#Thankful

It's been a busy, happy week here at Oyster Haven, where we've been enjoying time with our oldest son, his wife, and their four daughters (four and under).

If you come to String of Pearls often, you know that Oyster Haven is the name we've given to the house on Lake Champlain that we bought a few months ago and are setting up as a VRBO rental property (until my husband retires, and we sell our NH house and move there for good; or until we can afford to own two homes outright--whichever comes first!).

I've been working on the interiors for a while now, and having fun deciding what kind of special amenities we'll provide to make our guests feel comfortable during their stay.

Renters are not going to get the same treatment as our granddaughters, however; for our girlies, we left out some special blankies at the ends of their beds,

and some special horse toys on their nightstand,

and let's not forget Grammy's very own trio of baby dolls--the ones she always shares with her granddaughters when they come to visit.

When not mothering those baby dolls or reading books that we've had since their daddy and his brothers were little boys, the girls have been enjoying visiting with our "horse neighbor," as they call him.  Because aside from a lake in Oyster Haven's back yard, there is also an old barn across the street...and living inside of it is a real-live horse named "Buddy."  Buddy's owner has given us the green light to pay him visits whenever we want, so...

When we're not visiting Buddy, we're exploring the beach (for short spells--it's a tad cold to enjoy it to its fullest right now).

Looking at these pictures, is it any wonder that I'm feeling so #thankful this week?  (Don't ask me why I put the hashtag on there.  Just trying to be current, I guess.  You know, to keep up with the cool kids.)

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, filled with family and friends--and football, of course.  We'll just be holding down the fort here.  It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it!