Anniversary Trip

This year's anniversary trip was a three day, two night getaway from home, seeing a few things we'd never seen before in Virginia and Maryland.   We started by driving south on 95 to Fredericksburg, then east along Highway 3 to Stratford plantation, home of the Lee's of Virginia.   It is the birthplace of Robert E. Lee, the civil war general, but he never owned it or lived in it after the short time he spent there as a child.   It was nicely restored and preserved mostly because of the connection to him though.  

We had a beautiful, although a bit chilly spring weekend to enjoy time inside and out of this large plantation home.

There were some interesting looking chickens wandering around on the grounds.

Skip tried to make friends with one.

It was a short drive down to the Potomac River.   It was quite cold then, and we were tired and ready to be on our way, so we just got out to take a picture.   The cliffs in this area and all around are full of fossils from a time when this area was an ocean.  

 Our destination was Solomon's Island, Maryland.  We had reservations at a Bed and Breakfast there called the Back Creek Inn.   It was a beautiful location with a boat dock near the water.  The owner name is Carol Pennock, and she's an artist that had many of her paintings on display and for sale around the different rooms.   The first night we had a suite on the ground floor, then an upstairs room with a view of the water for the next night.   (Same room was not available both nights.)   Solomon's is located where the Patuxent River meets the Cheasapeake Bay.   We got checked in and had time to rest before heading out to dinner.

Here we are at the restaurant - specializing in seafood of course!   I had crab cakes, and Skip had surf and turf.  

The sunrise at the Inn was incredible.   So glad I made the effort to get up and enjoy it!   There's a river walk in town along the river with signs every few feet that talk about the history that happened there.  That made for a nice morning walk.     

We spent the later morning at the local marine museum, enjoying exhibits on local boatbuilding, wildlife, the prehistoric aspect of the area, a playful otter exhibit, and a ray and skate pool.

We tried another local restaurant for lunch and then went to check out a local sculpture garden.   You don't usually see anything like this outside of a big city.   It was a beautiful setting and featured several large and some smaller sculptures or art installations - mostly modern.

It was a half mile loop to see everything.   The evening we spent at the Inn and ordered pizza.  The next morning brought another spectacular sunrise.   We headed out around 11:00 and made a stop at a nearby park, where we could wander the bay shore and look for fossils and other treasures.   I enjoyed getting my feet a little wet too!  (Sporting my new pedicure.  We both got pedicures the day before too!) 

It was a fun weekend, full of relaxation, beauty, good food, learning about where we live, and enjoying time away from our routine to celebrate the two of us! 

32 Years +Forever

Skip and I are celebrating 32 years together.  Really we try to celebrate everyday by being the best we can for each other.   On our actual anniversary (March 21st) I had to say goodbye and go on a choir trip to Atlanta.  I'm back now and on Spring Break so we plan to take some extra time, to have some adventures together.   We always like to go somewhere special away from our daily routines.   Sometimes it's a day in the temple, but often we try to do an overnight trip away from home. 

I'm not sure where we'll go this week, but wherever it is, we will be sure to learn something new, laugh a lot, have some good food, and enjoy being together.   

We both love exploring new places, and trying new things, not just on our anniversary, but whenever we can.  Here are a few away from home pics from summer and fall last year: 

This is outside Gunston hall, the home of George Mason.   Skip insisted on taking a walk down a hill to a river bank.   I had doubts about Skip making it back up in the state of health he was in that day, but with prayers, and a lot of stopping and resting, he finally made it.   It has interesting exploring that day, learning about George Mason, and the Mason Neck area.

 Here we are at the Kennedy Center, hearing Lang Lang conduct 100 pianists (including one of my students) in two duets.

We love jazz music, and try to get to the sculpture garden at least once a year for the free jazz concert they have almost every Friday.   On this day we saw the Dixie Power Trio doing zydeco, Cajun, and Louisiana Funk music.   Very FUN.

This was taken on a summer saturday adventure at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.  We took a nice flat walk that day to another river front.

