Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - July 5, 2026

 

Ehlana and Aiden; Ethan and Naomi:

Congratulations, Diana and Kris Robinson – it’s a boy!

Welcome to your new hometown family, Andrew Robinson!

There will be stories for Drew’s birth, but we don’t think that the teens are responsible for sending Diana into labor during the church service at the park; and he’s a bit young yet for wanting to arrive in time for one of the buffets at the Inn!  We can report that food was sent to the clinic for the happy and tired parents; and Uncle Adam was the doctor on-call while Uncle Mark was busy with his visiting family.  We were not involved in the baby delivery services; so that’s all we have for that news.

As for our own adventures since the last report; the noon co-ed ball game was very wet with several delays and the game was shortened by an inning too as time ran out for the next games of the day.  Our Witch Falls Wild team earned their first win of the season over Sheldon’s Stampede, but the thirteen-to-nine score had more to do with the weather than amazing ball play.  Cassie and Miranda won the cheer squad title for the day too, but to be honest, that was mostly because the Stampede’s squad missed more of the game while trying to stay dry!  There was better weather for Zack and the Bakery Brigade game against Connor’s Commandos, but we didn’t watch much of that game and the crowds were definitely smaller as most park visitors wanted to enjoy the break from the rain and enjoy the play and food opportunities.  The Brigade won the game by a score of ten-to-eight; we caught the end of the game while being rounded up for the family-and-friends’ dinner; and we were put to work getting the food from the booths while others took care of the next-gen kids.  We stayed dry for that meal; there was a bit of rain during the dance; and then we had another weather break that allowed everyone to enjoy the fireworks show.

A bit of extra money and effort went into the fireworks for the two-hundred and fiftieth holiday, but we won’t suggest that our celebration rivaled the big city displays anywhere else in the country.  It was perfect for our little home, though, and the co-ed cuddle time for many of us was a bonus!  Rain was expected soon after the show; so everyone packed up quickly and headed out.  Ethan and I only had Naomi and Aiden with us when we came home with Mom, Dad, and our own weekend guests; we helped with all of the work including starting loads of laundry; and then we wrapped up our Fourth of July with more quality co-ed cuddle time, some teen chat fun, and music videos instead of a movie that we didn’t want to concentrate on at all after a very long day.  We still stayed up too-late; and only had time for a nap before needing to be up early again this morning.

Tai Chi was by the river and the rain had moved on by then; breakfast needed to be quick and easy for the teens in the house; and then we hurried to the park to set up for the church service.  We had time for warm-ups; moved on to entertaining the early arrivals with extra music they could sing along with; and then the service was awesome – including our musical contributions, the skits, readings, and Pastor John’s message.  We were on the crew to pack up after the service; we were the last to get home for lunch; and then our top afternoon adventure today was a trip to the Ridge River Ranch.  Our family had an entire block of trail rides and a corral adventure booked; we ended up with the group that included Mom and Dad but not Cassie and Michael; and Uncle Adam missed the ride because of the call to the clinic for delivery services!

While that ride was our play highlight of the day, I went with Aiden to the bakery after we got home and cleaned up; we helped out there until closing; and then went to the last buffet of the day at the Inn with his family.  Our family was there for that same buffet, but Ethan and Naomi were with her family – and the Ayres clan; so we didn’t hang out together for more than a couple of cameo visits.  I went home with Aiden too and Ethan’s with Naomi tonight; so this update is being written and the Drapers’ home while Ethan and Naomi are here via vid-chat and a telepathic link.  Aiden’s parents needed to head for bed soon after we got here, so Aiden and I watched a movie; and now we’re winding down fast toward nap time.  I am going to pretend that I don’t know that Naomi isn’t ready to let Ethan head off to sleep quite yet, but then her parents stayed up later; so they haven’t had much alone time yet.  Since some of us are tired, though, let’s do the world news report; and then wrap this up.

There were not any major holiday attacks yesterday, so that is a good news story for a change; and we are happy about that – especially when that also means that our favorite Dark Magi haters left us alone too.  We wish that good news could be reported out of Ukraine or the Middle East, but the fighting is escalating and expanding in Ukraine and Russia; and there are no signs that Israel has any intention of backing off from Lebanon, Syria, or anywhere else.  None of the leaders are showing any serious consideration for all of the people being killed, injured, and having their lives and property destroyed; and we’re heading beyond any hope of recovery in some places – especially where there are no people left to rebuild at all.

