Heirs of the Magi Archives: Cassie's Journal 2015 - Part Two

By Steve Leggett

Beginning with their summer holidays and through to Christmas and the end of 2015; Cassie's adventures with her family and friends in Witch Falls continue - and usually at her usual, too-busy pace. Her more serious Magi training and family business work are very imprtant, but Cassie is a teenager; so that also means a life filled with the fun and adventure that makes up for all of the work and studying.
Enjoy the continuing, insider's view of life as a teen Magi Master in a small town during the all-important development years as Cassie, her family, and some of their friends prepare for their amazing future - and the Ascension of the Light!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Steve Leggett
• Release date: Jan 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9780994002037

Steve Leggett

I've been an avid reader since my early childhood, and though I've been legally blind for around twenty years now, that love of books has continued, despite the challenges. The bug to try seriously writing books hit me in 2007, and I started with writing fan fiction stories, which was a great way to learn how to develop story lines and existing characters, as well as do research and new character creation. The feedback from readers, both positive and negative, was also a very important part of the learning process. Two million or so words, and several thousand pages later, and I was ready to start Heirs of the Magi. Fantasy epics and series are my favorite books. Whether I'm visiting the worlds created by authors like Andre Norton and Frank Herbert, or exploring the magic closer to home, like with Nora Roberts and so many other classic and contemporary writers, it's the more intimate involvement with the people and places that these books create that I love most. That's the type of story I had in mind when I began developing Heirs of the Magi, and I hope that you will love the books as much as I've loved bringing them to you!

Book preview

Heirs of the Magi Archives

Cassie’s Journal 2015 – Part Two

By Steve Leggett

Published by Steve Leggett - Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2015 – Steve Leggett

Cover Image by Kayla Leggett - Copyright 2015 - Used by Permission

ISBN: 978-0-9940020-3-7

Books by Steve Leggett

Heirs of the Magi Trilogy

Magi Sanctuary

Magi Master

Magi Ascension – Part One – The Ascension Begins

Magi Ascension – Part Two – Light Your World (Forthcoming)

Heirs of the Magi Archives

Cassie's Journal 2011

Cassie's Journal 2012 - Part One

Cassie’s Journal 2012 – Part Two

Cassie’s Journal 2013 – Part One

Cassie’s Journal 2013 – Part Two

Cassie’s Journal 2014 – Part One

Cassie’s Journal 2014 – Part Two

Cassie’s Journal 2015 – Part One

Cassie’s Journal 2015 – Part Two

Cassie’s Journal 2016 – Part One (Forthcoming)

The Catalyst Chronicles

The Catalyst is Born

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

July 2015

August 2015

September 2015

October 2015

November 2015

December 2015

Notes

July 2015

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

It’s been a wet weather day, and although it got hotter and humid this afternoon; didn’t exactly make for a great start to July.

Michael, Tim, and Rowen were all working today too, so the combination of busy best friends and the rainy weather meant that my start to July wasn’t nearly as entertaining or exciting compared to our last day of June fun and adventure.

I stayed home all day; helped Mom out around the house; and worked on the family business off and on all day too. Michael came over for his afternoon break; Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana all spent some time in the office with me either during the day or after dinner; and my only other breaks were for meals. Co-ed baseball practice was cancelled tonight because of the rain, so Dad was able to do his homework early tonight too; though we don’t need to even think about what my parents are doing with that extra time tonight. The good news with all of that work today for me is that I’ll be sleeping early tonight – and even got to have some quality Jacuzzi time that I’m still enjoying while writing this update.

So this hasn’t been an exciting day, and I’ll have more work to do tomorrow; but then some of our family is incoming tomorrow night for the holiday weekend – and it’ll be time to play for the next four days after that! Getting the extra sleep tonight will help me out with being ready for all of the holiday fun.

Let’s hope that we get to have an emphasis on fun this weekend, but since my report for today is so boring that it’s putting me to sleep while writing it, I’m going to wrap it up; get out of the tub now; and finish getting ready for bed before I do nod off right here in the tub! ;^)

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Thursday, July 2, 2015

This update is coming to you late because Dawn and I have been having a nice long girl chat with Violet while Dillon, Chris, and Martin have been playing video games in the lounge. They’ve all gone off to bed now; but it’s been a fun night having my cousins here a day early for the holiday weekend.

Uncle Blaine, Aunt Alison, and their kids are here in town too, and while they’re staying with us too; Jaimie and Kaitlyn are spending the night with Uncle Mark, Aunt Grace, and Caleb. They’re mostly doing that tonight because Uncle Mark’s family will be getting here tomorrow; and there won’t be room at his house for any extra sleepover guests for the rest of the weekend. Uncle Blaine and Aunt Alison spent most of the evening over there too; but came back here once Jayden had run out of steam and was ready for bed. Ethan and Ehlana went to bed then too; which is why we didn’t have Ehlana with us for the girl chat time.

Having a bit more than half of our family home for the holiday a bit early has been the highlight of my day, which is why I led with that news; but let’s back up and cover the rest of the daily report from the beginning.

The rain mostly wrapped up overnight, and while we had a spit or two of it today, that’s really all it was – a sprinkle here and there. It didn’t get in the way of Tai Chi this morning; we had breakfast out on the back porch because it was comfortably warm and it was much nicer to be out there than indoors. Having an easy-breakfast made that choice easier too; since we didn’t have much more than cups, glasses, and plates to haul out there with us. Dad needed to get ready for work after that, so I took care of the kitchen clean-up while Mom got started on some other chores around the house.

