Happy 4th Birthday, Ethan and
Ehlana!
I helped them out with their wake-up call;
Mom, Dad, and Michael joined us for Tai Chi by the river; and then we had the
birthday breakfast out on the back porch.
Violet and Dillon joined us for that; and Ethan and Ehlana opened a few
gifts then too. Michael and I were on
the clean-up crew of two teens while everyone else got ready for the day; and
then we took our turns at hitting the showers and getting ready too – with Michael
doing that at his house. Dad, Violet,
and Dillon needed to get to work, and Mom headed over to the med center to help
out with the grand opening; so I was in charge of Ethan and Ehlana for the morning
until we were to be at the med center too for the ceremony, tour, and barbeque
luncheon.
While everyone else was busy, we grabbed
our bikes; picked Michael up on our way over to the park; and then we went for
a ride on the trails before following that up with some quality playground
action. With school out, there were lots
of kids at the park; so we had a lot of playmates – including some of Ethan’s
and Ehlana’s friends.
We went home so that we could go for a
swim; got a bit more dressed up for the grand opening; and then we biked over
to the med center. The official grand
opening ceremony was at eleven o’clock; though Uncle Mark and Uncle Adam began
taking patients before then – and the Dental office was open for business too.
I’ll take a wild guess that Uncle Adam’s
first appointments with his pregnant wife and son were more fun than the first
dental appointments – especially if fixing cavities or doing root canals were
involved!
The usual local dignitaries were there for
the grand opening ceremony, and I’ll be blunt and just admit that the speeches
and ceremony were boring for all of the kids and teens in attendance. The tour of the med center – and the rest of
the Professional Office Building – was a lot of fun, and from what I heard
during the barbeque luncheon; everyone was impressed with the top-of-the-line,
modern equipment that is now available to our doctors, nurses, and dentists.
While the ceremony was a snooze-fest; I can
report that the barbeque was a hit with everyone; and I’ll guess that the Inn
didn’t have many customers since it looked as though nearly everyone in town
showed up for the food – and the open house that went on for most of the
afternoon. Michael, Ethan, Ehlana, and I
stayed at the med center until nearly one o’clock; and then we headed home
again – and we had Rowen, Tim, Naomi, Aiden, and Sophia come home with us –
though some of us got a ride home with Dad or Mom so that none of us had to
walk. The guys rode the bikes home, and
though Tim was a bit too tall for my bike; Aiden didn’t mind using Ehlana’s
bike since it was the same as Ethan’s anyway.
Ethan and Ehlana’s party wasn’t booked to
start until three o’clock, but the rest of their friends were dropped off early
– with most of the parents doing that after they were finished with their
visits to the med center. The twins had
decided on inviting three friends each, so in addition to Naomi, Aiden, and
Sophia; Miles Sheldon, Aaron White, and Paige Spencer were dropped off at our
house; and they joined right in for the backyard fun and games that we’d been
keeping ourselves entertained with since getting home. Mom had lots of help booked for dealing with
the barbeque dinner; so I was in charge of the party games and
entertainment. Michael, Tim, and Rowen
were drafted to help me with that, and while we took turns playing with the
kids; we also set up the party games.
We also went swimming with the kids; took
care of making sure that they were kept fed and hydrated; and even managed to
keep up with the little kid care details like suntan lotion; hats; sunglasses;
and anything else that each kid needed.
Most of the games were perfect for hot, sunny days; and the prizes were
a big hit with the twins and their friends.
Aunts, Uncles, and cousins began arriving once parents were finished at
work; so I had more kids to entertain – and join in on the games. There was some extra support for that; and
Violet, Dillon, Josiah, and Christina all helped out when they came over after
work too. That was particularly helpful
for the swimming; since we didn’t have many junior swimmers that didn’t need
constant, one-on-one help while playing in the river.
