Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - August 31, 2024

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

We’re having a pretty good final day of August so far, but before we cover the news from today; let’s deal with our visit to Brookbridge and the rest of our adventures last night.

At the top of that list, Aaron and the Ridge River Raiders didn’t win their first game of the season, but while Brookbridge earned the twenty-four to seventeen victory; Aaron had a good start to his football career too and had a touchdown in the loss.  While in Brookbridge, Ethan and I were able to have dinner at one of the local restaurants with Naomi, Aiden, and Sophia, but the guys on the football team had other pre-game plans.  Sophia sat with us during the game, we did get damp with the showers and a bit of heavier rain that hit for a short time; and then we came home.  Naomi and Aaron eventually joined us; we warmed up with cuddle time and a movie and some teen chat fun; and then we had a co-ed sofa sleepover in the lounge.

While we were away, there was a family dinner that ended up being at several homes due to the rain; evening visits were indoors and at a half-dozen homes or cottages; and we only have Uncle Rick and Aunt Melissa at our house for the weekend while the other guests are spread out among the cottages and other homes – including the couples staying with Cassie and Michael.

The rain had moved on by this morning, so Tai Chi by the river was good and we only had to deal with a wet lawn.  Mom and Dad opted for a hot breakfast for ten; and then it was time to get to the park for the first championship ball game of the day.  Faith’s game with Taylor Twist was up first; she definitely led her team; and they bested the Pharma Flip by a score of twelve-to-seven.  We split up and took turns at the next round of games for Brianna, Zack, and their teams.  We also had a pretty good cheer squad competition for Brianna’s game as Miranda and Stephanie took turns cheering for the Witch Falls Wisdom.  Despite our split forces, Brianna, Leah, Hailey, and the Mystics earned their win while conceding the cheering victory to Miranda and her squad.  Zack and Eli may have helped their Mavericks team to another win for our ‘family’ teams, but they also had the closest game of the day; won by just one run; and can thank Caleb and Sebastian for that because they were to top two players on their team today.  That’s entirely because Zack and Eli had more-fun entertaining everyone over playing their best, but it was a fun game; so we can’t really complain.

We stayed at the park for a food booths lunch as we moved into the afternoon games.  Naomi, Sophia, and I were up first for our championship game and we led the Witch Falls Wisdom to a high-scoring, three-run win over our friends on the Spellcasters’ team.  We took a quick break for snacks and a cool-down swim and missed the start of Ethan, Aiden, and Aaron’s game.  The Bakery Blaze earned a fifteen-to-eleven win over the Pizza Pyros; and we’re okay with taking some credit for the cheer squad support – even though the Blaze actually coasted to that win while the Pyros only closed that lead over the final three innings.

Ethan and I are currently home and getting cleaned up before heading back to the park for another food booths meal; and then we’ll be at the teen dance tonight with our dates – and many of our cousins and friends.  It is taking me longer to get ‘date-ready’ after showering and choosing my outfit for the dance, but I’m pretty much there; and now I’m packing my overnight bag while multi-tasking this update – and yes; I’m doing that with some telekinetic computing.  Ethan and I are going to be split up for the night after the dance, but this would have been a late-afternoon update anyway; since camping or a sleepover was a certainty.  Naomi chose to invite Ethan to stay with her tonight, though, so Aiden and his family get to have me with them; and Mom, Dad, and their weekend guests get a kid-free night – unless they end up with one or more grandkid! ;^)

Okay, that’s enough for now.  We need to get going soon and meet up with our dates and family; so we’re out of here and back to the next round of holiday weekend adventures.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - August 30, 2024

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

We’re getting ready to hit the road for Brookbridge and Aaron’s first football game of the season and his high school career – though Ethan and I will also admit that we’re really going to brave a damp night for Naomi’s first game on the cheer squad!

Since our last report, We had a blast at Quarry Lake while also helping out with kid control; Faith’s birthday dinner barbeque was an adventure with some scary food moments thanks to younger brothers and guy cousins playing their usual pranks and games; and then Naomi and I helped the girls to have an awesome rest of the night without boys except for a few fathers.  Thanks to the weather forecast, Faith and her overnight guests opted for an indoor sleepover instead of camping.  That’s why we ended up watching Faith’s movie picks; doing mini-makeovers; and enjoying a lot of quality girl chat time!  We stayed up too-late, but that goes with the territory for a sleepover; and the lack of nap time was a fair trade-off for helping Faith out with having another amazing birthday.  Naomi and I have decided that we haven’t done that often-enough lately, and while we miss our favorite boys too; we are going to schedule more girls-only time this fall.  Naomi and I didn’t get much sleep, but still got up at normal time for Tai Chi with some of our favorite girls – and Uncle Adam – despite the wet lawns and a few sprinkles that we couldn’t dodge with the slow-motion Tai Chi movements.  The post-party breakfast was a minor adventure; Naomi moved on to her cheer squad practice after that; and I stayed and helped with the sleepover clean-up and getting the younger kids packed up and heading home before the first round of thunderstorms rolled through town.

