Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 5, 2020

Ehlana and Ethan:

We have a lot of news to cover today, but before we get to that; we need to mention some birthdays that we’ve skipped mentioning this week – mostly because of the total lack of parties.  For this past week, we didn’t mention Owen Emerson’s 40^th; Susan Connor’s 9^th; or Hailey Draper’s 7^th – and we definitely should have at least included Hailey’s special day yesterday even though our only real involvement was through our joint gift for her with Aiden and Naomi.  We feel bad for everyone that doesn’t get to have any normal celebrations right now, but then we might be in that group if things don’t start going back to normal by late-June.  If that isn’t an issue, though, maybe we’ll see about having a major birthday party for all kids and teens that missed out now and do that at Quarry Lake!

Our top story for today won’t make the public news network until sometime next week, but this update won’t go public until sometime after that anyway; so we won’t wait to congratulate Stephanie and Jake – and tease them about what will likely be recorded as the first ‘coronavirus lockdown’ pregnancy for our town!  Sure, they’re still working at the Inn, but not as much as normal for them with so much less to do there; and they’re sure to be teased about what they’ve been busy with while having all of that extra alone time!  We don’t want to go there, but I will add that Ehlana was first to find out.  That happened this afternoon when we crossed paths with them while on our bike ride with Cassie, Michael, May, Naomi, and Aiden.  She broke the rules for social distancing, but Cassie and Michael have spent time with Jake and Stephanie; so it wasn’t really a problem – not to mention that we’d be able to sense anyone that actually did have the virus.  We couldn’t share that news with everyone either, but Ehlana let Stephanie know in a whispered bit of fun; and then Cassie and Michael did a visit to the Inn for a longer chat – and that really does seem weird to mention; since Jake and Stephanie wouldn’t even have been out for a Sunday afternoon walk on a normal buffet day at the Inn.

Stephanie’s pregnancy does bring up the issue of protecting our expecting mothers from the coronavirus; so we won’t be surprised if she takes some time off from the Inn once that news is official.  She can work from home on her family business job and the book-keeping work for the Inn, though; so she’ll be able to keep busy.

No comments about already being too-busy, please! ;^)

Moving along, it was cold this morning, so Tai Chi was indoors; we had a hot breakfast; and then Mom and Dad led a short worship time in the sunroom that replaced our church service.  Mom went with us to the lab for the rest of the morning; we had lunch for seven at home; and then we went out for that bike ride while Mom and Dad had a family business meeting in the office with just a few guests along with some video networking for others.  The current plans for our town will continue through the end of the month – and likely beyond; our global efforts are extensive and too much to write about here; and there are some local projects being worked on that will keep everyone working.  We’re also going to have company coming for an extended visit starting tomorrow that will add to our fun level around here.

Uncle Blaine, Aunt Alison, and our cousins are coming here tomorrow and staying at least until after Easter.  Uncle Blaine has closed his office, so while some of his employees are working from home; he’s going to come here to work on the galleria project because he has the time to do that while other projects are on hold – including most construction sites.  That’s great for us; and we are going to love having our cousins here for the bonus visit.

Getting back to our own news of the day, Cassie, Michael, and May didn’t play or bike with us all afternoon, but they were with us for the full loop on the trails around town before moving on to the Inn after our snack break.  Naomi and Aiden stayed with us for the rest of the afternoon until we all needed to be back at our homes for dinner; and then we’ve had a quiet work or study evening since then through until some of us were sent upstairs for bath or Jacuzzi time.  We were first for that; May is taking her turn in the Jacuzzi while we’re doing this update; and then we’ll get around to the bedtime chat that’ll include everyone before we all get some sleep.  Our week is going to be a lot busier than expected, but we’re also sure to have more fun than we likely should with everything that’s going on; so we’re fired up and very happy tonight.

That’s all we have for now, but stay tuned; since life really is going to get more-interesting around here as we head into the first full week of April!

This is Ehlana and Ethan Proctor; live from the hidden home of the Magi of the Light – and May the Magi Force be with you!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 4, 2020

Ehlana and Ethan:

We promised a double update; so let’s get right to that.

