Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - July 28, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Another sunny, triple-digit-high day has us feeling a bit lazy as we’re writing this late-afternoon update.  Tai Chi by the river and breakfast with Mom and Dad were good; I had my football workout at the park after that while Ehlana opted to head over to the lab instead of hanging out with the other spectators; and then I moved on to the archives for the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon.  Ehlana and I wrapped up our play-work in time to be home by one-thirty; our four best friends met up with us then for a late lunch; and we’ve spent the rest of the afternoon to now splitting our time between swimming and staying cool and not doing much at all under the shade of the trees in our back yard.  This has been one of the hottest days of the summer, so we spent some time with cousins or other friends that wandered by or floated down the river or back upstream; so we managed to keep entertained even while not doing much of anything.

Our friends have split up to pack overnight bags for the co-ed sleepover Ehlana and I are hosting tonight; and they’ll be back in time for dinner with Mom and Dad.  We need to go and help Mom with the cooking, and already have the lounge and our rooms ready for company; so we’ll save the best stories from our day for our next report; since we’re expecting to live those adventures tonight.  So far, Mom is planning a group Magi lesson; we’re going to have a band practice; and we’ll likely watch a movie or two in the lounge before getting around to the co-ed nap time.

Before we get back to the real world; Cassie and Michael are in Italy; have already had their first work day after a very early flight from Portugal; and they worked into their local-time evening with a business meeting and charity project site visit to a low-income housing partnership.  They have a very busy schedule for this first ‘work’ week, and we’ll keep you posted on some highlights, but if you want every detail; check out their work and personal archives for the full stories of their travel adventures.  Rowen and Tim are still on the way home, but they are spending the night visiting friends along the way home; and will take the last flight-hop home in the morning.

Finally, while we don’t want to offer major commentary on world news, we hope that a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand will lead to more-serious peace negotiations – though none of the underlying problems have been resolved at all.  There is no good news out of the Middle East as Syria continues to be torn apart and the Palestinians continue to be killed and tormented by Israeli military forces.  As for the Ukraine conflict, it continues to be bad for them; and the only news making the rounds is that President Trump has shortened his fifty-day time limit for peace to another ten-to twelve days before he will, apparently, approve some new action – either military or with his threat of secondary sanctions against any country that trades with Russia.  Either option will be bad for the world; and could lead to expanding the war beyond Ukraine, but after the attacks on Iran; we can’t rule out that our leaders really are stupid enough to risk direct war with Russia instead of continuing the pretense of only providing ‘aid’ to a proxy country.  Those leaders certainly don’t care about the Ukrainian people or the devastation they’ll be dealing with for decades to come; and our ‘allies’ in Europe should take note of that; since that is just as true for all of those countries.

So much for not getting into a rant.  We’ll stop now; since we really do need to get downstairs to help Mom with the dinner prep work while waiting for our best friends to join us again.  Stay tuned; and we’ll have those best stories of the day for you with our next report.

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - July 27, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 6^th Anniversary, Cassie and Michael!

Happy 1^st Anniversary, Rowen and Tim!

Our sister, brother-in-law, and their friends had an amazing last day in Portugal while celebrating their special days with a hike in the morning; quality beach and sea time all afternoon; and fine dining for dinner before wrapping up their celebrations with some dancing before returning to their hotel to get some sleep before they head out for home or other destinations tomorrow.  Rowen and Tim will be the only homeward-bound couple, while Cassie and Michael will be in Italy by the time we wake up in the morning; and Madelana and Stefan are moving on to week two of their honeymoon without the close friends’ baggage!  That sounds like the opposite of what Cassie and Michael did for their honeymoon when meeting up with us for their second week, but we’re also fairly-sure that the newlyweds had a much different experience compared to a week with parents and younger siblings!

Moving along to our news of the day, we had fun last night with Naomi, Aiden, and the Malloys through dinner and an evening that included a canoe ride, swim, and a family-friendly movie before the Malloys headed back to their cottage.  The co-ed teen cuddling and movie time was a highlight of our day along with the co-ed nap time that followed; and we stayed up a bit later than we should have when we had a busy day booked for today.  We still got up early for Tai Chi by the river; breakfast was quick and easy; and then church and Sunday school included some work getting ready for the holiday weekend teen service.  Ehlana, Aiden, Sophia, and I will officially be joining the teen praise team now; though we’re not sure how much time we’ll be able to dedicate to the group with everything else we have on the schedule for the coming school year.  We love music, but our work at the lab and archives is really important; and we are definitely going to have time issues during our high school and college years.