We were all okay with doing that, since it
was so hot out by then; but keeping up with one or two kids while in the water
was fairly tiring too. I was certainly
ready to sit down and take a break when we were called for dinner at a bit
after six o’clock. Ethan and Ehlana had
their friends with them for dinner, and there was parental support; so Michael,
Tim, Rowen, and I had I had that time off to enjoy our meal and get ready for
the rest of the evening fun. Michael and
Tim had their ball practice to go to at seven; but they went off to do that and
then came straight back to the party.
The original party plan included a camping
adventure by the river, but Mom and Dad changed that to an indoor sleepover instead
when the weather forecast showed a high probability of thunderstorms
overnight. That change of plans made it
a bit easier for the teens on the birthday party crew because we didn’t need to
set up tents; but we took a chance and went ahead with the campfire when the
rain and storms appeared to be running late and the skies were still clear as
we headed toward dusk.
Before we got to that point in the fun,
though, there were still more games to play after Ethan and Ehlana had opened
their gifts and we’d done the cake and ice cream dessert. That kept Rowen and I busy until Michael and
Tim returned; they helped us get through the last games; and then we all went
for a swim before moving on to the campfire part of the night.
All of our aunts, uncles, and cousins had
gone home by then, so it was just the eight kids; four teens, Violet, Dillon,
Christina, and Josiah at the campfire.
Mom and Dad went inside and got started on their work in the office
instead of joining us. Jake and
Stephanie were the last additions; and they came over shortly after seeing us
gathering around the fire from Jake’s house.
That worked out great for Michael and me, since Jake took a turn playing
guitar for the campfire songs; and all three of the older boys helped out with
the campfire stories. While Mother
Nature had cooperated with the rest of the birthday fun plans for Ethan and
Ehlana, our weather luck ran out before the kids were ready to head indoors;
and we were forced to wrap up the campfire early and head inside before the
rain hit. We managed to put out the
fire; get everything into the storage barn or house; and have everyone inside
before the rain hit with a minor downpour; and we moved on to our back-up
entertainment plan for movies and gaming in the lounge.
The three older couples didn’t join us for
that; though they did hang out in the living room until that first rain storm
passed instead of heading out and getting soaked. Rowen and I made up bowls of popcorn and
other snack options while Michael and Tim led the video gaming for a while, but
since we did have a limited amount of time available; we started the one movie
we expected the kids to be able to stay awake for at a bit before eleven o’clock. I was ready for the cuddle time with Michael
by then, and Rowen felt the same way about doing that with Tim; but some of
Ethan’s and Ehlana’s friends were not prepared to watch Naomi cuddle with Ethan
as the eight kids all sat or lay on the floor with pillows and blankets.
Naomi joked about special occasion birthday
cuddles, but the other guys didn’t buy that; and Miles led a minor razzing for
Ethan that Tim couldn’t resist joining in on with a few zingers of his own. Naomi might be a bit braver for initiating
the cuddle time with Ethan, but he didn’t try to get out of it even after all
of the razzing and jokes. The kids did
eventually settle in and watched the movie; we followed that up with bedtime
hugs and kisses with Mom and Dad; and then we got the eight kids settled in for
the night in four bedrooms on the second floor – including Ethan’s and Ehlana’s
rooms.
Michael, Tim, and Rowen were staying
overnight too, since they’d been booked for camping chaperones anyway; but we
went to hang out in the lounge for a while before heading to bed too. That was mostly a wind down and cuddle time;
and then Michael and Tim took the two bedrooms across the hall from my room;
and Rowen camped out with me. I guess
that I didn’t specifically mention it, but Violet and Dillon are at his house
tonight; and they headed home between rain storms at the same time that Jake,
Stephanie, Christina, and Josiah headed out.
It was going on one-thirty by the time that Rowen and I climbed into bed
with Mandy; so I only did my email check before getting to this report; and
Rowen’s already pretty much asleep now because my email included a bit of
family business work to get done before morning.
Ethan and Ehlana have had a really great
day, and it’s been fun helping them with that, but I’m also beat now and don’t
have anything else to add to this report; so that’s it for tonight, and, until
next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
