Easter 2009

This year for Easter we went to Amanda's house for Easter brunch and an egg hunt for the kids. This is the first year that Bennett really got any of the concept of hunting eggs. The older kids helped him out. He TOTALLY got it when he opened them up and there was candy inside....then the whole next week he wanted me to hide eggs for him again. I'm not fallin' for that trick!! :o)

Margaid, Sam, Flynn, Bennett, and Max. Ready to hunt down those eggs.

Margaid and Flynn and their mom and dad Lisa and Brian are family friends that drove in from La Quinta for the weekend to celebrate Easter.

Bennett finding his first egg...with a little help from Dad! Me and Dan in our Eastery colors. :o)

Ardis, Nick and Dan.

Amanda, Ardis, Nick, Dan and Me.

Bennett showing Cheryl his new eggs!

Hanging Out.

We were hanging out with the family one night and the kids were very cute. Just thought I'd put a couple of pics up.

Bennett giving Max a hug...or a chokehold...you decide. :o)

Smiley Max.

All the kids were watching Veggie Tales in the Living room...they all have to sit the wrong way on the back of the couch!

Daffodil Gardens in Running Springs

Last year my mom discovered that there was this beautiful Daffodil garden in Running Springs near our condo in Lake Arrowhead. Mom, Cheryl, Bennett, Riley and myself decided to take a trip up the mountain to see the garden. It was beautiful. Sadly we just discovered this garden that the nice folks have been doing for the public for over 40 years, and this will be it's last year. The couple that maintains it said that they need to retire from doing it. It was beautiful...flowers up and down the winding paths on the moutainside, a gazebo, several benches for sitting and contemplating life in general, and beautiful artistic displays of flowers everywhere. I however didn't do too much sitting and contemplating as I chased Bennett and tried to keep him on the paths and not trampling flowers...he is 3 after all! I can dream of such relaxing pleasures though! All pictures are courtesy of Cheryl...I forgot to charge the battery in my camera, so I didn't get very many good shots.

Bennett pointing out the bees that were flying around in the flowers.

Cheryl with the barrel displays of flowers.

Daffodils on the mountainside.

Bennett's face framed perfectly in the heart windchime.

Mom, Bennett and myself in the neat garden bench...seats face each other.

Twinkie Cars

My brother Craig came to visit at the end of March for a week while Joey was on spring break. While they were here we thought it would be fun to recreate one of Craig's childhood creations. When Craig was in the boy scouts they had a cake baking challenge and he came up with the idea of making race cars out of Twinkies to put on the cake. He took home the top prize. So we got all the makings and had a contest to see who could make the best Twinkie race car one night. Joey had so much fun with this (we voted him the winner!). Craig had his long time friend Dominic over for dinner the next night (Dominic was in the boy scouts with him too!), and they did the Twinkie Car Creations again. Lots of fun...but for some reason the adults weren't too interested in eating the Twinkies! My mom said that she hadn't had a Twinkie in 40 years!

Bennett and Joey

Bennett and a Twinkie Car ( I don't think he really made his own, but he tried!)

Craig with his second Twinkie Race Car.

Joey with his Twinkie Car that even had flames coming out the exhaust!

Getaway Trip to Paradise Point

For Christmas, one of the presents Dan gave me was an overnight stay at one of my favorite resorts in San Diego called Paradise Point. I love it here..right on the ocean in Mission Bay and so peaceful and relaxing. We had a great time just relaxing, having dinner at the Barefoot Bar and Grill on the water, and walking the beautiful grounds at the resort. Mom took Bennett for the weekend so we were footloose and fancy free.

Not bad for self portraits!

Hanging out in the adirondack chairs by the lagoon that is near the lobby.

Can't resist a picture on a pretty bridge.

This is the entrance to our room that overlooked the bay...I'm standing on the beach taking the picture. Such a nice place to stay.

On the way down we stopped at Legoland and got a shopper's pass and walked around for an hour. Couldn't resist having Dan pose next to Indiana Jones.