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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Still Happy!! HOORAY!!

Image
We're still going strong with our happiness levels out here. Yesterday was a little bit rough because Tristan was especially whiney, but today was amazing :) We got our grocery shopping done and even managed to have fun doing that! Noah and I were singing Christmas songs already while Tris and Bren laughed at us. Tristan sometimes piped in with a "all the way" when we were singing Jingle Bells. Noah was cracking up when I sang him the Batman version :D After all that excitement the 2 wee ones went down for their naps and Noah and I gave Bosley a bath with his new tea extract shampoo. He looks and smells so wonderful now :) He was in such a good mood after that too! Noah made a concoction of plum leaves, olives, dirt, and paper which he called "olive a cado". While he was doing his own grocery shopping I was taking some macro shots with my new focus point knowledge. I'm very happy. I thought I loved my camera before! Anyway... We also built a littl...
Read more

Almost Doesn't Count

Image
We almost ended up with a puppy today. An adorable baby Jack Russell Terrier mix wandered into our yard. He was very sweet, laid back, flea-ridden, dirty, cute, a little broken, good temperament, un-fixed, and very very good with Noah and Emma. I asked the neighbors about him and they showed me where the owner lived. She took him inside and told me how he's driving her crazy because he chews through collars and gets out of the yard (which is because he's a puppy and not an outside breed). She mentioned possibly getting rid of him. Lo and behold he wandered back into our yard not too long after that... interesting. I wanted to adopt him because he was unwanted, but shouldn't have been. He was a very sweet dog. I would have called him Jackie I think :) This brings me to a rant. I know I've posted about the way people around here treat their pets. This is a perfect example. This lady didn't want the puppy anymore so she simply let it go. No collar, no tags...
Read more

Project 365: Jan 16 - 20

Image
Tuesday, January 16th - more snow and a cotton candy sunset. It wasn't much, but the ice beneath and timing of the snow itself  meant a snow day for the kids! Now that they're teenagers, that precious time is spent catching up on sleep, which makes working from home pretty easy for me. Wednesday, January 17th - the morning light changes throughout the year as the earth moves around the sun. In winter, it peeks in through my living room window and spotlights the entertainment center in warm light.  Thursday, January 18th - Braved the inch of ice on the ground to attend a legislative reception in Annapolis with my coworkers/friends. We spent the day networking, laughing, and planning to save our little section of the Chesapeake Bay watershed here in Southern Maryland. Friday, January 19th - Jug Bay snow day!!! The weather report called for snow to begin falling as school was supposed to just be getting started, so they announced cl...
Read more