strawberry mountain

Monday Grant was standing in Grandma's kitchen doorway admiring the mountains. "That's strawberry mountain and that one's chocolate mountain," he said.

In the morning, I made everyone clean the basement, just to prove that it was possible. I feel blessed to have this time to spend here with the Grandparents. We are even more comfortable than I imagined.

Everyone waited for Grandpa to bring home our new van ...looks just like the one we always buy. Sometimes it's nice to have my options limited....which white fifteen passenger vehicle should we buy this time? I have been grateful to have Grandpa's help with this purchase.

Our maiden voyage ... to Wal-mart. Each child had his or her own agenda. We spent an awful lot on socks and underwear, then to complete every one's joy we had our first dinner back at Burger King, where the kids made disgusting concoctions at the all you can drink soda bar. Why I say eating out is really part of the entertainment budget.

It didn't take long for Sam to become fascinated with the sprinkler. Tuesday warmed up a bit and the kids played under the billowy clouds. Why is the sky so big here?

In the evening a storm was coming in. I was enjoying the cloud formations...how they changed from moment to moment and from corner to corner of the sky.

I left the blinds opened in my basement bedroom to watch the lightening in the sky. What time must that have been? The kids are on a crazy jet-lagged schedule. Long naps in the afternoon, waking up revved up until almost midnight, then lights back on and playful voices in the early morning hours. I am afraid to fall asleep before then...I hate to be up all night alone, so in some ways I didn't mind their four o'clock company.

Wednesday we had the dollar theatre experience...the worst movie I've ever seen, Furry Vengeance, but the popcorn was good. At home we ran to the kitchen door...more wind and a cold rain. Lunch and more long naps.

In the evening, we went to my favorite place, Smith's grocery store. Reminds me of college. I love all the sweets in the bakery...the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, the loft cookies decorated as per season, the cheap boxes of slightly stale doughnuts. The kids always run to pick out their dream birthday cake. This one even has Smith's Chinese, although it goes by a different name....maybe it always did. That's on my must do list...I hope they have that greasy lemon chicken that always makes me feel a bit sick. The combination of savory, sweet, saucy and fried is just too hard to resist.