This is dedicated to the one I love...

Happy Anniversary to us! 

We went out to eat at Benihana on Friday. The girls love it and ask for it all the time. Thanks to Shared_Insight mystery shops we ate there for almost nothing. 

We have another fun activity planned, but it is dependent on the weather. We have had to reschedule several times. Hoping for good luck soon. I'll post more about it after it actually happens.

House Guest

Rebekah found this on our front porch. It's a Luna_Moth. 

Of course she can't keep her hands to herself when it comes to critters. I came out later and found it on the ground. Rebekah had 'loved' it off the wall, but it survived and flew away eventually.

Daddy Daughter Hike

Guest blogger: Clay

On the last Saturday of April, Clay & Emma went hiking about 6.4 miles on the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania with their friends Jeremy & Georgia Rosenlund. It was a beautiful, sunny, cool spring day, perfect for a hike, and the trail was great with a long flat section followed by a well-maintained downhill switchback section down to the Susquehanna river.

 The leaves were still just coming out on the trees up in PA, so there was not a lot of shade and the views were breathtaking on both sides of the ridge they were hiking on.

 Emma & Georgia enjoying a water break. This was Georgia's first hike on the AT, and she said she would go again.

There were Mayapple plants growing ALL over the forest floor. Clay remembers hiking with his dad in Missouri as a boy at a church campsite called Bergfried. The May apples were everywhere on the ground, brushing against his legs, and it was very nostalgic for him to see them again.

The views of the Susquehanna River Valley from the ridge line were spectacular!

 Clay told Jeremy that if they had another kid they could name him/her Maine, then they'd have both ends of the A.T. covered. :)

Flower & Garden Festival

I love the Flower & Garden Festival! 

This year one of the landscape companies designed this fun Hobbit Hole. 

Five Guys

Happy Tax day! To celebrate we went to the grand opening of the new Five_Guys that is just 1.5 miles from our house. It is dangerously close to home...

Spring Flowers

We found some unexpected flowers in the woods by our house. First is the bright red tulip. I am surprised it lasted long enough to bloom. The deer love tulips. The next is a Vinca Vine or Periwinckle. And finally these little Virginia Spring Beauty.

 And a couple of flowers from our house.

DC in full bloom

We made it to the Cherry Blossoms on peak bloom day! The weather was spectacular!! A warm 85 degrees with a gentle warm breeze. It felt almost like Hawaii.

 I love the the color of the cherry blossoms. They are white with just the faintest hint of pink. 

 Have you seen the MLK memorial yet? So cool.

 After taking a few pictures of the girls, we handed the camera to Emma to take a few of Clay & I. She told us different poses to do. We had a lot of laughs...

 

 Here's the Jefferson Memorial.

The Washington Memorial is still being repaired from the Aug 2011 earthquake.

We got a nice view of the Capitol Building. 

 Here's a couple shots that Emma took with her camera. We always park next to the Potomac River. It is fun to watch rowing teams practice, also known as sculling or sweep. 

Surprised by Nature

This morning I was driving from my house to our local Joann store. On the way I pass a large forested area. Occasionally I see logging trucks come out full of felled trees. I've gotten used to glancing over to see if any trucks are coming out. This time I didn't see any trucks, but I couldn't believe what I saw. 

I did a U-turn to go back and take a better look. I pulled off and sure enough I saw about 8 turkeys strutting their stuff and dancing around each other. All I had was my little iPod, so this is the best picture I could get. Never thought I would see wild turkeys near my house.

Good Citizen

Congratulations to Emma for winning the Good Citizenship award for her class.