Happy Easter!

This week was a very fun week. We did a lot of things leading up to Easter, including decorating eggs, egg hunts, and appearing in the newspaper again! Although the week started out cold and dreary, we were still able to get in a lot of outdoor activities. Yeah!

Monday was very cold, we had snow, and didn't do much aside from pick up the newspaper with our photo in black in white from last week. I was glad that I did not yet pack away the winter clothes, because we were able to wear some favorite winter outfits.
Tuesday was also cold, and we went over to Somerset to do a Pottery Barn Kids storytime. This week was the first week we ever did one of these, and they do them every week. It is just stories, not singing or props, so I don't know that we will go super often, but you do get a $10 off coupon for every 5 times you go and get a card stamped.

Keira also enjoyed playing in the Easter Bunny area on the wooden trees and little house.


I went on a run in the snow. I waited until Tuesday because I had hoped it would be better today than Monday. It was only marginally better, but both days were too cold to justify taking the stroller out.


Wednesday was another quiet day. There were no activities at the library. It was a fairly nice day, but we did a few errands with Ryan once he got home.



Thursday was pretty busy, and the weather was much improved. We did a Kindermusik storytime, and saw Dominic, Emily, and Brooklyn (no Lisa). We also did grocery shopping to buy a few last minute things for the weekend, like chocolate for the cake I planned to make for Easter Sunday. Ryan went on a bike ride with David on Hines Drive, and I was able to go jogging with the stroller.




Friday was Good Friday, and Ryan had it off. We spent the morning coloring eggs with Courtnie and Averie. The girls didn't stay interested in it too long, but enjoyed each other's company.



Ella and Soren just watched the egg coloring. Soren is about 6 weeks older than Ella.

After the egg coloring, Ryan got online and noticed that Maybury was open for riding! He rode a lap of the mountain bike trail for the first time this year, and
I did a walk/jog with the stroller on a section of the path. It is really rolly, so it will be a challenge to run my pre-Soren route with the double stroller. I only did a portion of it and let Keira play on the playground while Ryan finished up.


Saturday was a crazy day. Ryan and I really wiped ourselves out. Ryan went on a 50 mile ride with the Wolverines, and I took Keira and Soren to an Easter Egg hunt at Maybury. I had been searching and debating on a hunt, and chose this one at the last minute decision after seeing a flyer on Friday. We didn't get a good look at it, and mistakenly thought the egg hunt started at 11:30, so we showed up at 11, but the activities started at 11:30, and the hunt at 12:30. Keira played outside a bit while we waited for the festivities. Keira did not want her picture taken with the Easter Bunny, we waited in line for a bit, and then she got afraid so we got out of line. She decorated a cookie and participated in a spoon/egg race, and then we retreated to the car because it was a bit cold out still. We did the hunt, but came away with only 1 egg that Keira got, and 2 others that were given to us by the lady who took our picture. I could not believe that the hunt portion took literally about 2 minutes for all the eggs to be picked up.
Keira just finished decorating her cookie and was ready to eat it.
Here is one of the heats of the egg on a spoon race. Keira wasn't very fast, but she didn't drop her egg. Fortunately, all participants got the same prize.
This is the soccer field where the eggs were scattered. The children were sort of arranged by age group on the sides.
Keira is holding her single egg she found. I don't think she was bothered by it, though.
The lady that took this photo gave us a couple extra eggs after learning Keira only got one.


After the egg hunt and Ryan finished riding, I decided to take my turn at Maybury's trail (after going home and dropping off Keira and Soren). Mountain biking sure is a different animal. I was totally exhausted after my ride, and at times felt like I could hardly continue. I remembered seeing the 1.5 mile mark and thinking, you have got to be kidding me! The trail is just over 6 miles. I finished the route with a few stops. I can't remember if I have ever done the trail with no stops, so that isn't new, but it felt pretty rough. I think the times I was in my best shape I still stopped due to crashing, being passed, or waiting on someone. Needless to say, Ryan and I had a huge dinner and a semi-restful night after our cycling adventures. I made the cake portion of a flourless chocolate torte from my Willams Sonoma dessert book before retiring. It is pictured below finished.

Sunday was Easter Sunday. Keira was very excited to wake up to find eggs all over the living room and enjoyed picking them up and putting them in her basket with no competition. She was also very excited about her new bike from the Easter Bunny, as well as some dresses and other smaller items. Soren was pretty happy this morning and seemed to enjoy the excitement. He received puff filled soccer ball shaped "eggs" instead of candy. His basket was by far the healthiest because it also contained bananas and toys only. After the baskets, Kris joined us for a brunch of waffles, apple sausage, turkey bacon, and of course, Easter eggs.







We attended church and had an enjoyable meeting with lots of musical numbers. Kris was able to attend our church today, that was what made it easy for him to have breakfast and dinner with us. Linda arrived this evening and we had a dinner before doing baskets and having my cake for dessert. This was a very full Sunday!



Ryan goes back to work tomorrow. We don't have much planned yet for this week, but hopefully we can get over to Maybury for some rides and runs, and of course will get Keira outside on her new bike. We will probably have another big weekend, I am hostessing a Partylite party on Saturday.