Ahhh....!

It always feels like having a 'day off' when we come here.

We slept in. We didn't eat until 11am. We puttered around. I did some laundry. Even here there is laundry to do. You know laundry--it is a living, breathing, growing thing. But here, it doesn't feel like a 'chore', you know? It's April and the Christmas tree is still up. But we don't care too much. (Although we will finally take it down this trip.) The new bathroom down stairs is amazing and so nice to not have to run up to the next floor when needed. The new heat cables for the deck in the winter did their job well, and we had no leaks this year at all! Oh the things you learn! So it's time to de-winter and get things ready for spring and summer. The trees look good and healthy. We have some scrub oak that needs to be trimmed back. I don't know if we'll get to that this time. But it's on the list. I took a nice, long, hot bubble bath today with a good book and it was mah-vel-ous!

Shaun is here with us. His schedule allows him to be a little more flexible than Natalie and Robert's. They are all up to their eyeballs with study groups, papers, presentations, homework. This is the last full week of school for everyone and then finals start. We'll probably connect up with N & R on Thursday for Duff's birthday.

The weather and scenery are gorgeous. The mountains are still full of snow, but the valleys are clear. The sky a piercing blue. It is that transition time when everything is not quite green and still grayish-brown, but ready to burst at any moment and then in a few days it will all be different. Our quakies are swollen with buds. The maples have little buds that will come a little later. We still have 30" snow drifts on the upper deck, but those will most likely melt by the end of the week. They are expecting rain tomorrow through Friday, and we will love every drop of it!

Darla moves from sunny spot to sunny spot all over the great room. It is so remarkable to me how she 'knows' exactly where we are when we get here. The first thing she does is run to the kitchen to get a drink from her dish, and then into our room where all of her toys are and has to drag them out.

Christine is having a f.a.n.t.a.s.t.i.c. time in D.C. She called us about 3 times today with a text or two inbetween so excited about all the things she is seeing and learning.

Off to bed....