Cassie's Journal - August 23, 2013

After getting to play for a lot of the last two days, it was time to do some more work.  For me, that meant helping out with getting ready for the holiday weekend, and the end-of-season camping adventure that we were hosting on Saturday night while the parents were at the annual party at Sheldon’s.

It wasn’t all work and no play, but let’s get the work part of the recap out of the way first.  Though we’re not going to have any holiday weekend guests staying with us, Mom, Aunt Leanne, Aunt Grace, and Aunt Deborah are working together to coordinate the pre-cooking for the meals we’ll collectively need to provide – plus our contributions to the food booths for the party in the park on Sunday.  Mom started the cooking adventure in our kitchen as soon as Alicia came over this morning, and I basically worked as a gopher and odd-jobs assistant.  My work included everything from helping out with laundry to running errands for Mom; and we both managed to do a bit of work on our computers during the short lulls in the action.

Rowen worked at the computer store all morning, and then came here in time to have lunch with us.  She helped out too after that until we took Ethan and Ehlana over to the park to meet up with Michael and Tim – or at least to hang out there while they joined in for another football practice during Michael’s afternoon break.  Michael wasn’t getting his usual Friday afternoon and evening off this week, but that was because he was going to have that time off on Saturday instead for his baseball game; and for the barbeque and camping adventure here.

The official High School football training camp starts on Monday, so Kyle had the guys work really hard today; and that didn’t leave Michael and Tim much time to spend with Ethan, Ehlana, Rowen, and me before Michael needed to get back to the Inn.  We’d been at the playground for a while by the time they were set free, and we went back to my house for a swim.  Michael only had fifteen minutes left to do that with us; and then he was off and running again.  Tim stayed for the rest of our water play time and the snack break after that before leaving too; though if he didn’t have other plans for the rest of the day I think he would have liked to stay – especially while Rowen was in her swimsuit.

Rowen and I stayed in our swimsuits for the rest of the afternoon and evening; though we put shorts and tops on when we weren’t either swimming or drying off from a swim.  There were several water play time breaks, and we mixed them in with the cooking and cleaning work that we joined in to help with from the time that Tim went home until the dinner and a cooking night fun wrapped up at nine o’clock.  Dinner was at our house, but the pre-cooking work was being done at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s house too; and we were able to keep ovens busy in four kitchens as we managed to get everything on the collective pre-cooked meal to-do list finished tonight.

Dad got home from Crystal Springs about an hour after we’d finished having dinner, but the only work he was allowed to do was to carry pans or casserole dishes to and from other houses to either be cooked or brought back to be frozen until needed next weekend.  Ethan and Ehlana were happy to keep him entertained when he wasn’t busy, and though Rowen and I didn’t spend as much time with him as they did; he went for the last swim with all four of us once the last clean-up round was nearly finished.

Rowen went home after that, and I helped out with getting Ethan and Ehlana ready for bed and tucked in once the rest of the dinner and a cooking night crew had left too.  Mom and Dad didn’t look like they needed to have any company after that, so I came up to my room then, and have kept busy while not thinking about what my parents are doing now that they’re alone after being apart for five days.  Mandy and I have been cuddling in bed, and I’ve been doing some more archive studying.  That kept me busy for a while, but my usual nightly computing was lighter than usual.  There wasn’t much email traffic, and nothing that needed to be handled for the family business.

We’re going to have a late night tomorrow, and a lot of fun, but I also have a major chore list to get through in the morning too; so it’s time to wrap this up and call it a night.

Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!

Cassie's Journal - August 22, 2013

Congratulations to the Taylor and Spencer families!  Natalie Taylor gave birth to her first child, Ricky, today; they’re both doing great; and both families are very excited about the new addition to their ranks.  It was also a special day for Uncle Mark because Ricky is the first baby he’s delivered in Witch Falls.

My day wasn’t new addition to the family kind of great, but even without much sleep; Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I managed to have a pretty good day.  For Michael and I, that started with Tai Chi in Tim’s back yard.  It isn’t the first time that Michael has had friends around to witness our morning workouts; but it was different today compared to being at home with Mom, Dad, and the twins.  That quiet start to the morning ended abruptly when the official wake-up calls came for anyone still sleeping; and it was a crazy-fun rush of action for the next couple of hours.  We needed to get ready for the day; have breakfast; pack bags; and tear down the tents before Tim’s mother drove Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I out to the Ridge River Ranch for our riding lesson.

