Easter Weekend 2011

Saturday, April 23 we took the boys to Seattle to the church Matt and I used to attend when we were dating, engaged, and newly married. They held a terrific "Eggstravaganza" for kids. It was also a great excuse to see friends we don't normally get to see. (That was my favorite part.)

Here are photos of the boys as we waited for everyone to register. They had Phil Vischer (creator of VeggieTales) "What's in the Bible" playing on big screens for the kids to watch to pass the wait time.

David just loved being "free" crawling on the gym floor.

This photo of David cracks me up. He gave me the BIGGEST grin while being held by Daddy. (Notice the drool spots on his shirt. We're still waiting on those next teeth to appear.)

They divided the kids up into groups by age and then sent us out to visit the various activities. We moved location every 15 minutes. It sure worked great. We started out watching a GREAT puppet show. The puppet characters did a rendition of American Idol but had to change their secular songs to Easter themed songs. As adults we recognized the pop tunes (i.e., "Staying Alive") but the words were changed so it had the Christian Easter message.

Following the puppet show it was the 2 and 3 yr olds turn to do the egg hunt. We crossed the street to Seattle Pacific University and enjoyed a lavish egg hunt in The Loop. (The eggs were filled with candy. YUM!)

The egg hunt started out on a sad note for Jay...he started off, but when the first egg he had his eye on got taken by someone else, he turned around and walked back to me, crying and upset. I held him for a little bit and talked him through it and Matt and I got him to venture out to participate in the egg hunt again. Oh the drama of 2 and 3 year olds! Ha! Even with the delayed start he found about 15 eggs and enjoyed both the hunt and the surprise of seeing the candy inside the plastic eggs.

We came back into the church and the kids enjoyed jumping in the two big bouncy houses. Jay, however, tried it and decided the jostling WASN'T for him. He had a great time (believe it or not) watching everyone else jump from outside the bouncy houses and holding open the entry/exit flaps to them. Okay, buddy! Whatever makes you happy.

From there we went into a room full of age-appropriate games, including "bowling" and "mini golf" (his two favorites).

The time came to an end with a fun craft. He chose to color with crayons and make the colored paper into a windsock (complete with crepe paper streamers). He loves it - it currently is hanging on his bunk bed in his room.

After the boys' afternoon nap Saturday afternoon we took them to a local park to enjoy the beautiful sunny day. It was the perfect end to a beautiful day. (Today after waking from his nap Jay asked to go back to the "boat park" where we played yesterday. It took me a while to figure out what he was trying to say, but I finally understood where he wanted to go. Unfortunately our Easter day was cold and rainy so we didn't return today, but I promised him we'd go back again sometime.)

After a terrific Easter service this morning at church we returned to a condo filled with the aroma of a baking ham. M-m-m! Thirty minutes later this was the result.

After lunch I tried to capture a couple photos of the boys in their Easter duds. Both were tired and ready for their naps so the timing for this photo session wasn't great, but that's okay.

We hope everyone had a great Easter! We are sure grateful to serve the living God - Christ who was resurrected - who took away the penalty for sins so that we can know this kind of hope and joy.

Jay & David April 2011

I've not been so good at keeping up with the blog this month. Sorry. No excuses.

Here are some photos of the boys from this month.

April 8th Costco trip (with Grandma Amy):


Later that same Friday hanging with Aunt Molly. (Thanks for taking these photos Grandma Amy!) I decided to post all three photos since Jay's expressions are funny.

This is a good photo of David, but he (and Jay) really needed a haircut! I remedied that situation the next night.
I had to capture a movie of David's laugh. Jay consistantly can get the best belly laughs from David.

Here is Jay with his freshly cut "spikey" hair. He insisted that I take a photo of him (that's a rare request, so I jumped on it). Every time he gets bathed now we "spike" his hair. When it dries it lays flat again which is a disappointment to him. Makes me think I might have to invest in some hair gel for his stylin' guy.
We had fun last weekend (April 15-17) when friends Phil, Cameron, and Ashley visited us from California. We hung out with Mark and Rachel Friday night. Prior to dinner "the guys" (and me) took a walk around West Seattle while Rachel and Ashley prepped dinner. It was so great spending time with Phil, Ashley, and Cameron. I only wish we lived closer so we be together on a regular basis.

Orlando

April 2-7 Matt had a work conference in Orlando, FL so we recruited the grandparents (a BIG thank you to Nana and PopPop for April 1-5 and Grandma for April 5-9) to come to our home to stay with our boys while Matt and I went on this trip together.