We do not want to wrap up this holiday weekend on that note; so let’s switch to happier thoughts.  None of our weekend guests headed home today, but many of them will be leaving tomorrow – except for Mark’s family and a few Johnson clan kids that will be staying for the week.  We aren’t going to be here for most of that visit because we head out on Tuesday with Cassie and Michael for their work trip to Canada.  Sophia and Aaron are coming with us too; and we are going to have an amazing work and explore adventure!  We’ll miss out on a lot of fun here at home too – including Brianna’s birthday on Wednesday, but that’s normal for Cassie and Michael now; and we’re just going to experience that from their side of those stories.  That does mean that we’ll need to pack tomorrow and we’re staying the night with them ahead of the early drive to the airport; so we are going to be busy again tomorrow.

Before we move on, let’s mention that Jayden was not planning on staying for a vacation this summer – he has a summer job with his Dad’s company; a current girlfriend; and no interest in staying here instead – not even for some extra time with Kaitlyn and Jeremy.  Summer jobs are an issue for more of our Johnson clan cousins too; so it is only the younger ones that are here and staying for one or two weeks.  They’d want to hang out with our younger cousins anyway, and we’d be working our own summer jobs if here; so this summer visit would have been very different for us anyway.  We’ll still pick the adventures with Cassie and Michael, and that’s a happy thought to end this update on; so that’s all for tonight.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - July 4, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 250^th birthday, America!

Happy Un-Independence Day, Mom and Cassie!

This is actually a rare morning update because Ethan and I stopped in at home to get changed after the parade and we need to head back to the park for the noon co-ed ball game and the rest of the holiday fun at the park.  The parade wasn’t a lot different from normal for the milestone celebration, and we got rained on a bit too, but we had fun too.  Ethan was with Naomi and the teen praise team for the parade while Aiden and I were with the school band, so that was different for us; and we got teased a bit too for the twin split-up that also doesn’t happen very often.  The weather this morning has been a mix of warm and wet, and the forecast is for more of the same through the rest of the day; so the holiday fun could get interesting depending on when the rain rolls through.  We’ll save those stories for our next report, but before we get back to our holiday adventures; let’s cover the rest of our news since the last update.

The family barbeque dinner at the Ayres’ home was amazing; and then we moved on to win our respective ball games last night.  Ethan and the Locusts won their game over the Wasps by a score of sixteen-to-eight – even without their favorite cheerleaders; and Naomi, Sophia, and I led our Glacier team held on for an eight-to-seven win over the Polar Vortex.

After the games, Ethan and I led our gang of teens home for our play and sleepover plans; some of us needed to hit the showers before moving on the video gaming and movies in the lounge and living room; and then we stayed up as late as expected with all of the teen fun that did not include any co-ed naps.  While Naomi, Sophia, and I had some fun teasing some of the visiting girls about their appreciation for our boyfriends, we can’t fault them for their taste in guys; and actually like Uncle Mark’s nieces too.  All of his nieces and nephews are smart and confident; and most of them expect to have futures in medicine to follow the family tradition.  We don’t think about that much for Caleb and Faith – or Zack and Brianna, but then that has a lot to do with not being able to picture Zack as a future doctor without laughing!

After the short naps we eventually had early this morning; we were up for Tai Chi by the river; breakfast was a blast of work and food fun as we juggled getting everyone fed and ready for the day and then headed to the school to get ready for the parade.  Ethan and I split up for that for obvious reasons; had our respective warm-ups; and there was one blast of showers before the parade started that left us a bit damp as we eventually hit the road and the parade route.  We’ve already mentioned the rain during the parade, but we were prepared for that.  Ethan and Naomi had the bigger challenge to keep electronics dry, but then everyone in the school band will need to clean their instruments after they got wet while we played our way through the rain.  For the record, we did not change up our music list for anything rain-related, but that would have been fun if we had tried that kind of mash-up like we’ve done for our football team cheer squad!

That brings us up to now, and we really do need to get going; so let’s wrap this up.  Instead of offering a limited world news report; let’s save that for a weekend update.  Ditto that for holiday celebrations stories from around our country that we hope will all be happy without any horror stories.  While we get out of here, I am also now going to hope that I didn’t jinx anything with that last comment – especially here at home!  Stay tuned; and we’ll have all of those stories for you sometime tomorrow.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - July 3, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Afternoon updates will continue through the weekend, and for tonight, that is because Ethan and I are going to be hosting a gang of teens after the family barbeque that the Ayres are hosting and our ball games tonight.  We need to get to that dinner soon; so let’s get to the rest of our news since the last report.

