Easter Day

  We had another terrific Easter.  Its the quintessential spring holiday and it always gets us very excited for spring and warmer weather!
   The kids were up super early to check out what the Easter bunny brought them.  Like usual, he left lots and lots of loot for all of them.  They were all very happy with their baskets.  He also left a ton of eggs throughout the house.  The kids had a great time finding them all.  There were some really easy ones for Gracie, but she wasn't too into picking them up.  She was more interested in watching her crazy brother and sister go from room to room.
   Later that morning, we went to my grandma's house for Easter lunch.  She always does an amazing job making Easter lunch.  Her cooking is just fantastic.  We all had a nice time eating great food and spending time together.  The kids liked going in her backyard and soaking up the nice weather that day. 
    After my grandma's house, we went over to my brother's house for another egg hunt.  The Easter bunny always leaves some eggs for the kids over there and they LOVE the tradition of going over there and finding them. 
      The weather was just gorgeous we couldn't have asked for a better Easter spent with family. 

As usual, the Easter bunny was very good to the kids

Gracie checking out her treats

She is so darn cute

He loves Angry Bird Transformers and was so excited to get this coloring  book. 

Ashlyn got lots of  great stuff.

Gracie mostly enjoyed holding eggs in her hands and shaking them. 

On the hunt

Eggs were everywhere!

Look at all those eggs

His basket was getting so heavy!

Our little Easter bunny.

Adorable Easter dress

All ready for spring

All the kids in their Easter clothes.  We almost got them all to look at the camera. 

Cousins and best buds

All the girls

The kids table.  They even got chocolate bunnies!

Bryan can never take a serious picture

Gracie enjoying Easter lunch

Our family

The Easter egg hunt at my brother's .  I can't wait for everything to green up. 

She found lots more eggs

    That afternoon, Ella came over to our house to spend some more time with Ashyln.  They love playing with one another, but with Ashlyn in school they don't get much time together during the week.  On the weekends, we try to get them together as much as possible.   Dawson got this Transformer rocket launcher for Christmas.  It really hasn't been nice enough to try it out, but I finally was able to  pull it out.  The kids had so much fun playing with it.  They would stomp on it and it launched the rocket in the air.  They spent over an hour launching it over and over.  I have a feeling it will be entertaining them a lot this spring. 

Launching action

Joey got some terrific action shots

Ashlyn was really good at launching it. 

Easter Prep

   Easter is kind of  a big deal in this house.  Primarily because Ashlyn makes it such a big deal.  She just loves Easter and gets so excited for it every year.  We have a couple of traditions that we look forward to each year.
   Last Saturday, the cousins came over and we had some Easter fun.  First, we dyed Easter eggs.  The boys chose to wrestle instead of dyeing eggs, but the girls really got into it.  Gracie was still a little young to dye eggs, but she enjoyed watching from her high chair.
    After all the eggs were dyed, everyone helped make rice crispy egg treats.  The kids had such a good time molding the krispy treats into egg shapes.  The best part was that they got to cover them with tons of sprinkles.  They even got to eat one!  It was the perfect sweet ending to a fun afternoon.

Eating lunch and watching all the fun

She makes this silly face when I take her picture some times

They had to use a lot of concentration

Shirtless Dawson did hop in for a few

Ashlyn's adorable bunny dress

Gracie loved playing with the eggs

Sprinkles!!!!

Great Wolf Lodge

   We decided to end our trip with a bang.  We went to Great Wolf Lodge.  We had been to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City almost two years ago.  The kids absolutely loved it.  They have been dying to go back.  We were very excited when we realized there is a location that is on the way to Adam and Jane's.  We decided to stay for a night on our way home.  I figured it would be a good way to end our trip.
    The Great Wolf Lodge in Texas was just as impressive as the one in Kansas.  We were pleased to see that some parts were different from the Kansas one.  The kids had so much fun.  We checked in on Thursday around 1:00.  We headed straight to the massive water park.  The kids loved exploring everything.  Gracie loved it too.  Gracie took a short nap, but Dawson and Ashlyn kept swimming.  We stopped for a short dinner break.  After dinner, Joey took Ashlyn and Dawson back down to the water park until they closed.  It is just the coolest thing to have a massive water park an elevator ride away.
   We woke up bright and early and eat breakfast and packed our things.  We went back to the water park and swam like crazy until noon.  Sadly, it was time to leave.  Our original plan was to drive to Amarillo and stay the night.  As we got closer to Amarillo we decided to press on.  After two weeks of sleeping in foreign beds, I so badly coveted my own bed.  The kids wanted to get home as well.  The kids did not even get antsy since they got out all of their energy at Great Wolf Lodge.  It was a good decision and they all slept the last portion of the trip.  We ended up getting home around midnight Friday night, but we were finally home!!!
   We had so, so many adventures this spring break.  It was definitely one of the best ever.  We feel so lucky to get to travel and to show our kids different parts of the country. We certainly made some incredible memories. 
    Since we really couldn't bring the camera into the water park, we didn't get too many pictures.  We did manage to snap a few. 

Having the time of their lives

Water fun

So much fun

In the wave pool

Group picture

Dawson was big enough to ride some water slides this time and he loved it!

They also have an arcade.  Ashlyn and I went down Thursday night for some late night fun.