Cassie's Journal - August 10, 2016

It’s been another scorcher around here today; I’m cooked, baked, or whatever else you want to call it; and this is going to be a short report.

Tai Chi by the river and breakfast were fun and uneventful.  I worked all morning on chores and family business jobs with Mom while Ethan and Ehlana spent one last morning at the lab with Violet and Dillon.  Some of my chores included prep work for the going away dinner for Violet and Dillon; but some of that work needed to wait until later in the afternoon – which is why Michael and I stayed close to home during his afternoon break.  The too-hot afternoon had something to do with that too; though we did go swimming with the twins, Naomi, and Aiden a couple of times to go along with some indoor play time that kept us all cool for a while.

The heat had Mom deciding to have the dinner party in the dining room; but that was easier for me than setting up the back yard with tables and chairs would have been if the party had been outside instead.  I took care of that job along with helping Mom with all of the cooking, but I didn’t get to stay for the dinner because it wasn’t starting until I needed to be at the school for my ball practice.  I wish I could have done both, but that wasn’t an option; so I went to the practice and wished I was at home instead.  Missing out on the meal was just part of that, since I wanted to spend the time with Violet and Dillon too, but it wasn’t a lot of fun playing baseball with temperatures hovering around one-hundred and ten; and that had a lot to do with why we didn’t have a full team there to work with tonight.

Rowen and I did meet up with Michael and Tim after our practice and we went for a swim; but then Michael headed for the Inn to help with the rest of the close; and I came home to get cleaned up and ready for bed.  I did at least have my family business work finished, so I was able to get away with the basic email and computer checks before starting this update.  Mom, Dad, and the twins are home from the park and co-ed ball practice now too, and Ethan and Ehlana stopped in to say goodnight and pretend to tuck Mandy and me into bed instead of getting me to do that with them; but I wasn’t quite ready to call it a night when they did that.  Violet and Dillon are still out and hanging out with his family tonight, so I probably won’t get to talk to them until we have breakfast in the morning; but I don’t plan on waiting up for them to get back just to spend a few minutes with them tonight.

It’s hard to believe that they’ll be gone in the morning – and away for another school year except for holiday visits, but we’re out of time again; and it’ll only be another couple of days before Jake, Stephanie; Josiah, Christina, and quite a few of our favorite collegians will be heading out too.  That’s going to mean more work for us at the Inn without our college workers, and I’m going to help out more where I can; but let’s not worry about that until the weekend.

For right now, I’m tired, and have had enough fun for one day; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - August 9, 2016

There’s probably something wrong with the picture when I’m running out of steam at the end of Michael’s two days off – and that isn’t because of fun overload!

The camping last night really was fun, and we liked spending that time with our four junior campers as much as they were happy to hang out with us.  I don’t have anything all that newsworthy to write about from last night, though I did end up cuddling with Michael.  We were in our own sleeping bags, and we did have our chaperones, but then I could say the same about Naomi and Ethan; since they were next to each other and between Ehlana and Aiden.

Tai Chi by the river with the extra exercise buddies was great; so was breakfast in the sunroom; and then it was time for Michael to head home for the morning while I got ready for going to the lab with Mom, Violet, Dillon, and the twins.  Some of us walked there and dropped off Naomi and Aiden along the way.  Violet and Dillon are done with their summer jobs tomorrow, so I did a tour of the lab and heard the latest research news before moving on to the archives with Ethan.  I spent the rest of the morning working on the family business; and then we headed home in time to have lunch at around twelve-thirty.  Michael came over by the time I was dealing with the clean-up; and we went biking on our own for an hour or so before coming home again to go swimming with Ethan and Ehlana.  We had time for an ice cream break at the Emporium after that; but then it was time for marching band practice at the school.