The cold weather – and especially the bits of snow – was a shock to the system after the warmer weather we’ve been getting used to seeing every day lately.  Tai Chi was indoors yesterday – and today; we had hot breakfasts both days; and then yesterday; we moved on to Naomi’s house for our online lessons and studies.  We had lunch with Naomi, her Dad, Zack, and Eli; and then Naomi and Aiden came along to the lab with us.  They didn’t spend the entire afternoon with Ethan in the archives while I was playing in the level-four lab with Dillon and Uncle Adam.  They had to move on by mid-afternoon, but we stayed at the lab until dinnertime; went home for that meal; and then headed back to the lab because we could – in part because the near-freezing temperatures didn’t give us any reason to be outdoors and playing instead.

May had fun with more lab jokes directed our way, but while she thinks that our interest in the lab is unusual; Cassie successfully kept her entertained with adult-rated scary movies and a soak in my Jacuzzi while we were out.  We stayed at the lab until late; did the quick bedtime snack and visit with Mom, Dad, and our favorite collegians; and then you know that we needed to crash after that last night.

As for today, it was still cold this morning and only warmed up into the forties by afternoon; so the hot breakfast was a big help to get started on our outdoor chores.  This wasn’t a great day for a spring clean-up, but we decided that doing the work on a cool day is better than wasting all of an awesome-weather day for that work instead.  It was still cold and messy; so Mom had a hot lunch for us; we worked until dinnertime except for that meal and two short breaks; and then we hit the showers and got cleaned up before having that late meal that was held up while we took turns doing that in four bathrooms.

We should mention that the best part of our chores today was doing that work with our family – including May.  That was true for the meal breaks; and then we wrapped up our day with cuddle time and a movie in the lounge that just wrapped up a half-hour or so ago.  Tomorrow is going to be a quiet work or study day for us since we don’t have church or other entertainment options, but it is going to get warmer again too; so some biking play time might be worked into the schedule for some of us too.  Finally, we didn’t do another sleepover with Naomi and Aiden, but that’s entirely because we’re saving up for what might be more camping opportunities if the forecast for very-warm weather proves accurate.  Sure, we could likely get away with almost any number of extra sleepovers anyway, but we do also need to spend time with our own families too – especially when our parents aren’t as busy as usual.

Let’s not have too much fun with that idea; since we do know that our favorite adults can keep themselves entertained without us.

Okay, that’s all for tonight.  We have had a couple of good days even with all of the work, cold, and sometimes-messy activities; and we’re ready to rest up for our ongoing adventures that may seem boring to most kids, but is also different than normal for us; and this crisis brings new challenges for us that we’ve never experienced.  That isn’t true for some of our seniors who have gone through tough times, but even most of our parents have never been through something this big – especially on a global scale; so we’re all trying to navigate and find balance between the challenges and keeping love, joy, and happiness in our lives.

We’re going to move on to nap time now, but we’ll try to include some of the more-serious issues going on around us, but we don’t want to do too much of that; since there are other places in the archives where future readers can look for current events records anyway.  Stay tuned for that – or flip the digital page to read on whenever you’re doing this; and we’ll get back to experiencing our ‘now’ – starting with the nap time we’re going to get started on right now.

This is Ehlana and Ethan Proctor; live from the hidden home of the Magi of the Light – and May the Magi Force be with you!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 3, 2020

Ehlana and Ethan:

It’s late; we’ve had a long day; and we’ll go with a double-update tomorrow – once we’ve caught up on our sleep so that we’ll be ready for a spring chores day that is going to start out chilly thanks to the drop to near-freezing we got to have today.  We also got some rain and even a dash or three of snow, but we’ll write more on that tomorrow too; since we really do need to get to sleep now.

This is Ehlana and Ethan Proctor; live from the hidden home of the Magi of the Light – and May the Magi Force be with you!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 2, 2020

Ehlana and Ethan:

Babies are in the local news today – though not because of the coronavirus restrictions – yet. ;^)

First up, the newest member of our town is Cassidy Connor.  We found out about this news last night while camping because we were across the river from the med center, but Cassidy waited until around two-thirty this morning to arrive; so she avoided being an April Fool’s Day baby.  Those details didn’t get to us until this morning, but we did keep an eye on that action while we were still awake last night; there were a lot of visitors there for the big moment; and Cassidy is already home with her family as we’re writing this update tonight.