The entertainment highlight of our day started after church.  We got everything ready to go; about half of our group hopped on bikes for the ride to Quarry Lake; and everyone else drove out to our favorite campground for a play afternoon.  It was really hot today with a triple-digit high and lots of sunshine – which was why the younger kids were not allowed to bike with us; and we took lots of water and drinks along to stay hydrated.  We also spent a lot of time swimming and playing on the water slides with only one rock wall climb and zip line ride – though that was mostly-due to the lack of openings for that activity on a day when the campground was packed and too-busy.  For the record, I do not have a problem with staying close to Naomi whenever she’s in a swimsuit- or any other time, but that seemed necessary today when she was getting too much attention from a lot of the guys around the lakes and campground.  While that was sometimes-scary when the guys were much older and creepy; let’s not even get into commenting on how many guys appreciated some of our favorite mothers a bit too-much too!  Ehlana wants me to be less sexist and mention that some of our favorite fathers get that same kind of attention from the women around them, but that’s even stranger for sons to think about – even if Naomi thinks that’s funny because she really appreciates what she expects me to look like when we’re our parents’ ages.

We had a picnic lunch and played at the campground until around four or five o’clock – depending on when we needed to leave to bike or drive back to town; had time to unpack and get cleaned up; and then we headed to the Inn for the late buffet.  That culinary highlight was mostly for the Malloys; since they’ll be heading home sometime tomorrow after Uncle Terry has a last meeting with the bridge construction managers.  Ehlana, Naomi, Aiden, and I had that meal with Valerie, Marcus, Brianna, and Faith at our table; enjoyed the chat time that Brianna led most of the time; and then we came home for the night with just the usual side-trip to take Silkie for a walk and see Naomi and Aiden to their homes.  Mom did a Magi lesson with us after that; we did some charity and family business work in the office until Dad had his work finished and ready for the morning; and then we headed up to the third floor for bath or Jacuzzi time even though we’d only had quick showers a handful of hours ago.  My bath was quicker, so I had some music play time while waiting for Ehlana; and then we got to the usual nightly computer checks and twin chat fun.

One of the new top stories this weekend has been border clashes between Cambodia and Thailand – another example of leaders choosing fighting over diplomacy.  There is news today of peace talks for this latest little conflict, and we’ll hope for the best, but we’re also concerned by the spread of military actions to new regions that have been quieter for years or decades.  It’s sad to know that there are few places in the entire world that can claim peaceful times for more than a couple of decades – and that is only true for our country because we take our fights out into the rest of the world and haven’t had any wars on our own soil since the world wars.

Instead of getting into commentary on the still-awful situations in the Middle East and Ukraine; we want to mention the conflicts that are ongoing in Africa.  For example, Sudan has been turned into yet another failed State thanks to outside forces, and one of the latest attacks in that country was on water infrastructure that could put millions of people at risk of basic, clean water thanks to the fighting between the factions trying to gain control over the country.  By the time that is decided; there might not be anything left of the country to rule over, but then most of those terrible men only care about the resources and the money they can make selling them to their respective funding masters.  There are many other countries in Africa with the same problems if in different ways; with most of the fighting over control of natural resources.  It is always the ‘normal’ people that suffer; and we wish that we could do more to help them – though we’ll never be able to do that as long as there are evil people in the world.

Ehlana just suggested that maybe we could help everyone, but while it is funny to think about changing all of the most-valuable natural resources into useless commodities with transmutations; we do know that even if we could do that worldwide; it would cause more problems than it would solve.  It is a safe bet that most of our fellow humans would not be happy with us if there was suddenly no more oil – or any products that require rare-earth minerals, metals, or other base ingredients for pretty much every product we use every day.

It appears that we’re both getting tired, since that train of thought is getting a bit silly; so let’s wrap this up and call it a day.  The coming week is going to be busy as we transition from July to August, but we’ll keep you posted on the daily news; and don’t want to think about our summer being more than half-over too.  Ehlana and I want to get a lot of work done this week at the lab or archives, but we’ll see how that goes when all of the nice weather is such a draw – and not just for the Naomi-in-a-swimsuit time for me! ;^)

That is a happy thought for me to head off to dreamland with; so that’s all for this report – and I’m sure that Ehlana can manage her own happy dreams too.

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - July 26, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Since our last update, we had fun with Sophia, her family, and the rest of our friends.  Dinner was a quick and easy meal; the co-ed ball game did not end happily for ‘our’ team as Sheldon’s Storm bested our Whirlpool team.  Some of our favorite next-gen parents decided to go out to the pub after the game, so Sophia hosted the babysitting; and that cut way back on our co-ed cuddle time since we traded that part of our plan for keeping a little gang of kids and babies entertained.  We still had fun with the work, and had the bonus of getting paid, but we were also ready for the break once the last kid was picked up and taken home.  It was past-midnight by then, but we still stayed up to watch a movie; enjoyed the cuddle time; and then we eventually got around to the co-ed nap time.

