My mother-in-law came into town to visit this last week and we had so much fun!  I do believe that we saw just about every caged animal in the San Diego area.  

Tuesday found us at the San Diego Zoo.  Annie kept informing us all that she is “My Nana!”  Throughout the week she would pick up the phone and start talking to “her nana.”  It was quite comical, considering she was standing right next to Nana to begin with.

We had to hit Sea World of course.We’re still not used to the Shamu splash chant.  I feel like I’m vying for a spot in a secret combination.

I actually felt really bad for some of the starfish this time around.  The people next to us flipped one upside down waiting for it to right itself.  They kept saying, “Oh look…I think it is flipping itself over.” Apparently, they missed the part when the lady says, “Please put the starfish back in the pool correctly.  It can take a starfish a whole day to right itself.”

I’ve just always wanted a picture in front of this cow and finally took the time to stop and snap a quick picture.

We spent a day at the Wild Animal Park as well.  Notice Annie wasn’t a huge fan of the lion.  Check out what she is holding in her hand.  I think I should sell the picture to Ralph’s (the grocery store)…Can’t leave home without it!

We decided to do our own Easter Egg Hunt for the kiddos this year.  In the end, I think we hid over 200 eggs.  Unfortunately, the rain got the better of the day so we did an indoor hunt instead.  The kids didn’t have any problem finding the eggs, but since there were so many hidden it still took some time.

We had a few rousing rounds of sack races followed by egg and balloon relays.  It was so fun to watch because the kids had never done any of the activities before.  (We were so sidetracked having fun that we actually didn’t get many pictures.)

I think the kids mostly just enjoyed their spoils.  A few of the little ones stopped their hunt after one or two eggs, realizing there were goodies on the inside.  There is nothing like taking egg shots full of jellybeans.  Yes, I loaded all the kids up on sugar and then sent them home…I know, not very nice, but very fun!!

Often times, I find myself with grand dreams and schemes.  My schemes to the real thing ratio is actually pretty high.  Unfotunately this time, it just didn’t happen.  Thinking to myself I say, “Hmmm, we need snacks at the Egg Hunt.  Let’s make them healthy.  How do we make veggies fun?  Veggie men on skewers, with string cheese hair!!  Of course.”

It’s obvious from the pictures. Veggie men were definitely NOT the answers.

Skewers were kept, but  a more traditional approach was used.

The cupcake cones were really easy and fun to make.  I was wanting to do a really stiff frosting that peaked nicely to make it look like ice cream, but I don’t have all the right tools so, melted ice cream was the outcome.

Oh traditions…  Now that my kids are getting a little older and are finally at the point where they remember holidays, I find myself pressed to make final decisions in the tradition area of holidays. I have really struggled with the whole idea of Easter this year. I didn’t want the Easter bunny and his whole “show” to overshadow the reason for the season. As a result, I have spent a lot of time talking to friends, scouring the internet as well as just pondering on the whole idea.  I have even considered asking the Easter bunny not to come to our house and letting me fill the baskets instead.  He does have quite a lot of work in the world for just one little bunny, and no sleigh, reindeer or elves to help.  My mom informed me that the absence of the Easter bunny is perposterous, buuuuuuut I’m not so sure(I still love you, Mom).

My final conclusions are these:

1. Easter baskets will magically appear filled with fun goodies on Saturday morning instead of Sunday.  Sunday can then be completely focused on the Savior.

2.  After this year, the baskets will be filled mostly, if not entirely; with churchy things.

Now, back to tradition.  

Tradition #1:  I connected a piece of colored string to each child’s bed after they went to sleep and wrapped them through the whole house.  When they wake up, they follow the string finding that it ends in the location of their Easter basket(I figure this one could get really fun when they get older and when we have more kids).  We are praying that no close-lining incidents will occur, hence ruining tradition #2.

Tradition #2: Easter egg hunt…on my terms!

Background:  Last year I payed a silly amount of money to let my kids do an Easter egg hunt at Thanksgiving Point.  7,000 eggs were hidden in a HUGE field for children ages 0-3.  Comparatively speaking, there weren’t that many kids at the hunt, maybe a couple hundred.  Hudson was at the front of the line.  When the Easter bunny dropped his hands, I stood motionless with my mouth gapping open as I watched the field be vacuumed by parents scooping handfuls of eggs into their baskets.  Mind you, many of the parents held their screaming children football style as they ran.  If you replayed the memory without the eggs on the ground, it would have looked like a mass kidnapping.  ”Put me down” was the most commonly screamed phrase.  The field cleared in a matter of seconds.  The final egg count for us?!  Annie…0   Hudson…0  After we walked around for awhile we found half of a broken one under a bush by the bathrooms.  I wanted to cry, but I laughed.  To the world I say…”Never again!”

I digress, so this year I’m doing the egg hunt!

Will and I attended the opera last night to see Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto.  I haven’t been for quite some time and Will has never had the experience so I surprised him with tickets.  I got balcony seats thinking that if  he didn’t like it I wouldn’t have wasted hundreds of dollars.  I thought I bought for the front of the balcony, but of course I wasn’t paying attention when I looked at the diagram and accidentally bought the farthest back tickets instead.  Talk about a classic Jessica move.  Will joked that he forgot his baseball glove.  Several times he suggested that the vendors should be selling hotdogs over champagne.   Note to self: balcony tickets stink(In my defense, I’ve never sat in the balcony before).  

I digress, anyway, the opera was fabulous.  They had a fantastic set of singers cast, hailing from several international locations, which was so fun! The orchestra was amazing.  Will was kind enough to rent binoculars for me, which helped.  We forgot the camera so here is the after picture.  Will doesn’t look too tired, does he?