Ethan and Ehlana:
Happy 14th Birthday, Miles!
Since our friend’s special celebration started soon after our latest update; let’s get right into our news of the day from there.
Ehlana and I were in the middle of the pack of party guests by the time we arrived at Miles’ home with Naomi and Aiden, so we got right to work on setting up our tents and gear. More than half of the tents were raised by then, but then some of them had been brought over earlier in the day by the teens that needed to be elsewhere in the afternoon or for the start of the party. Miles’ parents had lots of adult help with the barbeque dinner they hosted for family and all of Miles’ teen friends; and they might have been scared at least a bit by the time they fed most of the members of our football team along with the rest of the guests and helpers! That isn’t a first for us, but it has been a while since we were around feeding the football team; and we had a different perspective during Michael’s high school football career!
That meal was awesome; we helped out with some of the work on either side of the food fun; and then we got started on the evening entertainment that included back yard games through until the campfire started. Naomi and the Haunted Harmonies were drafted to provide most of the music for the campfire; and our friends appreciated the music, dancing, and co-ed cuddling opportunities that we provided for them. Most of our breaks were filled with campfire stories fun, but there was canned music for the last hour or so of the campfire as it cooled down and we wanted to join in on the co-ed cuddling to stay warmer.
There are a lot of stories from last night that we could cover for this report, and it really was different to have all of the older teens involved in the adventure; so we should offer at least a couple of those stories that were new to us as new members to the high school teen scene. There is still a split between the older and younger teens, since four years is a lot at our ages, but we can report that our group of six best friends bridge that gap for several reasons. Our sports and musical skills help with credibility with the older teens; most of them look at Cassie and Michael as personal heroes; and our parents are among the best-connected and loved by everyone. We appreciate all of that, but then we were happy to be on the edges of most of the teen drama that Miles was definitely at the center of last night and today. Part of that included his sister because she’s dating Will Carter while Miles is dating Caroline – though most of the teasing we heard was about which family was getting the better deal with those pairings. We won’t offer an opinion on that, since Miles has come a long way from the worst of his pre-teen years; and his extrovert nature and fearlessness are things that Caroline loves about him – even when he’s annoying her! Will and Danielle are the couple that the rest of their friends congregate around, but they get that respect through quiet appreciation and kindness of their friends – and everyone else too. That is different for them than it was for Cassie and Michael, but we see the similarities too; and it was different to be around them at Miles’ party compared to at school or during football games.
Moving along, we all stayed up late; there were some co-ed tents – including ours; and we managed to get about four hours of sleep as the temperature cooled into the high-forties by morning. That made Tai Chi a bit chilly, but we got up early for that and had a few spectators mostly watching us from inside tents or the house; and then we needed to get busy as we blasted through breakfast, getting ready for the day, and packing up our tents and gear before we eventually headed to church and dropped off our gear at multiple homes along the way. The church service and Sunday school were great and there was extra birthday fun for Miles while there; and then we were part of the smaller group of friends that went back to his house for lunch and then to spend the afternoon hanging out with him through until his birthday dinner at the early buffet at the Inn. Lunch was an easy meal with burgers, hotdogs, and leftover sides from Saturday, and then Miles wanted some video gaming fun for an hour or so until we hit the trails with our bikes for the rest of the afternoon. We spent more time on the trails at the park where we could play around with jumps and other tricks; and we only left early because the girls insisted on getting clean and dressed up for that dinner at the Inn. Yes, I got dressed up for Naomi; and don’t expect that anyone noticed compared to how beautiful Naomi looked in the dress she chose to wear today. Miles still had a few gifts to open after dinner and there was a cake, but by the time we left the Inn; even he was ready to go home and wind down from all of the fun – though his night wasn’t over then; since Caroline did go home with him. I was tempted to spend more time with Naomi, but Ehlana and I needed to go home and do some work in the office; so we only walked Naomi and Aiden home while multi-tasking a walk with Silkie; and then we got to work with Mom on a Magi lesson and family business and charity projects. We used time phasing to get more done in less time; and then Mom sent us upstairs for bath or Jacuzzi time by nine-thirty.
We’re now clean; have covered our usual computer checks and a bit of homework wrap-up; and now we’re nearly ready to crash and nap for the rest of the night. That’s why we’re going to skip a world news report tonight. We’ve had enough for today; and choose to stay happy tonight as we head off to dreamland. This first week of school has seemed very busy, but we’re going to get even busier next week as we add in school band and teen praise team practices and also want to fit in the first of several recording sessions at the Galleria studio. I’m getting tired just thinking about our upcoming schedule, so that’s all for this report; and we’re out of here and heading off to nap time right now.
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
