Patriotism

 Today started out colder, and that was a funny surprise, although I'm not sure why I'm surprised at all about the weather lately.  I just assumed the closer you got to summer, the warmer it got.  Sort of simple concept, right?  Not that it's been too cold or anything - in fact, this afternoon was downright pleasant.

Maddie was at school this morning, and her elective with dance had her doing something easier and more enjoyable with Emma, and that was nice for her.  Afterwards, Maddie went over to Nate's place to spend basically the rest of the day together.

It was a day of rest, pretty much.  We were packing up a lot of Easter things - like Hoppy Hollow, for example.  But we did put up the Patriotic Christmas tree!

I got the little tree up, fluffed, got the lights on, and all the ornaments too.  We have some new ornaments, a new Grover Cleveland one and a few new Semiquincentennial ornaments that we got recently as well as the two ornaments in Mom's Easter basket.  The tree is really covered in lots of patriotic ornaments now - we might have to upgrade to a bigger tree soon!

I was decorating the tree as a huge moment was going on:  four astronauts were going around the moon.  Just before they left radio contact to go through the dark side of the moon, one astronaut told the earth, “Christ said in what was the greatest command, was that it was to love God with all that you are…. (and) love your neighbor as yourself… we love you from the Moon.”  It's been over fifty years since any human has been around the moon, and the space program has been so inspirational lately.  This event has filled us with pride, along with another recent national event:  the rescue of an American pilot deep in enemy territory.

This afternoon Mom and I had the White House Egg Roll on the television, and it was fun as always to see the kids guiding those eggs across the lawn there.  We have a few of those eggs now, this year's semiquincentennial eggs.  We'll keep those out for decorations in the years to come.

We read for a bit tonight from the Discworld.  Vimes and Angua are going deep in a case, way deep because it's really far below ground level beneath Ankh-Morpork's surface.  The dwarfs have a murder case going on right now, something that could spark massive trouble if things aren't figured out quickly.  It's been a good book thus far.  We said our prayers after that, and soon enough it was time for some sleep.

Easter 2026

Happy Easter!  Today was such a full day, but it's Easter so of course - and what a day it was.  We had a great morning service today, the first we've had spent at KidPak in some time.  We opened up the service with worship and dance, and we also revisited the "Egg Roulette" game that we've done before - Josh used dye to color eggs, half hard-boiled and the others raw, and the kids would point out an egg for one of us to choose to smash on our foreheads... three raw eggs, and you're out!  It was super fun and super messy - the kids loved it!  We got egg everywhere!  I won that first service without even getting a single raw egg.  Second service...not so bad!  After that, full-on worship and dance and a fantastic service all about the story behind Resurrection Sunday.  It was a really nice morning, as you can see from just a sampling of the photos Maddie took this morning.

We talked with our friends there and everyone wished each other a Happy Thanksgiving.  It was a nice morning at KidPak and upstairs in our main service.  Maddie got to attend that one, and fully enjoyed Easter at Free Chapel.

We got home, and we had enough time for a few more Easter baskets today.  I gave Mom hers a few days ago, but today we set up the egg hunt for Maddie - it was a fun one.  You can see above and below the path she followed from room to room where she could find an egg... and a can of Dr. Pepper! 

At the end of the trail of eggs and cans of Dr. Peppers... there was a really fun basket:  it had a Dr. Pepper theme to it.

Dr. Pepper Jelly Bellies, Dr. Pepper tic-tacs, Dr. Pepper Peeps, Dr. Pepper Cotton Candy, and that Dr. Pepper bag and t-shirt too.  Maddie loved it!

Meanwhile, Mom gave me my basket - a Mystery Machine lunch box!  This will be great to carry lunch in, and also included:  a Scooby Doo wallet, plus a few Funko Pop figures and a Scooby Doo hat as well!  But that's not all...

Mom got me something really great - some authentic art from Black Cat Tips.  If you follow this blog, you'll see this artist brought up from time to time and how much we love his work.  There's a little sticky note signed by him on the back.  We used to see these types of faces here or there along the roads, folk art hanging up in different random places.

Once Maddie was done looking for her eggs and that basket, it was time for the final preparations for dinner.  Mom had been working on this for quite some time, so we got busy putting things out - food, decorations, and some of those eggs we dyed a few days ago.

And then it was dinner time!  We had the ham from Cracker Barrel, plus the other items we got from there too:  pies, green beans, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, Mom's macaroni salad, shrimp cocktail, and that awesome carrot cake too!  Wow, what a bunch of good food.  And the dining room looked exquisite!

The family came over, and it was a really pleasant afternoon together.  We gave Jonathan his birthday gift - some coffee grinds and reusable cups for the coffee machine.  We gave Aunt Shain her birthday gifts too, money in a big plastic egg.  We put the ice in the drinks, served everyone what they wanted to drink, and then it was time to eat!

Mom worked very hard on this meal and this day, and it was all so very nice.  We had a great time together.  We spent a few hours eating and talking and laughing, and then cleaning up a bit together.  A great Easter!

After everyone left, the rest of the day was cleaning up as much as we could... and getting some rest.  We continued our Spider-thon tonight with "Far From Home."  We read tonight, and we were quite tired from the long day.  Yes, it was time for some sleep!

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Eggs, Bunny, Napoleon, normal blood pressure, virtual walk, back deck canopy... updates coming soon...