Since the weather didn’t cooperate yesterday, my jobs for the morning included mowing the lawn and weeding the gardens. Though the grass was still damp, I cut it first; and it was pretty much dry by the time I needed to do the trimming work with the push mower and weed trimmer. I haven’t mentioned it in a while, but I do really appreciate Dad’s new lawn tractor a lot. It sure makes that part of my chores a lot easier and faster. With all of the rain we’ve had since Saturday, the grass was as long as it normally would be after a full week too.

We haven’t been hit with the crazy amounts of rain that they’ve had in other parts of the country, and the farmers are basically happy campers around here; but I’m going to hope for some nice weather for the weekend – and the rest of the summer. It’s really tough to have long, hot, lazy, and sunny summer days if it rains all of the time!

Getting back to the story, it took me until a bit after one to get the lawn and garden work finished; I hopped in the river to cool off and get moderately clean; and then had a late lunch with Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana on the back porch before going upstairs to grab a shower and get changed. Michael came over by the time I was finished doing that; and we spent his afternoon break playing with Ethan and Ehlana at the park. That included some bike riding and playground time; we stopped for Emporium ice cream on the way home; and went for a swim before Michael needed to get back to the Inn.

The Proctor contingent of our weekend guests arrived just a bit before Dad got home from work. I was kept busy after that helping with hauling luggage up to the second and third floors; and then giving Mom a hand in the kitchen. We were hosting dinner for most of our family, and while Mom had lots of other help too; those volunteers didn’t start arriving until my aunts and uncles began wrapping up their work for the day. Even Grandma and Grandpa didn’t get here until five-thirty or so; mostly because they’d also been doing the normal weekend chores early to be ready for the weekend – and for their weekend guests.

Dinner was a bit of a crazy blur of fun and work for me. The work came before and after the meal, but to be honest, while I had fun too; being on kid control duty while we ate was more tiring than the prep work and clean-up. I had Jaimie and Kaitlyn for support with that, but Jayden was a bit fired up after being stuck in their SUV for hours; Zack was cranky; and Leah was more interested in everything else going on around her than in eating.

Scenes like that do remind me that I am really, really lucky to have Ethan and Ehlana for my brother and sister. Even when they’re playing ‘normal’ kids; they basically never take the act to the dark side of toddler or pre-school kid life. Mom and Dad would surely tell you that being parents of junior Magi Masters has other challenges; but I’d say that the twins are doing better with that than I did when I was their age. That isn’t news, though; so let’s move this along so that I can head off to sleep soon.

Chris and Martin both needed to work their part time jobs today before getting the extra time off this weekend and coming here; so they didn’t get on the road from Woodvale until around four-thirty. The good news for them was that the traffic wasn’t much of a problem for them; and they were able to make pretty good time getting here. Since they weren’t going to be here in time for dinner, they stopped for fast food in Crystal Springs – and brought a fix along for Aunt Leanne despite the fact that we’d only finished our meal about an hour before they got into town.

I’ve skipped a bit of time there, but my post-dinner action included a bit of clean-up work in the kitchen before I needed to get to my ball practice; and then I missed out on the action at home while playing at the school ball diamond with my friends. All of my aunts, uncles, and cousins moved on from our house after dinner, and as I mentioned; Uncle Blaine, Aunt Alison, and the kids went over to Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace’s house to spend the evening with them. Grandma and Grandpa stayed later, and were still there having a visit with Chris, Martin, and Dawn when I got back from the school; but they didn’t stay long after that before heading home again.

Rowen and Tim came home with me, and Rowen and I were in need of some swim time; so we did that – and had Tim, Dawn, Ethan, and Ehlana join us for the water play time while Chris and Martin opted to stay dry. My cousins moved on after that for quick visits with Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne, and then with the gang at the Everett house; but those were both just cameo visits. They came back here after that; and we headed up to the lounge while Mom and Dad had already gone into the office to get some work done. Rowen and Tim had moved on to her house by then too; but let’s not discuss why they wanted to do that instead of staying to hang out with us. If we did that; I’d start thinking about not being able to have that kind of fun with Michael tonight. We really don’t want to go there – even if Michael and I both wish that we could have! ;^)

Michael did come over for a while after the Inn closed for the night, but he’s working the breakfast shift in the morning; and didn’t stay long. He played video games with the other guys for a while, and we took a few minutes to say goodbye out on the front porch when he needed to leave; but that was the full extent of the Michael and me time for tonight.

Violet, Dawn, and I spent most of the evening hanging out in the lounge with the boys, but we moved into my room for the girl chat time; and kept ourselves entertained until Violet decided that she and Dillon were tired out and needed to get to bed. They are working in the morning, and needed to get the sleep; but it still felt strange to have both of them here for the night while Chris, Martin, and Dawn were here too. It was inevitable that they’d take this next step; but what might have been most-interesting about that bedtime scene is the fact that Chris and Martin didn’t make a big deal of it.

They’ve come a long way since I first met them five years ago!