I met up with Ethan after that; and we’ve kept busy with chores and other work to get homes and cottages ready for our incoming holiday weekend guests.  The Malloys and Proctors will be at their cottages this weekend; we’ll also be getting some of the Rice clan here in town; and about half of the Johnson-McEwan clan will be here too – or already are; since we have had some early arrivals.  We’ve been helping out with some of those arrivals and keeping younger kids entertained indoors, but we’ll be missing the family dinner and evening entertainment while we’re at the football game.  We’re also going to be having dinner in Brookbridge, but we can include all of those stories with our next report.  Supporting Naomi and Aaron at football games will be a significant change in our schedules for the next few months, but then that’ll be just one of many changes coming our way this fall – and not just because Ethan is now dating a high school cheerleader! ;^)

While I could have fun with a commentary on that topic, we need to go and meet up with Naomi and Aiden soon; so that’s all we have for this report.  Stay tuned, since there will be a lot more coming as the fun level kicks up again for our last holiday of the summer!

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - August 29, 2024

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 8^th Birthday, Faith!

Our cousin’s special day has everything to do with this extra-early update because we’re going to be busy with that for the rest of the day – or split up later; since Naomi and I are booked to help out with Faith’s birthday sleepover or camping depending on the weather.

We had fun last night with the play time at the park, the babysitting at Sophia’s; and the co-ed sofa sleepovers for the usual six teen babysitters after the babies and toddlers were picked up by their parents.  Other than Faith’s birthday, we can already report that Aaron has made the football team, and while he’ll be busy with team practice all day; Naomi will be able to go to Quarry Lake with us for that part of Faith’s party.

Ethan and I visited the school in support of our friends, but we’ve also helped with the prep work for the trip out to Quarry Lake.  There are likely going to be some showers here and there in the area today, so we’re not doing a bike ride out to our favorite campground too, but then those showers will just help with keeping us cool on another hot day and we don’t expect the rain to get in the way of our fun today.  Ethan and I are just multi-tasking this computing with grabbing our gear for the party and my overnight bag, and we need to get back to helping Mom and our aunts and uncles; so that’s all for this report.  Stay tuned for the rest of Faith’s birthday adventures news with our next update; and we’ll get back to living those future stories with our family and friends!

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - August 28, 2024

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Our top news of the day is that Naomi and Samantha earned the Grade Nine spots on the cheer squad, and while that isn’t a surprise; I am going to have a lot of fun with having my twin dating a cheerleader a year before we’ll get to our high school years! ;^)

While Naomi was enthusiastically joining the cheer squad, Ethan and I led the campground clean-up in our back yard; and then we got started on our weekly chores.  Naomi and Aiden joined us for lunch and then we worked together on our chores through the afternoon to now.  We’ve split up to get cleaned up ahead of dinner and to have those meals with our own families; and then we’ll get together again for the co-ed ball practices at the park.  We’re booked for kid control as usual and some babysitting after that while some of our favorite parents wrap up the practice season with some play time at the pub.  Sophia is going to host that and we’re going to stay at her house for the night; so that’s why we’re going with yet another afternoon update.

That’s also pretty much all we have for this report, so we’re going to go and help Mom with the dinner prep work and then enjoy the rest of our day with Mom, Dad, and our family and friends!

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - August 27, 2024

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Day two of our final week of summer vacation has included another morning of work-play at the lab or archives while football and cheer squad tryouts kept some of our friends busy.  We’re flirting with triple-digit highs again this afternoon; and that is why most of our afternoon play time has been near or in the river while we had fun and stayed cool.  Now we’re getting ready for the usual ball practices and Pizzeria pizza picnic dinner adventures at the park, and then after our practices; we’re having another camping night with our friends and will likely go with a campfire instead of an outdoor movie.  We definitely had fun with our friends last night, and while Zack and Eli led a ‘raid’ during the movie last night from the camp they’d set up in Zack’s back yard; that was only a minor annoyance for the girls in our group while most of the guys goaded the younger boys on with their obvious amusement and approval.

We’re expecting the fun to continue for the rest of the day, and need to get back to those adventures soon; so let’s wrap this up.  Naomi and Samantha are feeling good about their chances to make the cheer squad, and while some of their friends are feeling disappointed; I know that all of the other new prospects agree because the competition really isn’t all that close.  The Grade Nine boys aren’t as confident about their progress in football tryouts, but Aaron is an exception; since he is also outplaying most of the Grade Ten guys and keeping up with the older teens despite the obvious size differences.  Let’s also add that we made just one cameo visit to the football tryouts this afternoon; and that was entirely because of the heat that was also tough on the players.  Their work is just getting started – at least for the guys that make the team, but dealing with weather extremes goes with those football jobs; and we’ll support our friends.

For now, we really just need to get going to our last baseball practices of the season, so that’s all for this report; and we’ll cover the rest of our news of the day sometime tomorrow.

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