We only have one riding lesson left to go after today, and it’s especially fun right now because we’re working on the most advanced riding techniques that we’ll be learning this year.  That includes getting to let our horses run a bit more often, and while we’re not doing anything even remotely as difficult as the jumping that advanced riders do; we have done some little jumps – so we could hop things like deadfalls if we ever needed to do that some day.

Rowen’s Mom picked us up from the ranch when we were finished our lesson and trail ride; and swung around to Tim’s house so that Rowen, Michael, and I could load our gear into her minivan before riding our bikes back to my house and meeting her there.  Tim came with us; and we all stayed to have lunch with Mom, Alicia, Ethan, and Ehlana after unloading the minivan.  There was a kid swim before lunch too that was mostly so that four of us could wash off the trail dust before eating.  Michael had to eat and run so he could get changed and over to the Inn to at least help with the post-lunch rush clean-up; but Tim stayed and played with us until he needed to go over to the park for Kyle’s football practice.

Ethan wanted to go over and watch the football action, but we did a few things around home first before hooking up the trailer and riding over to the park.  We were still there with lots of time to spare before the scrimmage game, and Kyle made Ethan happy by again using him as extra weight in one of the suicide drills.  They’d added extra elements to those drills now, so it was even more fun for Ethan as Kyle would put him on his shoulders while doing squats or jumps; and one of the other guys helped Ethan to sit on Kyle’s back when it was time for the push-ups.

Okay, carrying a toddler around like that isn’t as impressive as the stories about Lee’s lunch break farm equipment bench presses; but we had fun watching that part of their training, and Kyle probably could have done those drills carrying one of his teammates without slowing down much.

Michael joined the practice in time for the scrimmage game, so we sat on the bleachers and watched them play for a while before Rowen and I took Ethan and Ehlana to the playground so they could run around and have fun there until Michael and Tim were finished playing football.  We went home for another swim after that, and then Michael needed to get back to the Inn again.  I expected Tim to leave then too, but he instead invited Rowen and I to ride the trail with him for a while; so we went and did that for the hour or so that Rowen and I had before we needed to be home again to have an early, baseball practice night easy-dinner.

The Leopards only have one game left to play, and since we’ll be up against Palmer’s Panthers again; Coach Sarah and Carolyn were pulling out all the stops to get our team ready for the championship match.  None of us want to lose that game – especially when that would mean losing all three of our games to the Panthers; but we haven’t figured out how to beat them yet this year.  My own game play wasn’t as good as it should have been tonight, but I am running on about three and a half hours of sleep; and it had already been a long, busy day by then.

Rowen and I went for a swim after practice, but then she went home and I was in for the night so that Mom could do another Magi lesson with me.  She wasn’t disappointed or surprised that I didn’t have my archive homework done yet from our last lesson; but that doesn’t happen very often.  She’d already done her lesson with Ethan and Ehlana by then, so they played on their iPads while we worked through a shielding lesson.  Yes, I can do wards and shields on my own now, but that’s just basic protection.  There is a lot more that Magi Masters can do with shields – and I still have years and probably decades of study to go before I’ve covered everything.

The good news about Mom’s orders to have a study night at home is that I’m going to be able to get some extra sleep tonight.  After my lesson, we did the full bath and bedtime routine with the twins that included a story and chat with Dad; and then I came up to my room to do some Jacuzzi and computer study multi-tasking.  Since my archive homework included time-phasing; I even combined that studying with practicing the lesson.  That’s how I managed to have a long soak in the tub, take my time with drying and styling my hair, and get two hours of archive reading finished in just minutes of ‘real’ time.

I am feeling those extra hours of work now, though, along with everything else I did today; and I’m ready to crash and get a decent night’s sleep, so...

...until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!

Cassie's Journal - August 21, 2013

Happy 13^th Birthday, Tim!

The happy birthday kiss that Rowen overcame her ultra-shy problem to share with him just a little while ago certainly has her very happy as we sit here in our tent after saying goodnight to Michael and Tim.  We’ll get to that part of the story soon, but let’s back up to the beginning of the day and go from there.

