Spring and Easter

We took a trip to Oregon to experience Spring there.  Trying to find a time to go between Emmett starting soccer and other commitments was a little difficult.  We had hoped for a little bit longer trip, but it ended up being a great length.  To get a jump start on things we left town Thursday after work and drove all night.  The kids watched a movie and then slept pretty well and the parents stayed awake pretty well so it was successful.  The only part of the drive worth mentioning was about 10 miles east of Boise while I was driving it got really stormy and windy.  It was about 10pm and raining and windy and all of a sudden the freeway was covered in tumble weeds that were 2-3 feet tall and coming towards us.  There was group after group of tumbleweeds and it lasted for a long time.  We encounter tumbleweeds fairly regularly but not usually this big or at this high of speed.  Jim warns me about the possibility of them puncturing the radiator if they hit just right, so I was freaked out.  We made it through without incident, but it felt like the twilight zone.  I wish we had thought to take a video.

We arrived at Jim's parents at 5:30am and we all went back to sleep in some comfy beds.  I brought Ezra into our bed and although he had slept the best in the car, he slept for at least 3 more hours.  We spent the rest of the day enjoying a really nice day, playing outside, taking a walk, more playing outside. 

Friday evening we went to my parents house and got the boys into bed right as my parents got home from their trip.  They got to say goodnight to the boys and we visited for a while before a bunch of exhausted adults went to bed nice and early.

Saturday we took the boys to a park in the morning.  We were hoping to do an Easter egg hunt that day, but due to some miscommunication it didn't end up happening this year.  So we did a practice hunt in my parents living room.  We also got to go see a house that my dad is building for some people and Jim and I got to run some errands on our own (sort of a treat for us).  In the afternoon Jim took the boys to another park.  The weather was pretty iffy that day, but we dodged the rain for the most part. 

Sunday was Easter and the boys woke up to Easter baskets and we had French toast and sausage.  I got a big thing of army men that came with a tank and fighter jet that the boys (especially Emmett) were pretty excited about.  I'm not sure if that is an appropriate Easter gift, but they sure have been having fun with those little toys.  We went to church with my parents and brother.

After church we had some snacks and played and got food ready for our Easter dinner at Jim's parents'.  Jim's mom and dad hosted a large Easter gathering for his mom's side of the family.  There were 17 adults and 11 kids I think.  There was lots of good food and a great Easter egg hunt for the kids.  My kids now have very high expectations for future Easters.  Before I was able to put goldfish and raisins in the eggs and have happy kids, but not anymore!  Actually it was fun to find some non-candy things to put in the eggs, and the kids really enjoyed that too.  We had good luck with army men, stickers, coins, stick on mustaches, tiny dinosaurs that grow in water and star wars erasers. 

The kids all played a lot in the yard too.  Emmett thinks he is a big kid and they included him really well, and hopefully humbled him a bit since he was pretty sure he was going to be the best baseball player there, ha!  Even Ezra got turns to bat and both boys loved all the older kids.  We were really impressed by how well the older kids involved our boys.