The barbeque dinner yesterday was great; we ended up keeping the next-gen kids entertained before, during, and after the meal; there was some park play time and a river swim between dinner and the outdoor movies; and then we kept the fun going with those shows and the late-night teen chat time by the river that we stayed up too-late for until we eventually got around to the nap time.  Naomi would want me to mention that Uncle Mark’s nieces appreciated her boyfriend a bit too much last night – and today-so-far, and that is definitely true, but then they liked Aiden, Aaron, and Jayden too; so Ethan wasn’t the only guy that they found interesting.  I’ll also mention that all of the Everett clan teens received a lot of attention in return from the local guys and girls; not all of our friends included in that group are single; and one or more of them could be in trouble if they aren’t careful! ;^)

Ethan does not need to worry about that, but I’ll add that he got extra attention from those girls during our Tai Chi workout this morning; and I don’t need to mention similar attention directed at the girls in our group because the boys slept in and weren’t awake for that workout if not with us for the exercising.  That breakfast was a major event; we were ordered to pack up the campground due to the rain forecast for tonight; and then the rest of our day since then has been a mix of work and play.  The work was all about helping the parents with meals and other entertainment for Ethan and me – though Aiden also did some work at the bakery; and Naomi helped her father and Aunt Deborah too.  There was still lots of time for biking the trails, park play, and swimming and canoeing; so we’ve had fun so far today too.

As mentioned, the Ayres are hosting the family-and-friends’ barbeque dinner; most of our weekend guests are either already here or on the way; and we are going to be busy for the rest of the day.  Ethan and I both have ball games tonight; they are both at the park ball diamonds; and then thanks to the weather forecast; sleepovers are being split up at multiple homes.  Leah is hosting a group of girls; Zack is doing the same for the boys with all-night gaming planned; and Ethan and I are hosting a gang of teens.  Co-ed sleepovers might not be an option for us tonight, but we’ll let you know how that goes for us; and we are expecting to be up late again tonight whatever we decide to do.

Instead of offering another war report for our world news; let’s take a day off from that; and look elsewhere for some less-serious stories.  We can only be amazed by reports and commentary out of Europe during a deadly heat wave when some leaders suggest that air conditioning is not a viable solution due to environmental concerns!  Those views do not extend to changing the lifestyles for the rich and powerful while forcing bad policies on everyone else.  Take that story and compare it to the push for massive, power-sucking data centers that definitely do require extreme cooling; and the hypocrisy is stunning.  Feel free to have fun imagining that scenario where humans are left to deal with extreme heat – or cold – while the computers and robots ‘live’ in comfort!

The last commentary we’ll offer for this afternoon is about China.  As usual, western media and leaders do their very best to declare the worst about China and war-monger over Taiwan and the South China Sea, but while we know that China has challenges that are currently compounded by the war in the Middle East; Ethan and I continue to watch in amazement as the Chinese people continue to lead the way in technology development and building the most-modern and advanced infrastructure in the world.  That includes developments and partnerships around the world that also annoy American and European leaders, but we don’t share that opinion when China’s projects offer modern advantages to those countries and people without the same risks that come with pretty much every ‘western’ offers of support that almost-always have exploitation hidden behind the aid.

That’s all we have time for now, and we really need to go now; so we’re out of here and back to the real world fun.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - July 2, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 2^nd Birthday, Jeremiah Fletcher!

This is another early update because we’re going to be busy for the rest of the day and don’t expect to be doing any computing later tonight.  Since our last report, we had fun with the barbeque dinner, park play and babysitting with the next-gen kids, and our respective co-ed sleepovers with Naomi or Aiden.  Ethan and Naomi got to start the day with Mom and Dad, but Aiden and I managed to have fun too thanks to Tai Chi by the river with Cassie and Michael and then breakfast with Hailey and Leah.  We all got together for the rest of the chores we needed to get done ahead of the holiday weekend.  The work wasn’t newsworthy beyond getting it done; and then we’ve been playing this afternoon along with setting up tents for a camping night that we’re hosting for a large gang of teens and kids.

