A Sunday Morning Walk, With my Brother!

Spring has come to Virginia Beach, and I am loving it.

Temperatures have been in the 70s and the weather has been beautiful.

Very often I find myself missing my mountains in Utah, but I am consoled by the colorful vegetation and the variety of wildlife in Virginia.

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I took this picture (obviously) out of my car window, of a house I drive past regularly.

These colors catch my breath every time.

Another great thing to happen this spring is that my brother Mike has returned from a 15 month tour in Iraq.

He is stationed a few hours away from me, and since his family is waiting till the end of the school year to join him here he came to visit us for the weekend.

It was really awesome to see him and spend time with him. It only would have been better if his wife and kids had been here too.

On Sunday morning he, Mark and I went to First Landing State Park for a walk in the woods. (We had time because our church doesn't start till 3:00).

Mark brought his scooter which he rode for about a fourth of the way and Mike carried the rest of the way.

There is spanish moss all over the place in this park, and is really pretty. Mark: Live long and prosper.

The trails and walkways in the park are really well maintained. There are lots of look out points and benches if you need a break.

I'm not sure if Mike is posing for thoughtfulness in this pic or if I caught him being sincere.

What are logs for, if not to climb on?

Because we are cheap and we didn't want to pay the 7 bucks to drive into the park, we parked a few blocks away and walked along a path to get in.

This path looks into the backyards of houses along the way.

One homeowner has gone to great efforts to create a beautiful garden for passersby to enjoy.

Including statues and garden artwork.

I didn't get any pictures of the wildlife, but we did get to see lizards, a snake, a momma duck with 10 ducklings, a bluebird (or at least a bird that was blue), and several other birds.

It was another one of those beautiful days.

We really enjoyed the time we got to spend with Mike. And we can't wait to see the rest of his family this summer.