Easter 2011

The day before Easter was largely filled with unpacking from our trip.

But we did make some time that night to dye some eggs.

60 eggs to be exact.

 Two neighbor boys joined us as well.

 It was to dye for.

Easter morning the kids found that the bunny had come.

 I think the Easter bunny was a bit stressed this year, and did things small.

Hayden actually just got some cash in his basket.

 The egg hunt is where the fun is anyway!

 There were 26 candy filled eggs for each child to find.

Thats 156 eggs hidden!

Busy bunny he was!

 Everyone's getting into the candy now.

 Madelyn enjoyed chocolate before breakfast!

 Crazy D

 Morgan got a new dress for Easter this year, but with a closet FULL of dresses from her I opted NOT to buy new dresses for Ashlyn & Madelyn-there was plenty to pick from!

 The pretty girls.

 Family shot.

Not sure why Ashlyn wouldn't turn around here.

My beautiful children on a beautiful Easter morning.

We enjoyed a wonderful Easter program at church.

We are so blessed and thankful for the sacrifice of the Son, and the atonement in our lives.

We watched a movie on the crucifixion and resurrection after church with the kids.

And enjoyed a nice Easter meal with some friends.

Wonderful Easter day.

Spring break trip-days 7 & 8

The plan was to leave Florida Thursday morning by 6:00am.

We left at 6:45am.

Not too bad for this crowd I'd say.

We had a long day of driving ahead of us.

A friend had told me that the LDS Atlanta Temple had some renovations done, and was holding an open house before it was re-dedicated. So, we re-routed our trip home to go via Atlanta and take the kids to the open house.

It was a great plan, really. I figured we could be in Atlanta by 5:00pm (maybe sooner), feed the kids dinner (so they wouldn't be hungry and cranky at the temple), make our 6:10pm tour time (which we were told would include a 11 min. video and a 30 min. tour through the temple), then be on our way by 7:00pm to make it to our hotel for the night in Greenville, SC by 9:30pm.

Perfect, right?

NO.

First off, I didn't factor in that EVERYONE would be going to the open house the same time as us. The parking lot was full, and we were redirected to an 'overflow' area a few blocks away. Where we would be 'bused' back to the temple. When we got to the overflow parking though, we saw a line of about 75 people waiting for the 'bus'. Once the 'bus' arrived and we realized it was just a 12 passenger van (just like ours), we knew this would take forever. So, we hopped back into our 'bus', and Brian dropped me and the kids off while he went to park somewhere else and walk back. (He ended up being SO lucky and got a spot on the temple grounds just as someone was leaving!) 

My second problem was that I didn't factor in the very important fact that my kids had been in the van for 11 hours that day! And the younger 3 were in NO mood to sit still and be reverent while at the temple. Ashlyn was jumping and bouncing and wanting to run the whole time! I was saved with Madelyn, because they let us take her through in the stroller. Duncan did well, just lots of wiggles. The older 3 kids were fine, and understood a bit more about where we were and how to behave. They enjoyed it, and overall I'm glad we went.

 It was a beautiful temple.

And a beautiful night.

Although, back to how my perfect plan backfired.

Due to the amount of people there, we didn't get into the temple until 7:30pm, and didn't leave the grounds until 8:45pm. AND we still had 2 1/2 hours to drive that night! The kids were upset when they realized there would be no swimming in the pool at the hotel that night. But, I reminded them that the opportunity to go through the temple was way better than a swimming pool. All agreed except Ashlyn.

The next day was more driving.

At about 1:00pm Madelyn was DONE.

She cried "OUT!" over and over and over again.

Nothing we could do would soothe her.

Until she fell asleep.

And NO ONE was allowed to touch her!

 She is normally such an easy-going girl, but she was DONE!

We made it home by 9:30pm on Friday night.

Madelyn danced and laughed and clapped when she came in the door!

We'd done it!

The road trip was fun, but now it was done.

And we were happy to be home!

Spring break trip- day 6

This day was strictly a beach day.

LOVED. IT.

 We hung out all morning on a nearly empty stretch of sand.

 Ronan found a dead crab, and game him a proper burial.

 We forgot our boogie boards, but the hotel had some we rented for the day.

Fun, fun, fun.

 Ashlyn and Madelyn played so well together in the sand-yay!

 The older kids were occupied by the waves.

 I don't think Madelyn left that spot for almost an hour.

 Watching Ashlyn that day made my heart sing.

 She was so happy to be at the beach!

 She played.

 And ran.

 And danced.

 And jumped.

 ALL. DAY. LONG.

 She kept yelling out:

"This is THE BEST EVER!!!"

 Love that little bug.

 Perfect day at the beach.

After lunch, I went up to the room with the little girls for nap time.

Some of the others followed and took a break from the sun.

We watched a movie and relaxed.

Brian took a 2 of the kids in search of Manatee's.

We had seen advertisements more boat trips out to see them.

But Brian got a tip from a local man of where to go see them in the wild for free.

So, we all went.

 They were just off this dock, and would come right up and let you pet them.

 The kids each took turns petting them.

I have this fear of water with my children.

I can't explain it, I know it doesn't seem rational, because all but 1 can swim.

But hanging over this dock completely freaked me out!

Maybe it was the alligator spotted across the way.

Although they said the alligators won't come near a manatee.

 At any rate, I stayed long enough to take some photos of the event.

Then took Madelyn and went back to the car so I wouldn't ruin the experience for everyone else.

 They stayed a bit longer, and came back alive.

And all said they enjoyed themselves.

That night after dinner we stopped at a shop and bought some aloha shirts/dresses for the everyone.

I had this vision of a family photo on the beach.

There were several problems though.

1. I left my tripod at home

2.It was getting late and the little girls were tired.

3. The sun was going down.

4. I bought a dress to match Morgan's, but didn't have it on.

5. My camera & I weren't getting along.

6. This was our last night in FL and we were leaving at 6 am the next morning.

When I realized that we would not make it back to the hotel for me to get my dress on before the sun went down, I told Brian to just pull over at the beach so I could at least get a photo of the kids. Madelyn however, would NOT let Brian put her down. So, he stood in too.

I was having issues with my camera, and was quickly loosing their attention, so here's what I got:

Brian promised me we'd take one as a family in Delaware this summer!