Michael came over for Tai Chi, but then he was off and running to the Inn so he could work the breakfast and lunch shifts before getting the rest of the day off for Tim’s party.  I needed to work on my part time job today, and though Rowen had worked at the store yesterday morning while I was busy helping Michael; she spent another morning there while I hid in the office after breakfast and put four solid hours in on my family business work.  Lunch with Mom, Alicia, Ethan, and Ehlana was quick and easy; and then I met up with Rowen and the computer store so that we could go over to Tim’s house together.

His party didn’t start until five, but there was work to be done to get everything ready for it; and Rowen and I had volunteered our services.  We started out with setting up tents; including the one that I’d brought along for Rowen and I to share.  Tim’s parents had borrowed others and had two of their own; so that kept us busy for nearly an hour.  Michael was finished at the Inn and came over to join the work crew by the time we were finishing up with the tents; and we all moved on to setting up tables, chairs, and a volleyball ‘court’ – the only planned game other than the video gaming that went on in the family room after dinner and the mini volleyball tournament that followed the meal.

When that work was done, Tracey had us take a break so that Michael, Rowen, and I could go home; get ready for the party; and return with the gear we’d need for the camping part of the party.  Rowen and I stopped in at her house to get her overnight bag and pick out clothes; but then she came over to my house so we could take turns hitting the showers there and then get ready for the party together.  Using a little Magi power to help with that was an option, but we didn’t do too much of that.  Michael and Tim probably wouldn’t have a clue if we looked like we’d spent hours getting ready when we’d only had a half hour or so, but Tracey would know we couldn’t do things like major hair styling during that little break.

What we did do was worth the reaction we got from both boys when we met up again at Tim’s house.  Michael had been ready before we were, so he’d gone on ahead; and he was already helping out with the dinner preparations.  Rowen and I put our camping gear in our tent; and then joined in to help again until we were relieved of duty shortly before the rest of the party guests started to arrive.

Let’s start the party re-cap with the ex-girlfriend news.  That won’t take long, because Nora and Vanessa didn’t come.  They were invited, as all of our classmates were; but Nora apparently rather bluntly turned Tim down, and Vanessa stuck with her best friend.  I am sorry that they’re still upset with us, but I’m not going to lie to you – their absence today made it a lot easier for Rowen and I to have fun at the party.

All of the kids, tweens, and teens were in the back yard by a quarter-past five, and Martin led the crew of me working or supervising the cooking on the grills, but most of the adults didn’t join the party until shortly before we sat down to eat at six.  The first big change with that compared to nearly every other ‘friends’ birthday parties was that Rowen and I sat with Michael and Tim at the head table.  That would have earned more notice if Rowen had sat next to Tim instead of me, but because she didn’t; our change in social status was chalked up to me dating Michael.

It’s a good thing that kiss wasn’t witnessed, Rowen – not that you would have kissed him tonight if you hadn’t gotten to be alone with him for a few minutes.

You’re welcome, and thanks right back; since Michael and I appreciated the good night kiss time that you and Tim had been giving us at the time! ;^)

Don’t you just love moments like that when everyone wins?

Okay, back to the party report before I get totally distracted.  The menu for our second birthday party meal in less than a week wasn’t a lot different, but the buffet table tonight did include a couple of Tim’s favorite family recipe side dishes.  Tracey told us that a pot of baked beans had been considered, but skipped when the overnight camping was a go.  I’m sure that at least some tent mates are thankful for that decision right about now!  I’m sure that Michael was used to it for his best friend’s parties, but Rowen and I really loved getting to be in the middle of the birthday action today.  We had Tim’s parents, aunt, and uncle at the table with us; and it was nearly as much fun talking with Tracey and Sarah as it was to share the meal and watch Tim open his gifts.

I won’t get into the birthday gift list, but Tim did love the gifts that Michael, Rowen, and I gave him.  We didn’t have a problem with Tim taking his time unwrapping his gifts or trying to save wrapping paper, ribbons, and bows; and that must be a known fact with most of his family and friends, because there were more gift bags than wrapped presents.  That’s the main reason why we managed to eat dinner; have him open his gifts; do the cake and ice cream thing; and have the yard part of the clean-up finished in less than an hour and a half.

