Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - March 20, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 23^rd Birthday, Scott Faulkner!

We don’t have much news from our day-so-far because it is still just getting started; and this is just going to be a placeholder update because we’re going to be busy for the rest of the day.  It is going to be sunny with a high in the mid-eighties; so we’ve decided on a bike ride to Quarry Lake with cousins and friends; and then we’ll be having another co-ed sleepover after the family-and-friends’ dinner and play night that is going to be at the Ayres’ home this week.  Enjoying the great weather and fun with our favorite people is going to be awesome; so we’re good with taking the day off from any major work or computing beyond helping with some kid control when needed; so let’s wrap this up.

The news we do have for today is from the rest of our Thursday.  Ethan and I had fun with Mom and our best friends at dinner and through the evening.  In addition to an awesome pasta and sides meal; we had a blast with a group Magi lesson – not literally; we had some ‘live’ music play time; the guys did a bit of video gaming while the girls had some chat time with Mom in the living room; and then we wrapped up the day with movies, teen chat, and quality co-ed cuddle time before getting around to the co-ed naps in the lounge.  Tai Chi was by the river this morning; the teens took care of all work around the hot pancakes and bacon breakfast; and now we’re split up while getting ready for our biking adventure.  Ethan and I need to get back to that work – including packing our picnic lunch and the rest of the gear we’ll need.  Stay tuned for our next update; and we’ll share all of the adventure stories from the rest of what will hopefully be an amazing spring break day!

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - March 19, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 33^rd Birthday, Isabelle Jennings!

Since our last report, Ethan and I have had a lot of fun.  For him, that included not having Zack and Eli with them for the night; so they had more fun with Naomi’s parents that included dinner and movies followed by some quality co-ed time before and while they had a nap.  Aiden and I had fun too, but we also got to spend time with his parents, sister, and Leah that included Pizzeria pizza for dinner and a quieter night after Aiden’s father needed to head for bed early as usual on a work night.  We got to have some co-ed alone time too, but a bit later; and we went to sleep a bit earlier too.

The four of us met up for Tai Chi by the river with Cassie, Michael, and some of their overnight guests that didn’t include Zack and Eli because they slept in after gaming most of the night.  It was still around fifty this morning, so while the ground is a bit soft; we loved the workout by the river.  We split up for breakfast, and Aiden and I took care of feeding Hailey and Leah; and then we split up for an hour and change for some morning chores before meeting up again for a play day.  We had friends and cousins with us for the biking and park play; we did a snack break at the Galleria and some shopping; and we all enjoyed the outdoor time as it warmed up into the mid-seventies this afternoon.  Now we’re home and getting ready to host our four best friends for the night.  Mom is home too – she got back in time for a fast food delivery and lunch with Aunt Leanne and Claire in the office; and we need to go and help her out with making dinner soon.

This update is another afternoon report because we’re going to enjoy the time with Mom and our best friends for the rest of the day; and the rest of our story can wait for the next report.  Let’s add that Cassie and Michael are getting yet another group of kids with them tonight too as they catch up with all of their favorite teens and kids, but they’re busy with work too and are already back to the usual late-night work and international video conference calls.

Finally, on the world news front, the war in the Middle East has definitely escalated as energy infrastructure is being bombed on both sides; and all of that damage won’t take weeks to repair whenever the war ends – it could take years.  There are also reports out from Ukraine and Russia that Ukraine is trying to destroy energy targets ranging from tanker ships to pipelines to refineries.  That will just add to the price instability for world markets for oil and gas – along with provoking retaliations from Russia that will just cause more devastation in Ukraine.  None of this is good for anyone except the narcissists getting richer and more-powerful through the death and destruction; and we continue to be disgusted by all people that believe that is okay on any level.

Ethan and I want to be happy, and need to go help Mom while waiting for our friends to join us again; so that’s all for this report.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - March 18, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 2^nd Birthday, Tyson Reynolds!

We didn’t have anything to do with Ty’s special day; and really only mention it because we spent some time with next-gen kids today; and thought about him – and his new baby sister.