Dawn stayed and talked with me for a while longer; mostly so that Violet, Dillon, and Chris could take turns using the guest washroom before she took a turn getting ready for bed. She and Chris are using the two front bedrooms on the third floor, while Martin is on the second floor in the room next to Ethan’s. Jayden is with Ethan, and Uncle Blaine and Aunt Alison are in the room below mine; so we have nearly a full house already. That’ll be even crazier tomorrow after Uncle Rick and Aunt Melissa get here – especially since we’ll have Jaimie and Kaitlyn with us for the rest of the weekend starting tomorrow night too. We’re going to wing it for that; but Dawn, Jaimie, Kaitlyn, and I will be sharing my room, the lounge, and Dawn’s room in some combination for the next three nights.

That will also likely mean some late nights ahead too, and I’ll need to get what sleep I can; so let’s wrap this up. After Dawn went to her room, I got changed; hopped into bed with Mandy; and got to work on my nightly computer checks. There was some family business work that needed to be dealt with that took more than an hour to wrap up; but my computer and email checks didn’t take long. There isn’t any major news to report from any of that; so I guess that’s all I have for tonight.

The holiday weekend fun will be kicking up a few notches starting in just a few hours, and all I need to be ready for it is a bit of sleep; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Friday, July 3, 2015

This has been one of those crazy, amazing days around here, with a lot going on; so let’s jump right into the adventure report and I’ll try not to get it too jumbled up!

Tai Chi this morning was the only quiet time Mom, Dad, Ethan, Ehlana, and I had for pretty much the rest of the day through until now. Michael was working the breakfast shift; so he couldn’t do that with us, but I was okay with that because he was able to spend some extra time with us between that work and the dinner shift. Exercising by the river really was a great way to get the day started; and then the breakfast rush for twelve while also juggling bathroom time kept us hopping for the next couple of hours. I was in on the cooking and clean-up; and was last to hit the shower and get ready for the day – mostly because Dad and Uncle Blaine both needed to get ready for work; and the Moms were busy with the younger kids and other chores. Chris, Martin, and Dawn were on the clean-up crew with me, and scary as this is; the boys actually helped us without any major complaining or attempts to supervise while leaving the work to Dawn and me. Since Chris will be heading off to college in August; that was a good sign that maybe he’ll be able to survive his first year taking care of himself; but we’ll see how that goes. Dawn’s expectations for him are fairly low; so I could be wrong about that.

Life just got busier for me once I was ready for the day; mostly because a lot of the adults in our family were busy with other responsibilities; so I was one of the draftees recruited for kid control of all of the younger cousins – including the Johnson family cousins. Kara, Eddie, Nicole, and Robyn arrived in town late last night with their grandparents while the parents had stayed home to deal with one more day of work or other issues before coming here tonight. Chris and Martin were set free to do their own thing after breakfast; but Dawn, Jaimie, Kaitlyn, and I were all asked to help out with keeping the younger kids busy and entertained.

Part of the reason for that wasn’t just because of the parental jobs around here. Uncle Mark and Grandpa also needed to hit the road for the airport to go and pick up Uncle Mark’s family. They’re here for multiple reasons that include the holiday, Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace’s anniversary; and to spend time with Caleb; and they’ll be here until next Saturday. Adding the Everett clan to the family mix this weekend is just making everything just a bit more crazy – and fun!

That’s getting us ahead of the story, though; so let’s get back on track.

We – the older kids and teens – had our little gang of kids rounded up by nine-thirty, and by then; half the parents were already either at work or getting started on chores that ranged from housework to grocery and supply shopping. Having the kids out of the way made all of that easier, and while it might have been nice if Dawn and I could have had some teen time with some of my friends; we managed to have fun with our younger siblings and cousins. Michael helped out with the fun too after being set free from the Inn; and he met up with us at the park playground. Aunt Leanne and Aunt Deborah had us taking care of Zack and Leah along with the rest of the cousins; but Caleb and Sebastian were not included in our play group. I should add that Kara, Eddie, and Nicole didn’t really need any supervision; and they all helped out with the younger kids too. Eddie would have liked to have some guys his own age to hang out with; but he survived the play time with Ethan, Jayden, and Zack without any major psychological or physical damage.

While the playground action kept us busy for hours between morning and afternoon visits, there was some biking involved in our play day too; and I used the trailer on my bike so that Zack and Leah could go along with us for the rides. We also did one visit to the Emporium and a ride around the new section of town; went swimming once in the afternoon; and Zack and Leah had short naps in the trailer during the afternoon ride until we ended up at the park for the second round of playground fun. Lunch was at our house; Mom, Aunt Leanne, and the grandmothers took care of that meal and clean-up; and that didn’t feel like a break at all for Michael, Dawn, and I as we kept busy getting the younger kids fed and then cleaned up again.

While we were busy playing, the rest of our incoming family guests began arriving by mid-afternoon – and that continued on for the rest of the day until after eleven o’clock. I didn’t see most of the afternoon arrivals until we came home for that swim before Michael needed to get to the Inn for the dinner rush; but it was the first contingents of the McEwan clan getting to town first and ending with the adults that weren’t able to hit the road until finishing work for the day – and then got stuck in the thick of the holiday weekend traffic messes between their homes and ours. The Everetts were in town by dinnertime too; and all of that extra work and driving was the main reason behind the decision to have that meal at our house.

