Easter Weekend Fun

We had a wonderfully busy Easter Weekend. We kicked off the festivities by watching Hop on Thursday night. Cute, and only a few moments that I could have done without. School was out on Friday, so Brad took the day off and we did a day trip to Key West. We spent far more time in the car then we actually did in Key West, but both the drive and walking around were worth the effort, and it was nice to do something "big" as a family for a change. We then came home and did our monthly Full Moon Fun Run, hosted by the Davis clan, which was a blast. This was the first time it fell on a weekend and both kids had a blast hanging out and playing. Summer, it turns out, makes an excellent pacer on her bike :-) Our full moon gang (stole the pic from Shelah). Brad even managed to win a Tae Kwon Do membership for the boy, so that was awesome. Something fun to look forward to over the summer!

On Saturday morning Garrett and I had a date to go see the Easter Bunny as a part of the city's Easter festivities. Garrett drew a bunch of pictures for the E.B., but this was my favorite. The scribble, by the way, is the grass in which EB is hiding.
He loved giving them to the Easter Bunny in person:
We ran into Garrett's buddy Jon and they had a fun time being silly together:

Before the egg hunt:

And with his haul:
They had a rock climbing wall, so of course Garrett had to do that:

Then it was time to dye eggs. This year the egg dying was an incredibly artsy affair for Garrett and pretty much stress free, which was a nice switch.

Summer had fun with the stickers.

My favorite easter egg by Garrett. Ahoy, me mateys!

So colorful!
We finished out the day by reading the Easter story and talking about why we celebrate it.

Kids to bed, and the scheming began:

The kids left most of their candy for the EB to take. In return he left baskets filled with fun. Summer's eggs were hidden in her room. Garrett, on the other hand, got to follow a trail of clues hidden in eggs. The trail lead, eventually, to "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" for he and Summer to share. The EB is very clever and Garrett had a BLAST following the clues.

After playing with our Easter goodies for a while, we headed off to spend some time in the great outdoors. Last month I was able to do field work in a part of Everglades National Park I had never visited before, Chekika. This place has a borrow pit FILLED with baby alligators. So we had to go back as a family--especially since Summer is OBSESSED with alligators (and snakes. . . go figure).

10 baby alligators, and 2 adults, inhabited the small lake. Brad scored an awesome picture of one of the little ones.
We finished the day off by having dinner at the Shumans house. They are planning on moving over the summer, so its a bit sad to know our holidays won't all be spent walking around the corner to their house. Holidays there have been a long-standing tradition that make living so far from family a little less lonely. We made a cute bunny tray to share.
And, speaking of culinary creations--the kids and I made these super delicious (and sweet!) cookies for Garrett's class.