As for our adventures since our last update; we had fun at the lab or archives; followed that up with a great rest of the day with Cassie, Michael, and our four best friends; and we stayed up late and didn’t get to enjoy very many hours of co-ed nap time!  Our entertainment included ‘live’ music; video gaming; movies; and a lot of chat time.  After a couple of months of meals in restaurants; we were happy to help out with cooking a ‘real’ meal; the teens took care of the clean-up; and we stayed indoors most of the time because it stayed colder all day.

We were all up early for Tai Chi that was indoors; Michael cooked up a hot breakfast for all of us; and then the teens took care of the clean-up again.  Our best friends had their own plans for the morning after that – whether work or chores at home or other options; Ethan and I took care of some chores too; and then we met up with some friends and cousins for some biking and outdoor play time.  The warm-up has begun now; and the high today hit the mid-sixties with lots of sunshine.  We’re going to enjoy the next few days as it continues to get warmer; and the high for the week could hit the mid-eighties if the forecast holds.  We had fun with all of the play time this afternoon; and now Ethan and I are home to repack overnight bags before we split up for co-ed sleepovers at Naomi’s our Aiden’s respectively while Mom spends another night in Crystal Springs.  Mom has had a happy birthday that included some play time with her friends – including Aunt Leanne and Uncle Adam; the Malloys; and others.  She’s done some shopping today and will have another night out with Dad for dinner and a show; and we won’t ask for details for anything else.

It’s time for us to get going again soon, but before we do that; the world news has more bad than good again today.  ‘Our’ attacks on Iran have hit new lows from our perspective while our leaders brag about assassinating another Iranian leader; bombing gas and oil fields and facilities; and adding in another round of five-thousand pound MOAB bombs to attempt destroying some of the underground military facilities along the coast of the Strait of Hormuz.  Israeli leaders are also green-lighting open season on all Iranian leaders for assassination; and we cannot understand how the leaders in the rest of the world do not have a serious problem with that admission and war tactic.  Western leaders certainly will have no grounds for complaints if any of their current or future adversaries decide that politicians and government and military leaders are all fair game now or in the future.  Iran has definitely advised the rest of the world that they will retaliate for the energy infrastructure attacks; and that is very bad news if they succeed in destroying refineries and storage facilities in the rest of the Middle East and set oil and gas fields on fire.  Recovering from that kind of mass destruction would take years and cost hundreds of billions of dollars.  While we’re on that topic; let’s add that Iran may have shut down pipelines to Iraq – likely to conserve energy for internal use; and that will impact prices and supplies too.

The war in Ukraine is being ignored in western media right now, but the only thing ‘saving’ Ukraine right now is the spring thaw that makes moving heavy military equipment impossible anywhere except on roads that can be vulnerable to easier targeting.  Russia is not really slowing down the air attacks with missiles and drones, though, and the Ukrainian army has other issues like dwindling supplies and breakdowns in supply chains; so they could be in for a great deal of trouble in another month or so once the ground hardens again and the Russian forces can resume their offensives along the front lines.  For both wars and other conflicts; we mostly just want the ongoing horrors to stop while knowing that the world leaders seem incapable of caring about all of the death and destruction.

That’s enough and we need to get out of here.  Silkie is getting a second sleepover with Cassie and Michael – along with some of our younger cousins getting a turn with our sister and brother-in-law.  Stay tuned for our next update; and we’ll get back to living those stories that we’ll write about tomorrow.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - March 17, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 48^th Birthday, Mom!

We are going to start with pointing out that Mom does not care about public admissions of her age; and most people that don’t know her wouldn’t believe her age anyway; since she could still pass for being in her early-thirties.  She definitely loves getting teased about being Cassie’s sister; and she got some of that this morning while we were all at the Inn for her birthday buffet breakfast.  That’s been our top news and event of the day; and this update is extra-early because Mom has left for two days in Crystal Springs; and we’re getting ready to move over to Cassie and Michael’s house – and take Silkie there with us.  Ethan and I are going to work-play at the lab or archives after we stop in to drop off the dog and our overnight bags, but we’ll eventually meet up with our four best friends for dinner and the rest of the night with Cassie and Michael.

