Sharing the gorgeous

I love my time with Thing Three at the bus stop. Sometimes it's foggy and we can both see and feel the approaching mist. Sometimes it's windy and we sneak glances for the bus over our shoulders if the wind is in our face. And some mornings are just gorgeous, even when he groans as I take out my phone to shoot "yet another sunrise." Perhaps I need an intervention. Until then, I'll share. 

I especially love it when there is a sunrise ahead and the moon quietly setting behind! 

 

Sunrise

Shhhhh, be very quiet. Here we see a Hinrew in the wild, focusing on how best to take photographs of the sunrise. Don't spook him!

 They're out of order and I have a bajillion more but you get the idea. We went to a few sunrises that week and enjoyed the mostly empty beach before the sun got high.

Morning mist and morning glories

Thing Two still calls mist on the soybeans "beancreep" and loves the spookiness of the fog sneaking through the beans. It has been cold enough to see our breath at the bus stop in the morning, so the added layer of moisture makes for fun photos.

Bus time in our latitude is also roughly sunrise, so yes, I have a new phone that is filling up with sunrise photos!

And, of course, the splendor of morning glories.

 

Vacation teaser

Here's a teaser for a future vacation post. Above is this year's version of Vacation in a Bowl. This summer we skipped the angel food cake and went straight to Extreme Chocolate Moose Tracks with strawberries. Delish!

Below is one of the sunrises some of us made it to. Why is it easier to get up for a beach sunrise, especially when they involve sand? 

 

Has spring sprung?

I know officially Spring has begun according to the calendar. I know unofficially the migratory birds are showing up and the earliest flowers are putting on a show. Above, a few days ago, we had a bunch of red winged blackbirds carrying on in our neighbors' tree. I wondered what they were making such a racket about and then saw one of our local red tailed hawks swooping around. 

Below, one of the male bluebirds (I've seen two pairs- wahoo!) was eyeing me curiously from outside while I was on the treadmill inside. That has to be confusing. "I see that she's moving, but she's clearly not any good at this because she isn't getting anywhere! Must be because she doesn't have wings." 

We had a few warm days last week and the dogs were thrilled to be outside in the sun and not the wet for a few hours at a time. It makes me happy to see Honey feeling secure enough to snooze in the fresh air. She is such a big scaredy-chicken, poor old thing. Still has a young heart, even if her back end can't keep up with her front's exuberance. Especially going up stairs. 

Below, three of those four clumps are squirrel nests, but the big green one on the left is actually .... da da da DA.... the nest of the red tailed hawks! I knew they were local, but I had no idea they were here! So exciting! They're pretty much just outside our front door and straight up. Yay for new neighbors! Maybe they will eat Bosley. Kidding. 

I think.

We've also had some really pretty skies lately. I love it when sunrises and sunsets are colorful instead of just... dark. Being someone who despises Daylight Savings Time, I'm trying to embrace the opportunity for seeing more sunrises. Forget about the fact that it had already BEEN light outside at the bus stop for over a month and now it's dark again. *sigh* This photo below was taken this morning, and Thing Two remarked that he thought the photo shows off the fun clouds even more than it looked in person.

 

First day both on the bus! *happy dance*

We've been back to school for a few days now, but today was the first day that the bus situation was all ironed out. Thing Three heads off to eighth grade completely straightforwardly: stand at end of driveway, get on bus, proceed directly to middle school. And yes, that's the same hoodie he wore every day last year. 

Thing Two, however, is a senior at a new-to-him school which is *cough, cough* slightly more complicated: stand at end of driveway, get on bus, get off bus at middle school, get on another bus, get dropped off where he belongs.

After school will be even more convoluted:

Get on bus, get off bus at sister campus, get on bus, get off at a local elementary school, get on bus, proceed to driveway of home.

I keep telling him we'll be able to drop him off in Europe and he'll be completely unfazed by getting from one route to another with connections by the time he's done with this year. He's not amused.

Last one, best one!

Back to enjoying sunrises and morning mist (or "beancreep" as Thing Two likes to call it) 

 

Sunrise

Lest we get stuck on the bridge out for hours, we leave at Oh-Butt-Ugly-AM. The perk? One last sunrise.

I love that there is still mist, too. 

April sunrise

We've had some gorgeous and hot days already (you will not hear me complain about them) and the sky has been so pretty in the mornings. I love waking up to light instead of the alarm...

I completely understand why people used to worship the sun when it comes up like that. Ta da! Here I am! The day can begin. Go about your business.

Springtime (finally) and the neighbors

We'll take a quick break from the Baltimore posts and rejoice that springtime seems to be here for real, finally. These were taken the 19th of April, so a little bit late but not too bad:

Some of you have received an enthusiastic email declaring that while we've heard owls for quite awhile at this new house, we'd rarely seen them and couldn't figure out where they nested.

We found them!

These two photos were taken last night, but I saw them for the first time early Wednesday morning. I wasn't awake enough to grab the big lens for the camera or even the binoculars, so I made up for it last night.

Then we saw this guy again this morning, who looked to be settling in for the day but spun around when he heard me go outside to get screen-free photos:

Dada thinks somebody's got a death wish. See the squirrel?

And the pretty sunrise clouds. Have a great weekend!

First half of November

 

We've certainly run the gamut of crazy November weather. I don't know how it's possible that every single year I forget how fickle fall is. We started off with gorgeous sunrises before the time change and have had snow since. Bah humbug! I prefer the sunrises to the snow any day.

 

Ick ick and double ick. You should see it all now. There's at least three inches out there on all those chairs, but I hear Sherri and crew have a foot on theirs, so I'm shutting up.

 

 

Okay, karate pictures. The big kids graduated from their orange belts to the purple belt level. That's their fourth stage of lessons, for those of you who are keeping track.

 

 

Now now, Care Bear, no kicking classmates off the stage.

 

Liam was selected by one of his teachers, Mr. Stanford, to spar a little bit. He was delighted, and he did an excellent job. You can see how proud Mr. Stanford is of their class a few photos down.

 

 

Great job, big kids! We enjoyed watching you!

 

And have we mentioned there's lots of leaves at the new house? Two Saturdays ago we had everyone out, including one Damonator dressed as Skeletor, raking and hauling leaves curbside. Since we don't have a curb, oh anyway...

 

 

There was a fair share of messing around, as you can see...

 

 

The one above is my favorite. Heh heh heh. Remember, you can always click on a photo to see it larger!

 

 

Yep, even I ended up in there. Twice.

 

 

Yesterday Dada borrowed a neighbor's leaf-sucker-upper-thingie and worked out front some more. Then it started to snow, and lo and behold, a two hour delay today. We got to shovel instead of rake. Yaaaaaay. Not.

 

Anyhoo, now it's already 2:30 and I still have some stuff to accomplish before leaving to get Damon from preschool, so I must go.

 

Happy birthday to Hinrew! We love you oodles and bunches and tons! Incidentally, everyone needs to quit with the birthdays. Every time a family member has a birthday, it snows. Just cut it out already.