On my own...for one night...

This past week my parents were visiting from MN. They live in the hinterlands of Minnesota (Grand Marais). Traffic, popular ethnic foods, and people of color are all sources of wonder for them. My step-mother has a broken wrist right now, so that put the damper on the bowling idea. Instead we went for a walk at the Eno. Temperatures here have been kind of wacky so there was ice to be messed with in the river. The kids had a blast. They were everywhere; in front of us, behind us, on the same side of the river one second, and on the opposite the next.



I wanted to get a picture of Chicky smooshed inside this dead tree stump, but I knew she wouldn't go for it. So, here it is... empty.



While Dad and Jean were here, Jean was reading She Got up Off the Couch, by Haven Kimmel. She had read A Girl Named Zippy on a previous visit and I knew she'd like it. I adore it when someone is reading and they have to put a book down because they're laughing so hard. Better yet, when they tell you about it and you laugh so hard you're crying just remembering. Every so often I'd ask, "What's her dad doing?" - just to find out where she was in the book.

I can't tell you how excited I am to be sleeping in my own bed again. Chicky is a restless, bony, poky sleeper. I was awakened by knees in my back, an elbow to my eye, snoring (no, that was the dog on the bed), and general squishing. Last night, between 11 pm and 12:30 am Cocoa (the Most Beautiful Cavey) decided to take up short track racing. She would come tearing out of her little house and run a lap around her cage, banking on the corners and spewing litter everywhere, fly back into her house and chatter. It was so loud it woke Chicky up. The first time it happened, we laughed about it. The second, I checked her food and water, and by the third Eowyn had moved from the foot of my side of the bed to the front of the cage to see what was going on. None of us figured it out, but I think Cocoa has become Eowyn's idea of "fast food".

Today was the children's first day back at school after their intercession break; I am anxious to find out how it went. Twenty minutes before we had to leave, the boys were sitting on the couch with their backpacks on, ready to go. I'm sure we'll be back to our regular ass dragging by Friday. It was a welcome surprise.