We have a fair number of incoming weekend guests arriving today and tonight; more will be arriving tomorrow; and we’re going to help out with the entertainment for the teens and kids.  So far today, Jayden has arrived with his parents; Chris and Sadie are here already too for some work they have planned for today and tomorrow; and the Malloys are inbound and will be here by dinnertime.  The top news for guests so far, though, is the arrival of Uncle Mark’s family.  Mom and Aunt Leanne helped with the airport run for them; since they needed passenger room for eleven.  They are here now; Uncle Mark’s sister and her family are staying in our family cottage while here; and his parents, brother, and his family are staying with him.  Kellum is the oldest of the ‘kids’ at nineteen, so he’ll likely hang out with Kaitlyn, Jeremy, and the other collegians, but we expect the four younger teens will hang out with us and our friends.  We’ll have more on that as we go along over the next four or five days, but we’ve barely talked with them so far – though they have been invited for the camping and we’ve set up the extra tents already too.

That brings us up to now and we’re really only inside to grab our camping gear before heading outside again.  The weather has been great, and while it is a bit hot right now; it will cool down into the mid-seventies tonight and be comfortable for the camping.  We’re waiting to vote on our evening entertainment, but expect outdoor movies to win out over a campfire; and are ready for either option.  Ethan and I do need to help out with either pre-cooking or kid-control now; so let’s wrap this up with just a quick world news report.

Ukraine was in the news thanks to a major missile and drone attack on Kiev and other cities across the country with widespread damage.  There were attacks into Russia too, but not to the same extent; and the escalations on both sides are bad news for everyone.  The frontlines news is terrible for Ukraine too, and if nothing changes soon; we will not be surprised to see Russia push far beyond the Donbass region – just as they’ve repeatedly warned over the past couple of years.  Western countries are definitely helping out more with the deeper strikes into Russia; and they are literally playing with fire as they anger more and more Russians and risk direct conflict and retaliations into their own countries.

The Middle East continues to be a disaster with no good news to offer, but western leaders and media don’t care about the truth and roll along with the never-ending cheerleading – whether that’s about peace talks that aren’t really happening or war-mongering.  We don’t need to rant on that this afternoon, but we continue to keep up with the news and sift through the nonsense; and hope for better while expecting the worst.  Venezuela is not in the news anymore, but the disaster recovery needs continue and are immense; and our family businesses and charities will continue to send support where we can.  We’re also keeping an eye on our own country this weekend for everything from economic impact for tourism and holiday travel to risks of violence during holiday events across the country.  We’ll again hope for the best, but recent history needs to be respected; since there have been significant attacks over most major holidays.

That isn’t a happy note to end this update on, but we need to get going now; so that’s all we have for today.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - July 1, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 26^th Birthday, Darryl Watts!

Happy Canada Day to all of the Canadians we’ll be meeting starting next week!

Let’s start with an admission that we haven’t been involved in Darryl’s special day – though Cassie, Michael, Rowen, and Tim did a joint breakfast vid-chat with their college friends and sent gifts.  The Canada Day best wishes are just for fun, so while we hope that Canadians have fun with their own national birthday celebration; we don’t think about many country-specific holidays for anywhere else other than our own country.  Don’t take that the wrong way, since we do know those details for most countries in the world – we just don’t try to keep up with those events everywhere.  We already have enough on the go just keeping up with local family-and-friends’ birthday and anniversary celebrations!

As for our own news of the day-so-far, we’ve been busy with chores all day ahead of the holiday weekend because our first incoming guests start arriving tomorrow and we’ll be busy through the holiday weekend and until we head out on our own trip.  The afternoon update is because we’re going to be busy for the rest of the day and then I’ll be with Aiden tonight and Naomi will be here with Ethan after the co-ed ball practices and next-gen babysitting we’re booked to do after the park play time.  We’ve skipped over the Tai Chi by the river, breakfast, snack lunch, and two swim breaks with our friends and cousins; and the actual chores details are not exciting or newsworthy so we won’t bore you with those stories!  We didn’t quite get everything done today, but needed to wrap up and get ready for the rest of our day; and we definitely are ready for some fun – even when that will include the babysitting work.  We’ll have the rest of our news from today included with our next update, but need to get going to help out with dinner prep work; so let’s wrap this up with a quick world news report.

That won’t take long because there isn’t any news that we want to write about today.  The Middle East and Ukraine remain horrific messes with no end in sight; financial markets continue to have little connection to reality; the global economy is still being decimated as shortages spread across supply chains; and our leaders and media pundits can’t stop being idiots – whether intentionally or not!

Ethan and I really do need to go now; so that’s all for this report.  Stay tuned, since our holiday weekend adventures start early and tomorrow; and we are going to do our very best to have another best-ever-so-far Fourth of July!

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!