Easter Weekend

Carter's First Easter

The Thursday before Easter weekend we packed up the vehicle and headed for soggy southern Indiana to celebrate Easter with our families. It had rained there for several days straight and showed no signs of letting up for the holiday.  Even though the weather was super rainy, we had a wonderful time visiting family and celebrating Easter. 

On Friday we headed to the Gasthof with my family.  It is an Amish restaurant about an hour from my parents' house that has a great buffet and cute shops on the property.  This is the second year in a row that we made the trip to Montgomery on Good Friday, so I guess you could say that it's almost a tradition.  After having a great lunch and running a few shopping errands we headed back to my parents' house and spent the rest of the evening there. 

On Saturday we headed to Derek's Mom's house to celebrate Easter with his family.  Derek's younger brother and his family came down from Terre Haute to spend Saturday celebrating with us.  Addy always gets very excited about seeing her cousin Cameron and now Carter really enjoys seeing him too!  It's a lot of fun watching them interact with each other.  Due to the soggy weather outside we decided to forgo the Easter Egg hunt we had planned on taking the kids to and elected to visit the nursing home where Grandma Freihaut volunteers.  The kids got to travel from room to room to "hunt" eggs from the residents trick-or-treating style.   It was a great experience for all involved and was a great alternative to the muddy mess that I'm sure Addy would have been after an outdoor hunt.   Later that evening we went to church with Derek's mom.  Addy loves visiting her church because she gets to go to childcare with Miss Leslie.  She always has a great time there and comes away with a craft and song that she has learned.

Checking out Addy's Easter book.  We have continued Derek's family tradition of giving the kids books for Easter.  Each year they get a new book with a short inscription from us.  This year both kids got collections of Disney stories and they have become bedtime hits!

Sunday morning we headed back to my parents house to see if the Easter Bunny found us there and sure enough...he did!  Addy and Carter had fun checking out their Easter baskets and their gifts from Grandma and Grandpa.  The kids also hunted the eggs the Easter Bunny left in the yard.  Yes, the bunny was crazy enough to brave the mud and muck to hide eggs in Grandma and Grandpa's front yard.  I was suprised that the kids managed to stay reasonably clean and mud free.  We had a yummy easter lunch with my whole family and grandma and spent a bit more time together before heading back just as the kids were getting a bit cranky and were ready for naptime. 

Checking out his loot from the Bunny

Addy was very concerned about the Bunny finding us at Mamaw and Papaw's house.  She even let him know where we would be when she saw him at the mall.  He obviously listened!

Even the eggs were soaked!

They miraculously stayed fairly clean!

Addy loved the Bunny decoration!

Although we fought raindrops and gray skies all weekend we had a fabulous time visiting family and celebrating,  It was the first time we had made the trip home since Christmas and we were so glad to be back in Indiana again.  We have several more trips to Indiana planned over the next few months and hope that we can see more family and friends during those trips.