The volleyball matches started then, and there were kids, teens, and adults involved in that while non-players sat in lawn chairs and enjoyed the spectacle.  Here are some random thoughts from that blast of fun.  Lee and Kyle can jump pretty good for really, really big guys, but the trick to beating them at volleyball is making them try to dig the ball down low.  On the other hand, Sarah is lower to the ground, and while she’ll never be a great spiker; her ground game is awesome!  Carolyn is just plain good at every sport she plays; and volleyball is no exception.  Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I did okay; but we’re still a bit on the short side to keep up with the older teens and most of the adults.  At least we had some of those better players on our team for the one match that we did win.

The non-camper party guests started heading home by nine, and most of the guys moved the party indoors for a while so they could play video games in the family room.  A few couples disappeared to go for walks or find somewhere to hide and probably make out as it got dark outside; but Rowen and I were with the group of girls that went inside to hang out in the family room too.

Watching video games when you’re not playing isn’t all that exciting to me, and the guys can get fairly annoying as they goof around in groups; but we still had fun chatting with the other girls and the guys can be very entertaining when they’re not trying to gross each other out.  It wasn’t a surprise that the guys wanted to try out Tim’s new video games, but Rowen and I had a plan for dealing with that – a digital copy of the Star Trek – Into Darkness movie that had come out yesterday.

Okay, it’s a sci-fi, space action flick; but half of the guys, including Michael, are second or third generation trekkies; and cuddling with our boyfriends while we watched the movie made most of the girls happy.  Rowen and Tim weren’t cuddling too, but they did end up sitting beside each other on one of the sofas while Michael and I sat on the floor in front of them.  One thing that I did learn tonight is that I need to do a bit of Star Trek and Star Wars reading.  I know the basics for both franchises; but the guys were talking specific star dates and all sorts of trivia that went way beyond how many movies and television series there had been; or who the best captains and main characters were – or are with the new movies.

It was time to take turns using the washrooms and heading out to our tents once the movie was over; and Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I were the last to take turns doing that after the rest of our friends were outside and we’d finished straightening up the family room.  That’s also when Rowen and Tim disappeared and left Michael and I alone for our goodnight kisses – and Rowen took the big step of kissing Tim for the first time.

Yes, it’s their second kiss; but he kissed her the first time.  Rowen assured me that the fireworks went off again this time; and it was obvious when we met up with them again that Tim wasn’t grinning just because of the jokes he directed at Michael and me about having enough time to say goodnight to each other.  We went outside then, and while nobody had climbed into sleeping bags and gone to sleep yet; everyone else had gotten changed by then, and had gathered in small groups in a few of the tents.

We did a lengthy round of visits to those tents before Michael and I shared another little kiss goodnight that was mostly just to appease the guys who were razzing Michael about it.  Rowen and I got changed, climbed into our sleeping bags, and I fired up my computer to start my usual nightly computing while she led off the girl chat with the birthday kiss news flash.  It was heading toward one-thirty by then, and the noise level around the ‘camp’ was dropping fast; but Rowen was fired up for obvious reasons, and I kept working until starting this journal update when she started running out of steam.

It’s past two-thirty now, and if anyone else is still awake; they’re not making any noise loud enough to be heard over the sounds of a few snoring boys.  I’m supposed to be awake again at dawn for Tai Chi with Michael; so it’s past-time to wrap this up and crash for a few hours.

Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!

Cassie's Journal - August 20, 2013

It’s a good thing that my go-to-sleep early plan is going to work out tonight; because I’m really, really tired!

That’s mostly because Michael and I did about five hours of yard work at his house this morning until we stopped for lunch at about one-thirty.  He came over for Tai Chi; we split up for breakfast; and then I got our lawn tractor ready to go and took it over to his house so we could get their lawn cut in about half the time it normally took with just one riding mower.  After our amusement park adventure last week on their days off and going shopping yesterday, the to-do list was long and tough; but we managed to get nearly everything done by putting in that extra time before stopping to eat.  We probably would have stayed and helped with some of the housework after lunch, but Tim came around looking for Michael to go with him to play football; and Miranda took pity on them and set us free for the rest of the day.