That went pretty well, but it was a bit on the hot side of things; and marching out in that heat wasn’t all that much fun.  It was hot in the church sanctuary too; which is why we had our teen praise team practice in the music room because it’s in the new section of the church and is air conditioned now.  We had to scale down the music a bit, since we didn’t set up the drums and just went with the keyboards and Michael’s guitar; but we were happy with the trade-off to get the cool instead.  The only news I have from either practice is on the fund-raising side of things for the band.  The fruit and vegetable boxes sales for the holiday weekend deliveries is looking good; and we’re pretty much set up for the snack booth we’ll be running at the park again on the Labor Day weekend.  We’re getting parent-volunteers to help with the booth because we’ll also have the football game on Friday night and baseball games on the weekend, but then we have a fairly large group of parents on the volunteer list that was set up back in the spring; so it’s easy to get the extra help when we need it.

Michael and I went for a swim after we got back from the church, but he’s working the breakfast shift in the morning; and I have a busy day ahead with baseball practice and a going away dinner for Violet and Dillon to help with; so we decided not to stay up late again tonight.  I had a visit with Mom, Dad, and the twins in the office after getting inside for the night; took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana tucked in to their beds; and then hopped into my Jacuzzi for a soak while multi-tasking a bit more family business work.  I had that done by the time I was ready to get out of the tub; followed that up with a bedtime chat with Violet while Dillon was doing some packing to get ready to head for Woodvale on Thursday morning and then on to college on the weekend for their senior year; and once I have this report finished; it’s time to crash and nap for the rest of the night.

That is all of the news I have for today, so let’s consider that done!

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - August 8, 2016

I’m heading out on a back yard camping adventure with Michael, the twins, Naomi, and Aiden now; so this is going to be a micro-update.

The buffet-to-close shift was one of our toughest so far this summer; I went home with Michael; and we had a nice little sofa sleepover in his living room that did not include any major make-out time because we pretty much passed out not long after his parents, Jake, Stephanie, and Rebecca went up to bed.

Tai Chi by the river and breakfast at my house was pretty good; and then we spent the morning working.  For me, that meant helping Mom with chores around the house and some time-phased family business work in the office while the twins were at the lab and archives.  We had some rain around lunchtime; Michael and I were both set free for the afternoon; and we played with Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden for the rest of the day.  Dinner was a Stone-Proctor families potluck at our house; Michael and I were on the clean-up crew; and then we set up a tent for our camping adventure.

Yes, that’s one tent; two teens; and four kids.  I’m sure the parents have nothing to worry about – unless Naomi’s Dad is worried about her sneaking into Ethan’s sleeping bag again tonight! ;^)

We’ve had a bit of play time and a swim since then; I’m doing my email and bedtime computer checks – and this update – now instead of later while getting ready for bed; and we’ll be doing scary stories and maybe some music by the river next before getting to the camping part of the night.  I won’t say that there won’t be any cuddling with Michael and me tonight, but we will be good; so our camping will definitely be kid-rated fun!

I’m ready to get to that now, though, and there isn’t anything major to add tonight anyway; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - August 7, 2016

This report is coming to you during my afternoon break because I’m hoping for a second sofa sleepover with Michael tonight after we’re finished work – though we should do that at his house instead of mine to at least pretend that it isn’t intentional. ;^)

I can honestly report that the sofa sleepover last night wasn’t planned; and I’ll take the blame too; since I literally fell asleep on Michael.  The good news for us is that I didn’t do that until after we’d had a fairly hot make-out session first!  We also had a bit of fun with Ethan and Ehlana while tucking them in for the night; didn’t watch the movie we picked to ignore while we played; and then I crashed for the night while we were cuddling and not watching a second movie.

The lunch shift at the Inn was crazy-busy, and the dinner shift is likely to be worse, so I don’t expect that Michael and I will have the energy for a post-work play time for two tonight, but cuddling with him again all night would be great; so that’s my current plan.

I’ll let you know how that goes with the next report. ;^)

For the news from today, though, I should start with the morning wake-up call.  No, that wasn’t a hot round of morning make-out fun – it was a tag-teamed pounce from Ethan and Ehlana that had us quickly awake and then getting ready for Tai Chi by the river after sharing a bit of five-year-old-rated goofiness.  We had fun with our morning workout too; and then I got ready for the day before heading over to Michael’s house for breakfast with his family.  We’re running out of time to do that with Jake and Stephanie before they go off to their last year of college; so we wanted to spend time with them while we can – now that we’re down to just days until they leave for New York.

