side; the most-serious response to those threats was a reminder that they have a ‘deadhand’ option built into their nuclear defense system – meaning that if their leaders are killed; their nuclear missiles are launched against all of their enemies including the United States and European countries. That exchange of social media posts led to President Trump deploying two nuclear subs to locations near Russia. That takes the story from rhetoric to real action; and it really is insane. Nobody in the world should want to see these escalations at all, but there seems to be war hawks and other, equally-crazy people around who don’t care about the risk of having millions of people die if it means more power and money for them – not to mention the truly-insane that really want to find out what their war toys can do to cause destruction and casualties. For the record, we might be able to stop a few nuclear missiles in the event of a world war, but even with all of the Magi of the Light; we’d never stop more than a fraction of them if they were all launched.
That’s a scary thought, so let’s stop there. Ehlana and I need to work on happier thoughts before we get around to dreamland; so that’s also all we’re covering for this update. Our first full week of August is sure to be busy with football, baseball, work, and some sun and fun; so stay tuned for all of those stories while we call it a night, get happier, and head off to dreamland soon.
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
