Ahhh... a relaxing weekend at last

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

We haven't been to the mountains since Easter and have really been missing them. So we headed up Friday night and got here before dark. I felt my stress level drop as we drove higher up the mountain. We grilled some tuna steaks, cracked open a bottle of wine and let the relaxation begin.

The next morning Scouter let me sleep in a bit and then we all headed to the local farmers' market. It was pretty crowded for the holiday weekend but we still managed to see everything. We bought a pie and some braided bread, honey, a bracelet for Rainbow and a cool boy-necklace for Taz, and a framed numbered print by a local artist for Scouter and me. And then we went to another crafts fair and bought another framed numbered photograph from another local artist. We were a little carried away but we love them both and hung them right away.

By the time we got home, the kids were done with crafts fairs and so I took them to the pool. They are allowed to have floats and toys in this pool and they had it pretty much to themselves so a good time was had by both. I managed to squeeze in a slow painful run afterwards and then we had our neighbors over for a cookout. So I figure I broke even.

Sunday we kept talking about going on a hike but we never quite made it. Scouter got into a big window-cleaning project while the kids played and I lounged and read a book. It was lovely. Scouter even let the kids start a small fire in the fire pit, and I gave them hot dogs and marshmallows to roast for lunch. We finally got motivated after lunch and hit the local Brews and Blues festival for some music and a little more print-buying. This time we bought two photographs of some local wildlife - a deer and a black bear. And some kettle corn and some funky ice cream that Taz called frozen cotton candy.

Then we went to a cookout at a new friend from school's beautiful house. Their kids are older (high school/college age) and they were great with Taz and Rainbow. My kids were within three feet of them at all times and even talked them into letting them into the hot tub. My stomach hurts from laughing so hard.

Rainbow proclaimed today to be "Duchess' Special Day" since we'd left her alone for so much of the weekend so we finally went on a hike with her. We did three sections of the Old Appalachian Trail. Along the way, we saw a deer really close to the trail. We stopped and took pictures thinking it would run away once we walked by but it didn't. It actually started walking through the woods beside us! I thought it was cute until Scouter started talking about a deer that killed two people recently and rabies. Then it kind of freaked me out. It does look kind of demonic doesn't it?

I've been vegging ever since. Wouldn't it be nice if all weekends were three days?

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