Matt had meetings to attend in the mornings and our evenings involved conference functions too, but we utilized the free time available to us to explore DisneyWorld and also fit in some good relaxing moments by the pool/lake/beach a couple of days, too.

Character sightings included:

Beauty

Cinderella

Mary Poppins

Donald Duck

We spent 8 hours at Magic Kingdom one day. 4 hours one afternoon followed by another 4 hours that night since they were open until 3 a.m.! (We left at 1 a.m.) Yes, it was a late night for us, but we were still feeling West Coast time at that point.

(I think this photo of the two of us was taken around 12:45 a.m.)

After Matt's morning meetings one day we were "on our own" for lunch and the afternoon so we took a bus to Downtown Disney, explored that area, had our late lunch, and had a relaxing time. Then later that day the work conference held an evening event at SeaWorld. We watched the Whale and Dolphin show, had a great buffet dinner meal, and then they let us loose on the three best amusement park rides - the Manta(ray), the Kraken, and Journey to Atlantis. Remember, we just enjoyed a terrific meal...

We decided to go on the newest ride to the park first, the Manta. Matt and I were able to get seated in the first row. You sit in the seat and the ride clamps down snugly over your shoulders down to your waist and then it also secures your ankles. Once everyone is secured, they "turn it on" and the coaster takes your seats and you go horizontal so you are now seated but looking at the ground. Oh my! If you put out your arms it literally felt like you were flying. What a thrill that coaster ride was - you climb 5 stories high and then you pull some g's doing corkscrews, loops, climbs and dives. Being in the front row was terrific - I could see out and everything. Its quite the rush. We had such a great time, we decided to do it again. This time, though, Matt and I were in the second row so all I was able to see this time around were the feet of the people in front of me a good portion of the ride. Not. A. Good. Thing. For. Me. Let's just say I came off the ride feeling pretty green. While we moseyed back over to where the next roller coaster was located (the Kraken) - I called it quits and sat down to take some deep breaths, drink some water, and get my wits about me again. I started feeling better so I took a short walk to explore a bit more of the park while waiting for Matt to complete his 2 rounds of fun on the Kraken. I thought I was feeling pretty good again when I met up with Matt and then after a few minutes a new round of nausea hit me and...yep...let's just say I fertilized their flower bed. Ha! Oh well! At least I felt better afterwards. I REALLY really wanted to try the water ride called Journey to Atlantis, but after fertilizing the flowers Matt and I both decided we'd better not push my luck. :) Here are a few photos below of the Whale and Dolphin show we enjoyed that night. All in all it was a FUN night (despite the fertilization moment).

We had one free day to explore, so we chose a park hopper pass and went to Animal Kingdom, Epcot, took a short nap, had dinner at California Grill to celebrate our 5th anniversary, and then went back to Magic Kingdom to finish off our day. The morning started out with a good dose of rain which meant our morning at Animal Kingdom was soggy, but it was still fun. The photo of the giraffe below was taken during the safari tour they have there. It was really great. The highlight for me was seeing the baby elephants splashing and playing in the water less than 20 yards from the vehicle we were in. The tour guide said it was quite a rare sight to see them playing like that - the elephants loved the rain - so I was grateful for the wetness that morning just to soak in those breathtaking awesome moments of watching those huge beasts experiencing pure joy. (I was so enthralled in the moment I forgot to capture a picture or video of the elephants. Oops!)

From Animal Kingdom we went to Epcot. We enjoyed the sights and experiences at that park, too. The flower and garden show was featured during our time there and they had some amazing Disney sculptures all around the park. I captured just a few here...(there were so many more and all were so great!).

Prince Charming and Cinderella

Lightning McQueen

(I just HAD to take this photo for Jay to see)

We also got to see and experience both the Magic Kingdom fireworks show and Epcot's Illuminations fireworks show during stay. (My favorite of the two was Magic Kingdom's show.)

Yes, we missed the boys and thought of them lots, especially seeing so many little ones when we were out and about at the various Disney theme parks. But it was a good "break" for all of us, I think. It felt great to rejuvenate our marriage (our 5th anniversary was on March 18 so we "celebrated" that milestone there). We also enjoyed some good rest and relaxation from the normal busy-ness of life here at home (me more than Matt since he had work meetings to attend). Just soaking in the sun alone (poolside or on the beach by the lake) seemed to boost both our spirits having experienced such a cold, wet winter and spring here in the Pacific NW this year.

All in all, it was a terrific trip. Again, a big shout of thanks out to our parents for taking such great care of our two boys. We know they are in a more challenging, hands-on stage of life right now so your gift of time and love was deeply felt by ALL of us. Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

(*I plan to add some video clips to this blog post. I'll be coming back to add them later.)