Easter

The day before we prepped.  That included the girls making the bunny cake and a little fooling around.

We dyed eggs with food coloring.  The girls wrote on some of them with crayon before placing them in the dye.

This project actually began a couple of weeks before Easter.  I also grew winter wheat. That is very easy to grow, but it was already not looking its best by Easter.  If I grow some of that next year I will start it on Palm Sunday.

My father-in-law surprised us with this lovely plant delivery.

On Sunday morning we snapped a few pictures before church.

Since the youngest was singing at the 8:00 service we were there early. The church looked so beautiful.

The baskets which are followed by an indoor egg hunt (yes, still.)  There are plastic eggs with candy to be found. I thought maybe this was a little crazy given the girls ages, but we found out other people with older kids do it too.  I guess the thrill of the hunt never dies.

After the world's best Easter breakfast of empty tomb rolls, the dyed eggs, strawberries with marshmallow cream cheese dip, and juice, we headed back to the arboretum so that everyone could see the orchids.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and eating.  I love the holidays!

Orchids

 The arboretum has had orchids on display this month.  I didn't know there were so many unique varieties.

 Of course there are many beautiful "traditional" orchids too.

The daffodils are in bloom!

The Zoo

It is a surprise to find Blogger has changed.  It will take some exploring to figure out what is where. Over spring break we also visited the zoo. I will spare you from more pictures.  These sculptures usually have water spraying around them, but it was early enough in the spring that the area was dry.  Our membership is up for renewal. We haven't decided yet whether we'll renew.  If we don't, we probably won't be back for sometime since it is expensive.  Decisions, decisions!

A New Haunt

My daughter had heard about a trail along the river.  She went biking there with a friend one day over spring break.  It sounded like a good place to explore so off we went.

The beavers obviously are aware of the area.

A kind person wrote a note on this ancient blank signpost.  I have already gone back for another hike and probably will for many more although I think it would be hot in the summer.

Diana

I have fallen behind in blogging.  At the end of March I went with a friend to this exhibit at the Mall of America.  You are not allowed to take pictures in the exhibit, but there are some to be found on-line.  Unfortunately, postcard collections and books at the end were quite expensive.  The displays included items from childhood, her wedding gown and many evening gowns and suits among other things.  I was concerned I would be sad after seeing everything in light of how her life was cut so short, but I wasn't.  I left with thoughts of how remarkable she was.  I would not have been able to live in the spotlight at such a young age. I do feel the price of admission (with the use of a coupon) was reasonable.  We paid for the audio program, but I don't think much would have been missed without it.

It was a nice way to spend a Saturday morning.