The first young couple I saw together was Lynn Loveland and Dequan Boston as they were right by my table.
Lynn's the twins age though and Dequan is just a few days older than Scott so I don't think that they'd pair up, though Dequan and Bella had been talking pretty closely together earlier in the evening.
Maybe Dequan was into older girls?
More likely it was because, like Scott reminded me, the ages of the young people in town aren't lined up very well.
But then my attention focused on Mia, who was chatting away animatedly to a boy I didn't know!
Turns out, he was the youngest Marshall boy, Blaine, who was Mia's prom date, which was actually something of a relief as he looked safe enough.
He really didn't seem like Mia's type at all with his pale indoor skin and studious thick black glasses.
In fact, he seemed more like the brainy, geeky, science type that would appeal to Bella!
But I've never been big on romance, or even thought about others having romances, until my children were teens and it was staring me in the face, so what young girls found attractive or appealing, frankly, I had no idea!
But when Mia started talking to Blaine about babies, my heart nearly flipped out of my chest!
Until I calmed down enough to realize she was talking about a chapter from their biology class that focused on caring for young of different species.
Then Blaine mentioned something about aliens and their young, and the boy was so serious about it, you knew he actually believed what he was saying! (I really though Mia had been joking about Blaine's abduction comment when she asked him to prom, but apparently, not.)
But my attention was drawn to Eric Marshall, Blaine's older brother, giving my niece, Claire Schmidt, Karina's youngest child, and odd look and a snarky comment!
Even more disdainful than the one that Deanna had given Claire earlier on the stairs.
I didn't see Claire do anything to warrant such a look this time though, Claire was just trying to say her goodbyes, like Keri Loveland, as it was 10 o'clock and time for our younger guests to head home.
But I got the feeling Claire had smiled about Chad mocking Eric's kilt and I couldn't really blame either of them for doing that as the guy looked ridiculous in it!
Eric's entire outfit was truly bizarre, a red formal jacket with a vest, that wild green plaid kilt, right down to his bright blue sneakers.
Wear something like that and you are bound to be mocked! Blaine was looking better by the minute!
That's when I spotted my nephew, Tyler Gallo, and Claire Loveland slow dancing.
I made my way over for a closer look, you know, to make sure everything stayed above board.
And to snap a photo or two!
That made me smile as taking photos for the family journal had become old hat and I felt like I was actually getting better at it after all this time.
Turns out Tyler and Claire have been dating for a bit and he asked her to go steady tonight.
So it was no surprise that Claire thought our party was terrific!
What was surprising was that Claire's twin, Lynn, and my nephew, Bryce Schmidt, were also going steady.
Looks like I was pretty close to the mark when I said our male family members had their pick of the pretty Loveland girls!
The only two left were Ariel, their eldest child, who was older than Evan Gallo, Kindle's oldest son, and Scott's friend, young Keri, who was still in grade school, but would be a teen soon.
I was a little worried when I didn't see Bella in the crowd, but then I found her doing homework at a table in the corner.
She's not one to use a party as an excuse for not getting her homework done, that's for sure.
Though Jessica was doing her best to cajole Bella into joining her on the water slide.
"Come on cuz! A few of us want to give it a try before it gets put away for the season!"
And Marley caught others following Bella's example while I was chatting to Dad.
Seeing this photo made me realize that we have great kids who take the responsibility of homework very seriously.
But it was a school night so the teens started saying their goodbyes and telling Scott was a great party it was.
But the party guests weren't only young ones, as Dad's sisters, Grace and Julia, came to the party too.
Aunt Grace was relaxing in a rocker, after checking out the water slide, even though the temperature had dipped severely over the last day or so.
Apparently, she wanted to give it a try just like Jessica.
And Aunt Julia was still in rare form, whispering a joke to Dad that I overheard enough of to make me blush!
But the two of them just laughed hysterically and I decided to leave them to their fun.
That's when I went upstairs and found Bella chatting with Dequan in the very dark backyard!
They'd both changed into swimsuits and had been using the water slide, but they were standing way to close for my piece of mind.
Then I heard Bella tell him that maybe they could get together over the weekend as the Fall Festival had come to town!
