Easter at Findley Lake

Despite the stressful morning push to get out of the house, the rest of the day was actually really nice. The Easter service at North Way Oakland was great as usual and then I took the boys to a playground in Oakland to wait for Doug to be done with the last service of the day and to feed the boys lunch. Around 2pm we picked Doug up and headed onto the highway. The boys were great in the car as usual (after our Florida trek, a 2 and 1/2 hour journey is nothing!). They didn't nap of course, but they did well upon arrival anyways. We arrived and our friends were already there at the cottage, Gary, Lisa and their kids, Jenna and Brett. Lisa an amazing hostess. She had dinner going and was all ready to hang out with us and the kids. Koen and Doug got outside pretty quickly to run off Koen's overtired loud energy. Tavin and I played indoors with Lisa. Lisa gave the boys binoculars so they could keep an eye on the migrating birds during our stay. Tavin loved them immediately. He's been wearing them the whole time. He looks through them and says, "cheese." So, I think he's a little confused that they are actually a camera.Koen was excited to see some familiar toys from his prior visits. And Tavin loves the cash register! It's a little bit of a fighting point between them, but we can usually distract one or the other to get into something else.Lisa was so prepared. Not only did we have a lovely family Easter meal, but after we laid Tavin down she had birthday cupcakes for Koen and a present. So sweet! Koen was very excited over the attention.Lisa picked out a very appropriate card underscoring that he was turning 5, which made him feel very proud and it was Dinosaur Train.Lisa got Koen a new game. We've been so enjoying this new phase of play with Koen, we were all excited to get a new game to play. This one is actually helpful with counting and later, math.Lisa had also boiled eggs so that Koen could have a little project to do. Such a special night! He was thrilled. It was a different kind of decorating than we had used at home too, so it was a nice challenge for Koen. He loved it. I even got to do some eggs too.Lisa's kids had to leave last night and Gary and Lisa left this morning before the boys were awake. It was such a wonderful visit with their family. We were so grateful for their generous hospitality and how they cared for us. This will always be a special Easter memory for us.

Our boys did great sleeping thankfully and we had an easy-going morning. Doug and Koen made omelettes and toast for breakfast.Later on they made a nice roaring fire.As most boys are, our boys were fascinated by the fire for awhile.After some more playtime, Doug broke out the new game, "Zingo," with Koen. They loved it!Tavin wasn't into watching the game, so we did some bird-watching instead.We finally all got out of our PJ's and Doug took the boys on a bike ride and I got to take a long walk. While out on their bike ride, they took a pit stop and played in the woods.

Then we played outside throwing rocks and sticks in the lake, flying paper airplanes outside and walking in the woods until lunchtime.After that, some more playtime and then right to nap on time. The boys were tired after no naps yesterday and all the good, fresh lakeside air. Hopefully there will be another update soon...