While the boys went straight to the park, I helped with the post-lunch clean-up; checked in at home with Mom; and hopped in the river for a swim with Ethan and Ehlana.  Rowen came over to do that with us, and then we grabbed our bikes and met up with Michael and Tim at the park.  It’d be more accurate to say that we were at the park too; since they didn’t do more than wave at us from the field when we reached the bleachers.  If you wanted to get in on Kyle’s workouts, you didn’t get to skip any of the work to go and talk to girls instead.  They were at the tail end of the conditioning drills, so we stayed long enough for the break between that and the scrimmage game; and then we went for a bike ride on the trails while Michael and Tim played with the other football fanatics and their friends.

We all went for a shorter ride after the game, and then came back to my house to go for another swim with Ethan and Ehlana.  Michael, Tim, and Rowen all went home after we played with the twins for nearly an hour; and it’s just been the four of us at home since then.  After a couple of big dinners in a row, Mom and I threw together an easy-meal that we ate out on the back porch at the patio table.  After cleaning up, it was Magi lesson night.  I helped with Ethan and Ehlana’s lesson; and then Mom did my lesson with me while they played on their iPads in the office.

My lesson was about time-phase transmutations; and mostly included refining my ability to control the ‘border’ of a time-phase – and adapting for outside influences – like power supply if I’m including and using electronics while in the time-phase.  There aren’t very many problems with that sort of thing if you’re slowing time, but you can blow breakers or get power surges if you try and draw hours worth of power in minutes without taking precautions.  Power is only one example.  I haven’t mentioned it before, but doing things like surfing the web in time-phase has to be handled carefully, and though I don’t have a cell phone; using one in anything other than normal time is just weird.  You get the chipmunk effect on a call when in slow-motion; and if you think some calls last forever; try listening to someone speaking in normal time while you’ve sped up to hyper-speed.

Mom assigned lots of archive homework for me, but I’m not doing any of that tonight.  After getting Ethan and Ehlana tucked in, I came straight up to bed; and have only been doing my basic nightly computing.  If the weather holds as forecast tomorrow, Tim’s party is going to include camping overnight; so we’ll likely be up really late if that’s on – or just after-midnight kind of late if we end up indoors.  One way or the other, I think this will be one of the best birthday parties of the summer, and need to be ready for the fun, so...

...until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!

Cassie's Journal - August 19, 2013

I haven’t seen them yet, but let’s start out this report by welcoming the newest members of our town – Pastor John, Stacey, and Rebekkah Burroughs – to Witch Falls!  Pastors Lewis and Martha must be thrilled to have their son and his family home to stay; though I’m sure it’s been a busy, crazy day for all of them too.

Busy and crazy would describe the morning action around our house too.  Mom, Ethan, Ehlana, and I were all up early to see Dad off to the city; but we didn’t have time for our usual cuddle and a nap with Mom after he was on the road today.  Instead of doing that, the twins and I gave Violet her wake-up call; I helped her with hauling her luggage downstairs and we packed her car; and then she hit the shower and got ready for her own trip before going over to Dillon’s house to get this things loaded up too.

Mom and I took turns getting ready for our shopping day while taking care of Ethan and Ehlana; and then we needed to get over to the Inn by seven o’clock for the pre-shopping breakfast buffet.  One big change for this shopping trip was that Ethan and Ehlana weren’t coming with us – they were spending the day with Grandma and Grandpa instead.  They weren’t disappointed about that; and got to have some shopping fun at the sales around town anyway.  I liked the arrangements today because Mom was able to have Miranda, Rebecca, Rowen, and Michael come with us in the minivan.

I haven’t written much about the work that went into getting this trip together, but I do appreciate everything that Mom, Aunt Leanne, and the other volunteers do to make these shopping adventures possible.  The totals for today were one-hundred and four shoppers; twenty-one vehicles and drivers; twenty-five adult chaperones; thirty-five teens (including four teen drivers); and forty-four kids and tweens.

The dining room was full between the shoppers and the family and friends who had come along just to share the morning meal.  Mom, Uncle Adam, and Aunt Leanne sat with Violet, Dillon, and his parents to have one last little visit before the two teens got on the road too; so I sat with Rowen and her family while Ethan and Ehlana were with Grandma and Grandpa.  Miranda, Rebecca, and Michael were all working right up until it was time to hit the road for Crystal Springs; so except for a quick good morning kiss in the kitchen before I went to have breakfast, I didn’t see Michael until we met outside and climbed into the minivan.

