Ethan and Ehlana:
Happy 5th Anniversary, Joshua and Sally Parker!
While we hope that Cassie’s and Michael’s friends are having an awesome day, Ehlana and I weren’t involved in their special day – though most of the party plans for their day haven’t started yet anyway. We know that Rowen and Tim will be attending that party at the farm; so we expect that everyone involved will have an awesome time!
We’ve had a great day so far too – if not party-level amazing. That includes our babysitting and fun last night at Sophia’s house. We met up with her – and Aaron and all of the kids we were booked to babysit while Caleb and Erica’s anniversary party moved on from dinner to social fun with friends. We kept all of the kids entertained either until we put them to bed for the night or their parents came over to pick them up; and then we didn’t have any co-ed nap time when we went to our beds because the girls all had junior sleepover buddies.
We only had a handful of kids with us this morning, but that still made Tai Chi by the river a challenge; and getting them fed and ready for parental pick-up kept us busy through until Aiden, Aaron, and I needed to get to the park for our football workout. By then, we’d made plans for the day – a bike ride to Quarry Lake with cousins and friends; so the girls did most of the work to get ready for that – including rounding up a picnic, other supplies, and more so that we could head out on the trail not long after we got back from the park. We had a quick swim and change first; the ride out to Quarry Lake was quick because we were motivated; and then the play time at our favorite campground included some of our favorite activities and a lot of swimming and play time on the water slides. The weather was awesome and hot; so the swimming was needed; and we had a last swim right before we needed to bike home again – though that didn’t help us with staying cool for long during that ride. We made that trip fairly-quick too – in-part because we wanted to set up tents and round up camping gear before dinner. Mom and Dad are hosting the family-and-friends’ meal and movies; so we’re hosting the camping too and that part of our plan has expanded quite a bit even since we got home – to the point that Dad is stopping on the way home from work for a major bakery order for breakfast treats.
This update is happening now while Ehlana and I are quickly getting cleaned up ahead of dinner and the rest of the fun tonight. Even with the gang of teens and kids we’ll be camping with now; we’re still hoping for lots of co-ed cuddle time and maybe for the camping too. Trust me; the odds of that happening for me with Naomi are better now than they were pre-shower! We aren’t helping with the pre-dinner work, but do need to get back to hanging out with our cousins and friends; so let’s wrap this up.
Cassie and Michael are already through with their first day in Cyprus, but we haven’t gotten any details yet; and might not get that update until tomorrow. We don’t really want to get into world or political news, but we should at least mention that the top stories today still include plans for a meeting of the Presidents of America and Russia – even though there doesn’t seem to be any serious changes in what each side wants to get an end to the fighting. As for political theatre, we have a new story out this week related to the Oklahoma City bombing in nineteen-ninety-five. Ehlana and I know the history of that story, and the thirtieth anniversary might sound like a good reason to drag it up again, but then that attack happened in April, not August; so we expect that this is just another distraction for the masses. That isn’t to suggest that the truth about that story and many others shouldn’t be made public, but nobody should let these distractions get in the way of the outrage over what is happening elsewhere in the world.
So much for not getting into the news of the day! Since we went there anyway; let’s add in that the tariff wars are on; and our President’s threats are not going over well as India and other countries are calling for other countries getting together to fight against the tariffs and sanctions – especially the BRICS+ countries that are sick and tired of the economic and military threats.
Instead of going on about any of that, we need to go; and we are going to be thankful for and enjoy another happy blast of adventures with a lot of our favorite people. We might not be able to give that kind of gift to everyone in the world, but we can do that here at home – and will eventually share our Light with everyone!
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
