Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 26, 2020

Ehlana, Ethan, Naomi, and Aiden:

Another Sunday without church or Sunday school with our family, friends, and neighbors still feels very strange, but we’re not going to get back to normal for a while longer – though it is possible that the restrictions will begin to lighten in time for the Memorial Day weekend.  We won’t comment on that either way, but we can be sure that at least here at home; holiday weekend tourism money will not come ahead of our health safety.  That is an issue when you’re talking about having thousands of visitors to campgrounds and town, and even if we are open for business-as-usual again by then; that doesn’t mean that tourism will just return to normal for the rest of this year.

Before we get to our own news of the day; lets’ cover the video-conference town meeting that Mom and Dad joined in on from the office while we were out playing this afternoon.  To keep that update short; we’re continuing on with the current plans for another few weeks – until mid-May; and then we might need to follow regional or national guidelines for re-opening businesses.  We won’t be leading the way for those changes – mostly because a lot of attention is being directed at those communities and states that are opening up their economies already; and that isn’t something we want to happen for us – especially if that ended up being for all the wrong reasons.  We’ll keep you posted on anything new – though there are detailed records being kept in the archives about everything related to the coronavirus both for here at home and around the world.  Even Magi Masters aren’t immune to feeling the need to work a bit harder on recording information during historically-serious crises.

Our news of the day isn’t very exciting.  We had a quiet morning at home that included Tai Chi by the river, breakfast for four while our collegians were with Michael’s parents for that meal; a home-service instead of church that included watching the videos from Pastor John and the music from the Praise team.  Some studying or work followed that; we had a barbeque lunch outdoors; and then some of us went for a canoe ride that included extra families in socially-distanced canoes.  Naomi, Aiden, and their families went along on that outing; our best friends stayed with us for some biking on the trails; we had a socially-spaced, outdoor barbeque and pot-luck dinner with our families; and we’re now spending the night at Naomi’s house because her house is going to be study-central for us this week.

It’s been a quiet night since getting here.  We watched a movie; the boys played some video games; and now we’re having a group bedtime chat in Naomi’s room while multi-tasking this report.  There won’t be any co-ed napping going on tonight, but Naomi is still cuddling with Ethan now – and might try to keep him for the night if she actually had a chance of getting away with that.  For the record, that isn’t actually possible for us with our links to Mom, but while most kids and teens might hate that kind of parental-awareness; there are more advantages; and there is still respect of personal privacy on both sides.

We need to move on and get some sleep soon, so it’s time to wrap this up; and eventually split up so that the boys can head over to the guest room they’re using tonight.  Naomi isn’t quite ready to let go of Ethan, but we really don’t need to ramble on with this for no reason; so we won’t.  Stay tuned for more news from the last week of April, and if the weather continues to improve; then we could have a bit more fun – especially if we can do more camping and canoeing.  It’s a bit cold for whirlpool swims, but we are a year older now; so longer trips on the river may be an option that our parents will approve for us this summer.

That’s looking ahead a bit too far; so let’s call it a night.

This is Ehlana Proctor and gang; live from the hidden home of the Magi of the Light – and May the Magi Force be with you!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 25, 2020

Ehlana and Ethan:

We got lots of rain last night, but it’s been a really nice day – even though we used a lot of it for doing spring clean-up chores.  Doing that work felt like a community event, since everyone seemed to be doing that as families all around town; so it was about as close as we’ve come to hanging out together with our friends and neighbors in weeks.

Our day wasn’t all work and no play; and we had fun with most of the work anyway – even when it was a bit wet and muddy to work in the gardens.  We got a lot done today, but since those chores aren’t exciting to write about; let’s move on to the play parts of our day.  First up, working on the canoes led to testing them out this afternoon – and that activity will be an added entertainment option for us because we can even do social distancing while passing other canoes or boats on the river!  We only spent an hour doing that – a half-hour upriver and then back again, but that was one of the highlights of our days.

Naomi and Aiden joined us for the canoeing after doing chores with their own families; and then we still had time for a bike ride before splitting up for dinner and the rest of the night.  Our evening meal included grilled steaks, burgers, or hotdogs; and then we’ve had a quiet movie night in the living room since then.  That was fun too, but after a long work day; we were all tired too; which is why we’re heading for our beds comparatively-early.  We’re doing this update from Ethan’s room while my Jacuzzi is being borrowed by Cassie and May, but we’ve already had our baths; and don’t plan on staying awake for much longer.

That’s all we have for tonight, so flip the digital page to find out what happens between now and our next update while we get some rest and then live those adventures!

