Michael and I had a happy little make-out
session before getting around to our sofa sleepover last night; and the wake-up
call before Tai Chi was fun too! ;^)
The rest of our day has been a bit strange
for me; but I think it’s because I’m feeling rained out tonight. We had some hot, sunny weather to enjoy today
too, but the rain overnight had things really wet around here for a while this
morning; and then we had more thunderstorms and rain move into town by late
afternoon that kept us from having any outdoor fun after that – again! I know we can’t do anything about it; but can’t
help but feel a bit disappointed that we’re not able to have as much fun as
usual with our cousins when we’re stuck indoors – and can’t have as many
camping adventures and other fun as we normally do.
Maybe I’m feeling that more because not
only is this likely the last summer that Dawn will come for a summer holiday;
but I’m running out of summers for these cousin vacations too. I know it’s hard to believe, but Michael,
Tim, Rowen, and I are only two years away from going off to college; and I won’t
be home very much for the next five years after that. Writing about those plans is something to do
another day – maybe when we’re a bit closer to the start of college; so let’s
not go there tonight.
Tai Chi was indoors thanks to the last bits
of rain still hanging around town at the time; Michael stayed for breakfast
because the boys wanted him to do that; and then he went home to spend the
morning helping out with chores there while I was on kid control for most of
the morning – along with helping out with some chores after breakfast for a while
too until our cousins gathered at our house by around nine o’clock. It was still pretty wet out, so we didn’t go
to the park or play in the back yard, but we did go for a bike ride to the new
section of town; did a bit of shopping after that; and then went to the park
once it looked dry-enough for the playground to actually be fun for the
kids. I had to bankroll the stop on the
way to the park for the ice cream, drinks, and snacks that were needed for my
little gang to survive that play time; we had fun at the park until it was
getting close to lunchtime; and then we collected Michael along the way when we
went home and hopped in the river to cool off for a while until lunch was ready
for everyone. That was an easy-meal, so
we made our own mini subs; added sides of cold salads and snack foods; and then
Michael and I sat with Dawn and Jillian on the benches by the river while most
of the kids either sat on the dock with their food and drinks; or on blankets
by the river. Aunt Leanne, Grandma, and
Grandpa joined Mom for lunch; and then we had a small gang of teens and older
kids only for a trip out to the ranch for a trail ride while Grandma and
Grandpa took care of the younger kids with some help from Uncle Nick and Naomi’s
Dad while we were busy with the first – and probably only – trail ride we’ll
have for the cousins’ holidays here.
That seems strange to think of too when it
wasn’t that long ago when I got to go trail riding every week and another dozen
or more rides on weekends and holidays.
Now it seems as though we’re too busy all of the time and can’t get out
to the ranch very often at all – or we get rained out the way we have so many
times this summer.
The trails, by the way, still had some
muddy, wet sections even by that time of the afternoon, but we didn’t get too
messy going through those sections; and the horses were cleaned up when we got
back to the corrals and barns. We had a
lot of fun; Dawn and Jillian especially loved riding and talking with Pamela
and two of her kids; and Michael and I had fun with Mom, Aunt Leanne, Jaimie,
Kaitlyn, Kara, and Eddie. Michael rode
next to Eddie and helped him out a bit when needed; since this was his first
time being allowed to go on the trail ride with us. He isn’t as interested in horses as Kara is,
but I think he liked spending that hour or so with Michael; and felt more
comfortable with riding by the time we were finishing up the ride.
Our timing for that was pretty good, since
we had time to go for a swim after we were home again and have an ice cream
snack break before the storm clouds moved into the area and our outdoor play
time came to an end for the day. Dinner
for everyone in our family and a handful of friends ended up being at our house
again, though that hadn’t been the original plan. That decision was mostly because we have the
extra space with the sunroom now; and we – the kids and teens – were split
between the kitchen and sunroom while the parents and grandparents had dinner
in the dining room. That’s when they set
up the last-minute plan for the rest of the evening, which for us meant a girls’
night at our house while the boys were sent off to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s
house for the evening – and a sleepover there for Ethan, Jayden, Aiden, Eddie,
Caleb, and Sebastian.
We are so going to need to get Mom and Dad
a kid-free night sometime soon to make up for all of the too-many-kids nights
they’ve had lately! ;^)
Our evening here included mini makeover
help from Mom and our aunts; and the only down-side of the plan for me was that
Michael didn’t get to stay with me. He
couldn’t refuse going to play with the guys either, but went and borrowed Ryan
to join in on that fun – and then added Tim to the gang too after Rowen picked
joining me for the girls’ night over hanging out with Tim instead. We helped Mom and my aunts with the makeovers
for the younger girls; we watched movies; and pretty much just goofed around
for a few hours until we started to have our most-junior sleepover buddies
start dropping off from exhaustion after a long, busy play day. All of the younger girls except for Brianna
are on the second floor tonight; but Rowen and I got to keep her for a cuddle
buddy while Ehlana has Naomi, Leah, and Sophia with her; and the other girls
are in the rest of the guest rooms. Dawn
and Jillian are up here on the third floor, but we didn’t want to make things
too weird for Dillon – especially when he and Dad are so outnumbered tonight!
Since I just mentioned Sophia, I probably
should have added earlier that since Michael invited Ryan to hang out with him,
Ehlana invited Sophia and Jessica to join us – and they were happy to do that –
giving yet another set of parents a kid-free night. I’m sure that Michael’s aunt and uncle
appreciate that a lot; though I’ll also mention that Michael took Ryan home
with him instead of staying with the other boys at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s
house.
Getting back to the story at our house, the
makeovers were done by ten-thirty; the other Moms were set free to go home; and
Rowen, Dawn, Jillian, and I watched one more movie with the older girls before
they all went to bed shortly after midnight.
Brianna was in my bed while we did that; and she’d snuggled in between
Rowen and me now as I’m writing this; while Mandy had to settle for a spot at
the foot of the bed because she didn’t like getting kicked by Brianna if she
tried to snuggle too close to my adorable cousin. Rowen and I talked for a while when I first
got started on my bedtime computing and family business work, but she fell
asleep an hour or so ago while I’ve tried to blast through all of the work I
needed to get done tonight. I didn’t
quite get there; but did finish everything that couldn’t wait until tomorrow night.
Tomorrow is supposed to be baseball
practice day, but the weather might not cooperate yet again; with the forecast
currently being for a near-repeat of today – rain ending in the morning; and
then more storms in the evening and overnight.
I guess we’ll just have to play it by ear again and see how it goes; but
it’d be nice to get at least a couple of chances to have camping nights for our
cousins – and maybe another play day at Quarry Lake; since I didn’t really get
to do that with them last Saturday while busy with Elliott’s party instead.
I’ll let you know how that works out as we
go along, but I’ve had enough fun for tonight and need to get some sleep now. Mom and Dad will need the help with this gang
of girls in the morning – and that wake-up call isn’t very far away from now;
so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
