Easter Weekend

Aaron had his first official company-wide day off--Good Friday. We'd been invited several months ago to camp with Amanda and Brad. Our camping trip was perfect in every way except for Scotty's sleep-deprived behavior on the drive home.

We went to Huntsville State Park, home of 30 alligators. We only saw one swimming near a dock where people were fishing. It didn't seem very threatening. The park had a lake and beautiful trails. And surprisingly there were very few mosquitoes. Our campsite was also next to the nicest bathrooms. As I said, perfect.

 The adults also had some precious, kid-free chatting time around the fire. Bedtime is the best invention ever.

Only one person fell in the fire pit (Oliver) and luckily that was when it was only full of cool ashes.

We had an Easter egg hunt which all the kiddos really enjoyed. As we were walking through the woodland trail, some bikers left Easter eggs on the path. Then they sent their kids back to tell our kids that they'd just seen the Easter bunny and he'd left eggs for them. It was really cute the extent they went to to make it seem magical. I realize I am really, really lazy when it comes to getting my kids to believe in Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, etc. Hopefully their childhoods will be okay without it.

I love Easter! I hope to start some more traditions. We should really celebrate Easter just as much as we celebrate Christmas. Yet I don't want to make Easter more stressful like Christmas so often is. That's the dilemma--how to make something special without making it stressful.

Our camping trip wasn't stressful. It was perfect, as I said.

And on Sunday we started a new Dennis family tradition: Sunday cinnamon rolls. Our first attempt was quite good, but I think we can do better. You've got to have something to fill those loooooong Sunday mornings.