I’d better take a minute here to write a blurb about Uncle Mark’s family; though my interaction with them – or at least the adults – was fairly limited today. Uncle Mark’s parents, Aaron and Lorelei – Lori – don’t seem to have changed much since the last time they were here for the wedding. The same can’t be said for Uncle Mark’s sister, brother, and their spouses and kids. Two years is a long time for kids that now range in age from two and a half to going on eight; and parenting those five kids has affected the parents too. On the bright side of that, I’ll mention that Uncle Mark’s sister and sister-in-law both look great; so keeping up with their little angels is apparently keeping them in great shape too. Their husbands look healthy and happy too; but a touch of grey hair here and there suggests that the kids are affecting them too! ;^)

I can also tell you that Uncle Mark feels the same way about his sister’s and brother’s kids as Aunt Grace feels about Jaimie, Kaitlyn, and Jayden; though it’s a bit different for them too. Aunt Grace has a closer relationship with her nieces and nephew, and while the older kids in Uncle Mark’s family like him a lot; I’ll guess that they’re not quite as close to him because work always kept all of the doctors in the Everett family busy when he lived in Seattle. Let’s leave that train of thought there and get back to the recap where I left off with the pre-dinner action at our house.

After a long travel day, Uncle Mark’s nieces and nephews were both tired out and ready to blow off some steam; so joining in to play with the rest of us ‘kids’ was exactly what they needed. The ages of the collective cousins worked out fairly well too. Eddie was only a bit younger than Uncle Mark’s oldest nephew, Kellum. Colleen and Noah are around a year older than Ethan, Ehlana, and Jayden, and a bit younger than Nicole; but seem to be getting along with all of them just fine. The youngest, Noel and Julian, are in the middle between Zack and Leah, and the twins; and they were happy to play with both the older and younger kids. Having five extra kids to keep an eye on after losing Michael’s help kept Dawn and I really busy; though we did get some help from Violet, Dillon, Christina, and Josiah once they were all finished work for the day.

Our dinner was a barbeque potluck that was a fairly large event even without having the entire collective family in town yet by the time we sat down to eat. I won’t try to report on all of the meal-time action; since it was just too busy to keep up with everything. Dawn and I were with the kids; we were entertained and run a bit ragged keeping up with them; and then we basically dunked them in the river to clean them up where needed before helping out with the early stages of the clean-up and then getting back to playing in the back yard and at the park.

The latter part of that was because the Everett-McKinley kids wanted to check out the new playground equipment that the other kids had told them all about during dinner, and while we did most of the playing with them; there was some grandparent support for Dawn and me too so that we didn’t have to try and keep track of the entire group of cousins all of the time. We were home from the park before dusk, and while a campfire had been considered, there were still inbound travelers to welcome at other houses; the earlier arrivals were more interested in some quiet time and smaller group visits; and half of the kids were ready to crash by then, so we instead split up and headed for home – or respective guest accommodations that included the Inn for a few lucky visitors.

A smaller campfire at our house had still been an option, but with the Fourth of July on Saturday, the majority of us opted for a comparatively early night instead of staying up late to do that. Chris, Martin, and Jonathan weren’t part of that majority; but then they were okay with staying up late and playing video games in the lounge instead. I’m getting ahead of the storyline again; but that was a crazy-busy hour and a half or so during the transition from full group to just having our own weekend guests here at home with us.

Uncle Rick and Aunt Melissa got into town while we were at the park, and Grandma and Grandpa Rice were with them; but went home with my grandparents. Grandpa Duncan and Grandma Mercy are staying there too; so they also have a full house – if a smaller one. Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne had more incoming Johnsons and McEwans by then too; so I didn’t even see them again after getting back from the park; and Zack went home with the rest of the Johnson family grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins that were staying at his house for the weekend when they were ready to go there.

Once we were down to our own guests and Jonathan; the parents moved into the living room for some chat time with Violet and Dillon. Dawn and I were there for that for a while too, but took care of getting Ethan, Ehlana, and Jayden off to bed when Jayden looked ready to fall asleep. Jaimie and Kaitlyn helped us out with that; we moved up to my room after that; and had a fun little girl chat there while also winding down and getting ready for bed. I closed the doors to the lounge so that the guys wouldn’t bug us. That might have worked out differently if Michael had come over tonight, but they were busy at the Inn and he got stuck there until close; so we decided that he should just go home instead of coming over when he’d just end up playing video games anyway.

When we were ready to call it a night, Mandy and I ended up getting Kaitlyn for a cuddle buddy while Jaimie’s with Dawn tonight. Once we were on our own, Kaitlyn and I continued to talk and watch YouTube videos, but she fell asleep about a half-hour ago; so I started in on my computer and email checks after that. There wasn’t any work that had to be done tonight, and there were only a couple of personal emails to read and answer; so I’ll at least be able to wrap this up and get to sleep soon too.

It’s going to be crazy around here in the morning again – especially since we have the parade in the morning and need to get our contributions for the food booths ready to go along with everything else that goes along with a major family Fourth of July adventure.

I’ve skipped over a lot of news – like Uncle Blaine’s work and meetings related to the med center and new construction going on around town; all of the parental work and chores that I missed out on entirely; and a bunch of travel, work, and school stories that were among the conversation highlights of the collective reunions. A time phase isn’t an option tonight, though, and I don’t want to be up all night writing about all of those fun little details; so I’ll just wrap this up and call it a night.

