Cassie's Journal - April 15, 2017

I’ve just finished helping out with playing Easter Bunny, and while it’s not that late right now; I need to get to sleep soon because I’ll be up early again so I can be at church in time for the sunrise service warm-ups with the teen praise team.

Saturday morning started very early too; Michael and I left everyone else sleeping while we got ready for work and headed to the Inn; and then we spent the next few hours working hard to keep up with the holiday weekend breakfast buffet rush.  Those customers included my family because Mom and Dad decided to feed their camping gang at the Inn instead of cooking up a storm for everyone at home.  I was able to join in on a bit of that fun; but only because they were in my area of the dining room.  I didn’t work the entire breakfast buffet, since it was going on until nearly-eleven, but I was busy all morning because I went from the Inn to the park for the third-annual Easter Egg hunt.

Mom and Dad had a gang of kids with them at the park too, but also had lots of parental support – including from Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne.  The Eater Egg adventure was even bigger and better than last year; and the kids had a blast hunting for the eggs and then enjoying the rest of the fun that included a kid-rated and Easter-themed stage show and other games and activities ranging from face-painting to crafts.  There were also treats and drinks available, and while I didn’t get to play much because I was one of the volunteers; I did have a lot of fun anyway until it was time for me to get back to the Inn to help out with the three dinner buffet sittings they were having at noon, three, and six o’clock.

Michael and I were able to take a couple of breaks during the rest of the day, but the buffets were all sold out; it was an all-hands-on-deck day; and we didn’t take as much time off as we should have because Miranda and Jacob needed all of the extra help they could get.  I’m not complaining – especially since I did pretty well on tips today!  I’m also worn out; so let’s finish this up so I can head into nap mode.  While we weren’t booked to work until close, Michael and I did do that because we wanted to help out so that everyone could get home a bit earlier than they would have without the help.  It was still going on ten by the time we locked up and headed for Michael’s house.  I stopped in there for a bedtime cuddle, but while a sofa sleepover was very tempting; we both needed to be in our own homes tonight – or risk having the Easter Bunny miss leaving treats for one or both of us.  We didn’t want that; so I came home by eleven o’clock; had a bedtime visit with Mom and Dad while we played Easter Bunny; and I’ve only done the basic bedtime computing since climbing into bed with Mandy.

There wasn’t any must-do family business work that can’t wait until tomorrow night, so once I’m done with this report; I’m good to go for a short Easter nap.  We’re going to have a very busy morning at church with two services and the pancake breakfast between the services, but we also get the day off from the Inn and have a second family day to look forward to as well; so I’m really looking forward to all of the holiday fun that will be starting for some of us in just a handful of hours.

The clock is ticking on that, though, and I really should get to sleep soon; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - April 14, 2017

It’s Good Friday, and as I’ve mentioned before; it seems appropriate when it rains – at least in the morning.

The rain didn’t arrive until after we were able to be by the river for Tai Chi, but it was here in time for the trip to church; so we took the minivan instead of walking.  Good Friday services are usually fairly-short and quite solemn; and this version was no exception.  Michael and I helped out with the music with a duet, and while the occasion is solemn; I’ll still admit that there is joy and love that goes along with the music every time we play and sing together.  That feels a bit strange on Good Friday, but it’s true anyway; so there’s no point in pretending it isn’t like that for us.  One thing that is different about the Good Friday service is that we don’t get a lot of praise for our music; and I actually think that’s the way it should always be when it comes to church.  It may be a worn-out sentiment, but when it really isn’t supposed to be about us at all – it’s about the messages we sing about; so I hope that I never feel differently about that.

Moving along, while the service was solemn and subdued compared to our normal services; the rest of the day was livelier.  That seems like an odd contrast too, but we really don’t get many family days when all of the stores in town are closed; so we take advantage of them when they do happen.  That’s also why we’re having a camping night by the river; though I’ll get to that part of the update in a minute.

After church, we had a break in the rain; but that wasn’t quite it for the day and we had another blast of wet around lunchtime.  Michael and I had that meal at his house along with his parents, Rebecca, Lucas, and most of the Bassett clan – or at least all of Michael’s aunts, uncles, and available first cousins.  That reminds me to mention that this is an away holiday weekend for my family, so we don’t have any weekend guests.  Uncle Nick, Aunt Deborah and the kids are away with her family; and Uncle Mark, Aunt Grace, and their kids are away visiting her family.  Uncle Adam is the on-call doctor this weekend; so the Carringtons are here – and they had dinner with us tonight.

It took a while for things to start drying up outside today, but that did eventually happen; and we’ve had a decent afternoon and beautiful spring evening.  The decision to have a camping night came fairly-early in the afternoon as the weather forecast started to look good for doing that, and while we didn’t end up with a major camping event; we do have six tents in our little campground.  We waited until late-afternoon to set them up; and spent most of the afternoon biking and playing at the park.  Ethan and Ehlana invited Naomi, Aiden, and Sophia to the camping night; Rowen, Tim, Rebecca, and Lucas signed up too; and we added Patrick, Jessica, Scott, Lindsay, and Ryan to the group.  Zack, Brianna, and Eli were added last – at dinnertime; and mostly because Zack and Eli could not get parental approval to have an unsupervised camping night in either of their back yards.  Rowen and I have three junior campers in our tent, but Michael and Tim have the toughest job tonight with Zack and Eli in their tent with them.

I’m sure of that because I can still hear the boys in the tent next to us; while our little camping buddies are all sleeping now.  Add Rowen to that list; since she’s sleeping now too.

