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.