We had an incredibly long and gorgeous Easter weekend. It started Thursday afternoon with the arrival of Aunt Lee, Elsa, and Claire; and various events, games and Easter activities stretched all the way through Sunday evening. On top of which, our Michigan weather was warmer and nicer than many parts of Florida! (Or so the weather man said).
We did a lot of playing outside the first day. The temperature was in the 80's and it felt like mid-June. The kids had so much fun on the swing set plus we got to break out the outdoor vehicles from their long winter rest.
Mia enjoying her first ride on a 4-wheeler. I never thought I'd be the mom letting her kids do this at age 1!
Friday we took the kids to Frederick Meijer Gardens to visit the butterflies. Aunt Lee and the girls had never been to the Gardens so it was a special treat to take them on such a fantastic day. All the outdoor activities were in full swing, including Carter's favorite, the "Great Lakes" pools. I would have packed a bathing suit had I known this was going to be open. Carter did a good job containing himself though, I saw plenty of other kids who were much more soaked than he was.
Claire didn't get to get out and run around like the other kids, but she was very content and happy to watch them play and eat a little snack.
We also checked out the gigantic horse sculpture. The kids loved climbing the hill more than viewing the horse.
We of course toured the butterflies, Elsa was a little hesitant when they came near her, but we heard a lot of squeals and laughter coming from our gang so I think they loved it.
Carter is hitching a ride on Claire's new two kid stroller. (Very cool, we need one of these)!
On Saturday we did a lot of Easter activities, birthday present opening (a late celebration for Mia and an early one for Claire), and basketball watching.
Here we are coloring some eggs.
And decorating that crazy bunny hutch.
And here we are opening birthday presents. Mia got a really cool shopping cart, equipped with donuts and vegetables (staples at our house) and Claire got a monogrammed beach bag and towel with some beach toys as well.
Taking her baby for a quick spin.
And finally, here we are dressed in our MSU gear getting ready to watch our game. It's apparent this picture was taken before the game started, see our smiling faces. We still love you Izzo.
As if that wasn't enough activities, we haven't even gotten to Easter day yet! We woke up in the morning and had a fun egg/basket hunt. The dogs did a good job of keeping everyone on track of finding the goodies.
Then we had a nice breakfast before heading over to Grandpa and Grandma Jernstadt's house.
Unfortunately our camera battery died when we arrived at their house (go figure, we hardly took any pictures this weekend). If you want to see some of the egg hunt action from their house, see Elsa and Claire's blog for more pictures. We also had a wonderful Easter lunch by Grandma and more play time with everyone.
On our way home we stopped by Uncle Mark's house - where yet again the Easter bunny struck. Grandma Webb, Uncle Josh, Grandpa Mike, Kathy, and Max were all there with more baskets of goodies for the kids. The Easter Bunny was on steroids this year, he really outdid himself and I think in future years we're going to have to tame him. Bringing home 10 Easter baskets (yes, each kid wound up with 5!) is a little much. He kind of put Santa to shame! But we loved all the presents and candy and we really appreciate everyone thinking of us. Carter and Mia especially love all their goodies!
We hope everyone else had as wonderful a weekend as we did!
