Spring Time

Well, spring has finally arrived and the all the ice is gone from the trees. We went out for a walk yesterday and took some snapshots along the way. The apple, pear and cherry trees are all in bloom.

We came across this old house and in the distance is the steeple of a church dating back to the late 1800's. Drew and his family attend here.

Most of our walking route takes us along Apple Tree golf course......

and several orchards......

as well as, a pasture with a beautiful horse grazing in the distance.

More beautiful blooming trees along the golf course - our house is on the far right.

Here's the scene behind our house - our house is off to the right.

April Apple Trees

We went out for a walk this morning and saw these apple trees. They are coated in ice to keep the buds from damage. The growers turn on the sprinklers at night knowing the freezing temps will cause ice to coat the buds. I guess this is April in Yakima. I thought it would be a lot warmer by now. It still freezes most nights. Daytime temps are high 50's and sometimes low 60's.

Sewing 101

Granddaughter Hannah has been wanting to sew for quite a while, so we picked her up from school a couple of days ago and headed to a local fabric shop. She picked out two different fabrics to make a pillowcase for her dad. She also wanted to embroider her name on it, so that's what we did. Here's a couple of shots of her working on this project.

Easter

Easter was wonderful in our new community. We took our grandson to the outdoor sunrise service on the golf course. We walked there at 6:30 am since it wasn't too far and then sat in the 30 degree temps for the service. The sunrise was spectacular - a sunrise service was the first for us and we liked it so much we are planning on it again for next year - we'll try to get more family to join us.

Afterwards we went home to warm up, then to 'regular' church and then on to our Easter dinner at our daughter-on-law's parents' house with lots of family gathered around. Both our sons were thousands of miles away and couldn't be with us, but we had our grandchildren and other family with us. Drew should be back home next year and hopefully we can get Mark here, too. We did get to interface with Drew on the computer Easter morning and we talked with Mark the day before, but we still missed them. Memories of their childhoods always flood back on family holidays.

The days are trying to get warmer, but the nights still freeze - at least the days are mostly sunny. We do love living here!

April Fool's Day

Today is Mark's birthday - he was born on April Fool's Day 23 years ago. What a fun day for a birthday! We are on opposite sides of the country today, but close in thought. If you are reading this - Happy Birthday!!

Sarah did great in the marathon - she finished in 3 hours 36 minutes - fast enough to qualify for the Boston run - if she goes, we'll go, too.

Strange noises here..... every morning we wake up to 'helicopter' noise. It really sounds like a helicopter has landed next to our house and doesn't shut down. We came to find out that the orchards here run huge fans to try and stave off the frost from damaging the buds on the apple trees. It still freezes most nights, but since the buds are out they need to take precautions. Another thing they do is spray the trees with water in the evening so it encases the trees with ice. That way they don't drop below 32 degrees and it does seem to protect the buds from getting too cold.

That's about it for now.... Easter is just a few days away. Happy Easter to all!!