A weekend in the country

Mel and Braxton drove over from Seattle to visit us this weekend! They brought their 9 week old puppy Pancha to meet us, and we all enjoyed a slice of fluffy bouncy puppy heaven. Mel and Braxton stayed overnight at our house on Friday and left Saturday afternoon. The whole time they were here, I kept marveling at the novelty, ease, and FUN of having members of my family visit me in my own house! Sunnyside is far enough off the beaten path that Mel and Braxton were only the third overnight guests we've ever had at our current house in five years. I am not used to being a hostess, and I kept having to think carefully about what they may need, like towels and blankets and a free pass to the fridge. 

I love lots of things about our home, but I don't tend to think of it pridefully or get excited to show it to other people. Does that make sense? It's hard to explain. I'm kind of neutral about our house; it's just our functional home and we go for comfort and convenience over style in our living space. It works for us and we're happy here. Basically, I was not expecting any praises to be sung about our house when Mel and Braxton visited (plus they've been here before). But they made us feel top notch as they drank in the peaceful sweeping country views and reveled in the comfort of our central air conditioning (their apartment in downtown Seattle does not have AC). 

My weak hostess skills aside, it was tons of fun hanging out with our visitors. Mel and Braxton are so easy-going and fun to chat with. It felt almost too easy to spend time together without doing a 19 mile hike, haha. What? We can sit on the couch and talk instead of walking on rocks for 13 hours? 

The kids adored cute little fluffball Pancha, and they wore each other out. Amber especially was on the go every time Pancha was awake. It was adorable watching them play together, and I began to understand the simple charm of child and puppy. Not that I have any plans to get a puppy of our own; we have the best of both worlds right now--close family members who let us enjoy their puppy and then take the puppy home when they leave, haha.

On Saturday morning, Mel and I went on a run past the mint, corn, and grapes near our house. It was fun showing her my usual running route and breathing in that sharp, earthy mint smell together. Later we all took Pancha for a walk out behind our house and then drove into town to a taco truck for lunch.  It was a lovely brief visit.

Pancha's paws got all dirty from her morning romp in the yard. We used a watering can to wash her fuzzy feet off before she came back inside.

Sister run past the grapes!

Warning: my fingernail came off on Saturday morning. I caught it on things around the house all week and a few accidental extra hard tugs made it loose enough that it was more painful to keep it on than to peel it off the rest of the way. The process of peeling it off was gross and cringeworthy but not really as painful as I expected. Now my finger looks like a naked worm and feels vulnerable, but it's also nice not to have that big black puffy fingernail flapping around getting caught on everything. The healing process is slow but fascinating to watch. 

We took our doggy walk to the grassy area between the mint field and the grapes out back behind our house. Our landlord maintains this as a sort of bonus yard, and it is so pleasant to sit in the quiet shade with the rows of crops rolling away on all sides.

Mostly Pancha was too excited and wiggly for many pictures, but I snagged a quick selfie when she sat down behind me.

Amber was constantly in motion trying to get Pancha's attention; Jeff took a power nap in the grass. Pancha paid almost equal attention to both Jeff and Amber, haha.

Pancha is a mixed breed that is hypoallergenic and doesn't shed, so we could all pet and snuggle her to our hearts' content without any unpleasant ramifications.

Watching Pancha's roll-y poll-y puppy run never got old.

Pancha chased the leash Amber dragged all around the field.

Me Gusta: a new taco truck to all of us. It was delicious, as expected. We decided that there probably isn't a bad taco truck in Sunnyside. This one is the closest to our house, barely 2 miles away. We got so hot waiting for our food that we ended up taking the tacos back home to eat in the air conditioning.

By Saturday afternoon, Pancha was so worn out that she was calm enough for the girls to hold her soft fuzzy little body. They loved it.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT KIDS AND PUPPIES??