Cat pillow

 

Simon is completely obsessed with the cat and often takes her hostage to his bedroom. Alice gets mad about it. There are a lot of fights about the cat.

Eno River Spring Hike

 The hike from Pleasant Green to Eno Quarry is one of my favorite local hikes. You go through normal woods, a bamboo forest, a rhododendron patch, a swath of tall pines, and end up at the quarry with it's rocks, river, and deep enigmatic lake. I love it.

Sera's birthday (a day late)

 As we adapt to the rigors of a live controlled by Alice's swim practice schedule, and not being particularly sentimental, we've gotten better at rearranging things. So Friday was my actual birthday, but we celebrated on Saturday, which was rainy. So we did my birthday hike on Sunday.

My main birthday gifts were a new garage door opener and refreshed houseplants.

Hurricane Eva

 Zac's cousin Eva was one a whirlwind tour of far-flung relatives and stopped by our house for a night. We had Chinese takeout for supper, then Alice was whisked off to swim practice. We sat around the firepit visiting in the evening, and the next morning she was heading back to Denver.

Due to Alice having swim practice Friday evening, we decided to celebrate my birthday on Saturday.

Fun & Games with friends

 We started the game night trend with our friends at Zac's birthday with the hope of getting to play some games ourselves, but also to encourage our kids to play non-screen games with their friends. They now know that they can't be on screens the whole time, and will at least play games like and hide and seek or something. I am always grateful for this excellent family friend group that dates all the way back to the daycare days.

Easter at Izzy's

 After missing the famous Easter at Izzy's last year due to the California trip, we were happy to be back in Natasha and Erik's fields, searching for fun-filled plastic eggs. All the parents are happy that the kids still enjoy this tradition and do not yet feel to old or cool to participate.

In the afternoon, Simon's Easter money from the grandparents was burning a hole in his pocket, so I took him to Academy so he could stock up on his spring fishing supplies. It always impresses me how this child, who seems so clueless and hapless in many aspects of life, always knows exactly what he needs in the fishing aisles.

Easter Eggs

 Luckily, our kids still enjoy coloring eggs and hunting for plastic Easter Eggs. Simon was also thrilled to be invited to the Weimers to color eggs with Calvin and Liam. We did our family Easter on Saturday, since on actual Easter Sunday we'd be going to Izzy's.

Spring break relaxation

 Last spring break we were exploring California, but this year we're taking it easy.

Eno River - Bobbit Hole

 We still like to go hang out at our favorite Eno River spot, and I hoped it wouldn't be crowded this early in spring. It wasn't, except for a whole daycare class there on a field trip.  But the kids still had fun fishing and exploring (mostly Simon) and reading and relaxing (Alice and I).