Ehlana and Ethan:
As we’ve mentioned, the summer vacation plans for visiting cousins has been different this year, and while on the Proctor side of the family that is because Kaitlyn is here and working with Aunt Leanne while Jayden has already visited as the last remaining ‘kid’ cousin. The Johnson clan is different because our cousins range from young adults to next-gen toddlers and babies; and that has led to most of those changes this summer. That’s true for having available cottages to use – along with hometown next-gen kids for aunts and uncles to come and visit; so the Johnsons and McEwans are taking turns with their visits over the next couple of weeks; and only a few of our cousins are staying for more than a week.
That ties into last night, since having the visitors arriving for the coming week including having them arrive starting by mid-afternoon and then into the evening by the time the last group made it to town. We now have four cousins here without parents – Kara, Eddie, Nicole, and Robyn; and Kara drove them all here – though she caravanned with Kyle, Tory, and their kids. The Denningers have one of our cottages for the week, and while their pre-schoolers wren offered a chance to camp with us last night; Gregory and Sophie chose to stay with their parents for their first night in town. That was true for Michelle and Neil’s kids too, but by the time they got to town, they only managed a visit to our campfire after getting into their cottage; and then Rochelle and Nolan fell asleep to our campfire music after a too-long day and then their trip from home.
Our afternoon and evening included lots of work from cooking and dinner set-up to getting our tents and gear ready for camping to helping with kid control and hauling luggage into homes or cottages. We had a lot of fun too, and while Kara was more-interested in hanging out with Kaitlyn, Jeremy, and some of Jeremy’s friends; Eddie stayed close to home with everyone at the Carringtons; and Nicole and Robyn played with Leah, Brianna, and the gang of girls with them that included a handful of their friends. Ethan and I had our best friends with us for all of that – including Sophia and Aaron for more than half of the day and the camping too, so while we didn’t get to have co-ed camping last night; everything else was awesome!
After an awesome barbeque dinner, we played at the park or in the back yard or in the river; the campfire was the group entertainment event; and the music, dancing, and stories were the highlights – along with the drinks and fire-toasted snacks. The adults began wrapping up their time around the fire by eleven o’clock; the teens and older kids were allowed to keep the fun going until a bit after midnight; and then the teens were also in charge of getting the kids into tents and off to sleep. That took a while, and then we stayed up and enjoyed some cuddle time and teen chat fun before eventually splitting up for the few hours we had left to nap before morning. We’ll mention that all four of our visiting teen-tween cousins earned special attention from hometown friends – including for Eddie from some girls that didn’t stay for the camping, but unlike Jayden, no matches have happened so far; so stay tuned and we’ll let you know whether that changes while they are here.
That brings us up to this morning, and Tai Chi by the river was special thanks to the extra exercise buddies and spectators; breakfast was spread out as parents and campers took turns eating and getting ready for the day. Our morning food included everything from pancakes and bacon to Olde Bakery treats and fruit, and while everything about that was awesome; we are going to pretend that Zack, Eli, and some of the other guys didn’t get annoying with their games meant to impress our visiting guests. Ethan and I did some work before and after we ate too – along with some chores, but we were also part of the major gang that went to the park for Brianna, Leah, and Hailey’s ball game. The Med Center Mystics had a large cheer squad, and Brianna was seriously fired-up; so you won’t be surprised to learn that the Mystics earned a big, seventeen-to-seven win over the Witch Falls Wisdom – a victory that they coasted to and also used the mercy rule for to drop the final inning.
That’s why we have a bit of time right now for this report before we need to head back to the park for the afternoon games that Ethan and I will be playing in today. That will keep us busy until dinner time; and then our tentative entertainment plans for the evening include outdoor movies and another camping night. There will be more going on around the family that we won’t be able to do this afternoon, but nothing major is set-up today because of the ball games. Writing about those adventures will need to wait for tomorrow, since we need to grab food and head back to the park soon; so that’s all for our hometown news.
On our way out of this digital world, let’s add that Rowen and Tim are already traveling toward home and will have an overnight flight across the pond to the east coast; and then they’ll fly the rest of the way to ‘our’ airport on Sunday morning before getting picked up by whomever has been drafted to be their designated drivers. Cassie and Michael are already in Germany as we’re writing this, so they get to have a bit of play time in their evening before getting to work in the morning. We’ll keep you posted on their travel news too, but we really need to move on right now; so we are out of here now and back to living our ‘real’ adventures with our family and friends!
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
