April is here with it's wind and 70 degrees days chased away by snow and sleet. The beauty of the longer days are not lost on me as I get up with the dogs at 5am and it's already gorgeous outside. There are few things I enjoy in this life more than rising early, spending time in meditation and prayer and then sitting in the hot tub as the rest of the world awakens. Thankfully I get the chance to do just that 4-6 times a week.
Spring seems to always be a very busy season around the Strickler household. This season was no exception. From gutting and managing the remodeling of Balin's new office (pictures coming soon), gardening out at the Twin Oaks House, spending time at the cabin, training for a mountain bike race, or participating at the kids school - we were busy. Maybe too busy. As we finished up with the interior of FSR's office, Balin and I both agreed that we are taking a break from investing in and fixing up properties. It's super fun and an amazing creative outlet, but it's a lot of work and the return just isn't that great. As summer approaches I am looking forward to spending time hanging out with the kids, friends, husband. I asked the kids what they would like to do this summer and they said, "Play Dates!" I can do that.
I chaperoned the Primary's field trip to the Phoenix Zoo last week. It was really fun but really tiring. The teachers did an amazing job organizing the trip, especially assigning us to small groups to move through the zoo as the kids gathered information on the different animals. Brilliant. There were other school groups there that had to stay in their large group and boy was I glad that was not the case with us. Of course I was the one group that messed up and forgot the time - by a half hour and showed up late to a "required" event. Oops. Everyone laughed and I shouldered a few good taunts and jokes.
April also was the time we met up with family in San Diego to watch my nephew row for Washington State Cougars. My brother Dan and his wife Catherine were there as well as my cousin Eric and his wife Laurie from San Francisco. My sister and Sohpie came with my mom, while Balin and the kids and I made it also. We stayed in a great hotel right on the beach and blocks away from Mission Bay. It was fun to see Alex row, though the heats only lasted 6 minutes - which I'm sure seemed like an eternity from his point of view. As expected, Alex was busy participating in the event so we only got a little bit of time with him, but we enjoyed what we could get. The rest of the time was spent with the family on the beach, going to Stone Brewery in Encinitas and hanging out. It was a great time and we were really glad we went.
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