Ehlana and Ethan:
Happy 1st Anniversary, Adaira and Tommy Reynolds!
This is a full-weekend update; so let’s begin with our adventures on Friday and work our way to now.
Birthday dinners for store owners in town don’t always happen at all, but Aiden’s father also starts most of his work days very early; and was able to be home for dinner and the evening. Ethan and I helped out with the party prep work while Aiden’s Mom was busy at the bakery and didn’t come home until close to when we had dinner ready to go. Yes, we had lots of parental help with that meal, but we worked through until everyone was ready to sit down to enjoy the meal and birthday fun; we took care of some of the younger kids while the adults were busy; and then we took care of the clean-up too. Aiden’s parents were getting a kid-free night, but also went to the pub with some friends; so we did some babysitting when the adults headed out; kept busy with that until around midnight; and then we took our best friends home with us for a late co-ed sleepover. We did not end up staying awake for all that long; so the co-ed cuddle and teen chat fun wrapped up as we each drifted off to sleep by around one-thirty.
We already mentioned the chores from Saturday, but Tai Chi by the river and a hot breakfast with our friends, Mom, and Dad got our day off to a happy start; and then we were busy with the work at all of the homes and cottages through until we needed to get cleaned up and over to the Ayres’ home for Leah’s party. Ethan and I only had Naomi and Aiden with us for that round of party work; there was some teen weird thanks to the co-ed party and thanks to Zack and Eli leading the top efforts to impress and annoy. Yes, they are doing better more often, but yesterday was not one of those times; and the girls in the house were not impressed – even if most of the guys their age enjoyed the spectacle more-often than not. We had fun along with all of the work, and more-importantly; Leah had fun during her party and then with the girls-only sleepover. We stayed and helped with the party and Ethan did his best to keep Zack out of trouble; and then we came home for the rest of the night with Naomi and Aiden after most of Leah’s guests headed home at around eleven-thirty. We stayed up later last night; the co-ed cuddle and chat time included a movie; and then we moved on to nap time at around the same time as Friday night.
That brings us up to today. We started the day with Tai Chi by the river and breakfast again; the church service and Sunday school were good; and then we had a family-and-friends’ canoe ride after lunch with just Mom and Dad. The weather was nice with a high in the mid-seventies this afternoon; so that worked out for us and we paddled to the whirlpool and back. Ethan and I were on our own for dinner with Mom and Dad; we helped with the work on both sides of the meal; and then we had a work evening in the office that included a Magi lesson with Mom and some charity work. Mom had us wrap up by nine-thirty; bath or Jacuzzi time followed; and now we’re winding down fast with this weekend report.
As for Cassie and Michael, they played for most of the weekend; they were happy to catch one of the three weekend wins the Cubs had this weekend over the Arizona Razorbacks; and they enjoyed the Saturday night out with fine dining and a show; the sightseeing and some shopping; and they fit in two charity events along with the fun – a brunch on Saturday and a picnic this afternoon. Cassie and Michael are in Lansing, Michigan tonight – they drove there after a final dinner with Madelana and Stefan. They’ll be back to work tomorrow; and continuing their journey toward the east coast. We’ll keep you posted on their adventures; so stay tuned for at least the basics from their work trip.
Speaking of trips, the Grade Eight trip is this week, and while we don’t have any involvement; they headed out today; they are in Washington tonight; and our school will be a bit quieter this week!
That brings us up to the world news report. As always, we keep up with all of the politicking and the rest of the nonsense from our world leaders; the stories mostly get recycled without anything really changing; and the most-vulnerable people in the world continue to suffer while the rich and powerful play their games. We really wish that we could report better news, but while the bombing hasn’t resumed in the Middle East; the fighting in Ukraine and Russia seems to be escalating again; and there appears to be new adaptations to the drone warfare – though maybe the difference is simply the expansion to ‘soft’ civilian targets. The result is more death and destruction; and that is more bad news for both everyone in the region and the world in general. While the economic costs from the Iran war are getting all of the attention for the past few months; that is true for the Ukraine war too; and those costs are likely in the trillions of dollars now – if you include the ever-growing bill that will come due when the war ends and rebuilding begins. Everyone involved in leading those war efforts on both sides should be worried about that; since it will be a drag on the world economy for decades to come.
That’s enough for tonight – though we could rant-on for another hour if we wanted to get into all of the idiocies that continue around the world. For us, we are going to stay happy after a good weekend; and we will continue to share love and happiness with all of our favorite people while doing what little we can to share that love with the rest of the world.
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