The other baby news came to us through Cassie.  No, she is not expecting – Brock and Karla are; they announced it yesterday; and it was not a prank – though they got teased about it.  They’re apparently getting teased about the timing for the coronavirus too, but that isn’t true because she’s far-enough along that she was pregnant before we started closing stores and other businesses.  They’re also both still working; so that doesn’t fit the attempts to have that kind of fun with the story.  We do expect a coronavirus baby boom, though; so don’t be surprised about more announcements over the next few months!

As for our day – and the camping night – we’ve had a lot of fun.  The barbeque dinner was great; we went for an evening bike ride; had a short campfire; and then we were in our tent for the rest of the night after getting changed in the house and saying goodnight to Aiden’s parents and sister.  We had some music fun with some fledgling guitar music and singing; played video games; and watched a movie on an iPad before eventually going to sleep.  We were in co-ed couples for that nap time, and while that’s still new for two of us; we’re getting used to those changes – and like the cuddle time a lot.

Today started with Tai Chi by the river for four; leftover Olde Bakery treats were available for breakfast; and then we biked with Hailey to the Ayres’ house where she’s been working with Leah on her school work before heading to Naomi’s house for our own online lessons and studying.  We had fun with that; repeated the picnic lunch and biking in the afternoon plus some play time and exploring at the park; and then we came home to have dinner with our family while Naomi and Aiden headed for home or the bakery.  We fit in packing up our tent and campground too, but that didn’t take long; since we’d dealt with most of that except the tent between Tai Chi and breakfast.

We did not skip the lab or archives play time – we just did that after dinner.  That was entirely because Uncle Adam had been up all night with Cassidy and her parents, so he slept for five or six hours during the day and then he joined us for the research at the lab.  Dillon was there too, but Dad stayed home to do his work in the office; and Mom only came along to help out with some Magi-powered support that allowed us to get more done in less ‘real’ time while hanging out in the archives too.

All of that fun and work adds up to a long day; we’re tired; and ready to get some sleep.  One more day of home schooling before the weekend doesn’t seem like a big deal when we don’t really have any plans for those days off, but we’ll manage to have fun – even if we end up spending a lot of time working on spring chores or doing research at the lab.  We’ll keep you posted on that, but don’t have anything to add tonight; so we’ll wrap this up and move on to nap time.

This is Ehlana and Ethan Proctor; live from the hidden home of the Magi of the Light – and May the Magi Force be with you!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 1, 2020

Ehlana and Ethan:

April Fool’s Day has not been filled with the usual levity; and that is no surprise considering the coronavirus emergency – even here where we still don’t have any local cases.

This update is early, but that’s because we’re taking advantage of the nice weather and having our first camping night of the year – at Aiden’s house.  That seems strange too, but as with all other problems that happen around the world; life goes on – and we expect to do more camping this spring while we’re home from school and don’t have any ‘extra’ entertainment opportunities.

We’ll have more on our camping adventure with the next report, but before we move on to the rest of our day; let’s do a quick review of the rest of our story to now.

Tai Chi was by the river this morning; we had another normal weekday breakfast; and then we headed for Naomi’s house to meet up with our best friends for our online lessons and study time.  That was fun; we repeated the biking and picnic lunch fun; and then we only spent an hour at the lab or archives because of the camping plans we’d made by then and had approved by the parents.  We went from the lab to our house to get our tent; took it over to Aiden’s house to set it up – and yes, we only went with one tent; and now we’ve split up to get our overnight bags and camping supplies together before meeting up at Aiden’s house again.  We’ll be doing a late dinner there that will include grilled food sometime after the bakery closes for the night; and then we’ll figure out what to do for the rest of the night after that.

while we’ve been busy, Cassie, Michael, and May have been doing their video lectures and assignments all day; they get Mom and Dad to themselves for dinner; and we don’t know what they’ll do for the rest of the night.  We should do an update about their college friends, since they are still keeping in touch with them nearly every day and doing online group study sessions too, but let’s save that for another day.

Finally, we would have liked to do more work at the lab, but can’t make that a full-time job without messing up our ‘normal’ kid images.  As always, the work there goes on without us anyway; and we’re not egotistical-enough to believe that anyone else can have amazing successes without us.

Okay, we need to move on to Aiden’s house soon, so that’s all for today; and we’re out of here and back to the real world again.

This is Ehlana and Ethan Proctor; live from the hidden home of the Magi of the Light – and May the Magi Force be with you!