California in early April

 Over a month ago, at the beginning of April, we took a whirlwind trip out to California for a long weekend to tour the babies - Jenny Lynn and Gabriel and their son Gianni and Becca & Mark and their son Oliver. The weekend was great but flew by with not enough photos taken so here are just a few from us and from Mark & Becca from our time in Santa Cruz. Here are Becca and Oliver in the redwoods.

 Mark reading (most likely in German) to Lena. Hazel busting a move on the bouncy seat.

 Oliver. We forgot how great it is to be around new babes. Fantastic!

 Goofing around together at Mark & Becca's.

 The ever watchful kesey cat.

  Banana slug cruising in the redwoods.

 A rare photograph of our family all together.

Virginia

This last week we spent a few days in the tidewater and blue ridge of Virginia. Here are a few photos from our adventures.

Movie time

A few recent movies of the dudes.

Camping on the Eno

Spring is in full force here in the Piedmont of North Carolina and we've been enjoying it tremendously. This last weekend we spent a night camping on the Eno River, just 15 minutes from our house. It was great! We hiked about a mile into the woods to our campsite and had a great time exploring and telling stories. This was the first time Hazel had been camping in many months (since she was around 5 months old) and it was very exciting (turns out that settling down in the tent all together on the very slippery fabric of backpacking sleeping bags is pretty hilarious). Lena also had a blast and enjoyed hiking in on her own two feet, carrying her backpack, and telling lots and lots of stories about a couple mischievous squirrels. Here are a bunch of photos we took during our short trip.


Some turtles communing in "Bobbit Hole".









A beetle Paul became very enamored with.



Lena and Paul attempting to build a boat on Sunday after a big thunderstorm the night before caused the river levels to go up. Here they are before the maiden voyage.
Unfortunately it was a bit "drowny" as Lena put it.

There is that cute little beetle again!

First half of March

Some recent photos from the first couple weeks in March. Starting with a lovely breakfast.
Celebrating Hazel's first birthday.

Singing with the dudes.
Goofing in the hammock.
Out and about.

Truck driving songs at home.