I'd Like to Start Blogging Again

I know it's been about half a year since my last post, but I'd like to try again to share some thoughts and memories with my family, and anyone else who happens upon this.   So, to catch up, here are just a few highlights of life since the last post:

We had a beautiful Fall, and in between raking leaves, I filled up my schedule with Forest Park High School choirs in the morning, and 20 piano students throughout the week.

We were fortunate to spend several weekends with this sweet little granddaughter.  We even got to go solo with her for a few days!

 Skip and I did an Herbal Life Weight Loss Challenge together.  We both lost some weight, and Skip won the prize for the most inches lost!

This cute girl passed her Cosmetology/Barbering License exam, and came back to Virginia to live with us.   She already has a job now at a cool salon in Burke, Virginia.

I continue to love spending time with my fabulous parents who have been married for 50 years now. They celebrated by taking TWO cruises in one year - one in the fall to Canada, and one in January from Chile, past Antarctica, through the Straits of Magellan, and ending in Argentina and Iguazu Falls!

We celebrated Christmas with the fun of a little one this year.   Lillian got her first car!

We were blessed at Christmas to have Valerie with us.   We're hoping she can come and stay a lot longer next time!

At Christmas time, we also got to meet Beth's boyfriend, Aaron Gubler.   We enjoyed sharing some of our traditions with him, and hope he isn't too scared to visit again!

We're well into 2013 now, and I feel like life is rolling by at unimaginable speed!   We're seeing the first signs of spring already with a bit of warmer weather, daffodils, and pink blossoming trees.    Skip and I will celebrate our 32nd anniversary this month, and are hoping for little get away as we often do.   Ryan will be graduating from UVA in May, then we plan to visit Beth in Las Vegas.    We'll have a new grandchild this summer, and hope to have time to visit Laura, Kart, and our sweet grandkids  in Utah.    New opportunities await us all, and we're on the edge of our seats, watching as life unfolds.  God has been very generous with his blessings, and we are full of gratitude for all that we have.  

Lillian's Grandparents

We love all our grandchildren, and we are very fortunate to live about two hours away from Lillian, Ryan and Dara's daughter.   We have been able to see her a lot lately.   We even got to keep her for four whole days without her Mom and Dad.   We had so much fun with her.  

When she visits we like to cook together:

She gives Grandpa big hugs:

She plays nosey nosey with Grandma:

She loves shopping for groceries:

She practices the piano:

She loves to eat:

She goes for rides on Grandpa:

She beats Grandpa at stick fighting:

When we visit Busch Gardens she waits patiently while her Mom and Dad ride scary roller coasters:

We have so much fun being around her.   We look forward to every visit!

The Hirshhorn Museum

One summer afternoon in early July, Skip and I decided to go into D.C. to check out the Smithsonian Folk Festival.   After arriving and stepping out into the 100 heat we decided to step into the nearest air conditioned museum, and that just happened to be the Hirshhorn.  It specializes in modern art - painting, sculpture, and other types of installations.   We really enjoyed looking at the works there.    One of the exhibits there was called Supersensorial - experiments in light color and space, and we had fun taking a few pictures there.    

Above picture was taken in the room below that was painted all white with three partitions - one illuminated from above in green, one in red, and one in blue.

 

This was kind of a neon fence running diagonally across the floor.

Skip and I had so much fun that we wanted to take Ryan and Dara to see the exhibit during our family reunion.   We were able to see other art work we had missed the first time, and had a fun time posing by some of the art.

On the lower level of the museum, we turned a corner and were blown away by the larger than life statue below.   It is untitled, but popularly known as Big Man. 

One of my favorite pieces is this one.   It is a white canvas with a suspended strings hung in front of it.   When you look at it straight on, I think it looks like musical notation.

Here's another colorful favorite:

I like the way this one looks - layered rectangles laid on top of one another.   It would be easy to recreate at home.    

I think the Hirshhorn has officially made our list of top things to do in D.C.