This is Ehlana and Ethan Proctor; live from the hidden home of the Magi of the Light – and May the Magi Force be with you!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 24, 2020

Ehlana and Ethan:

Barbeque dinner in the back yard was a great way to start our camping adventure last night; we followed that up with family play and biking time; added in a campfire at dusk; and then we wrapped up our day with some co-ed cuddle and chat time for four of us in the tent.  There was a chance of some rain in the forecast before morning, but by then; some of us were sure that we’d stay dry until sometime during the day on Friday; so we enjoyed the tent time with our best friends.

It was cooler this morning, but Tai Chi was by the river – and temperatures in the low-fifties are still warm by comparison to those freezing numbers we’ve just gone through recently.  Breakfast was in the sunroom – and a hot meal; we packed up the tent and our gear after that; and then spent the rest of the morning on our studies in the lounge.  There was a quick lunch; we took the trail the long way around to the lab; and then spent the afternoon there – in the lab or archives – because the rain moved in and it has been wet pretty much since then.  That’s why Dad picked us up at the lab along with our bikes; delivered Aiden and Naomi to their houses on the way to ours; and we’ve been here at home since then.

We’re missing the family and friends fun nights, but our favorite collegians studied again tonight anyway; so we were left to entertain ourselves while everyone else was busy.  We played video games; watched a movie; and had a music practice over the past few hours; Jacuzzi or bath time just finished; and now we’re getting ready to crash and nap.  An all-day spring clean-up is likely in our near-future tomorrow, and even if we don’t get more rain; that’s sure to be a wet, messy adventure at least in the morning; so we should make sure that we are ready to do our best with our chores.

That does sound way-too-responsible, but we are Cassie’s younger brother and sister; and she can occasionally be a tough example to follow!  Fortunately for us, she’s also fairly-amazing; and we do get to have some extreme adventures now and then thanks to her too! ;^)

The last comments we want to make tonight before moving on are about the coronavirus and local opinion.  We’re all getting tired of the self-imposed restrictions – especially when we still don’t have any cases in or around our town yet, but we can’t just blockade the region from ‘outsiders’ instead and then go about our lives as normal; so we’ll keep up appearances – and deal with the consequences both now and whenever these restrictions are lifted in the coming weeks and months.  We can assure you that when you have a strong community like ours, it is easier to cope with emergencies; and those bonds get stronger and better when overcoming the challenges together – even when that’s happening at least six feet apart! ;^)

Okay, we’re obviously getting tired with jokes like that; so it’s time to move on and get some sleep.

This is Ehlana and Ethan Proctor; live from the hidden home of the Magi of the Light – and May the Magi Force be with you!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 23, 2020

Ehlana and Ethan:

This update is early and short because we’re going to have a camping night – or a sleepover; since we’re still deciding if weather will be an issue overnight or not.

We had a good study session this morning; the warm weather continues today; so Tai chi was by the river this morning; and we’ve taken the day off from the lab or archives so that we could do a picnic lunch and biking adventure instead.  The trail and park adventures have been fun, and we may go out again after dinner for a while too, but we’re home now; and the dinner plans include grilled food and salad sides along with outdoor dining; so we’re happy about that too.

We’ll let you know how the rest of our day goes with the next update, but it’s time to move on – and we’ll likely be setting up a tent next even if we don’t get to use it all night.  There is a chance of rain; so we’ll change that plan and move up to the lounge if needed.

Finally, we haven’t been adding much news about the coronavirus, but we are kids; and doing that every day would just be a bit too depressing.  Even supposedly good news days are really only relative to this current normal, and while we don’t have most of the serious problems here at home being dealt with elsewhere, we also know that this is a longer-term problem that we’ll all be dealing with for months or maybe even years; so we won’t worry about the good or bad news that is not going to be that important from the bigger-picture perspective.

That’s more commentary than we wanted today, and our best friends will be back soon from getting their overnight bags from their homes; so it’s time to move on to the rest of our play and camping adventures!

This is Ehlana and Ethan Proctor; live from the hidden home of the Magi of the Light – and May the Magi Force be with you!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 22, 2020

Ehlana and Ethan:

We’re having fun every day, but our personal newsworthy action list seems small and repetitive to us tonight.  Our online lessons and study time this morning was good, but uneventful; we had a picnic lunch and some biking time on the trails before some rain moved in and we took our fun indoors to the lab or archives for the rest of the afternoon; and then it’s been another quiet night here at home while the parents worked and the collegians studied.  Our own studies in the lounge and music time was entertaining, but not news to write about here in our journals; that’s true for the rest of the details from our day; and we may as well wrap this up and move on to some bedtime reading since we don’t want to get into any worldly commentary or rants tonight.

Sometimes, there’s just no point in focusing on the ugly or stupid that some humans can be, and we’re both in the mood to stay happy; so we won’t go there! ;^)

This is Ehlana and Ethan Proctor; live from the hidden home of the Magi of the Light – and May the Magi Force be with you!