artist in training

We're taking it easy today, which has been great. Dennis and I both took long morning naps today, and afterward, Kristin brought Caedmon and Mirella over to visit. The cousins enjoyed playing together again. Caedmon worked on his puzzle while Dennis and Mirella enjoyed climbing in and falling out of the booster seat that was on the floor and again sharing sippy cups. They are all napping in their pods right now, and I can't believe how quiet it is!

It's raining here, which happens a good bit, and instead of braving it to see the sights, we've been enjoying staying around here. Mom and Dad and Kristin have just left for a walk around Our Lake, which is here in the complex and beautiful. It's like a damp winter day outside, and even that is more refreshing than the miserable 95 that David reported back home.

Dennis painted his first painting today, featured here. Gran bought canvases for each of the children to paint, and Dennis pioneered the project because he was the last to go down for his nap. He started off slow, but once he put his fingers in the paint blob, he figured out he could spread the paint on the canvas. He loved this! He completed his masterpiece by slapping his had down on the canvas many times. Not bad for his first art experiment (well, second I guess, as he wrote on the chalkboard this morning for a minute before eating the chalk).

It's so cozy here, watching the wind blowing through those extremely tall northwest evergreens, knowing it's cold outside and enjoying hot tea and wearing thick soft socks! In June, no less. It's really going to be a shock to my system to return to Alabama in 2 days. It is due to warm up here soon, and there are always 2 very hot weeks every summer made more miserable by the fact that no one has air conditioning. Michael said that everyone lives in their baby pools during those weeks, so I expect we'll be living in the water back home for the rest of the summer.

Everyone here does so much outdoor stuff, and there are so many parks around. Mom and I hope to continue our walks when we get back, and we'll be headed to the nearby mountains to find cooler spots to exercise. We're looking forward to it!