I couldn't help thinking that Dequan is close to Scott's age…and Bella's almost a young adult…so I'd never dreamed that the two of them would pair up, though she's always been fascinated by his bot costume!
To my relief, Dequan said, "I would really have loved to go to the festival with you this weekend Bella but I start my new job Saturday. Maybe later in the week?"
Bella sighed and said, "Mia and I celebrate our young adult birthdays on Monday, I guess my timing was just as bad as Eric's and Brock's!"
Dequan seemed puzzled by the reference, but I happily interrupted with, "Did someone mention a birthday coming up? We'll have to start planning that special day this weekend! Bella, most of the guests have left and your mother could use some help cleaning up."
"Sure thing Dad! I'll just go change out of this wet suit. It's a bit chilly for water sliding this time of year. Probably time to put it way until next summer."
I followed Bella back down to the nectary basement, where only a few family members and guests lingered over last minute pieces of cake.
Bella quickly grabbed some dirty plates and started washing up while Chad gathered up a few more.
Dad was looking at all his grandkids and I could tell he was proud as punch at how well they'd all turned out.
And he had a right to be proud.
He'd raised me and my sisters, helped raise Kindle and Trevor's, Evan, well into toddlerhood, then mine and Marley's three from the time they were born, and was here to see Scott become a teen.
I did a quick calculation and realized that Dad was now 115!
With the late night, our teens were a bit rushed the next morning, and all I got was a photo of Scott rushing down the stairs!
"Bye Dad! Don't have time to talk, running late!" And with a quick glance over his shoulder, he added, "Bye Mom, bye Grandpa!"
But what was even more concerning was that only the twins came home that afternoon!
While they worked on homework, they quickly explained that Scott was fine but had gotten an opportunity to work for the afternoon at a local steakhouse and do a paper on the experience, which would give him some extra credit at school and improve his grade.
After homework, Mia spent some time with Riley and got in a little riding.
Between school, homework and learning skills for Uni, she'd not had much of an opportunity and she was determined to build up their friendship as well as her riding skill.
Bella got back to work trying to discover that potion for Pat.
Her experiment was successful and she did discover a potion, just not the right one.
But Bella was thrilled with her success.
And so was I, not because I was as gung ho as the twins were to make Pat real, but because unsuccessful experiments blew up and had Bella rushing to shower off the soot and ash!
Something I had been careful not to let on that I knew about to stop Marley from worrying, though I did enough worrying for the both of us!
Scott finally made it home, but not until late, and he was exhausted and starving.
The first thing he did was grab some leftover pizza and gobble it down.
Then he worked on homework while Bella made a late night snack of a piece of strawberry pie.
"So any luck on getting Mia's imaginary friend to join the household?"
"Not yet. But I feel like I'm getting closer. And when it happens, I'm sure you'll know. Both Mia and I will be yelling our heads off, and I'm sure Pat will be too!"
"About Pat, is she…he.. Um…you know, a girl or a boy?"
"That we don't know. From what Uncle Jake and Uncle Patrick told us, if you rename your doll you can choose a gender specific name, but we just left our dolls their original names, all four of them, since different ones appeared after we got back from MV. Then only Pat became an imaginary friend. So we won't find out Pat's gender until we can make Pat real."
"Don't you mean if?"
"No, I mean when! There's no way I'm stopping until I discover that potion. This is the scientific opportunity of a lifetime!"
"Speaking of scientific opportunities, did Mom mention to you that she wants to grow a forbidden fruit?"
"Yes, I've already done some research on that and the best way to obtain one is via a science station through gene splicing. I've already told Mom I'll try my best but I'll need to build up my science skill first so the experiment will be successful. Just like the chemistry table and discovering the potion for Pat, science experiments can fail."
"Better you than me! I'll stick to fishing, gardening, and cooking, things that don't blow up!"
"I don't think science experiments blow up, they just ruin the specimen. Besides, you can catch the stove on fire cooking."
"That's why I'm going to study it from books first."
"Smart brother, very smart."
Friday was a much more relaxing morning, Mia was up early enough to enjoy some of Dad's apple pancakes, and considerate enough to thank him for them afterward.
