Pre-Easter Romp

Good Friday is a decidedly less somber day for the under 5 set.

It helps that Grandma and Grandpa were able to come to town to help us celebrate the holiday weekend! Jon took a day off, too, so while I toiled away at work, the rest of my family did this in the sunshine:

A visit to Hand-in-Hand Park was long overdue.

See how Miles has improved his balancing skills!

And he's so much more audacious on slides!

One of Adele's recently acquired phrases is "rock, rock!"

Grandpa & Adele

Grandma & Adele

Is she not huge?

We are working on developing Miles' upper body strength.

On Saturday, I was able to join the family as we made the rounds of some jolly community Easter Egg hunts. The first one we attended was at the Veterinary School.

Miles-eyed view of the hunting grounds:

And they're off!

Adele ditched her basket pretty quickly. She wanted to imitate a cat today, darn it, forget these silly eggs!

Miles got 3 eggs... good enough for him!

One perk of the Veterinary School venue: they got real rabbits!

 

This made. Adele's. day.

Miles was pretty chuffed too! Especially did he love feeding them, as the kids were encouraged to do.

They probably could have stayed in that hutch all day. Probably. Could have. It was a gorgeous day.
But, I kinda thought they might be disappointed with the slim egg pickings at this event, so we hauled them to another, at a local shopping center.
...Yeah, it was a mob scene. But we were valiant!

Miles has a bit of shell-shock; don't mind him.

He was very intentional about finding five eggs in different colors so he could have a rainbow.

Adele learned what she was supposed to do very quickly. I'd just point out an egg and she'd go grab it for her basket. I would like to say, too, that these tiny egg seekers (this was a 5 & under only hunt) were very well mannered! Almost no physical combat occurred at all, as far as I could see. Several older children refrained from grabbing eggs when they saw Adele making for them. How refreshing!

And well, if there were going to be bouncy toys there, why not let Miles wait in the enormous line to play?

....Twice?

We left JUST before everyone started to lose it, so really, I consider it a successful Egg Hunt.

Later that afternoon, Miles drew our house & family and Grandma and Grandpa's house & family.

...While Pater and Mater Familius enjoyed a date to celebrate our 7th anniversary. Grandma & Grandpa were so kind as to provide the babysitting, and we walked downtown on a very pleasant evening to enjoy dinner and froyo, just us. Just what we needed. Best Holy Saturday since we've had kids? I think so.

A Very Green Weekend

We are back in Blacksburg and while we are refreshed by our trip to Memphis, we find ourselves impatient with many things about our return, such as the persistence of Winter, the distance of the end of the semester, the continuance of Lent and the lack of exciting events on the immediate horizon. Okay, primarily we are frustrated with our lack of nighttime sleep, but that's less to do with the return to Blacksburg and work and more to do with our kids' sickness... Miles is on the mend from a stomach bug, but Adele's been very into bellowing every hour or so at night. We're looking into possible explanations...

Anyway. Our weekend was glorious! We had a Saint Patrick's Day/Green theme going on.

Saturday's weather was such a welcome relief. It was in the 60s and sunny! We celebrated by walking down to The Price House for their reptile event!

Green eggs and bacon with coffee, to give a firm foundation to the day.

And we're off to Price House!

We got to get to know this chameleon pretty well. He even showed us his angry spots!

This guy was pretty much the best. We followed Mr. Tortoise around for kind of a long time, poor guy.

They'd follow him and pet him like a dog, and then retreat, giggling.

Miles tempts fate. He does still have his fingers, if you want to know.

There was quite a lot of indoor play & even some sibling cooperation.

My and my best buddy.

On Sunday, we got ready to celebrate Saint Patrick as thoroughly as possible.

With facepaint. We are serious about this holiday.

My Irish lass

There was the loveliest activity at church: a Gardening/Spring Picnic! This ended up being a mostly indoor activity since the weather had turned drizzling and rather cold, but it was still festive.

We feasted on macaroni & cheese and fruit, and then the kids got a children's sermon about seed imagery in Jesus' parables...

...followed by a tour of the garden and a planting activity. The kids were instructed and worked together to start a garden which we will split between our church and the Valley Interfaith Childcare Center, which just happens to be Miles & Adele's daycare! Advantage Miles & Adele!

 

The Stewardship Committee served up the dirt cake to complete the theme. What an adorable way to love the kids in our congregation, don't you think?

Later that afternoon, I was able to satisfy a dream I have cherished for almost 10 years. I was finally able to visit an Irish pub ON Saint Patrick's Day and hear some traditional Irish music. I have been seriously trying to do this since our King of Prussia, PA days, when we tried to go to Kildare's on Saint Patrick's day only to be turned away by the absurdly huge crowd. In Maryland, I had to deal with lack of interest on the part of those I was celebrating with, or with similarly huge crowds and problems with parking. So it was that Blacksburg satisfied yet another of my deep longings. :-) My best celebrating buddy and I went to T. Flynn's for some music and refreshments!

Miles loved watching the instruments, in real life.

We have spirit, how about you?

Our respective beverages. Miles thought my green Harp was hilarious.

Here is a video to enjoy. We returned from the pub to a meal that Jon prepared, of real corned beef and cabbage, and finished the night with a wild The Chieftans dance party in the living room. The kids' laughs from that romp are still ringing in my ears, even through all the noise and static of two nights' solidly bad sleep. Wish us better fortune and health, won't you? I want to see some more good luck!