Easter and Camping Trip

What a couple of weeks it has been!

But first! On a different subject! I wanted to take this time to congratulate the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their wedding! Our family wishes them the happiest of marriages and a good start to their life as a royal couple.

(We have just started watching the wedding, and at our pace, we'll probably finish up 'round Christmas. But at least we've started! Unlike the 2010 winter Olympics, which we finally just gave up on.)

I have always been a big fan of Queen Elizabeth II. I have immense respect for the tireless work and sacrifice she has put into her life as the queen of England. She is an amazing lady. I hope that William and Kate will follow in her footsteps!

Best wishes!!

And now to a brief recap of our recent doings!

Holy Week around here was..... utterly exhausting. Wow! Besides all of our usual stuff, I planned a bunch of Easter activities, both sacred and secular, and those kept us hopping. Plus a visit from Grandma and Grandpa!

So our Holy Week went something like this (or what I can remember of it!):

Tuesday:
Egg hunt with our MOMS Club. Wild enthusiasm reigned.

Wednesday:
A home egg hunt (tucked in after baby's therapy and a playdate with a dear friend, but before AWANA, shopping, and houseguest arrivals) with my homemade Resurrection Eggs! (I was so proud of myself.... I felt so crafty, which by nature I am not.) I actually have the book "Benjamin's Box" that goes along with the storebought Resurrection Eggs, but (1) I was too lazy to go to the store to buy the eggs, and (2) I wasn't too crazy about Benjamin's Box - a bit gory and way too advanced for our 4-year-old. So I took an Easter story that I like much better ("The Easter Story" by Carol Heyer) and made my own Resurrection Eggs to go with them.

(Resurrection Eggs, basically, are where you put a little memento - like a miniature cup, or a tiny piece of bread - in each egg that is matched to a page in the story.)

I wondered if our little guy would respond to this craft - I was doubtful - but actually he had a blast! He loved them!! It was awesome. In fact, he loved it so much that he insisted we put it all back together and do it again after our playdate.

We also, as I mentioned, had a wonderful playdate with a special friend of mine who was visiting the state with her two little ones. K. - thank you! It was great to see you! Come out again!! :)

Thursday
Yet another egg hunt, this time with our little guy's preschool. Another big success. Also, that evening we attended a surprise preschool ice cream social, which also featured a performance by an awesome local magician, who did a great job - the kids had a blast. So did we!

Friday
We had an awesome Good Friday service at our church, which I really enjoyed - Scripture readings alternating with hymns, both congregational and by the choir/organ. It was lovely. It was also our son's first (remembered) Good Friday service, and he did really well (barring the bellowed "MOMMY! WHY DO WE HAVE TO LEAVE WITHOUT TALKING?" question during the "depart in silence" end to the service). It was great.

Saturday
Our "official" egg hunt. Lots of fun. Then it had to be repeated ad infinitum for the next three days, with our son hiding the eggs and then leading us around to help us "find" them.





 

 



 

Also, egg-dying, my favorite!!












Sunday
A lovely service at church! We decided to forego the 6:00 a.m. sunrise service and breakfast - too bad, but I can't imagine good things happening from dragging kids out of bed at 5:00 a.m. in the morning. Yikes! I shiver even to think of it.

Instead of the breakfast at church, I made Resurrection Rolls! I felt so stinking proud of myself... remembering holidays and all!! I am moving up in the world!

(If anyone here doesn't know me well, I will just say that my normal holiday modus operandi is to be vaguely aware of a holiday season until the day of the holiday, at which point I wake up and think "oh yes, I should have done something about that - maybe next year." The fact that I am purposefully doing things for holidays is a point of immense joy to me!!!)

The rolls leaked all over the place... I can't think why, as I really did work on sealing them. However, a couple of them still had the "empty tomb" effect, and I am told that they tasted good too!


Easter was a very tiring day. I was cooking for an infant, a preschooler, two adults on a normal diet, one adult on a very restricted diet (me!), and one adult on a liquid diet (DH post-dental-surgery). With three meals, it really felt like being a short order cook - that day and most of that week! But still fun.

More Easter cuteness:











This past week we spent recovering from Easter, saying goodbye to our houseguests on Wednesday, and on Friday heading out for our Spring camping trip.

This camping trip was a bit new to us because it was (1) our first non-desert camping - we went north, and (2) a combination camping and/or family trip - we camped outside the town where DH's parents live, and after camping, we spent another night with them.

I don't recommend the joint-venture approach. It was fun, but our son's usual whole-hearted "I love camping!!!" was interspersed with a lot of "okay, now let's go see grandma and grandpa." I think in the future we'll have to do separate trips.

We had a nice time! Probably our best yet. We camped next to a lovely river in a deep canyon, meaning the glare from the sun was much less than open-desert camping! Besides the fact that (1) DH and DS had to spend an hour and a half driving back to DH's parents' house for forgotten supplies, and (2) we nearly froze to death overnight (thin-blooded Phoenicians don't carry enough cold-weather gear!), we had a fun time, and then a fun time with Grandma and Grandpa. Here are some pictures!

 



















DH's parents also gave us an hour to go off by ourselves sans kidlets - we went to our favourite local outdoor mall and wandered about and had an absolutely lovely time. We don't do date nights very often (they're expensive, and we're forgetful!), so this was a special treat. (Though I really ought to work on organizing a date night more than once every two years. Something else for the to-do list.)

Happy Easter, all!