While this wasn’t a holiday day for a lot of my family, it sure felt like one to me – and most of the kids and teens. Tomorrow is going to be even better – and not just because I’ll get to share all of the fun with Michael. You, reading this in my future, can just flip a digital page to get that report, though, so I won’t bother with a preview now when I can just be on my way into dreamland instead.

I can do that preview there while resting up, and then hope that the reality tomorrow will be just as amazing, so while I’m doing that; and until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Happy Un-Independence Day, Mom!

We had a cooler start to the day, but the weather has also been beautiful and nearly-perfect for a holiday. I’m also fairly sure that some fireworks were going off first thing this morning while Michael and I were busy sharing our good morning hug and kisses before Tai Chi by the river – even though my parents, brother, and sister didn’t hear or see a thing; and insisted that didn’t happen. That did give Michael and I the excuse to test that assertion out during the fireworks show in the park, and while I’ll concede that it was louder and brighter tonight, it was also dark out; and the kisses felt about the same to me.

That’s gotten off-topic, so let’s get on with the holiday report.

Tai Chi was followed by an even busier breakfast and morning rush than we had yesterday. I was not on the cooking crew because Mom and Dad told me to go and get ready for the day first. I was finished doing that in time to help out a bit before we all sat down to eat, and while the meal was a blast of fun; it was time to get to work after that. The kitchen was clean by the time I needed to head for the school. Rowen collected me on her way there; we met up with Michael; and the three of us walked to the school. We had picked playing with the school band this year; and we were among the first members of our group to get to the school. The trailer was already set up for us; so we got our instruments out of the cases and tuned up while waiting for the rest of the band.

Tim stopped by for hugs and kisses from Rowen, but he only stayed for a few minutes to talk with us before moving on. He was helping his Dad out again this year; and then went along with Kyle while his cousin drove one of the company trucks pulling a float trailer. That wasn’t as exciting for him as playing in the band was for us; but I expect that he’ll hope to be one of the drivers next year – even though he’d still need a co-pilot to do that while still having the learner’s permit that he’ll be able to get in August.

I missed out on all of the pre-parade action at home, but that work was going on while I was warming up with the band and waiting for the parade to start; so I’ll add that bit of news in here. Mom and Dad kept the oven loaded with food that they were warming up; salads and other donations were loaded into the truck along with coolers, chairs, and the rest of the usual day camp gear that we need for these family adventures at the park. A delegation of teens and adults were put in charge of keeping the kids entertained while the work was getting done, and when it was time to stake out a spot to watch the parade from; Violet, Dillon, Jake, Stephanie, Christina, Josiah, and Dawn were put in charge of doing that with all of the kids from our collective families – including the Bassett kids.

Trust me – playing in the band was way, way easier!

Maybe that’s why so many of the adult volunteers come back for more every year; though that has me wondering why Aunt Leanne isn’t doing something in the parade every year too considering how often she tells Mom and Dad that they pick responsibility over fun. I’m not suggesting that she should have been in the parade this year, but then I did also hear her own jokes about being mistaken for a blimp if she had been. She did have fun today, and wasn’t allowed to do any work anyway; but it was also a very long day for her too. While Aunt Leanne also had lots of jokes and comments about her size, pregnancy, and things she could have done at the parade and park celebration to speed up going into labor; I’m also sure that she’s glad that she didn’t have an Independence Day baby.

Then again, if my prenatal cousin was thinking about making an appearance tonight; I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that the noises of everything from the fire trucks in the parade to the fireworks tonight were enough to have her choosing to wait a bit longer. ;^)

Getting back to the holiday adventure stories, after warming up; Michael, Rowen, and I had lots of time to just hang out and talk with our friends and band mates while waiting for our turn to head out onto the parade route. We were the last musical act this year, and while I’d have rather gotten going sooner; we were at least in a decent spot to watch the parade as it rolled out of the school grounds. One thing that is different about being in the band compared to the teen praise team is that we couldn’t interact with the crowd as much while concentrating on the music and our conductor, but getting to do that with Michael was great; and I did still get to see everything going on around us – even if I couldn’t acknowledge that I did most of the time. I also preferred getting to play music for my favorite people as we passed them way better than if we’d been able to interact more with any of them had we passed them during one of our micro breaks between songs.

The parade route only changes a little bit from year to year, and the time to complete it is always very close to the same too; so the only difference for us this year was that we were at the end of the parade and had to pack up while the crowds were heading into the park and getting started on the fun there while we were busy working for a while. Michael, Rowen, and I stayed and helped out with packing up all of the gear from the trailer; and then Michael volunteered to help out with the work at the school to get everything back to the music room while Rowen and I headed home to get changed and meet up with any members of our family that weren’t already at the park by then. I dropped of Michael’s saxophone at his house too on my way home; and then eventually met up with him at his house once I was ready to go back to the park and play.

We needed to hurry by then to get to the park in time for the co-ed baseball game at noon, so while we’d had the house to ourselves by then; we unfortunately didn’t have time to take advantage of the opportunity. Our families had us covered on the lunch food front, but I literally had to join my cheerleading squad and get to work as soon as we arrived at the ball diamond closest to the park entrance. I should clarify that comment, since this year; Miranda and I were co-captains of our squad. She cheered for Mom and Dad’s team this year because she didn’t have a team in the game – and because cheering with me and the rest of the girls on our squad was more fun than just being a spectator. Our squad included all of the younger girl cousins in our collective families – including Uncle Mark’s nieces. Violet, Christina, Stephanie, Rebecca, and some of the Moms helped out too; and we had a blast cheering our team on to victory.

