We drove to Steve's parent's house to get long showers, good food and all of our clothes washed.

When we woke up on Tuesday I took the kids down to the nearby creek and spent five hours with them there.

Within the first half hour Elvis caught a large Crayfish.

Coco sat by me the entire time, with her back resting against my legs, playing with small rocks and making up songs and stories.

Steve walked the kids back to the house, while Chloe the large crayfish and I rode in the van.

I am telling you the details of our transportation because I wanted you to have that mental image of me driving super slow so that the dirty creek water would not slosh out of the bucket..all so that the boys could play with the crayfish a little longer.

Steve and I played sharks and minnows, a tag game with the kids in the yard.

After dinner Dad treated us all to ice cream from the local shop, the type that serves tall chocolate and vanilla twisted up and is soft enough that before the kids were half finished it was all over their face and dripping down both hands.

Dad said "It's a vignette...such a satisfying view of happiness."

Wild blackberries were growing past Grandma R's house.  I walked down with the kids and shot some flowers while they got their fill.   Chloe sat next to me with her arms wrapped around her head like a turban wailing her head off because the gnats were bullying her.  The boys had fun, they filled a bucket with enough to have blackberries, whipped cream and  shortcake for dessert after dinner.

Grandma R's showed me a photo of her when she was younger and also some pictures of her mother.  I often thought that Chloe looks like Steve's Mom but could not believe how much she resembled all three of these women.  Above is a photo of Steve's Grandma when she was about Coco's age.  This is the only one that was scanned, but after looking at multiple photos, I look at Chloe a little different, I see them clearly in her now. 

Dad brought out his radio controlled airplane, it is so much a part of steve's growing up...the same creek, the same land, and the memories of watching Dad fly when he was a kid.  It was nice to stand by and watch the faces of the kids stepping into history.