Easter Weekend

Is it too late to talk about Easter? No? Good :) As I mentioned, our Easter weekend was full and very fun!

On Saturday morning, we gathered with friends for our neighborhood’s egg hunt. The report: it was over in about two minutes flat, and June was much more interested in opening and closing the eggs than anything that was inside them :)

It was not the world’s most challenging egg hunt, let the record show.

We had a bit of time before our next engagement even with a playground pit stop, so a detour for beignets down the road from our house – a favorite weekend indulgence – was in order. Then it was on to our next destination – a classmate’s third birthday party! This was really our first experience with a birthday party geared toward kids, and June enjoyed herself IMMENSELY.

The party was held at a local farm, and June got to pull weeds for chickens, feed the weeds to the chickens, pet and hold baby chicks and rabbits, collect eggs, and ride a pony! The pony ride was undoubtedly the highlight of the day. Even though June kept saying she wanted to ride after we introduced the idea to her, we weren’t sure she’d follow through — but she did, and grinned like a maniac the whole time! As someone who grew up infatuated by horses on my aunt’s horse farm, this was obviously delightful to me :)

My family has quite the farm legacy (my aunt’s farm, the one my Dad grew up on, is the oldest continually-working family-owned farm in Connecticut), and though it’s detached from my everyday life, it looms large in my personal narrative and identity. Not to get too philosophical, but this felt like the tiniest beginning of including June in that legacy, too!

After dinner and games with neighborhood friends (the luxury of walking to our friends’ houses has not worn off!!), I packed up June’s Easter basket before turning in for the night. It was really fun to put together, and I think she was even more excited by it than she was by Christmas morning!

We ended up including a Melissa & Doug wooden school bus (which I got at a consignment sale for $1!), a new bathing suit, lemon pajamas, a sheet of stickers, a pair of sandals, two stuffed bunnies already in her tribe, and the biggest hit of the day: an elephant watering can! (We bought ours from a local nursery, but it’s similar to this.)

We ate Pillsbury cinnamon rolls before church, which we attended at Duke Chapel. The music was incredible, the cherry trees were blooming, and the day delighted us by turning sunny and warm. It felt like the right weather to celebrate the risen Lord!

Cannot. Handle. John says this is her high school portrait sixteen years too early.

When your parents have the nerve to ask a stranger to take your picture :)

While June napped in the afternoon, John and I planted our back bed – various lettuces, some herbs, and tomatoes. I can’t remember if I mentioned this already, but we had to replace our bed this year, and went with this thick cedar one from Etsy. Two thumbs up! We then had an early potluck dinner at our street block party, which left us plenty of time for a walk down to the creek before bedtime. That photo on the right pretty much sums up my hopes and dreams for childhood – endless hours of poking a stick in the water :)

I think we checked off about four things on our spring fun list last weekend alone! Hope y’all have been able to get outside in the warmer weather, too!

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