Our Eagles were up against the Hawks, and the teams were probably fairly evenly matched – except for at the cheerleader positions. That wasn’t even close, and I’d like to humbly report that Miranda and I are really good at motivating our squad – and baseball team too. We didn’t try to ‘steal’ the Hawks’ supporters this year; but we did send our junior cheerleaders out along both sidelines and pretty much had everyone watching the game cheering for the Eagles and jeering the Hawks. Our team had the ‘Home’ advantage, and while the Hawks opened up a small lead in the top of the first inning that took our team a few at bats to overcome before taking the lead; the game wasn’t all that close after that. Even the seventeen-to-eleven score was a bit misleading because the Hawks scored three runs in the top of the final inning before the Eagles earned the third out to end the game and minor attempt at a late rally from a nine-run deficit.

When I was envisioning my Fourth of July in my thoughts and dreams last night, I wasn’t considering that we had two baseball games to watch today – and didn’t have any time at all to play between the matches. In this case, the ‘we’ didn’t include all of the members of my family; but Miranda, Rowen, and I were there for Michael, Tim, and their team even while we lost most of our junior cheerleaders for that second game while they went off to play with our families and friends. There were a few cameo visits, and we had some new cheerleaders join the squad; but there was a much smaller crowd of spectators for that game too. Having more teens and Moms on the squad – including Tim’s Mom – made that little adventure fun in a different way to the first game; but then that’s probably why we didn’t just get bored after cheering for so many hours straight without many breaks.

Having a lot to cheer about was good too; and Michael and Tim in particular were fired up and happy to help us out with that – even if Tim was totally weirded out to have both his girlfriend and Mom on the cheerleading squad together.

I wonder why he doesn’t seem to have that same problem when it’s Michael’s Mom and me cheering together. There’s probably a logical, simple explanation for that inconsistency.

The Arrows were playing the Catapults, and this time; the away team took the early lead and never looked back. I’m sure that the cheering helped out with motivating my favorite players on the Arrows’ team; but we can’t take credit for what was pretty much a blow-out, eighteen-to-six win. As I implied, Michael and Tim were responsible for that; and either scored or batted in twelve of those eighteen runs between them – including the runs that Michael scored off of Tim’s hits. Michael couldn’t return the favor; but only because of the batting order. Speaking of that, some people might think that Martin gave Tim the better batting slot on the team strictly because of the father-son thing; but he does actually do that the way it should be done. Michael has the better batting average; and Tim is more of a power hitter with more doubles and triples to go along with more outs. I won’t get into the fact that they both need to hold back and not show off all of their abilities, but then if they did; games would need to end with the mercy rule every time – just as they would if Mom and Dad, or any other Magi in town, played their best.

Then again, it might be very cool to have an all-Magi match to see what would happen! No, that isn’t going to happen; but it would be a blast if it did!

Moving along, the baseball action ended up filling up my entire afternoon, and while I was seriously ready for a break and some play time; Michael and I had to go and help out with dinner and kid control after the game. He got to go home first, grab a shower, and get changed; but he did that fairly quickly and managed to be back in time to join me in the long food booth line I’d been in – and then he helped with hauling all of the food to our day camp site. We had parental and grandparent support for getting the kids set up with plates of food and drinks; but then we were in full kid-immersion while we ate and my brother, sister, cousins, and some friends needed to tell us all about their games and playground adventures while we’d been busy with baseball game number two.

There was other teen support during the meal, including from Rebecca and Lucas; but Michael and I had the biggest group of kids around us – mostly because Ethan and Ehlana really wanted to spend that time with us; and more than half of our cousins were with them, Naomi, and Aiden. Hanging out with the kids meant missing out on most of the adult chat time, but we did hear about a bit of the news from that side of the family. For me, some of those highlights weren’t actually play and fun-related. Finding out that Aunt Leanne was sent home for an afternoon nap was entertaining because it was her Mommy and Doctor giving her those orders, and while she was the only Mom that wasn’t given a choice for that; there were a few other Moms and Grandmothers that went to have naps too – along with a few of my youngest cousins. I won’t go into the post-baseball stories involving parents, aunts, and uncles that involved going home to get cleaned up and changed – or why it took them so long to do that; but I’m sure you can use your imagination on that.

Just don’t ever tell me about that if you do – please!

It took a while to finish our meal, but then Michael and I were left on kid control duty instead of moving to the clean-up crew. That wasn’t all good because we were instructed to take our group of kids for ice cream cones; and to make sure that they were clean when returned to their parents or grandparents when we were finished that little task. Since our group ranged in age from about one and a half to eight, you can imagine the potential for mess; but Michael and I managed to deal with it – even if not all of the adults were impressed with our solution to several extreme ice cream messes.

That’s right – we dunked the kids in the river to clean them up. We were told to return them clean. Nobody said anything about whether they had to be dry or not too!

While we had a lot of fun with all of that, the dance was starting by the time Michael and I were set free; and we headed for the stage and dance floor to meet up with Rowen, Tim, and a bunch of our friends that again included Rebecca and Lucas – and Jenny and Joel. The change in action was almost shocking with that move from kid to teen fun and entertainment; though we didn’t completely escape interaction with the kids in our families. We did really enjoy the dance, play, and chat time with our friends, though; and the cameo moments with the kids and adults in our families was all good too – if a bit of an overload of action. I won’t try to write about everything, but here are some of my personal highlights.

