Plymouth

In October, Eric and I spent a day in Plymouth waiting for Sandy to arrive in Boston in the evening. We were slightly disappointed to confirm the rumors that Plymouth rock is in fact a large bolder.

After spending time in Jamestown in March, and loving the connection to the early settlers of this country, I was somehow expecting a similar experience in Plymouth. I did not find anything remotely close to the same experience. Although it is a lovely town, it is also very commercial. Anything that can be sold, is sold. Slap the words: '1620', or 'Plymouth' on the item and sell it for a profit. I was saddened to feel that it cheapened the sorrows and pains of the days and lives of those who lived there; the earliest settlers.

That said, I did take some very lovely photos:

Virginia - Dahl Family

Eric and I took a little trip to Virginia in March. He's been wanting to show me his old romping ground in North Carolina for a long time. I really wanted to see Washington DC while we were in the vicinity so we created a home base of Williamsburg, Virginia.

We flew out on the red eye flight on March 3; yup. I'm that far behind. We flew into Newport News and were to check into our condo sometime after three o'clock. A couple of weeks before we left, I'd emailed my friend MaryAnn to find out their address so I could send them a package. She sent me her address and I was surprised and thrilled to see they live in Newport News! Yay!!

I was ever so excited to see her and Shaun and their cute family. I've known them for a long time and I don't think I realized how much I'd missed them until I saw them.

MaryAnn was gracious enough to let us hang out with her and the 10 month old twins and 7 year old Ezra. It was wonderful to catch up .... she's doing what she wanted to do and I'm happy to see it. I can say this: 10 month old twins are more than a handful!!! eeeekk!!

Here are some of the pictures I took of them on the first day and then the day before we came home a week later.

And Friday, March 9:

It was very nice to hang out and catch up and I'm looking forward to seeing them again in the next couple of years.

California Vacation

We had a great trip to LA a few weeks ago. Richard, Eric and I flew to LA to spend time with my sisters. It was the first time that all of us siblings have been together in several years. We had such a magnificent time!! We spent most of our time laughing.

One of the activities of the weekend was to go to LA Rising, which is a concert series that included Rise Against, Muse and Rage Against the Machine. The energy at the concert increased in intensity as the night wore on; at one point I got a little frightened, but we had a really fun time.

Pics from my iPhone:

Other pictures from the night of the concert are found here.

We spent Sunday at the beach at Six Man - which is a volley ball tournament. There were some seriously hot bodies all around...and the volleyball was really fun to watch.

We also went to the water and played in the sand and enjoyed the sound of the waves. It was really fun to watch Sandy and April get into a sand fight....And at one point, Richard came back from playing the water and April threw sand on him. He kind of chuckled and commented on the fact that he was wet and now covered in sand. He headed back to the water to rinse off and when he came back, Sandy threw sand on him. We all got such a laugh out of the fun, playful times of being back together.

Here are some of the pics from that day. There are MANY more found here.





Eric enjoying the water:
Elida and April:
My favorite picture of the five of us: