Easter

We had a great Easter. It started at church on friday morning. The service was really thought provoking for me, and included communion which reminded me of my Catholic days where communion is a weekly ritual. Easter is the celebration of Jesus' resurrection and Good Friday is the day that we remember Jesus' death. I always try to keep this in mind when planning for Easter. If possible I would go to church and have a quiet day at home this day, without any real fun activities. It should be a day of reflection and a more somber day instead of a happy one. However, because my family wants to celebrate on Easter Sunday and my mother in law works on Saturday, Friday is the only day we have to do Easter with his family. At least it is a family gathering over a more secular event, a party or a gathering of friends.

On Easter Saturday, Ryan had a rare chance to spend the day doing something fun with both mommy & daddy! It is not often his daddy is able to join us for things other than shopping trips and time at home. We went to the Easter Eggstravaganza at Springridge Farms. I wanted to take Ryan to Downey's Farm, however figured with the gas to get there it would run us $50, so opted for the cheaper and closer choice. There was a lot for him to do there and he had a great time! I still prefer Downey's. It is the same price and the egg hunt is done better. Downey's does an egg hunt at certain times of the day. They distribute all the eggs in a large field and the Easter bunny comes and blows a whistle and the kids are let loose to find and collect the eggs in their own basket. When there are no more eggs to be found, you trade in as many as you found for a little baggy of Easter goodies. everyone with a wrist band (who paid) gets a baggie. At Springridge there was no Easter Bunny. :( The egg hunt was done in a smaller farm house with hay in it. The kids were told upon entry "only take 2 eggs". I thought they were crazy - we paid $30 and he was only allowed to find 2 eggs? Luckily they did not enforce this rule as all the kids filled their baskets. Ryan enjoyed it, but at the end when we gave our eggs in he was rewarded with only 3 little chocolate eggs. Paying adults did not receive any. In comparison to Downey's this is a rip-off. We went on a wagon ride, Ryan rode some tractor tricycles that I had to push him around on as he did not have the strength to push the pedals on his own, there were multiple hay stacks Ryan loved climbing up and down, a few bumpy slides Ryan loved (but the bigger one had such a huge line up that was taking forever it was next to impossible to wait there for so long). There was a large sandbox that Ryan played in for a few minutes but it got boring without shovels and pails (only dump trucks). He enjoyed the mazes a lot, especially now that he really likes to do mazes on paper too. We missed the puppet show, but Downey's has pretty much everything Springridge does, plus a great magic show, easter crafts, and face painting. Springridge had a few small animals but Ryan had no interest in them, and they were supposed to have face painting but we could not find it anywhere. So next year, if we are able to go to an egg hunt I will pay the extra money for gas to go to Downey's.

Ryan was so excited for the Easter bunny to come and leave him chocolate eggs. He woke up on Sunday morning and asked first thing if we could go down to see what the Easter Bunny left him. It was fun for me too because it is such a joy to watch the excitement and to see his face beaming with happiness as he went around finding all the eggs. I would not want to miss it for an extra hour of sleep. He ate a few of his chocolates and we had breakfast and got ready to go to his aunties for Easter. It was also his cousin's 3rd birthday. We drove an hour and a half, and had a fabulous turkey dinner with sweet potatoes, roasted potatoes, beans, stuffing, and my moms home made cranberry sauce. My nephew opened his gifts and Ryan got spoiled with Easter goodies as well... some new shirts (angry birds and planet ones), solar system activities, chocolate, and so much more. A whole large bag full of toys and treats. The kids had birthday cake and the adults had a yummy pavlova that my mom made.

Speaking of angry birds, Ryan is somewhat addicted to this game now. When he gets the chance to play on his daddy's iPad, it is the first game he plays and he plays it longer than any of the other games. Sometimes it has been hard to get him to give it up after we think he's been playing too long. It's funny in a way, but I don't want him to be so addicted to video games when he is only 4 years old (not even). Think about when he is 12 and it isn't so easy to take the gaming system away. I want him to spend most of his time interacting with people especially his family, playing outside with friends, and reading or doing other activities he enjoys instead of in front of a screen so long. I guess I need to start setting a better example as well, as when we are at home, I admit I spend a lot of my time in front of a screen too - posting on meetup, writing emails, reviewing recipes, planning menus, online banking, budgetting, etc... Even the music I dance to for my workouts can be found on playlists I have created on my laptop. My whole life could practically be found on my computer. Most of it is beneficial in one way or the other to making my life meaningful, more organized, healthier, and running smoothly. But I want to teach Ryan we need to use it to help us live a better life but when it's all said and done, it's time to turn it off and live, laugh, and interact.