Easter weekend

Over Easter Weekend we enjoyed full days of activities, time spent with John & Karen Friesen (in town from Winnipeg) and even some March Madness b-ball games. Saturday was beautifully warm and sunny, and even though Sunday was cold and rainy we still celebrated He Is Risen! 

Here are some pics from Saturday. Unfortunately we didn't take any photos on Easter Sunday.

Gemma experienced her first egg hunt (although "hunt" is a bit strong), held at Oval Park in Mom and Dad's neighborhood. A church down the road sponsored the event, and dedicated different areas of the park for different age groups. The 1-2 yr olds and 2-3 yr olds had sections of the baseball field roped off and the eggs were just lying all over the grass, so the kids just ran around and picked up the eggs. Of course, most kids Gemma's age just meandered slowly, collecting eggs, at the encouragement of their parents. Gemma picked up one egg and wasn't quite sure what to do next, until she discovered there was candy inside, so then she opened it and wanted to eat the candy right there. Even better, it was pink. And she was content with that! (I had to resist the urge to yell out, "Come on, Gemma, keep going, hurry hurry get as many as you can!" After all, she'll learn that eventually on her own.) But she did end up with about a dozen eggs, which were played with and "organized" (as she called it) all weekend.

On Saturday afternoon we hung out in Miss Betty's yard (she is our kind, elderly neighbor who loves to see kids playing in her grass), with Gemma running down the hill and doing ballet moves.

Gemma loves it when Timo "tackles" her.

After the kids were in bed, John and Karen came over to hang out. It has been 6 years since they were married and 10+ since Karen moved from Durham - so what a joy to re-connect and spend time together!! We loved getting some wisdom and encouragement from these older friends.