They're Baaaaack . . . .

And a good time was had by all. My sister's husband and the Mountain Man checked in with each other as well as with us. Both kids did indeed refuse to go to sleep until I got home. Friday night it was 1 am. But they slept in until 8:30. Saturday night it was about 11. Sunday they went visiting to see our friends' new chicken coop (do 3 chickens qualify as a coop? or just a hen house?). They fell asleep on the way home and woke up around 12:30, when they went and got in bed with Daddy and everyone went back to sleep. DeBoy missed me a bit when he woke up in the mornings, but other than that they were fine. And apparently my niece didn't miss her Mommy much either. No naps, stayed up late. EVERYBODY was on vacation. Friday night when I called, my kids were very busy getting the trolls out of DeBoy's room. (There are trolls in Jan Brett's book, Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve?) The Queen decided that taping the trolls to the floor would be a good way to subdue them. Sounds logical.

My mother and sister and I had a very nice time. We read, sat on the porch of the hotel in the rocking chairs, walked around the lake, and ate. Mom had her knitting and I brought my cross stitch as well. The weekend was a bit spoilt for everyone thanks to yours truly having another of my mysterious attacks. So I spent Sunday mostly doubled up in various locations around the hotel. It also rained Sunday afternoon, but otherwise the weather was gorgeous. By Monday morning I was fine again and able to drive home. We got to see bits of 3 weddings (one Friday night and 2 Saturday.) And I can recommend a mud body mask treatment.

I arrived home to a less than enthusiastic welcome. The Mountain Man was quite glad to see me, but the kids were absorbed in their new Clifford DVD. But by bedtime DeBoy remembered that he was very happy the Mama was home.

I had to take them both to the doctor this morning. DeBoy has a cough which has lasted a few days, which I wasn't that worried about, but then the Queen developed an itchy rash that looked like an allergic reaction to something and was making her miserable with the itching. The doctor confirmed it was hives and probably from an allergy to the strawberries. Heretofore she hasn't reacted to them, but my sister is allergic to them, so it may have been coming on for awhile. Or she just ate more than usual and it was one or two too many. DeBoy has a cold, which is what I thought, but since we had to go anyway. . . At this rate our medical expenses will be high enough to deduct from our taxes.

When we got home from the doctor, our littlest and yet meanest dog Zoey presented me with a largish rodent which I think was a chipmunk before taking refuge in mortality. After a couple of trips into the house, I came back out and couldn't see the chipmunk anymore. I tried to get Zoey to lead me back to it, but she's a digger/discoverer, not a retriever and had no clue what I wanted. I just hope it's not in the house.

I will have pictures as soon as my sister and mother send them to me. Poppet, I don't know if we got a picture of the Moose and Goose, but we did visit it.

Edited to add: I found the chipmunk. It was in the house. We will never speak of this again. Ever.