Our trip to Zion/Vegas

Last week we took a trip to Zion National Park and Las Vegas. Zion is located in southern Utah and about a 2.5 hour drive from Vegas. We spent three days in Zion hiking and our last two days in Vegas for a little R and R. I had been to Zion in my drive across country in grad school. (After finishing up my summer internship in Hawaii, I joined another classmate of mine who worked in southern CA to drive back). Greg had wanted to go for a while and I was happy to return. It really is a beautiful area.

We started off our first day a bit jet lagged and tired, so we did a short three mile hike to get ourselves warmed up. The next day we were ambitious and decided to do a 14 mile hike in Kolob Canyon to what they claim to be the world's largest free standing arch. It was a long hike and were were very tired at the end of the day. The last day, we did a great five mile hike up to the top of a ridge overlooking Zion. It was a rough last .5 mile with chains to help you up a very steep incline on a very narrow path, but the view was spectacular as you can tell from the photo above.

After our hiking, we headed back to Vegas and stayed at the Venetian hotel. We spent the days by the pool and went to a Penn and Teller show. All in all a great trip!

The arch at Kolob Canyon

Standing on the ridge over Zion


Another view of Zion from the ridge

Hanging Out with Nanny and Pop Pop

While we were enjoying ourselves on our little vacation, Sarah stayed home with Nanny and Pop Pop (my parents) and had a fun week. According to the grandparent report, she did't ask for us once :( Sarah was very happy to see my mom again after the week together in March. She was also happy to see my parents three dogs as they like to kiss her and she thinks that is fun.

They took Sarah to the zoo one day and she had a great time. She's really into animals now and loves to point them out. They also brought her to a birthday party at Kangaroo Jack's, which is basically a building filled with all kinds of moon walks. I guess Sarah was the one to "get the party started" as all of the kids (including the birthday boy) were a little shy to start playing. We were sorry to miss the party, but were glad that Sarah could still make it.

We're glad Sarah got to spend time with them since she doesn't get to see them as often.

Sarah hangs out with birthday boy Shawn at Kangaroo Jacks



Sarah enjoys the merry-go-round at the zoo


Checking out the ducks-one of her favorite animals

I am an aunt!

Ok, so I was an aunt before since Greg's sister has three children, but now I am an aunt by blood. On Tuesday, my brother's wife, Melissa had a baby girl named Abigail. You can check out pictures on his blog (link to the right) or just click here . My friend Elina had her twins over the weekend. Yes, in addition to Zak, who is Sarah's age, she now has to more boys. Last but not least, Julie, my friend from Peace Corps, is quickly approaching her due date and is expected twins as well. You can check out how she is doing on the link to the right as well. Seems there are just babies everywhere lately.

A Visit from Old Friends

The weekend before last, my friend Lisa came to visit us. Lisa and I used to work together at the General Assembly. She moved to AZ about three years ago and just moved back to West Virginia (close to the VA border) in January. Lisa came down with her partner, Sophie and dog, Stella. Brody and Stella used to play together and immediately recognized each other. They had a great time playing over the weekend and I had fun hanging out and catching up with Lisa.

On Saturday night we had some friends over and grilled out on the porch while drinking apple martinis. I was so excited just to use our new porch and entertain on it. Sarah had a great time hanging out with everyone and getting to know Lisa. It was a great visit and we hope to go up and visit her and Sophie up in WV soon.

Sarah hangs out in a chair on the porch

Finishing a 10k

This weekend I ran my first 10k in about 3 years. I mentioned training for it in an earlier post. It was a tough 10 weeks trying to make sure I stuck to the running schedule and I'll admit I slacked off the last week and a half. My office colleague took the wind out of my sails when she said she read an article on this mother who is a lawyer, has two young children, and just qualified for the Olympic trials--overachiever.

Anyway, it was raining partially on Saturday, but the weather was cool and nice for running. My knee started bothering me at mile five, which is what stopped me from running three years ago, but I was able to muster through and finish. I am hoping that I just need to be better about cross training and stretching. I'll try to keep up my running in the coming months as long as Sarah keeps going to bed on time (she seems to think that her bed time is 9pm lately).

So, if you are wondering what the picture is....it's one of the winners of the dress up contest for the race. I have no idea who the person is, but apparently he is a "triathlete." I think I felt like him the last mile of the race.

Happy Easter

OK, so we're really not that religious to celebrate Easter and Greg teases me that I really don't know what it is all about....but as one of my colleague's told me, the Easter bunny and all of that stuff is more about fertility and the coming of spring.

I started off the weekend by visiting my friend Violet and joining her grandchildren for an Easter egg hunt and lunch at her place. Sarah and I got there late and by the time Sarah could figure out what was going on (she likes to watch for a while) she missed the hunt. However, she did become very attached to her Easter bucket and carried it around the rest of the day, slept with it in the car, and started wearing it on her head.

On Sunday we went to the "Easter on Parade." It's a popular event in Richmond. For those of you who aren't familiar with the area, the event takes place on Monument Ave, which (wouldn't you know) has monuments going down the middle of it. While it is very beautiful, not only for the large monuments, but for the large beautiful homes, the statues are primarily an ode to confederate war heroes (Richmond was the conferedate capital and you can still visit the conferederate white house here.) We have one exception, which is a statue at the end of Arthur Ashe--the famous black tennis player who was from the area. However, I've heard the he didn't play much in Richmond because they wouldn't let him.

Anyway, they close off several blocks of the road and there are bands, parties in the large mansions (unfortunately, we don't know anyone who lives in them), and of course, a parade of people with crazy hats and dogs all dressed up. They also had a petting zoo and pony rides, which Sarah had fun watching. People also decorate their lawns and Sarah was drawn to many of the decorations, including pink flamingos and large bunny rabbit. It was a beautiful weekend to be outside and to welcome spring!

Sarah carries her Easter bucket around in the backyard (notice our new lawn!)


Sarah enjoys her new favorite food, raisins, which she found in her bucket


Easter on parade (click on the image and you'll see the large red flower had that someone wore)


Even the dogs get dressed up


Enjoying the pink flamingos in someone's yard



A very weird looking Easter bunny

Feels Like Spring

This weekend we had very nice spring weather in the high sixties, so it was great to get out. We started the weekend off by grilling outside on Friday night and eating out on the porch. With the days longer and the weather nicer, Sarah likes to play outside more. It was nice to eat on the deck while she ran around.

The next day, we headed up to a park north of the city in Ashland. Greg wanted to go mountain biking and I wanted to get Brody out for a walk and a swim. Greg went off biking on the trails and Sarah, Brody, and I headed for the stream. Sarah had fun pointing to the water. I have no idea what she said after that, but it seemed very important when she tried to explain it to me. Later that evening we had our friends Aris and Jill over for pizza to catch up and watch some of the basketball games.

Sunday was ACC day as UNC was playing Clemson (after beating Duke the day before) in the tournament finals. According to Greg, the game was very good and UNC won. His yelling Sarah up from her nap, but she'll have to get used to that if she wants to be a Tarheel.

All in all, it was a nice weekend and Greg and I were wondering what happened to it on Sunday night. Now it's back to the regular work routine. If only we would win the lottery!

Greg hangs out with Sarah on the trail