holiday weekend

We had a fun weekend after the kids came home (tired) from camping. I think we'd all felt like we'd had a weekend, so this was sort of a freebie. Our membership to Stone Mountain is about to expire, so I'd wanted to take the kids while they were on spring break. Because of the weather, this meant Saturday. Of course it was after I told them we'd go that I found out I was needed at church to help prepare for Easter, at 2pm. Still, I thought it would work.

We visited a part of the park none of us had visited before, an Antebellum Plantation. The kids were more interested than I expected, and we checked out homes of rich families and of slaves, a schoolhouse (one of the last one room schoolhouses in this area) and a farmyard with sheep, goats and pigs. The weather had not improved to meet the expectations offered by the forecast, but we had a picnic lunch anyway. After it we headed over to the miniature golf, Bug's favorite activity there. We hadn't seen anyone else at the park while we were in the lesser known area, the plantation, but suddenly it was crowded and to play mini golf we were going to have a long wait. Looking at the time, it was too late. The tears subsided in the car.

That evening, we decided somewhat spontaneously, to attend a Passover Seder service. I'd been to one when I was younger, but barely remembered the routine. We were promised it would be child friendly, which it was. While there was an hour long explanation of the story, it was intermingled with songs both traditional and added for the kids ("Don't sit on the Afikomen"!) and opportunities to nibble (Bug and Pook each ate boiled eggs they dipped in salt water). Bug would make a good Jew if the criteria were liking matzoh, parsley, horseradish and Manischewitz wine.) After the service was a nice meal and treats for the kids. They were surprised that most tables were throwing out their boiled eggs. I think they thought this was wasteful, and that at the very least, they should be donated to the Easter Bunny.

That same Easter Bunny had left baskets of goodies for the kids (and adults!) Sunday morning. They ate some candy before church, but there is never time for an egg hunt so we tried to distract them from the idea before leaving. Our church has a flower service on Easter where we all bring flowers to add to a huge center display and then all choose a different flower on our way out of the service. (This is what I'd helped prepare.) By the time we got home they'd forgotten and were distracted by some tiny Lego kits from their Easter baskets long enough for The Bunny to pay our backyard a visit. During lunch they noticed the plastic eggs outdoors and were much more patient than I expected, calmly waiting til we finished eating to ask to go hunt. Pook had suggested that the adults have baskets this year, and he also suggested that we find all the eggs and then split them evenly. Since The Bunny has taken to leaving coins as well as candy, we helped with the hunting but shared only in the candy portion. Jelly beans have come a long, long way since my childhood. There were also malted milk eggs and a variety of candy from the top shelf stash in the pantry. We sat outdoors playing with the plastic eggs and eating candy until it was almost all gone.

A promised whiffle ball game followed, then some Crazy Eights at the patio table. The weather had cooled by dinner time or we'd have stayed outdoors all day. It was nice to have Easter on the last day of Spring Break, at least since we stayed home. It polished off a week of fun activities- the Georgia Aquarium, camping and Stone Mountain.