Dancing with Michael; hugging and kissing Michael; and cuddling with Michael while we talked with our friends at one of the picnic tables that bordered the ‘dance floor’ area topped my list. Having Ethan and Ehlana cut in on us once was cute; and so was Michael’s dance with Ehlana while I danced with Ethan – until Naomi cut in on us and danced off with my brother while leaving me temporarily stranded on the dance floor. Other cameo moments that I loved getting to see included Aunt Leanne dancing with Uncle Adam and Zack; a dance that I had with Dad; and watching the dance that Mom had with Ethan while we did that – right up until Naomi cut in on them and danced off with my brother again.

I sense a pattern there – especially since that happened to Ethan with the only other dance he had with any girl other than Naomi – and that only happened because Aunt Leanne decided to try messing with Naomi by asking Ethan to dance with her.

The fireworks were scheduled for eleven o’clock, so other than taking a short break from the dance to go and play a couple of games at the booths; Michael, Rowen, Tim, and I didn’t really get a chance to play the games at all this year. Since we’d also missed out on all of the afternoon stage shows while we’d been busy with baseball; it felt as though we missed out on half of the fun today – even while we were getting tired out by then from all of the busy. While hanging out with our friends for the fireworks had been an option, Michael and I chose to meet up with our parents, Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, Aiden, and the rest of the gang that met up at our day camp spot to watch the show. We would have had fun either way; but I especially love sharing that part of the day with Mom, Dad, and the twins; so I hope that we at least rotate doing that with them every other year or so for as long as we can do that.

BMR Labs was one of the sponsors of the fireworks show now, and the display has expanded a bit since they started helping out with the costs; but that’s mostly in quality and quantity more than the length of the show. It is amazing, though; and I doubt that anyone left the park early – even when that meant getting stuck in the minor traffic jam that came with getting out of the park after the fireworks were finished.

I’ve already mentioned that Michael and I spent some time sharing kisses during the fireworks show. We weren’t the only couple in our family doing that; though I don’t think that we really need to add any details there – especially since our parents were two of those other couples. Technically, so was Ethan and Naomi; but her kiss for him was on the cheek; and it was the cuddling together for the entire show that was most-adorable for them. I’ve occasionally wondered if it would have been like that for Michael and I if we’d known each other since birth, and I guess that’s possible; but I can’t quite picture it – even though Naomi is definitely a lot like me on the fired up and outgoing scale. While I might not be able to picture being a couple with Michael when we were four; I can definitely see Naomi getting teased for hugging boys.

Oh wait – she got teased for doing that tonight! ;^)

The fireworks display was non-stop action in the skies above us while also being a wind down time for everyone, but once it ended; it was time to kick it up into high gear again as we packed up our day camp; rounded up the kids; and hauled everything home. We didn’t have any vehicles to do that with, so most of the older kids, teens, and adults were loaded up with gear; so were all of the strollers; and the half-dozen youngest kids were sleeping and being carried or in strollers too by the time we started walking home. Michael helped out with our things, but only because his parents had enough help from Rebecca, Lucas, Jake, and Stephanie. He came home with us; helped with the work getting everything put away; and then we took care of getting Ethan, Jayden, and Ehlana off to bed for the night before saying goodnight to everyone else and going outside to sit by the river for a while with cold drinks and a snack.

That meant leaving Dawn, Jaimie, and Kaitlyn to fend for themselves, but we really wanted to end our holiday with a bit of alone time; and my cousins probably drew straws for using my Jacuzzi while I was busy. They also each at least took one turn watching us from the window alcoves in my room and the lounge; but didn’t attempt any interruptions. They probably had some girl chat time with Violet that I missed out on too; but I wouldn’t have traded the time with Michael for that – even if we couldn’t enjoy any major make-out time with a house full of guests.

The quiet cuddle time on one of the benches by the river was nice, though; and we had a fun little chat too while winding down again after that post-party work action. Going for a swim had been an option too, but I decided that I’d rather keep my hair dry; and Michael wasn’t all that interested in swimming unless I was going in too. We stayed out on that bench for about an hour, and while I can’t report that everyone in the house was sleeping by the time I came up to my room after sharing a long goodnight hug and kisses with Michael; we don’t need the details on what was going on with the members of my family that were still awake too. Yes, that plural includes more than two people, and in multiples of two; but that’s all I’m going to include on that subject – especially since some of the ‘kids’ that might not want the details about that when it involves their parents will probably read my journals some day in the future.

I know I don’t!

I didn’t have any bed buddies when I got up to my room. Jaimie and Kaitlyn were camping out in the lounge and Mandy wasn’t there because she was with Dawn instead; so I just cleaned up; got ready for bed; and cuddled with my computer and a stuffie before getting started on my nightly computer and email checks. It was already heading toward two o’clock by then, but there was some family business work that needed to be dealt with; and that took more than an hour to get finished. I might have used a time phase for that work if I didn’t have a house full of family to keep me from doing that, but even though I was – and am – tired; I’m still feeling pretty good right now. We’ll see if I still feel that way by the end of the night tomorrow, but the work couldn’t wait until Monday anyway; and I’m glad that I got it done tonight even if it did mean losing some sleep over.

