April in Pictures

My One Little Word this year is Explore, and I’ve spent more time exploring sketching than any other item on my list. That’s not likely to change in the next month or two because I got way behind in the Foundations course with Liz Steel. I’ve done a pretty good job of keeping up with my goal of a double page sketching spread/week in my personal sketchbook. I should be able to catch up there in the next few days.

I’m blaming travel—but have no regrets! We were away as many days as we were home in April, and we had a great time. I’m so grateful to be fully vaccinated, and traveling did feel perfectly safe. To be sure, we continued to be very careful–wearing masks, washing hands, and staying out of any crowded situations. 

The first week of April we were with Sarah and her family in Wisconsin. Here’s a peek at our time there:

Here’s one of the main reasons for going!

We were there for the Easter egg hunt on Easter Sunday. I love watching Hannah run; she has such a graceful (and fast) run!

Caleb is being homeschooled this year by Sarah’s co-pastor’s husband. They’re using a Waldorf curriculum which calls for lots of outdoor activities and big projects. Tracy helped Caleb and Evie with building a tree house in Sarah’s backyard. All the sawing and nailing was done by hand. By the time we left, a railing had been added to the tree house.

One day we went on a field trip to the Seven Bridges State Park. 

We had just five days between this trip and the next. Luckily, we had one really nice day and were able to get to Highland Park to see the magnolias most of which were in full bloom.

Then we were off to Kiawah Island, South Carolina. We spent many years here on our Spring breaks when the kids were growing up, and it became our favorite vacation spot. Our last trip to Kiawah was fourteen years ago, so when we were thinking about a way to celebrate the vaccinations, it immediately came to mind. We rented a one bedroom condo for the week and spent our time riding bikes and doing lots of walking. The weather was relatively cool most days, but sunny every day. We had one day that was really warm and went to the beach to read. The wind was so strong, it snapped our beach umbrella in two! It was really old, so we weren’t upset, but decided walking on the beach was preferable to sitting there. The beach on Kiawah is wide and rarely crowded in April.

You can see a squadron of brown pelicans flying in the upper left of the photo.

We love watching the shore birds, and also saw White Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Tri-colored Herons, Anhingas, and lots of pelicans and pretty wading birds.

Our second floor condo had a lovely screened porch overlooking a lagoon where we spent a lot of time when we weren’t out exploring. This alligator swam by several times a day.

One night we drove to Mingo Point to watch the sunset. This view overlooks the road that takes you to the island.

We’ve been home for a week now, and are just getting back into the routines of daily living. I’ve managed to get a couple Mother’s Day cards made, but haven’t had a lot of time for creative pursuits. Today, however, I’m meeting up with two friends (also fully vaccinated) to stamp. It’s been nearly 16 months since we’ve been together, and I’m really looking forward to it. If things go as they usually do, there’ll be a lot more talking than creating!