Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day with the boys and Bill! They made my day very special!

Ben, Collin and I standing out in front of our home by a flowering bush.

Bill and I.

After cooking me breakfast and cleaning it up for me, too, we took a meandering drive through the back roads to Ithaca. We had a gorgeous, 76 degree and sunny day with pretty puffy white clouds in the sky!

Ithaca is a scenic, hilly, small town with lots of rivers and water falls. It is home to Cornell University, and has an Arboretum with many unusual trees and ponds and bushes.

Water lilies on the pond in the Plantations.

Cattails on the pond.

We saw lots of geese and goslings - boatloads of them! There is no danger there will be a goose shortage anytime soon!

Ben, taking a minute of repose....or playing a game on his iTouch, I'm not sure which.

Almost 15 year old Ben and 17 year old Collin - my joy!

In the "Plantation" area of the University, where the Arboretum is, they had a tall hill that overlooked the town, with a big bell that you could gong - which of course all of us with "Y" Chromosomes couldn't help but  gong very loudly!!!

The Bell makes a powerful noise when hit correctly.

Pete and Re-Pete! Looking out over the valley.

Collin taking a few minutes to take in the spectacular view

Bill trying his hand at gonging the bell, which could be heard all through the Plantation area!

We hiked trails along the river and looked at the falls. The mountains are all shale stone which was often used architecturally to construct stairs, bridges and paths. Photos don't do it justice - it was really beautiful!

From the overpass of the river. It was a very long way down.

Ben, Collin and I at the base of a big tree on the pathway above the river.

One of the smaller falls we saw.

This is one of the many very old, very beautiful buildings of Cornell University. You can look right through the archway and see the hills beyond - it's a wonderful view.

Walkway between buildings - reminded me of a monastery.

One of the falls along the river.

Ben skipping the shale stones - which make excellent skipping stones, as they are flat and thin - on the river.

Here you can see the size of the falls relative to the guys.

Collin standing close enough to the falls to feel the spray of water! He didn't get too wet!

Even I was able to hike down to see the falls close up - this was no small feat! I was really glad I did!

Ben, Collin and I enjoying dinner with Bill at Simeons.

We ended this day at one of our favorite restaurants, Simeons, http://www.simeonsithaca.com/ in Ithaca. We had good food, and it was the perfect ending to a really special Mother's Day!

I hope all of you Mom's out there enjoyed your day, as well! I hope you were pampered and coddled as I was! Blessings...until we meet again!

Just a quick few pics of Rosie and me

I'm playing around with this blog, and hoping I can get it to send postings - though far and few between they may be - out to family and a few friends. This is a new blog for me - after I realized that my "Along the Journey" blog had a domain name misspelling (oops!), I'm going to try it again!
Feel free to comment or subscribe to let me know you received this!

The sun was getting lower on the horizon this evening, and Rosie (one of my cats) was in very pretty light, so I thought I would snap a few photos and try to see how it goes!

Spring Break - Outer Banks, NC

Spring Break @ Outer Banks, NC

We decided to take a quick trip down to North Carolina for Spring Break - very last minute, which is par for us. I had been wanting to take the boys someplace for vacation. As Collin is a junior, and Ben already a freshman, we are aware how quickly these next few years will go.

So, we booked a hotel - Hampton Inn and Suites Corolla/Outer Banks

 This was the first evening we arrived, we walked down the short boardwalk over the dunes to the beach. It was cool and very windy. We missed the sunset, but there was enough light for us to see a bit.

 This was the first morning on the beach - disappointingly cloudy, cool and intensely windy! We didn't stay long this morning.

We found this really lovely trail in a sanctuary for birds, wild horses and animals. It was about a mile long, so not a long hike - and near the beach. The trees evidenced how much of a struggle it is to survive by the shore.

We visited the Currituck Beach Lighthouse - Collin and Ben climbed it, but Bill stayed with me on terra firma!

Collin took photos from the inside of the lighthouse after climbing to the top.

More beach photos - these are in Corolla. Corolla is the quieter end of the Outer Banks; it is the most Northern end of the strip before you get to Virginia.

 My three most favorite people in the entire world! We had so much fun just hanging together.

 Sunset over the sound created really lovely light on the water of the Atlantic.  The wind was really strong the first few days we were there, and it was out of the North, so quite cool as well. But, most of the time, it was not cloudy and so we still were able to enjoy the sun!

 These are pics taken on the Wild Horses Tour. There are Spanish Mustangs that have been on the Outer Banks for 500 years. As the area developed more and more, the area they could safely roam gradually got smaller and smaller until now, they are confined to the sanctuary.

 An osprey nest built on top of a telephone pole in the sand dunes of the sanctuary.

 There was a wedding earlier in the day on the beach of the hotel. There is a canopy and streamers affixed to bamboo poles in the sand. It was a windy, cool, but sunny day.

 Collin - dressed like summer in 50 degrees! Bbbbrrrrr!

Ben and Bill walking on the beach - away from the camera, of course! Ben is catching up to Bill in height quickly!

 Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Cape Hatteras, NC. It was a very sleepy day - Easter Sunday. Not much activity and not many places open. So, we went to the beach - in sweatshirts and blanket!

 Sunset over the sound. This was the evening of Easter Sunday.

 An osprey on her nest at sunset - so pretty!