Dam! And a Round Belly...

St. Patty's Day for us began with Bear wanting to go for a drive and explore a new place called Prettyboy Resevoir near Baltimore. We took back roads and wandered thru some of our favorite little towns. It was a gorgeous day for it.

(all of the following pictures are curtesy of the Bear. He played photographer for the day)

This was our first view after parking the car and walking up.

Looking down over the edge! Weeeee!

View from the other side. Nice perspective!

Okay, I took this one. Say cheese!

And here I am at 27 weeks. 3 more months till we get to finally meet Button!

I remembered to wear green ;)

It was such a lovely day and I was feeling so good we decided to walk all the way down the stairs to get a better view. So glad we did. The roar of the water and the moisture in the air reminded us of our visit to a waterfall in the mountains of Nevada. Such good times.

The force of the water is amazing. I wish I could have this sound in my bedroom to sleep by at night.

And here we are back where we started. See those stairs to the left of my hand? Yeah, we walked all the way down them and back up again! So proud of my 6month pregnant self! Go me!

What a wonderful day this was. Perfect spring weather and enough smiles to go around for everyone. We knew we needed to take advantage since soon it won't be so easy to just get in the car and go do something like this.

Morning Walk With Beanie...

Starting just before the Blossoms were due to come out, you could almost taste Spring. Imagine being able to stick your tongue out and instead of catching a snowflake, you caught a pink cotton candy blossom. Oh how sweet that would be. Beanie and I started going to Fort Ward Park just down the street for morning walks to clear the winter webs out of our brains and prepare our "inner" space for the coming Nature Color Show. There's nothing better for mental health and inner peace than a morning stroll with your favorite four legged baby. It just sets the tune for the whole day.

Beanie and I choose to wander off the path into the "field" and pretend that we aren't in the middle of the city. It's easy to do if you don't look hard through the trees.

Just like my mother, I'm a sucker for knotty trees with no leaves. I love their shape. They have so much character. If they could only speak, what tales they could tell.

Sometimes you just have to take your shoes off and feel the grass. Living in the city, I had almost forgotten what it felt like to walk with your toes in nature's lush carpet. That's what I miss most about growing up surrounded by fields, goats, chicken, horses, angora rabbits and just about any other animal that wandered through our lives. *Sigh* Those were the good old days.

What things from your childhood do you miss or haven't you done since then?

A Much Needed Weekend Away...

The Bear had to be in Charleston WV on a Friday afternoon for work, so why not make a long weekend out of it? We had hoped to get away in the Spring but it didn't work out. Since the weekend was already chosen for us, how could we argue with the universe, right? She was basically saying "Here, you have to be out of town anyways, sooooo what's the problem?"

Once Brian was done we had a 3hr drive to find the cabin we rented. By the time we got there it was PITCH BLACK out! It was fun driving the roads, watching it get darker and darker, finding the key in the lock box and getting through the gate. Navigating our way to the front door and trying not to crap my pants as I step inside and search for the light switch while every single shadow seems to be a serial killer. I watch lots of horror movies and this is a strange house in the dark. Before you call me too big a wuss, note that I was the one to walk through the door first and find the lights! ;)

Since we arrived in the dark we had no idea what the view looked like. I woke to the sunrise, and in slippers and a blaket walked out onto the deck and there it was, my view. The morning light was beautiful. There was a warm golden glow to everything and I just breathed it in slow and deep. This is the view of the cabin from the river. It was perfect, very clean and very well stocked.

This cabin really made me feel at home. The Bear and I are not city people at heart or by origin and this cabin was just what we needed to relax and remember who we are. We weren't circling eachother around the apartment, taking turns in the kitchen where we tend to elbow eachother etc.

Brian spent his time fishing among other things.

I spent a whole afternoon painting on the deck. Unfortunately the sun barely came out that afternoon but who cares right? Atleast it wasn't raining. Oh I had sooooo much fun. It had been so very long since I sat and painted, 3yrs I think? I wasn't going to pack all that but Bear said, "get those canvases out of the closet that have been there for YEARS". That's all the encouragement I needed. I'm so glad that he knows just what I needed. He's great that way.

Beanie even found a new pass time. She liked to sit on the futon and observe wildlife from the screened in porch. She's a city girl at heart and prefers to see nature rather than touch it. She spend half her time looking up at you and saying "MOM, I've got nature on me". Now she's a wuss.

The man loves to cook outside, what can I say. The only problem is that he cooks for us as well as the 4 teen age boys that we don't seem to actually have. "I thought you'd eat more" he says. I just look at him lovingly as I wrapped the leftovers up and place them gingerly in the fridge knowing that we won't be eating them since we only have 4 nights here and the Bear has steak, hotdogs, and sausages on the menu along with the 7 pieces of chicken he just grilled. Oh how yummy everything was, so good that I wish I could eat like 4 teen age boys!

Can't beat waking up to views like this.

And you definately can't do this in our apartment. Well we could string one up but then how to get the river in here as well. Hmm, workin on that one.

What relaxing adventures have you had or are planning this Fall?