We got up early for Tai Chi by the river this morning; took care of making breakfast for ourselves – and Sophia’s family; and then we headed home to work on some indoor chores for the rest of the morning.  There has been some rain and a thunderstorm today, but as we’re writing this update; it has cleared up; and is fairly-humid because of the rain that has continually been evaporating between the little blasts of showers and that one, brief storm.  The weather was definitely a factor for our ball games this afternoon, but they went ahead despite the rain; and there was only one delay when we all took shelter during that little thunderstorm.  Ehlana’s game had some damp moments, but they played the full game and earned a thirteen-to-six win while Aiden, Aaron, and I had a slightly-shortened game because of that thunderstorm delay while still winning by a score of nine-to-six.  That worked out to two wins and a loss for our family teams this weekend, but we’re still doing pretty well for the season-so-far; and will likely have most or all of ‘our’ teams in the championship games.  Maybe it is a bit early for that claim, but we’ll stay optimistic and go with it.

Ehlana and I don’t have long to get cleaned up for the dinner we’re having with the Malloys soon; so we need to wrap this up.  In addition to a quiet evening with the Malloys; we’re hosting a co-ed sleepover with Naomi and Aiden; and they’ll be here soon too.  Valerie and Marcus won’t have hometown dates for tonight; and I won’t comment on why that thought seems scary to me when it shouldn’t be any different than summer connections that our cousins have had with local teens.  There really isn’t anything to add to our news of the day; so we’ll just stop here and get back to having fun with our family and friends starting right now.

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - July 25, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 7^th Birthday, Tamara Carter!

Happy 25^th Birthday, Vanessa Sparks!

We didn’t have any involvement in either of the local birthdays today, but we’re sure that Tamara is having fun with her family and friends out on the ranch; and Vanessa is likely having an interesting first birthday with a two-month-old daughter to share the adventures with!  Next-gen kids aren’t new to us, but we do still find it different to see Cassie and Michael’s high school classmates with their own kids now.  For the record, Cassie isn’t in a hurry to ‘cross over’ to the parent club with those friends, but then that’s normal for her compared to those friends anyway with the one exception of being among the first to get married!  Getting back to Vanessa’s special day, though, we did have a bit of fun speculating on what her birthday wish would be; since she might really ask for simpler things – like more than three hours of sleep at one time! ;^)

Moving along, we had fun last night with the anniversary dinner party at the Inn; the babysitting kept us hopping the rest of the evening; and there was no co-ed sleepover fun because we ended up keeping more than half the kids for the night – including Valerie and Marcus Malloy.  Aiden and I were up late with the younger boys thanks to the video gaming marathon, so the girls got more sleep; and it was tougher for some of us to get up this morning for Tai Chi by the river.  Let’s not detail breakfast, since some of the boys were in fine form for that meal; and then Aiden and I got to escape to the park for our football workout – though a few of the younger boys wandered over to check out the action for a while too before moving on to other plans with family or friends.  We had some rain move into the area by late morning, but by then, Ehlana and I were at the lab or archives; and we stayed there until the rain moved on a little while ago.  We went for a swim with some friends and cousins after that, and now we’re cleaning up and packing overnight bags before heading over to Sophia’s house for the night.  She’s hosting a co-ed sleepover – though we’ll all be at the park to help with kid control during the co-ed ball game tonight; and might get drafted for more babysitting if the next-gen parents decide to go out to the pub for a while after the game.  That hasn’t been confirmed or requested yet, but if we do that; Sophia will host the babysitting too – and then we’ll hope that we don’t lose another co-ed nap time opportunity!

Ehlana and I want to help Sophia and her Mom with making dinner, so we’ll save world news and Cassie and Michael updates for tomorrow – or maybe Sunday.  Stay tuned for that; and we’ll get back to living those stories we’ll write about tomorrow.

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - July 24, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 21^st Anniversary, Terry and Angela Malloy!

Happy 18^th Birthday, Ryan Bassett!

Happy 25^th Birthday, Serena Kendall!

Uncle Terry and Aunt Angela and their kids are here for a little cottage work-vacation; and we’ll be at the Inn for part of their anniversary celebration – a culinary adventure that we’ll be getting to as soon as we’re ready to go and have this update wrapped up.  That won’t take long, since we’ve mostly been working on yard chores at multiple homes and cottages today; and then we’re booked to babysit after dinner while some of our favorite adults take that anniversary party over to Sheldon’s Pub for a few hours.  I had another football workout this morning too, but Ehlana opted to get started on our chores right away; and Naomi and Aiden worked with us when they could – while we also had chores at their homes so that we could all get our to-do lists finished before the rain moved into the area.

There really isn’t anything else we need to add for our news-so-far, and while Cassie and Michael are hours ahead of us on their Thursday; we don’t have an update from them yet – though we know they were going to do some local sightseeing today and have a play day by the sea booked for tomorrow.  We’ll have more on their adventures as we get the news, but we’re not going to offer any world news rants or commentary today; since we really just want to get back to the fun with our family and friends.

Stay tuned; and we’ll be back again tomorrow with the latest on our amazing adventures here in Witch Falls!

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