My entire childhood there was a little oval magnet on the refrigerator; a navy blue plastic frame encircling a photo of me in a baby tub wearing that little yellow swimsuit with the ruffle.  The tag says it goes up to 22 lbs., but I don’t know, it seemed rather a tight squeeze! (Steve may have used the term “sausage”)

We made it to the pond for a quick swim before dinner.  The kids all raced in and, never one to be left out, our Sweet Wild Violet started trying to propel herself in the direction of that water.  She was quite clear about where she wanted to be, and uhm, oughtn’t we be getting her there quicker?  Hello parent people, I have made my intentions known!  I took her to the water’s edge, not sure how she would respond.  Splashing in the chilly water, mud squishing between her toes, fistfuls of sand, she smiled and smiled and gleefully splashed some more.  Pure joy.

I don’t usually imbibe caffeine, but I had a bit today.  I don’t think it did well by my littlest love.  Well past both her bedtime and mine we were still here, awake but sleepy, so sleepy.  Even so she was all smiles and giggles, nuzzling my face, playfully sucking my cheek, all with closed eyes, a sweet cooing sigh of delight and a big contented smile.  Oh, I do love this girl so!

Totally unrelated image that I just received from the boys’ riding instructor.  They were at the pond too, with us, but not with us.  They ran into some kids that they knew and were absorbed into the mass of bobbing heads, splashing and diving on the periphery.