Chipmunks and Areo's

On our way home from Williamsburg yesterday, we stopped first at a Civil War battlefield (with a great field of yellow flowers) and then at a park on an island near downtown Richmond. We had to walk across a crazy-high suspension bridge across a white-water river, and then had a nice walk to have a lunch on some rocks right on the river. Both of the girls had a great time wading in the shallow part of the river and Audrey really surprised all of us by jumping up onto the rocks and then climbing all over them (don't worry ... the dry ones, not the slippery ones). She had so much fun that we even got to end the hike with a meltdown about not wanting to leave. =)

This morning started with Rufus bringing a chipmunk in through his cat door while Audrey & I were eating breakfast. He gave me a low guttural meow to let me know he had found something and then brought it over to show me. In the 4 seconds he had it out of his mouth, the chipmunk ran under the piano. Of course, Iain was out for a jog, so Audrey and I just watched the piano until he came home. After he got home, he and Audrey shoo'ed the chipmunk out from behind the piano and then chased it into the kitchen, through the dining room, into the basement, and back up again. Audrey was having a fabulous time and I could hear her gleefully yelling, "there he goes!". Iain finally trapped him into a corner where Rufus could get him back (as Iain puts it, "it was as easy as buying a hot dog from a vending maching"), but instead, Rufus slowly walked up to the chipmunk and the chipmunk jumped over Rufus and vanished again. The next time Iain cornered him, he just put him outside (no more chances for Rufus). We don't think he's hurt too badly, considering how fast he was scurrying around our house, but we do hope we don't see him back inside!

Separately, Audrey has been asking me for several weeks now if we can buy some Oreos for her to take to lunch at school (apparently one of the boys in her class brings them every day and she thinks she wants one, even though she's never had one). So today, I bought some at the grocery store and told them they could have one after supper. Avery, who has never heard of them nor seen one, kept asking if it was time to eat the "Areos" or the "Ear-ee-os" but never the Oreos. It was so cute.