The rest of our story for today can wait for a double update, but we’ll assure you that we did our best to make the start of Mom’s special day awesome from Tai Chi through until she hit the road for the city; and we’ll leave it up to Dad and their friends to keep her happy and entertained for the rest of the day.  Some of those celebration details will not be shared with her kids; we’re good with that; and will include a kid-free getaway update for you soon without those unwanted details! ;^)

As for the rest of our day, it is going to still be cold today; we’re going to stay indoors and have fun with our beakers or books; and then we’ll play with Cassie, Michael, and our four best friends for the rest of the day.  Stay tuned for those stories; and we’ll head out and get started on those adventures right now!

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - March 16, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

We got the cold weather as forecast; so Ethan and I opted to stay indoors today with chores this morning; the rest of the day at the lab or archives; and then dinner and a quiet work evening at home with Mom, Cassie, and Michael.  The rest of our Sunday after the last update was good too with the early buffet at the Inn and then our co-ed sleepover with our friends, but we also don’t really have much news to offer from any of those adventures beyond reporting that we loved the time with family and friends.  We did get up early this morning for Dad’s trip to the city; followed that up with a nap; and then we got started on our day with Tai Chi that was indoors and a hot breakfast before our friends moved on to their own plans for the day.  We were tempted to have another co-ed sleepover tonight, but decided to stay split up and spend time with our own families – mostly because we’ll be doing a lot of sleepovers for the rest of our spring break.  Our evening work and quiet time included a full update on Cassie and Michael’s trip along with plans for the coming weeks and months; we did some charity work and a group Magi lesson; and now we’re winding down fast toward nap time after Cassie and Michael headed home and we took bath or Jacuzzi breaks.

That brings us to the world news update; and there might actually be a bit of good news from the Iran war.  President Trump has been demanding help from other countries to send their navies to help open the Strait of Hormuz; and those countries have been refusing to do that and be drawn into the war too.  Most people that actually understand the situation know that those warships would be sitting ducks in the strait and the gulfs; and that doesn’t even take into account the implications that would go along with either defending their ships or attacking Iranian forces.  On the other side of the stupidity factor for political leaders, we have more calls for ground troops and trial balloons about using tactical nukes on Iran.  Both ideas are insane – which is why we are worried about it; since at least some of our world leaders think that they could and should seriously consider those options.  While Iran is getting the media attention, we want to mention that Israel is continuing their genocide in Gaza; expanding attacks in the West Bank; and invading Lebanon and bombing their country day and night too while the rest of the world stands by and allows that to happen without consequences.  Their actions are criminal; and we cannot predict the long-term impacts as they earn more and more enemies with every person they kill or injure.

The Ukraine war isn’t getting much attention right now either, but the situation is still dire for the Ukrainian people; and their leaders continue the insanity by refusing to concede that their country is being destroyed and there is no chance for them to win the war.  We do think that our leaders should learn a lesson from that because the Iranian people will not give up either, but there are also huge differences in the leverage that Iran and Ukraine have on their respective sides.  Iran will eventually force their enemies to deal with the closure of the strait; while Russia no longer needs Ukraine for energy exports because they are moving it from Europe to China, India, and other Asian countries.  Thanks to Ukraine’s leaders, Russia also doesn’t need anything that they used to buy from Ukraine – especially since they control the parts of Ukraine where most of the prime resources are located.  That isn’t a suggestion that one war will end differently than the other – we don’t know that at all.  It does mean that our leaders are messing up in both conflicts for different reasons; and we really hope that sanity will return before we end up dealing with wider conflicts or a world war.  Those dangers are real and depressing, but then the rest of the world is rolling along with other issues that include problems and threats from western countries that include economic and political pressures.

That’s definitely true for Cuba, Venezuela, and other countries in the region, and while there might not be military action; the threats continue; and the people in those countries are not ‘appreciating’ the consequences of our actions on their daily lives.  Ditto that elsewhere – with China being a top example; and they are not interested in any ‘deals’ from our leaders when it is proven that our country cannot be trusted about anything at all.  That’s true for most European countries too; so the efforts toward neo-colonialism are not going to work.

Let’s stop there.  Ethan and I need to get some sleep; since we want to make sure that Mom’s birthday starts out with a lot of love and happiness; so that’s all for tonight.

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