Drew has competition

In case you couldn't tell from the last post...Rachel has totally fallen for "Uncle David." That's because he patiently showed her endless pictures on his iPhone, introduced her to a cool airplane flying game, and pulled up old You Tube videos of Tweety Bird cartoons.

Yesterday after breakfast, all the girls in the house -- Anne, Jean, me and Rachel -- trooped to the soaking pool near our house while David did work and Drew got gas for his car, recycled a bunch of cans and read the book he's reviewing for the Seattle Times. "No stinky boys ALLOWED!" we all said as we left the house, and the excursion turned out to be a great one for the females. I thought Rachel would be freaked out by going in the water in the cold and rain outside (especially when the raindrops kept plopping on our heads) but she was fine. She loved the pool, and I hooked her arms onto my shoulders and we swam slowly from one end to the other, and we hung by the bubbler, and sat on the steps going in to the pool and watched some kids around her age swim to their parents.

"This is so nice and relaxing," Rachel said at one point.
"Yes it is, Rachel," I agreed. "I like to come here when I'm stressed-out and tense."
"Me too!" she agreed.

When we got back, Drew built us a fire(the fourth one of the weekend; thank you Anne and Dave for bringing the extra cord of wood! We really needed it!) -- and Rachel and I snuggled on pillows on the floor, turned out the living room lights and watched the fire. Anne was on the loveseat working on her computer; Jean was sitting on the big couch and David was sitting next to her. Drew left to get groceries; Rachel, discovering he was gone, started crying because he'd promised to take her with him.

"Come here, sweetie," David beckoned, and Rachel climbed into his lap. Within minutes, she was asleep.

"Anne, could you put another log on the fire?" he asked after a while.

"That's your job," she replied.

"Uh, I can't," he said. "I have a little girl on my lap."

Then David added, "My life is now complete. This is WONDERFUL."