April & Easter

Spring blooms are wonderful and energizing again this year.  this house already had 3 of these candy tuft and I've planted more.  they are hardy and look this beautiful with zero effort or watering from me.  Also in the photo above you can see the 3 madrone trees that we put in last fall.  two of them are doing well.

the Honda was a good car.  i wish it were still running for another 5 years.

 E's yearbook cover design idea made it into the top 10!

 Underwater Easter egg hunt at the Y. a little chaotic, but the kids had fun.

 E and R really enjoy Easter.  E made us cards with popout features.  super sweet.

 checking in with the CT family while we dye eggs.

 afternoon local "hike" around Phantom Lake in Bellevue. 

 that's L out in the water having a blast.

 plantings from last year are blooming. hoorah. 

for my big 42, R made a breakfast cake and picked up fancy cakes for dessert.

 can you see E waving from the top of the cherry tree? playing with his friends after school for a few minutes.

 i hosted the April babes dinner at my house.  we got tasty Indian take out.  gave me a goal to get the house clean and yard weeded. thanks to R and E for help with that!

the half marathon training program is ramping up.  i've got 6 weeks left.  yesterday ran 9 miles.  my friend was supposed to meet me at 7, so i ran the first half, then she didn't show, so i ran the 2nd half.  first time chaffing as well.  L and I were both tired, but we did it!  obviously we are not fast. but we did it.

day 6 San Diego

sad to have the cruise end. it was such a party. and i hate it when family time ends.

 we didn't want to be stressed about rushing to a flight, so we scheduled it later in the day.  we were able to leisurely hang out with everyone until they pulled out. then relaxed at the airport until our flight.
caught up on emails now that we were back online.
got the news that my little 11 year old Honda was considered a total loss because the cost to repair getting rear ended was more than the car was worth.  fortunately, the insurance gave me a reasonable settlement, so i have a good down payment on my next car. 

Day 5 Ensenada, Mexico

 Grandpa was fantastic to find us a van with a lovely driver for the day.  R was fantastic to have a relative living in Ensenada who met us at a nearby beach - Malecon Playa Hermosa.
It was a gorgeous beach, clean sand, shade, shallow water.  I got in with B and some of the boys and swam in the waves. and it was so awesome.  one of the highlights of this trip for me, for sure.

 here is R's relative S.  she had the same attitude as a Utah local about skiing:  sure, she said, we come here on the nice days... but maybe they wouldn't have come on our day because it wasn't perfect... a little cool maybe. whatever. it was perfect for me.

 E and M set up a "store" with found treasures.

 this little A took a nap.

 our driver gave us a tour thru the city and to a hilltop lookout and to the university.

 E had Herman the seagull, one of his 3rd grade class stuffed animals, with us for Spring Break, so we captured a few Disney shots with him.

 E in the kids area.

jazz at Tiana's place.  too bad J was quite sick, so he couldn't fully enjoy the evening.

Day 4 At Sea

 a windy day with rough seas.  We watched Mary Poppins in one of the theaters.

I loved these floaty fairies. want to use them in my "blowing in the wind" quilt. hard to find them on google though. can't image I'll be able to find them in fabric.
'A Waltz Upon the Wind' - Milkweed Fairy Ballerinas from Fantasia

A held the record for eating the most soft serve ice cream cones in one day = 6 :)  to be fair, her main interest was the cone, so her actual ice cream consumption was little.