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Mother's Day and an Upcoming Trip to the Southwest


Mother's day 2018

My Mother's Day week was fabulous.  I saw 2 of my favorite wetland areas with all my favorite people and we got to check off more of our Maryland herps (reptiles and amphibians).  I also got to go to another park with Josh and Brennan earlier in the week.  That's 3 parks in one week!  I had basically stopped going to parks, which was probably a bad idea.  No one usually wants to come with and I am not a solo traveler.  Never have been.

Calvert Cliffs

Jefferson Patterson park boardwalk

I don't know why I love swamps so much.  Maybe it's because they only seem dead, but they're actually some of the most "alive" places on the planet.  So much goes on there.  Anyway... I also hosted a couple people from school and their Moms for an end of semester BBQ, which is a big deal for me since I normally get so anxious about social gatherings, especially hosting them and meeting new people.  Not this time!  And I only obsessed over everything I said and did afterwards for a few hours instead of days lol.  My anxiety issues have steadily been declining this year!!  Feeling pretty proud of myself actually :)

Battle Creek Cypress Swamp

We're leaving tomorrow for our big trip to the southwest!  We're so excited!!!  I was up at 5am  making lists and checking reservations one more time.

We're going to be staying in 4 different states: New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada over the course of 10 days.  We'll be staying in a house with our long-time friends who moved away a few years ago, rented out a whole house together.  That means we get to cook, grill, hang out, play games, watch movies, browse the interwebs, do laundry, and the kids will have space to spread out and play.  All the things you miss when you're stuck in a hotel.  This is going to be EPIC, y'all!  None of us has ever been to the Grand Canyon... or any of these areas to which we're traveling.  We're going to see it all: deserts, canyons, ancient Native American sites, lakes, rivers, caves, museums.  I have been planning this adventure for about a year.  Everything has finally worked out in our lives to allow us the freedom to plan trips during the off season so it's cheaper, less crowded, and we have more favorable weather.  I hope we can do something like this every year.  If we prioritize it, it'll happen :)

I will blog all about our adventure when we return (with photos) so look for that.  I know it's been a long time since I put some vacation/family stuff on this blog.
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