Easter Weekend

It's been a long time since I've made a post but between my play, school, and other activities, I've had a lot going on.  Here are some pictures I took during Easter weekend when my mom and I drove to my grandparent's house in Maryland.

The first day we were there we drove out to look at the house Amber (my cousin) and Tony (her husband) just bought.  It was a nice place just about a block from her parents and I think they're going to be happy there.

While at my grandparent's house I slept in the sewing room downstairs.  It's a cool crafty area and I have a lot of memories painting and doing other little craft projects in that room with my grandma from when I was young.

On Saturday my grandparents, my mom, and I all hiked up to the waterfall.  It had been a little while since I had been there and it's different than I remembered.  There is a new walkway and I'm not used to hiking the trail when all the leaves are off the trees.

It was a beautiful spring day, sunny and clear skies, perfect for a nice short hike in the woods.

My grandma pointed out this tree stump to me, those holes in the side of it are from woodpeckers.  It's interesting to me how they are really perfectly round and all in a row.

After we went up to the waterfall we walked down by the lake.  Apparently it's really deep, my grandparents said one year it was totally drained and they could walk along the bottom of it.  My Aunt Cheryl was walking with them, she lost her shoe in the mud and they believe it's still at the bottom of the lake to this day.

I love spending time with my family, it's so fun when we go on hikes all together.   They're the walking Wetklows and I sure am glad I inherited the hiking gene.

Easter morning my mom gave me a basket full of little gifts like this adorable bracelet my Aunt Leigh made for me and these little silver hair clips made from the end of a fork.

My mom, Aunt Cheryl, and Grandma Diana were in the kitchen cooking up a storm to make a good lunch for when everyone came over.  They're the best women I know and I'm so glad I have them in my life as role models and as friends.

They sure do know how to pull together a delicious feast.  

I always enjoy spending time with Amber and Tony, they're so funny and awesome to be around, even though Tony won't always smile for pictures right away.  It's sweet how much they obviously love each other.

After we had an amazing lunch we had cake for my Grandma's birthday.  It was funny watching her try to blow out the candles while laughing so hard.

After dinner I went on a short walk to call my family back in Ohio.  

It was a beautiful day and I felt blessed that I got to spend it with my family who loves me.

I had such a good time in Maryland with my moms side of the family.
I was sad my brother couldn't be there but it was a wonderful day and I can't wait till I get to go out and see them all again!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful spring and I'm sorry I've been off the grid for a while.  Enjoy all the nice weather and keep your eyes open for more posts soon!

Whales, Hiking, and Milkshakes

Hey guys, sorry I took such a long break from blogging, I've been all kinds of busy lately.  I have a few posts from my second trip to California for you if you're not entirely sick of them yet!

Isn't my mom beautiful?

These pictures are from when we went on a whale watch (the second for my mom and I, but it was my brothers first).  

This time we saw two Grey Whales that were following the coast.

We also saw some Sea Lions swimming around.  The announcer told us that the sea lion was trying to warm up by sticking his fins out of the water in the sunshine.

It's so amazing seeing the whales in person.  They are surprisingly graceful and stunning for creatures of such immense size. 

The announcer on the boat said he thought we saw a mom and baby whale swimming side by side, we followed them around for quite a while.

It was a beautiful day for whale watching and much warmer than last time.

There were a lot of sailboats out on the water that day, I think they may have been setting up for a regatta or something.

My dad would have loved to see all of the boats out on the water, it was such a peaceful scene I felt like it should be on a postcard or in a magazine.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do.  So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. 

Catch the trade winds in your sails. 

Explore. Dream. Discover.

-Mark Twain

My brother may not look like he had much fun but I know he loved it, how could you not enjoy a boat ride on a nice day with the added bonus of seeing whales in person?

Another day we went to Crystal Cove State Park to hike.

It was a really warm day and we ended up hiking pretty far.  The view from the top of the mountains was stunning because you could see the ocean.

It had been raining off and on for a few weeks at that point and I could tell the plants were starting to look more green than the first time I was there.

The way the sun reflected off the water was beautiful and you could see a little beach town being bathed in the afternoon sunlight.

After our hike we went to a little restaurant called Ruby's Shake Shack and had some amazing milkshakes while looking out over the sunset.

The next night we went and got "make your own" pizza at an awesome restaurant called Pieology in celebration of my mom getting a new job.

It was an awesome start to our visit.  Up next I have a post about my Easter holiday but stay tuned for a few more posts about the rest of the trip!

Some Winter Pictures

I was losing steam on writing about California when I found these pictures I took on New Years Eve.  I thought I'd share them with you and then get back to my story telling.

I went to a party with my best friend and her family at a little cabin/recreational center.  This huge wooden statue out in front looked very striking in the moonlight.

The statue reminded me of my uncles carvings and it made me feel very small.

To go along with posting things that I didn't take enough photos of to make a whole post about but I really like them here's some off my iPhone that are from from before New Years.  This one is a picture I took of a monarch butterfly with my iPhone in North Carolina.

This is on the way to my grandparents house for Christmas through the mountains.

This is off my Aunt Cheryl's back porch on New Year's Eve.

These last few pictures are from a day when I was really bored and I was stuck inside due to the bone chilling cold of winter.

My mom got me this hat for Christmas and I really love it, I am nothing short of a hat collector.

Anyway I hope you liked this brief interlude and if all goes according to plan I'll be getting back to my regular posting soon.  Have a great rest-of-the-winter and stay warm!