Easter Weekend (Part 1)

(It's taking a while to get the whole weekend into one post so I'll start with this for now.)

It's been a while since we've been up to my Mom & Dad's in Clearwater. We were there in the summer but with winter weather and the whole new baby thing, we haven't been there for almost a year. It turned out to be a very full house, with 22 people altogether. Mom & Dad; Raven & Laurel-Anne + 5 kids; Raven's two Costa Rican friends from school; Colin & Kelly + 3 kids; Chiemi - C&K's friend from Japan; Paul & I + 3 kids. We all slept at the house except for Alex & Jason who enjoyed the quiet retreat of the neighbor's travel trailer.

We arrived Thursday evening after Raven & Co. had already arrived. Did I mention that he's going to school? To be a meat cutter. And meat cooker. And meat seller. Very meaty. We're all pretty excited for this new adventure and career change.

Colin & Co. had hoped to get there in time for a neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt, but their trip was greatly extended when they left the baby's suitcase on the stairs at home. The egg hunt was pretty fun, except by the time the bigger kids were allowed to start searching, the little kids and their parents had found the majority of the loot. The hosts had hidden 700 plastic eggs (with chocolate and jellybeans inside) all around their yard. The idea was to find them, then dump the contents into a big bowl, then every kid got two scoops of candy from the big stash. Max got two scoops, Marty only got one and will never know the difference. In fact, I've hidden their bags. I should just toss the waxy chocolate and add the jelly beans to Marty's potty prize box. I'm a bit unsettled about the whole Easter EGG thing. We've never talked about the "Easter Bunny" with our boys, and always talk about the real reason we gather to remember and celebrate. I enjoyed reading Amanda's Easter experience in Poland. The idea of gathering goodies to be presented to the priest for a special blessing ... what a rich tradition. Gathering goodies to be gobbled up only to give cavities and tummy aches and feed our childrens' consumeristic tendencies ... not so special.

I enjoy all of Amanda's writing. You should go read her blog. Just add it to your bookmarks or feed reader already, it's a good read.

We finished the day with birthday cake for the four spring birthdays. Elijah on March 26, Laurel-Anne and Mixon on April 14 (also Paul's sister Deb, and my late Uncle Gordie!), and Calvin on April 19. (Oops, my slideshow says there were 4 April birthdays ... sorry Elijah.)