As always, we were in the last group to get on the road once Mom and Aunt Leanne had made sure that everyone else was accounted for and in the correct vehicles; plus we needed to say goodbye to Violet and Dillon – though they were on their way by about half-way through the shopper check-off.

Note to me:  add Dillon’s parents to the bonus hugs list.  They’re kid-free for the first time in twenty years or so; and may need them for the next few weeks.

I missed having Aunt Leanne with us today, but Miranda is an awesome stand-in; and she even had some fun teasing Michael and me so we wouldn’t miss Aunt Leanne’s jokes.  That was fine with us for everything except one particular joke that seriously annoyed Michael – though he didn’t let his mother know that.

What could be so bad?  The combination of reaching the sixty-two inch milestone and having brilliant blue eyes.  He was sick of the five-foot-two, eyes of blue song and jokes right from the start.  Rebecca could commiserate, since she’d been on the receiving end of that kind of razzing when she’d hit that comedically important mark for ever blue-eyed person; but she didn’t try to intervene either.  She did advise Michael that it got worse if you fought it – especially with your friends.  Since his best friend is class practical joker extraordinaire Tim Landry; that’s really sound advice.

Michael didn’t have to wait to have that confirmed because Tim and his mother joined our group after we crossed paths twenty minutes after we got to the Mall.  They’d been part of one of the groups that had left for Crystal Springs first; but Tim was happy to hang out with Michael instead of his cousin, Carolyn, and the group of girls she was shopping with.  Kyle was at the Mall too, but he’d gone off with Erin Green and some of their friends.

Sarah, Carolyn, and the rest of their group wandered in the same direction as we were going for the next twenty minutes, but Michael and Tim were usually in different stores than the girls; and had Miranda and Tracey helping them with their clothes-buying decisions.  That was easier for Miranda, but Tracey and Sarah Landry know how to handle their boys; and while Tim occasionally gave his Mom a hard time; she usually won most of their little fashion skirmishes.

Rowen and I didn’t get to spend much time with Michael and Tim during the morning, but we sat together during lunch; and then we were given an hour to do some running around on our own so we could take care of more of the gift shopping we all had on our to-do lists.  That had the bonus of giving the Moms time for some personal clothes shopping too; so it was a win-win for everyone.  One cool part about doing that together was that we started doing some ‘friends’ gifts together.  Rowen and I have been doing that for a long time now, and though Tim seemed to be a bit weirded out to be doing that with us; he liked the idea of splitting the cost and being able to get better gifts.  Michael and I paired up for some specific gifts too – like his Mom’s birthday and my parent’s anniversary.  It’s a wonder we didn’t need to buy a trailer to get everything home; but we managed to pack everything into the van – except for a few bulk supplies from Wal-Mart that we sent with Dad when he met up with us for dinner.

Before I get to the dinner with Dad part of the story, we still had more Mall fun and the Wal-Mart visit after Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I met up with the Moms again.  Rowen and I were pretty much set up for back-to-school clothes by then, so we dealt with shoes and some accessories that gave us a chance to pick up a few more girl gifts too.  When we were ready to leave the Mall, Mom and Miranda coordinated a shopper check-in with everyone in our collective groups.  We had seven vehicles and a bit more than a third of the shoppers come with us to Wal-Mart while everyone else either headed for home or to do something else.  Rebecca and Jenny wandered around Wal-Mart with Michael, Tim, Rowen, and me while the Moms were busy dealing with the boring shopping; though we split up a few times while picking out some specific gifts – for Tim and Michael.

The Wal-Mart time limit was two hours, and Dad had already met up with Mom by the time we were supposed to meet them at the checkouts.  I knew that, but didn’t try to rush my friends; and I couldn’t tell anyone except Rowen how I could possibly know that anyway.  Getting out of the store didn’t take long, but then we did a bit of passenger juggling before we could move on to the restaurant that Dad and Angela had picked.  We traded Tim for Rebecca; partly because Rebecca and Jenny wanted to have more fast food – and didn’t want to stay late and miss the tail end of the sales at home.  Tim was good with that change, and the rest of the passenger juggling was so that Patricia and Tracey could stay too while sending kids and teens home who didn’t want to do that with us.  Including the Malloys, we ended up with twenty-one at our little dinner party.