"Your pancakes were absolutely delicious Grandpa! I didn't even know you could cook!"
"I've had a bit of spare time Mia, with all the rain and colder temps, so I've exchanged my fishing pole for a cook book! It helps having fresh apples of perfect quality, and they'd be even better with some fresh cinnamon!"
"Oooohh, that does sound good Grandpa! You'll have to share that cooking secret with Scott. He's been talking about learning cooking from books and the cooking channel, so he can build up some skill and not burn the house down, but I'm sure he'd love any tips to make his meals tastier when he starts cooking. That late shift he worked at the Steakhouse really opened his eyes at just how intense cooking can be and how much he has to learn, even being a natural cook!"
I was chatting with Dad when Scott headed out the door to the bus, his cheerful goodbye, "Bus is here, see you this afternoon!" reminding me of something I wanted to do.
Get a photo of all three of our teens on the bus.
With their age difference, Scott only had two more days of school with his sisters, today and Monday, but we were glad they were there to show him the ropes.
High School is stressful enough without having to make it through totally on your own and with his only teen friend a boy who liked to dress up in a bot costume, having two pretty older sisters to ease you in couldn't hurt!
And seeing the twins in their new outfits, outfits that were meant to keep them warm, but also covered up a lot more skin, made me feel better too.
The twins were popular enough without getting THAT kind of attention!
With the kids off to school, Marley and I spent some alone time together, chatting and taking some time to stay connected as a couple.
After all, just because we were parent of three teens, teens that were thinking of their own love lives, certainly didn't mean we needed to ignore the romantic side of our relationship.
Even if the very thought of their parents having a romantic life grossed our teenagers out!
So…with all three of them out of the house, we indulged in hugs and quite a few kisses.
But duty called, soon enough, and I spent the rest of the day gathering our harvestable produce before winter descended upon us.
Our gardening service handled the routine care of the gardens, watering and weeding, but we still harvested and replanted all our produce ourselves.
Dad and I focused on the main gardens and Marley focused on the nectary gardens, since she knew so much more about the specialty grapes.
Marley took the time to get in one of her exercise routines, and then headed to the consignment store to see if they had a Forbidden Fruit seed on hand.
The new consignment specialist didn't give her much hope of finding one there though as they were so rare that they were hard to come by.
She did mention that students in the science classes at Uni were having better luck discovering them, which went along with Bella's information, so Marley resigned herself to waiting.
In Marley's absence, Dad gave Kimo a good belly rub, something that Kimo loved.
Kimo was so devoted to Dad, that he followed him out to the stables to check on the horses, especially Fareshine.
Though Mia was able to fit Ripley into her busy schedule, it was difficult for her to care for both horses, so Dad picked up the slack, making sure Fareshine got brushed, had clean hooves, and plenty of attention.
As much as the calls asking Dad out had made him smile, he never took anyone one of the ladies up on their offer.
I wouldn't have blamed him if he had gone out and about a bit, after being part of a couple since he was a teen, it must have been pretty lonely being on his own now.
Mom's ghost had visited us a few times now, but when her ghostly self wasn't around, Dad liked being in the barn, with her beloved horses, and Mom's memorial and urn close by.
It was actually quite romantic, him staying devoted to Mom like that, but bittersweet too, knowing how much he must miss her.
I know the rest of us did, something crazy, but Dad was handling it really well, keeping busy.
Speaking of busy, when the kids got home from school Friday afternoon, I knew things were going to be rushed.
With graduation looming ever closer, Bella would be busy trying to discover that potion for Pat.
Scott was trying to build up his skills and he was focusing on cooking and charisma currently.
He wanted to be proficient in so many aspects of the farm, fishing and gardening, plus cooking, with all those fresh fish and farm fresh ingredients, that he was getting a head start in his teen years.
For Mia, she had prom to go to!
Something that had filled me with dread, until I'd actually met Blaine Marshall, a studious boy who was so obsessed with aliens he really thought he could be abducted any time.
That suited me just fine, obsessed with aliens meant he wasn't focused on my daughter!
At least I hope not!
I'll tell you all about their teen adventures, or maybe let them tell it themselves, in the next entry.
