Sweet Pickles: just jolee

Adrienne and June have been in Florida for the past four days visiting their 98-year-old grandmother/great-grandmother. Tonight they return from their trip. Even though I know handling one kid is easier than two, before Adrienne left for Florida I wasn't too enthusiastic about the prospect of being on round-the-clock solo parenting duty for four days.

Instead of being a hassle, it has turned out to be such a treat to have Jolee all to myself. I didn't realize it until Adrienne and June were gone, but it's the first time I've been able to spend such an extended period of time with just Jolee. Jolee occasionally gets a few hours of undivided attention on Junie's school days, but she never gets to be our sole focus from morning 'til night. And I've had the most fun with her just before bedtime. Like most kids, as they get tired and it gets towards bedtime, June and Jolee frequently get really wired and silly. It's certainly fun with both of them, but it's been nice the past few nights to give Jolee all my attention. She is one sweet baby.

Today we met Mike, Jenny, and their sons, Owen and Emmett, at the 4-H fundraiser at the stables just down street from our house (the stables are about a two-minute bike ride from our house, so we visit the horses there frequently). For the most part, we just talked and meandered around the event, but before we left we took a carriage ride. I'm really sorry June wasn't here because we see the carriage and its horses, Spike and Maynard, almost everyday around town. Why haven't we taken a carriage ride before? This is Breckenridge and a 20-minute ride is usually $50. Our five-minute ride today cost us only $2—a much more reasonable fee. Jolee loved it, although she let it be known that she wasn't pleased to get off the carriage at the end of the ride.

Jenny and a sleeping Owen…