On Saturday, we loaded up the van and headed up the highway to my folks’ place. It’s a lovely drive.

Since my birthday, I always have the camera with me. You never know when you’re going to see something interesting. Yes, that is a golden lab in a trailer pulled by a motorcycle driving down the highway. Apparently, his name is Digger.

I love that my parents are only an hour away. And isn’t it odd that we measure distance in … time?! It’s something we’ve always done. It always takes just that – an hour – to get to their house. I haven’t actually noted the distance in miles yet, though I do know that our driveway is 205 miles away from David’s parents’ house – if we don’t detour to a store or gas station too far out of the way – but the time it takes to drive those 205 miles isn’t consistent from one trip to the other. Funny how one drive is peaceful, consistent and predictable yet the other drive is stressful and you never know how long it’s gonna take.

Back on topic, I love that my parents are close enough for a “David’s going to be gone all day and the boys are wearing me out, can we come up for the day?” trip. I love that they have land. Lots of land compared to some, not very much land compared to others, but I figure close to twenty acres is lots of land when you’re three. James loves their back yard and his favorite thing to do there is fill up a little pool with some water.

We made Lowell take a nap, so he didn’t get to play in the water. I know. I’m a mean mommy. But he really needed that nap.

Their patio in the afternoon is like a resort. Shady, breezy, surrounded by flowers. Ahhh…

While James was playin’ in the water, I walked around to the front. There are two pine trees in their front yard. It’s really quite amazing. I mean, this isn’t East Texas. Pine Trees are not the norm here. This time, I was able to figure out why I really love those trees. The wind sounds so different whistling though the needles. It’s a quiet, peaceful sound. One of our homeschool projects will be to collect seeds from the pine cones and try to grow a baby tree or two. There are so many things you can do with pine cones, and we have a great source for fresh pine cones.

Sammie enjoyed the weather, too. It was hard to believe it was storming where David was.

That was our Saturday. On Sunday, I took some pictures of Korben. I mean, of course I took pictures of Korben. Wouldn’t you? I can’t believe how big he’s getting.