I really loved getting to spend some time with Terry, Angela, and Valerie; though Rowen and I really only got to have Valerie with us a lot at the kids’ table while the parents were busy having fun with their friends.  Valerie will be one in about a month; and she’s at a very entertaining stage.  She’s very happy, giggles a lot; and wasn’t at all shy about sitting with us instead of Mommy and Daddy.  I could have lived without the diaper change, but if Terry thought that one dirty diaper was going to scare me after going through all of that with twins; he was disappointed.

Michael and I were the only kids willing to be even remotely adventurous with our meal choices; and I liked getting to try two new things even though Tim and Rowen razzed us about sharing our food.  I don’t see what the big deal is – we weren’t feeding each other or anything weird like that.  We didn’t bug Tim about picking a burger and fries platter.  Sure, it was a lot better than fast food; but a step down from any burger option at the Inn.

I didn’t get to spend much time with Dad either, but we had a little visit in the parking lot after dinner while Mom was busy with Terry, Angela, and Valerie; and we had just seen each other this morning.  At least now we only have four days left until he’ll be home again.  Miranda rounded us up when it was nearly time to go, and let Mom and Dad have a few minutes together too; but then he needed to get back to the hotel and his homework; and we still had an hour and a half of travel time ahead of us.  That break in the action was fine with me – Michael and I cuddled all the way home in the back seat and talked with Tim and Rowen while watching a ‘B’-rated space movie that we’d picked up in one of the cheap bins at Wal-Mart.  I’ll classify that flick as so bad it’s funny; and I really wish that my memory would allow it to be forgettable.

One thing that did work out for us was not needing to do a lot of running around town dropping off boxes and bags to other houses like we normally would when we take the van and truck.  We unloaded everything from our driveway; and Tim, Rowen, and I helped Miranda and Michael with carrying all of their things home.  I had to say goodnight to Michael after our last trip to his house; and Tim stayed with him for a little while before going home too.  Rowen and I ran down to her house to give her Mom a hand with unloading their minivan once she got there after dropping off all of her passengers except Patrick.  He helped too, but barely talked to me; and disappeared into his room once the work was done.

I stayed for another ten or fifteen minutes to do the first part of the shopping trip recap with Owen; but then headed home again to help Mom with hauling bags upstairs and putting the supplies away that couldn’t be left in Dad’s truck for the rest of the week.  Grandma and Grandpa were there with Ethan and Ehlana; so we had some extra help to get the work done before getting cold drinks and sitting around the kitchen table to tell each other bedtime shopping stories.

Trading dinner with Dad and the Malloys for missing out on the big sales here was worth it, but Grandma, Aunt Leanne, Aunt Deborah, Ehlana, and Leah had fun when they went shopping together; and I doubt that the store owners missed our business all that much – especially since it just means that we’ll be more interested in the Labor Day sales than we usually would be.  Ethan and Ehlana had needed to stay up until we were home, but Grandpa and I took them up to bed once they had their shopping news fix; and I came up to my room right after Mom and I did the goodnight hugs and kisses with Grandma and Grandpa when they were ready to go home.

Before getting changed, I needed to deal with putting my own clothes away; and I wrapped all of the gifts too before stacking them on the usual shelf in my closet too.  Mom had opted for some Jacuzzi time after checking in to make sure everyone was home safely from the city, and I thought about doing that too; but opted for a quick shower instead before getting changed and into bed with Mandy.  I was tired then, but Mom will want to get back to my Magi lessons again; so I finished my archive homework and needed to do some family business work first before getting to my usual nightly computing and this journal update.

Since I didn’t even get started on that until nearly midnight, it’s now after two; and I am past being ready to crash for the rest of the night.  I don’t know what we’re doing tomorrow for Michael’s second day off from the Inn; but since Jacob had to work today and we were away; he’ll have yard work for sure.  Maybe I’ll help out with that so he isn’t stuck with it all day – they are one set of hands short now that Jake and Stephanie are in New York.  Whatever we do, I’ll need an early night tomorrow night so I can catch up on my sleep.  We have Tim’s birthday on Wednesday; riding lessons and baseball practice on Thursday; dinner and holiday weekend cooking on Friday night; and baseball and the big kid campout and adult party and the pub on Saturday.

If the last week of August is that busy too, I’ll need to go back to school just to get some rest!  Getting some sleep is my top priority for the rest of the night, so...

...until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!