White Oak Falls, Shenandoah Mountains

75 degree weather this Saturday, so we had to enjoy it hiking. We hike alongside streams and saw several waterfalls.

This is the upper falls. This hike was supposed to be very strenuous, well we hike this last July and to this point on the trail it was very easy, not strenuous at all. I thought, Alexis would enjoy this. Well there was supposedly a big pond at the lower falls that you could swim in. So off we went with swimsuits and towels. There was a sign posted saying this was the half way point and not to continue or overexert yourselves because rescue services would be able to reach you. Well, talk about strenuous. Extremely steep and basically it was a couple of miles of rock stairs, literally. As we were going down the stairs, I thought, this is going to be very difficult on the way back up. I asked Alexis and her friends if they wanted to continue and they had on thing on their mind, cool pond, swimming, Let's go for it. Well, that lasted for about five more minutes until I asked them again and then we decided to make the trek back to the car. The rock stairs were extremely difficult to hike back up, no wonder the hikers we talked to were sweaty so heavily. It seemed like forever until we reached the car, 5 miles altogether. WHEW!!!

I climbed all the way up here. Look at me!!!

Anna, Maggie, and Alexis.

Even though it ended up being longer and a little bit harder than expected it was still a lot of fun and so nice being in the mountains. We found a spot to cool down before we headed back to the car.

St. Patrick's Day, March 17th

First time I had Irish soda bread and Irish butter. So delicious. I can't wait until St. Patrick's Day next year. Irish butter is sweeter than regular butter and a must, really.

Kimberly made a scrumptious Irish dinner, corned beef and cabbage with roasted root vegetables, potoatoes, parsnips, carrots, and turnips.
So I used to think corned beef was not very good, well, now I wouldn't mind having this more than once a year.

For desseret lime squares with pistachio graham cracker crust, that melted in your mouth. Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!

St. Patrick's Day, March 13th

We spent the day in Alexandria celebrating St. Patrick's Day by having some of the best fish and chips. They use cod and the chef is from Ireland, hence the theme, "Thanks be to Cod."

Despite Alexis' expression, she really liked the fish and chips. We also saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D on the IMAX.

We ended the day with some Argetine gelato at Dolcezza. They have dark chocolate, meyer lemon, Avacado-lime, hazelnut, banana's foster, coconut and much, much more.

My 37th Birthday

Kimberly made a six-layer coconut cake. Delicious!!!

She also made a homemade spagetti sauce with meatballs, along with garlic bread and ceasar salad. My tummy was so full and happy.

Three six-inch round cakes, coconut cream in between each layer. Trying to slice the cake -- well, the cake would have landed on the floor if Kimberly didn't catch it. So glad she did. This is the best coconut cake ever!!!

I had a wonderful birthday!!!

PASSPORTS!!!!

We just received our passports. What will the future hold for us now? Where will we go? Where should we explore first? Mt. Everest, Mt. Kilimanjaro, the beautiful beaches of Thailand, Italy, England, Greece... At least now when we go to Niagara Falls we can visit the Canadian side. We're both so excited to have the opportunity to travel abroad.