more snow

Woke up this morning to snow, enough for mom to have the 1st snow day of the year!

The garden gnome 

the garden

the snowgirl

the bird houses

Spring Break, Aloha style

no snorkeling today

tourists on the big island

Waterfalls

Our first day on a tropical island

on the cusp of tsunami danger

In the RAIN forest

newly hatched fern

petroglyphs 

volcano watching...I think there is a volcano there

sea life, don't touch!

looking for sea life: fish, turtles, sea urchins and sharks

picking Macadamia nuts

Our weekend in the canyons

We visited our favorite spot in Utah. This time we explored the upper Armstrong canyon as well as Collins canyon down to Grand Gulch.  Spring was definitely in the air! I bet by next week all of the trees will have leaves. We saw a great pictograph panel with some Barrier Canyon figures, a few ruins and one very intact granary.

Mesa top hike with the Red House cliffs and Henrys in the background.

Owachomo Bridge

Dinner time in the PJ forest

Small petroglyph 

Canyon explorer!

Desert waterfall

Back to Washington

Last month I had a chance to travel to Washington and now it was Fran's turn. A combination of a three day weekend, low airfares, a free weekend for Katie and a work weekend for dad sent Fran winging across the country for a quick 2 day visit to our nation's SOP.  Stops while there included the Library of Congress, Botanical Gardens, Georgetown and Roosevelt Island. making the weekend a little more affordable, mom was able to use the Katie and Kelly B&B for 2 nights. A wonderful time was had by all. The only problems in the whole trip were the airlines. Of the four legs of the trip, only one left on time.  Pictures include a self portrait by the capitol, the two girls in front of the capitol, in the botanical gardens and the front of the Lincoln exhibit at the Library of Congress

Spring Canyon Hiking

Spring has come to Western Colorado! The snow is still deep up high, but conditions are deteriorating as each warm day passes with no new precipitation. So, we go to the canyons where we can walk on dirt! Here we are just a couple of hundred feet above the canyon floor. What a lunch spot!

newest color

I almost forgot. I promised to show the color of the bedroom. The walls are periwinkle, which is a purple-ish-blue. Well at least to my sub standard color vision it is. The new comforter is encased in a yellow comforter encaser. Mom is still doing thought experiments on different window coverings because right now it's just a sheet hanging up.

There are only 2 rooms that haven't seen the paint brush left. One bathroom and the sewing room that will need quality time taking down a wallpaper border. 

The Seat of Power

Last week I had the chance to visit Katie again. I was working on some new science labs  for NG and since I was in the neighborhood...Katie and I had one of our quick visits, dinner out and a walk around a view of the capitol and then back on the metro. We had a fun time, its too bad that the route back to where we stay is so long. The metro to a bus to a shuttle all via Dulles. Crazy! But at least we were able to get a visit it!