Happy Easter!

Around this time last year, we were preparing to move here to Annapolis. In fact, the 18th will be one year that we've lived in our house.  And I'm happy to say that now that Spring is in the air, it's getting as beautiful as it was when we arrived!

This is my view walking home from the office. Sherman Field on Hospital Point.

Easter is kinda special to me because of family traditions centered around my Mom, but it's extra special this year because this was the first holiday Matt and I shared together as husband and wife.  Last year, it was just the two of us, having a nice dinner in our (mostly) unpacked house.  This year, we've got Adam, one of our sponsor plebes, with us, and we're going to spend it with family in the area. (And because we have Adam this year, I had to make him an Easter basket!)

Adam's Easter Basket beside our lovely orchid.

Aren't those jelly bean eggs so cute?

I've been baking all day, and I just wanted to show a few of the goodies that we'll be eating for Easter.

True, I don't ice like my Mom, but I'm working on it!

That's an orange bunny standing up, by the way...

Viva Las Vegas!

This is the Aria, our hotel.

These really cool whirlpool columns in the shopping center connected to our hotel.

Me on our first day in Vegas.  We're just leaving the hotel to head to the Mirage.

And there's the Mirage!  We went to check out the Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat.  It was so cool!

Me outside of Treasure Island - our favorite hotel/casino. We won money there, saw the Sirens of TI, and saw Cirque du Soleil (which was AMAZING!).

Oh yeah.  I did that.

Our first real view of the mountains

This is in the Secret Garden...and I think it's one of the only pics of Matt.

Matt wanted to get my picture with this flower.  It's also in the shopping center connected to our hotel.

The Luxor...which was not as cool as we thought it would be.

The Canal inside the Venetian. We took a gondola ride - so romantic!

New York New York...where we went from "being up" to "breaking even"

A nice view of the strip.

The fountains in front of the Bellagio. 

Some updates

Matt and I just celebrated our first anniversary. We went out for dinner and a movie.  Then I made these delicious pudding cakes! I was so proud of how they looked that I asked Matt to take pictures.

Last year, we got this orchid.  When the flower stalks died, we were worried that we'd never get another flower out of the plant....but lo and behold!  We're so proud!

Here's our tomato tree...the freak of nature that it is.  Everything green you see is part of the plant...but there's more that you can't see!  We got the tomato seeds last May/June and now look at it.

A friend stationed in Japan just sent us this tea set.  I love it!

These are corn plants from an experiment we did in the biology lab that I teach.  I brought them home because I wanted Matt to see the dwarf and albino corn. 

And some time soon, we'll have pictures from our anniversary trip!

Putting up the tree...

 

Veterans Day Weekend

Fall colors in Williamsburg, VA

The Governor's Palace in Williamsburg, formerly home to the Royal Governor of Virginia

Kate and ...

... Matt in the garden behind the Governor's Palace.

The Capitol (that's how it's spelled) in Williamsburg.

USS Monterrey (CG61) and USS Normandy (CG60) at Naval Station Norfolk

USS Enterprise (CVN65)

16 inch guns, turret #3, USS Wisconsin (BB64)

On the fantail, USS Wisconsin

Philly

Matt and I went to Philly the other weekend, and that was an experience. We hit Independence Hall (where we got our flag flown!), Constitution Hall, the Liberty Bell Center, the Franklin Institute, and finally, we got authentic Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches.  Take a look!

The view from the balcony of our hotel room.

The city hall, which has Mr. Penn standing on top. Used to be the tallest building in the city until the 80s, I think.

The location and layout of President Washington's house when he was President. The Independence Hall Visitor Center is just behind.

Who wouldn't want their picture taken in front of THE Liberty Bell?

Us in front of Independence Hall

This eagle was carved from last surviving "Liberty Tree" here in Annapolis!

And, of course, our flag flown in front of Independence Hall!

DC with Mom

Mom came up for a visit a couple weeks ago and we took her to DC since she'd never been. Of course, she wanted to spend the entire trip at the Daughters of the American Revolution library/museum, so Matt and I took a tour of it. It was actually pretty interesting.  About 30 states had their own room, and we toured all of them. 

Go Navy!

Then, as you can see, we hit the White House. A great trip.