Kids, labs, and life.

I know it's fuzzy, and I'm sorry but this is a new camera and I clearly don't know quite how to use it. But I just couldn't not put it up for you to see. Those are my new-to-kindergarten grandchildren playing with Onyx, the black lab of my friend Kathy who is on another adventure up north with her mom. Isn't that the nicest thing, that Kathy can go anywhere she wants with anyone and she very often takes her aging mom, actually her step-mom, on really wonderful trips to beautiful places. They're in Oregon, visitng family, on their way to a cruise through Alaska. And she let me keep Onyx while she was gone!

I picked up the chldren from school yesterday and it was such a treat for me. They didn't go to a daily pre-school as my beautiful curly-haired daughter was able to be a stay-at-home mommy and kept them quite busy with a hiking group, visiting every possible children's museum, enjoying a variety of nearby parks and beaches, and participating in a co-op pre-school with another twin mommy. So we all had a little apprehension when they started school, wondering if they would adjust and enjoy themselves and be sociable and make friends. I think we all believed that they would do just fine, as they are friendly and happy and well-adjusted children, and they did even better than we thought. They've made friends, come home happy, and wake up wanting to go again.

And me? Doing OK, thank you, and feeling strong, off and on. My shoulder hurts and I wonder if I'll have to undergo surgery again, and I'm not dating at all and not really wanting to. I'm walking more, now that Onyx is visiting, and I didn't catch the really nasty cold that plagued my daughter and her family a few weeks ago. Just really wanted to share that kinda fuzzy picture of the kids and the dog, how happy they all seem with each other. Isn't that cute? I think they are all smiling!