Easter Weekend

I'm not sure where to begin. This weekend was just so chock full of perfect that it's hard to sort it into bite-size pieces. The kids invited Granny and Poppie to come up for a couple of days because their school was holding its annual "Grandparents Day." They drove the kids to school and spent 4 hours there with them. I was a little bummed to miss Noah's play ("Blame It on the Wolf" - Noah played Iggie the Piggie) and Olivia's grandparent-y songs but when I heard over 600 grandparents showed up and knowing how small the school is...wow...I'm not sure I could have sanely handled a crowd like that. The kids spent Friday night at a hotel with Granny and Poppie while Jeremy and I had a tiny date (shopping and coffee).

Saturday morning we got up bright and early to take a trip on the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway. This entirely volunteer run railroad has a depot in Logan County and hosts various trips throughout the year...including Fall foliage tours, Summer runs to Robin's Crossing (18th century reenactment village), a Polar Express ride at Christmas, and the Spring Easter trip. The train itself is really great...the engines are mostly old Army engines from World War II and the cars are restored passenger cars from the 20's. They refurbish them with comfortable seats and fresh paint for the passengers. There are even some open air cars which would be fantastic in summer and maybe even for the Fall tours. However, this April morning it was in the 40's and a little damp out from all the dew/melting frost so we chose a regular car with seats that faced each other where we could lean back, be warm, and chat while the scenery unfolded from outside our windows. On the way back the train stopped at a house which used to be an old schoolhouse for an Easter Egg Hunt. It was chaos and lasted about 2 minutes but the kids found plenty of eggs and even snagged a stuffed animal each (for finding "special" eggs).

Waiting for departure with basket in hand.

The sun rising over one of the refurbished cars.

Noah getting a train lesson (about coupled cars, I think).

Enjoying the scenery.

Noah thinking maybe no one will notice if he ducks under the "starting line"

Another egg!

After the ride, we spent the rest of the day in Logan - eating and shopping. We found some dusty treasures at an antique shop (including an old Dodgers pin for Jeremy and a wooden tulip for me that the kids are going to paint). We combed the corners of a craft mall filled with some pretty cool stuff made by local crafters (if you ever, ever, ever want anything that has anything to do with the Steelers, the Reds, or OSU this is your place. Sheesh!) There's also a glass outlet there where we searched for new glassware but found nada.

It was time for Granny and Poppie to head back to Virginia but we swung by to check out two guys that do custom carving with chainsaws on the side of the road. The carvings are actually really cool (they were working on a bear and a squirrel when we were there) and waaaaay cheaper than we expected. Hmm...surely I need a giant tree trunk carved into something, right? :)

This morning we woke up at the crack of dawn. The kids couldn't sleep any longer because they were excited to see if the Easter Bunny had visited. All I can say is that bunny is making finding eggs harder and harder as they get older. All four of us were wandering around trying to find the last few.


Jeremy had to leave this afternoon to head to Bluefield (I tried to convince him to just leave at 2 tomorrow morning to get there by 6am but somehow he didn't like this idea. Crazy!!). We decided to spend the day entirely on family things (except, of course, when he got called out to work for a few hours. Teenagers vandalizing train tracks hoping to derail trains. Nice.) We headed out to see the new Hannah Montana movie with my purse crammed with popcorn and Easter candy (what's more surprising...the fact that I snuck food in or that I carried a purse? :) The movie was cute and the music was surprisingly tolerable. I'm even gonna admit something...I teared up several times. The scene where Miley sings "Butterfly Fly Away" to her dad got me. It was one of those moments that every parent can relate to. The kids were snuggled up to us at a G movie and wanted nothing more than to spend the day with us. These moments aren't going to last forever and that makes me sad. I'm proud they're growing up and becoming independent but knowing that I don't have much longer to enjoy them sitting on my lap or wanting me to read bedtime stories or grabbing my hand in public just because they want to feel close to me makes me wish time could slow down for just a little while.

We got home and made our version of Easter dinner (which means we grilled :). Steak with fresh rosemary and garlic, grilled new potatoes and onions, asparagus sprayed with lemon juice, and buttery rolls. It wasn't ham or lamb but it was fresh and Spring like and lovely.

Jeremy headed out the door and the kids and I headed into the regular routine...straightening the kitchen, showers, laundry (made better by listening to Noah practice Scarborough Fair on the piano...I love that song), and making plans for the week. Sunday is over but, oh, it was such a good weekend.