Moving along – again; we had our campsite set up by the time dinner was ready.  That meal was outdoors, and in addition to the Carringtons; we had Naomi’s family with us.  Aiden was with his family for dinner, but was dropped off early in the evening because his father needed to get to sleep and be up in the middle of the night to start baking for what is sure to be a busy day at the Olde Bakery.  We didn’t have a major meal today because we will be doing that on Sunday; so the clean-up was easy too.  Once that little blast of work was finished; we headed for the park again to do more biking and playing; got home again in time for a campfire; and did that until shortly before eleven; when Mom and Dad put an end to it because we all have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow.

For Michael and I, that’s going to start with the breakfast buffet shift – and that’s part of the reason for why we have the extra teen help for the camping tonight.  Mom and Dad will need that help in the morning while Michael and I are busy – and we will be; since Miranda is doing a holiday weekend breakfast buffet.

Ending the campfire at eleven o’clock didn’t mean we were in our sleeping bags by eleven-fifteen.  It took more than a half-hour to clean up from the campfire; get all of the kids ready for bed; and into their sleeping bags.  There was some girl chat and a bedtime story in our tent; Rowen and I met up with the rest of the teens for a bedtime chat by the river after that; and we’ve been back in our tents since twelve-thirty.

I couldn’t leave my bedtime computing for a second night in a row; so I’ve been doing that since Rowen and I tucked ourselves in for the night.  We’ve been having a little girl chat too, but as I already mentioned; Rowen’s in nap mode now.  I had some family business work to deal with, but have that done now; and it wasn’t anything major.  Michael and I do need to get up early, though; so I’m not doing any extra work or studying tonight.  We also have the Easter Egg hunt in the park tomorrow morning and three buffet dinners to work tomorrow too; so I should probably just wrap this up and join Rowen in nap mode.

This has been a quiet start to our holiday weekend, but it is going to get busier starting first thing in the morning; so I guess that’s it for now.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - April 13, 2017

There might be a sofa sleepover in my near future; so this is going to be a short update.

Tai Chi was outdoors and by the river today; Michael stayed for breakfast; and we had a good last day at school ahead of the holiday weekend that included quite a bit of outdoor time thanks to another day where temperatures climbed into the low-eighties.  Michael and I had to work at the Inn from the time we were finished school, including helping out upstairs with one of the newly-finished guest rooms; but we didn’t have game night at the Inn ahead of the holiday weekend; and didn’t have a very busy dinner shift.  That’s why we’re here at my house earlier than we normally would be on a game night; and we’re going to have a movie night with the twins, Naomi, and Aiden that will be starting shortly after I finish getting changed and cleaned up.

Michael’s helping the twins and their besties with getting the lounge set up for our movie night; so I need to move on and get back to having fun with him – and with our four junior movie-watching buddies.  We won’t be staying up late tonight because we have the Good Friday church service in the morning, but we do have time for at least one movie that we can watch all the way through; and another that we can fall asleep to so we can have that sofa sleepover.

I’ll let you know how that works out for us with the next report, but that’s all for tonight; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

P.S.  I almost skipped a birthday shout out.  Happy 4^th Birthday, Gerry Bishop!  Michael and I didn’t even talk with Gerry or his family today, but we did send a gift to him that Rebecca and Lucas went in on with us; and I’m sure that the Bishop clan made sure he had a special, happy day.

Cassie's Journal - April 12, 2017

Happy 17^th Birthday, Gil!

This won’t sound right, but Gil had a family-only birthday party today – except for Shannon; and I’m glad that he didn’t have a major party that included all of his friends.

That sentiment is totally selfish on my part, but if he’d had a party; I’d have missed my mid-week work night; and I’d be writing this update at closer to sunrise instead of eleven o’clock.  Even working this late has only been because I could do it – and putting in the extra time tonight helped all of us ahead of the holiday weekend because we worked and studied together in the office until we were all ahead of schedule on our homework.

We did have a birthday party for Gil at lunchtime today, he had several gifts to open, and there was a birthday cake to go along with the special lunch that Shannon put together for them; and then we had some play time outdoors that included a bit of football for the boys while we – the girls – had fun watching the show and having some girl chat time.

That’s pretty much all of my news for today – the party and lunchtime; and the work and studying I did from the time I got home from school until we wrapped up at a bit before ten-thirty and came up to our rooms for the night.  There was a quick dinner break and a Magi lesson mixed in there too, but it was mostly about the work and studying; and I’m glad that we had the chance to do that tonight.  I don’t have much left to get done tomorrow night now; so I might even manage to have two early nights in a row before we get back to the extra-busy over the holiday weekend.

For now, though, I just want to try and catch up on my sleep for a few hours, and that’s all I have for now anyway; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - April 11, 2017

I’ve had an even longer day today; so let’s keep this short.

Tai Chi was indoors due to the frosty start to our day, but it warmed up into the sixties again; so the rest of our day was sunny and decent – if not quite as nice as the warmer weather we had on the weekend.

My school day was uneventful; the band practices were quiet too – if you don’t count all of the music; and we had a full dress rehearsal for the Sunday sunrise service at the church for our teen praise team practice that kept us there until nearly-ten.  Michael came home with me after that; we did our homework and a Magi lesson with Mom; and then he went home while I took care of getting the twins tucked in for the night on my way up here to my room and the too many hours of work and studying waiting for me here.

Let’s not think about any of that or how little sleep I’m going to get tonight; and just wrap this up so I can get started on my nap.  The school week is half-done, but it feels like I’ve done more than two days worth of busy – and with all of the time phasing I’ve done so far; that’s actually true and closer to three days than two if I include Sunday night in that count.  I don’t want to go there either, though, and really do need to get to sleep now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!