That does pretty much cover the main news from today, though; so getting some sleep now is definitely in order. Tomorrow is going to be another crazy-busy day with another big family breakfast; the church service in the park; the lunch and afternoon family fun plans; and my own promise to help out with the buffets at the Inn tomorrow too.

With all of that going on, I’m wondering right now whether I could get away with a sofa sleepover with Michael tomorrow night after we’re done at the Inn. That’s definitely a cheery thought to head off to sleep with; so let’s just go ahead and do that!

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, July 5, 2015

This update is coming to you from a tent in Aunt Leanne’s back yard. No, that doesn’t mean that Michael and I were able to switch a sofa sleepover for a tent mate swap; and that’s entirely because we’re each camping with a group of kids – four boys for him and four girls for me. My tent buddies are all sleeping now; and that’s the only reason I can do this report now instead of waiting until sometime in the morning. It’s been a very long, busy day, though; so let’s get to the news of the day.

My morning was yet another crazy-busy blast of non-stop action that started out with good morning hugs and kisses with Michael before Tai Chi. Our exercising by the river was great, and we’ve had a beautiful weather day too; which was great for the church service in the park plans. The teen praise team was leading that service along with the usual group of teens helping out with the skits, readings, and everything except the Pastor’s message; so Michael and I also needed to get to the park early for our warm-ups in addition to helping out at our respective homes with breakfast and the rest of the work that needed to get done.

I was on the cooking crew for the meal; helped out with kid control during the meal; and then Mom set me free to go and get ready for the service in time to do that and still get to the park on time. That meant missing out on the clean-up and some play time with the kids in the back yard, but Michael and I had fun with the other teens, Pastor John, and Stacey; so I’m really only wishing that we’d had time for both again. Maybe we should just make holiday weekends longer so that we can have time to do everything instead of needing to pick and choose the fun options – not that every choice was fun.

The service in the park was definitely fun, but then it was also getting hot by then; and some sweating was involved for those of us on stage and in the audience. We had a great turn-out despite the late night that most of us had at the park, so it’s a good thing that we could use the park today; since there were likely nearly fifteen hundred people there. We won’t be able to fit that many people into the sanctuary at the church until after the addition is completed. The highlights of the service for me were the music and skits. Michael and I had a short duet for part of one of the songs that was fairly awesome too, and while we sounded great; I mean the awesome from the perspective of how great it is to do stuff like that with my boyfriend. I know that our family, friends, and neighbors love our music, but we managed to keep from being in the spotlight for an entire song because we want to make sure that our musical friends all get chances to shine too.

We were definitely out of the spotlight after the service because Michael and I needed to get to the Inn to help out with getting the food ready for the first buffet sitting of the day ready for noon. I worked there until shortly after the first wave of food went out to the dining room; and then hurried over to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s to have lunch with the collective families. That barbeque meal was actually at Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace’s house too; and we were using both yards for that – and the play time that was going on before and after we sat down to eat. I hadn’t been able to help out with the work before I got there; but did get drafted for the clean-up crew at the Carrington house.

Our afternoon family and friends play time included a trail ride for some of us; and we headed out to the ranch at two o’clock for that ride. Michael wasn’t able to do most of the fun stuff today with my family because they were doing four buffets at the Inn, but he was able to go on the ride with me; so we picked him up on the way out of town. The timing for our ride had been partly made because of the break time options for Michael; and the second buffet sitting had just started when Michael left the Inn. He got to have more time off today than most of the staff at the Inn; but he did have the advantage of being able to bring along extra help when he went back to the Inn in time to help out with the third buffet clean-up and cooking for the fourth buffet.

The trail ride was as much fun as always; and Michael and I rode and chatted with Jaimie and Kaitlyn today. I have gotten to have a fair bit of time with them this weekend, but Dawn wanted to spend the time with Violet before she heads home tomorrow; and the rest of the college students either skipped the ride for other play options; or were more interested in hanging out with each other – or the parents that were with us today. Our ride today lasted forty-five minutes because the horses needed the extra rest time between rides; Michael and I went for a swim with a bunch of the kids and teens after getting home; and then we stopped in at our houses to get changed and freshen up before heading over to the Inn to get to work for the rest of the day.

It was hot in the kitchen, and really, really busy as we tried to keep up with the workload. I still had fun working with Michael, Rebecca, and Jenny; and I switched between the prep line and dishwashing as needed. The third buffet had been well-underway by the time that we got to the kitchen, so Michael and I started with dishwashing; and I helped on the prep-line when it was time to get the fourth buffet ready to go. My collective family was doing the last buffet, and with Uncle Mark’s family in the mix; they had nearly a quarter of the dining room seating reserved. I would have liked to have the meal with them, but it was just too busy in the kitchen; so I settled for a little break when they were having dessert and after-dinner drinks. There weren’t many empty seats in the dining room; and I ended up having what might be my longest visit of the weekend with Christina, her sisters, and their guys. Violet and Dillon were at the table next to them along with Chris, Martin, Jonathan, and Dawn; but that table was on the far side of ‘our’ table from me and I didn’t really get to talk with them at all. I also really did keep that break short before going back into the kitchen; and then it was non-stop work through until we were able to close the Inn at a bit after nine-thirty.

The evening and overnight plans had been set up earlier in the day, and