That’s true for Violet and Dillon too, and I haven’t been able to do as much with them this summer as I’d like, but that’s the way it is; and I’ll just have to do the best I can with them too.

Having the gourmet breakfast was a bonus; and worth the clean-up work after we ate while the chefs took their turn getting ready for church.  We ended up walking to church with my family; Michael and I sat with Mom, Dad, and the twins while Violet and Dillon sat with Jake and Stephanie; and we had fun during the part of the service we were there for – and during Sunday school too.  The service went long, so Michael and I had to hurry to the Inn to help with getting everything ready for the lunch rush; and we worked hard straight through until we were set free for our afternoon break.

It started raining before we went to the Inn after church, though not hard-enough to make that little walk unpleasant; but the wet was a bit steadier off-and-on all afternoon; so we came home to my house for our break so that we could spend some time with Ethan and Ehlana.  They had Naomi and Aiden with them to play indoors too; so we’ve had all four of them to hang out with – mostly in the sunroom.  We went for a swim too; which is why I’m currently getting cleaned up and ready to go back to the Inn again.  Michael’s currently doing the same at his house, but let’s not spend too much time thinking about him in the shower; or I won’t be interested in focusing on the work once we’re back at the Inn again. ;^)

Speaking of that, I need to finish up here and meet up with Michael so that we can get back to work.  I did my email and computer check for the day too, and while there’s some work to do; it can wait until tomorrow.  There wasn’t any wedding news in my email yet, and since this is a travel day for Grandma and Grandpa; I don’t expect an update from them until they’re settled in their next hotel and destination.  I won’t bother with second-hand news for them this time; since you can read all about their travels in their journals instead.  I really need to go, though, and don’t have anything else to add to the news from around here; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - August 6, 2016

Congratulations, Neil and Michelle Ryan!

I have no news from the wedding yet, but we have had a decent day that wasn’t too hot and rain-free; so I hope they’ve had an amazing day with their family and friends.

My day hasn’t been wedding and party-level fun; but I’m hoping that Michael and I will make up for that when he gets here to hang out with me for the rest of the evening.

First up for my news from today is that I got called in to help out with the breakfast rush at the Inn when Miranda had a call-in shortage; so I skipped Tai Chi; got ready quickly; and headed to the Inn to help out in the kitchen for a few hours.  That made for a busier-than-planned start to my day, and the busy continued when I got home and needed to jump in to help out with the chores already in progress.  Yes, I’d gotten a head start on them with the lawn mowing yesterday, but we still had a lot to do; so we worked until nearly one-thirty before wrapping up for the day and having lunch.  After that, I had some play time with Michael, Ethan, and Ehlana that included a bike ride; play time at the park; and a swim before Michael and I needed to be back at the Inn for the dinner shift.

I had my ball game too, so I only worked until about twenty-to-six before heading over to the school for my game.  We were up against the Flares tonight, and while we didn’t have our star player, we managed to earn a close, ten-to-seven victory that we needed a big sixth-inning to put away after battling back-and-forth through the first five and a half innings.  We didn’t have a bit turn-out of spectators for the game, but Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana did come and cheer us on; so Rowen and I had a pretty good game with three RBI’s each.  We went home for ice cream treats and a swim; but then I headed back to the Inn to help out with the rest of the shift until close.  Michael went home after that to grab a shower and get changed before coming over here; and I’ve already cleaned up and gotten changed too while multi-tasking the usual bedtime email and computer checks before getting to this report.

Ethan and Ehlana are going to bed soon; and they’re only waiting for Michael to get here so we can tuck them in and spend a bit of time with them before we move on to the alone time I hope will keep us entertained for the rest of the evening.  Violet and Dillon are out for the evening again; and Jake and Stephanie have likely already met up with them and the other friends they’re hanging out with as they all get ready to head back to college soon.  That does work out nicely for Michael and me, since they’ll likely be out late tonight; but I’ll have to let you know how well that works out for us with the next update.

I don’t have any other news for tonight, though, and Michael will be here soon; so that’s all for tonight, folks!

It hasn’t been a lot of fun today, but I am going to work on that right now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!