Hoppy Easter!

 This year Easter coincided with April school vacation.  We did a quick pit-stop in Omaha to spend Easter with family before heading off to the Grand Canyon.

Easter Egg Hunt

Boy was it a chilly morning to be out hunting for eggs.  After church service there was even a few flurries.  Not the weather you expect for this holiday.  But that didn't stop everyone from racing to the eggs.

Of course a bit of counting and trading occurred subsequently.

Easter Escape the Room

Since the kids enjoyed the Easter scavenger hunt a few years back, we set up an escape the room challenge for them.  Thanks to Opa for finding several tool boxes that could be locked.  Clues were hidden around the house with the objective of opening three boxes per team.  The first to complete all the tasks inside won.

These guys were behind for most of the game but pulled it out at the last minute!

Resurrection Crosses

The last Easter activity was making resurrection crosses.  Ahead of time Avery collected and tied together sticks to make bare crosses.  Then they were decorated with flowers and greenery on Easter.  This was such a great symbol of what Easter means for all of us.

Easter Egg Dying

Easter wouldn't be the same without dying a few eggs.  Of course it helps that three of us like to eat hard boiled eggs.  This year we opted for the traditional coloring technique with an addition of the volcano.

So none of us knew quite what to expect.  We made the colored paste which happened to have baking soda as the base.  We then filled up the volcano with vinegar and dropped the egg inside.  Each eruption was fun to watch.  All the bubbling turned the colors into a marble motif.

Our favorites!

 

The Dreadful Dragon of Dartmouth

March 13, 2020 was to be the opening night of The Dreadful Dragon on Dartmouth... Izzy's 5th & 6th grade school play.  However the world had other plans and everything shut down a day before.  This loss was felt by these kids who worked for months on the songs, lines, and choreography.  Not fully knowing what was going to happen, everyone kept faith that this group of kids would eventually have their day on stage.  With the creative help of the school principle, the play was resurrected and finally came to fruition two years later. 

 The kids were offered their original roles but had the opportunity to audition for a new part if they desired.  Most kept their roles including Izzy who was cast as the dreadful dragon.

Not all of the students chose to return to the stage as they had other activities that they since were involved in.  That meant the director, Phil, asked for some of the kids to play a second part in the opposing cast.  Izzy was asked to be one of the guards.  This part fit her perfectly as they were the comedy relief and had the audience giggling throughout the play.

We were blessed for Oma & Opa to travel out here to watch the play.

Izzy and her good friend, Daphne (the king).  These two are theatre kids to the core.

I have been wanting to go see the glass flowers at the Harvard Museum of Natural History for quite some time.  With Oma & Opa visiting, this was a lovely "excuse" to see them.  The glass flowers (Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants) are a collection of highly realistic models.  These were created from 1887-1936 in Germany by a father-son duo (Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka).  It includes 4400 individual glass models representing over 830 plant species.

When they said lifelike... this is an understatement.  These looked like specimens that were freshly cut.  Such amazing skill and craftsmanship! 

Nearby is a joint that has amazing frappes... Boston Burger Company.  I promise we ate real food before devouring these tasty treats.

Opa - the King frappe (Elvis - banana, bacon, & peanut butter)

Victoria - shamrock special frappe complete with Lucky Charms marshmallows

Izzy's - Nutella frappe

Oma & Micah - M&M frappe.. you can't go wrong here!

Liz - churro-ly we can taco bout it frappe

The school play is not complete without a cast party complete with ice cream and singing (of course)

Phil & Izzy - each have a special place in their hearts for the other.  I wouldn't have it any other way.