DAY TWO

Well, what did we do today? First off, I was right! The very first thing I heard this morning (before getting out of bed!!) was, "MOMMY!!!!! It not dark anymore! Me play in my sand!" And then immediately following, a huge, award-winning smile.

I did coax him into a little breakfast first, though.

Then, we had a little sand time. Now.... all of you native beach people out there, don't be making fun of our sand box. In the mountains, this is all we know how to do!

More fun: BUBBLES!!!

We then retired from all the fun for a little house work: BEDMAKING 101. Yeah, right. You can see from the documentation below that Ben did a little more that just pull the sheets and comforter up. We had a game or two of "Find the Monkey" before the bed was presentable.I know some of you are wondering what Barry was doing all this time. Well, the same thing he's been doing for the last several weeks:On the phone, job-hunting! I think we both have permanent indentations in our right ears from where the phone has found a home.

Then, Daddy was off to work and after Ben woke from his nap, we took a walk to the mailbox (for those of you who don't know, our mailbox is exactly 1/2 mile from our house, so to walk to it is 1 mile). On the way, we discovered it is finally:

BLACKBERRY SEASON!!!

Ben and Jackie are our resident blackberry pickers, but since Jackie is away at camp, Ben enlisted a little help from his buddy, Mia. Now, you have to realize that Mia is truly our blackberry-pickin'-pooch. She LOVES them! We don't get many in the bowl (I don't think I'd want them if she picked them, anyway), but she is good for companionship and running away any blacksnakes taking a snack on our berries.

After a little swinging, sliding, and climbing, I was ready to have some supper and turn in for the evening.

Tomorrow should prove to be our most exciting day yet, and it is our last one as the older stinkers will be home on Friday. BOY!!! I sure do miss them----I'm having to do too much work!