Early spring hike from March 17, 2012 - first hike of the year with shorts and t-shirts!

The family took a muddy (but great!) hike this morning on the Wild Flower Trail before it started raining again.

I've just spent nine days in Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Cocoa Beach/KSC, and Orlando.  The trip was great, but I'm so excited to see Michael and the pups!

The photo above was taken after swim practice about a month ago - the sky really looked like that at sunrise.  I've been doing a lot of swimming lately.  My friend Jen and I did the Rocketman Triathlon a couple weeks ago (I did the swim and bike and she did the run), and we got third place in women's relay!  Then last weekend Katie and I did a 1.2 mile swim in the Boulder Reservoir - it was cold, dark, and windy when we showed up for the race, but it felt good after we got in the water and started swimming!

Monte Sano was foggy this morning!  I had trouble seeing the road on the way to the state park.  Michael, Pika, Nacho, and I went on a late morning hike with our friends Brian, Erica, and Max the dog.  We did a loop from the biker's parking lot down the Sinks Trail, up through the Stonecuts (first and second photo above), up Panther Knob, and back by way of Mountain Mist and the Sinks.  It was chilly for late March but felt nice after we got moving.  Max was a big mud dog, and Pika was a big stink dog after she jumped in some nasty smelling water - what a rascal!

Well, our race yesterday got cancelled due to lightening and excessive rain.  We took a walk with the pups in the afternoon after it stopped raining-it was fun to see Mountain Brook running with so much water!   

Quick rundown of recent accomplishments for my own records:

03/04 - 03/06 Weekend Accomplishments:
-  Jess biked in the rain and mud on Saturday, 03/05
-  Michael and Jess ran Upper Bear and Teddy Bear Creek on Sunday, 03/06

03/11 - 03/13 Weekend Accomplishments:
-  Michael boated on Johnnies Creek on Friday, 03/11
-  Walked dogs on Wildflower Trail (SO pretty)
-  Started building a new rock raised-bed
-  Ran/hiked 12 miles in preparation for upcoming race
-  Attended Huntsville Botanical Garden class on separating perennials
-  Planted hostas, irises, muhly grass, lemon balm, Joe-Pye weed, creeping phlox, miscanthus grass, sedum, and others

03/18 - 03/20 Weekend Accomplishments:
-  Michael dug up ten free dogwood trees he found on craigslist
-  Michael and Jess kayaked on Town Creek on Saturday, 03/19
-  Cut down lone black locust in garden (pictures to come!)
-  Repaired damage to raised beds that was the result of previous accomplishment
-  Burned stump of black locust (crazy fire inside the ground; hottest fire Michael's ever built)
-  Planted three blueberry bushes
-  Transplanted two parsley plants
-  Moved the majority of the wood pile to the street for the city to pick up
-  Stacked fire wood
-  Had friends over for dinner on Sunday, 03/20

We hadn't been to the Wildflower Trail in ages, and it was SO beautiful this morning.  The trout lilies are out in force, as you can see in the top photo!  The water in Fagan Creek was really clear.  I'm thinking we might go out again this afternoon for a run.  

Pups on their Sunday walk.

Michael and I are usually total snobs about southern sunsets; they just aren't that great compared to the New Mexico and Utah skies we grew up with.  However, this past Tuesday left even us in total awe.  We both agree it was the most beautiful sunset we've seen since moving to the southeast (12 years ago for me, 7 years ago for Michael).  The entire week was actually full of really beautiful skies - so refreshing!