Happy Easter!

He is risen!  Rejoice!  What a celebration we should (do) have on Easter.  It is what makes Christianity work – salvation from sins; conquered death; eternal life; Father’s love.  Easter baskets and bunnies and meals and scavenger hunts are fun, too.  But that’s all temporary.  We praise God for the gift of His Son and the sacrifice on the cross. 

We started this Easter morning with a quick little scavenger hunt.  (Here is the one I used this year; it is so nice when people share their ideas and creativity online for others to use.)  The girls had fun scurrying around from place to place.  They ultimately found a basket with some jelly beans and a Pez dispenser in it.  It is not as extravagant as some, but it is something to say “Let’s celebrate!”

We got ready for Easter breakfast at church and headed that direction.  It is a nice meal of coffeecakes, fruit, and hard boiled eggs.  Mostly, it is a good time to sit with others and fellowship.  We headed to church following that. For lunch, we were with my side of the family. 

We took family pictures in a new spot.  It is hard to find a good spot for them – this one was shaded but not a pretty as the tree that typically has blooms on it.  It’s fine, just a record of what we all look like.

         

We dined on ham balls, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad, bread, and jello, Then, wrapped it all up with cream puffs and strawberry shortcake ice cream cake.  All delicious.  That was followed up not by an egg hunt this year, but by minute to win it competitions to then pick prizes.  I think they all had a lot of fun.  A sampling … shoot the egg, balance the egg, move the pb cup into your mouth, draw a picture on your head, stick peeps to your face, and more.

         

We headed to the Bricker side for a quick stop.  We got there just in time to see the newest addition, Elena who is just over a year old.  Then, we hung out for a bit.  The girls had also celebrated with Grandma Yoh over spring break.  They hung out one afternoon, hunted eggs, and had fun.

All in all it was a good day. 

The day BEFORE Easter was my birthday.  On Friday I started to feel like I had an ear ache, but I put off a doctor’s appointment so I could go to lunch with my mom.  Then, on my birthday, I woke to pain and pressure in my ear along with a lot of fluid build up that made me unable to hear in my left ear.  I made an appointment and went to it.  Ear infection.  Not the best birthday present.  But I did get some nice gifts – a certificate to make a meal from Ellie and a certificate to organize any space from Madison.  Jeremy took us all out to eat to BJs Brewhouse where I got a free Pazooki (cookie sundae) for my birthday.  It was a good day.  (On a side note: exactly 2 weeks later and I still cannot hear out of my ear!)

Spring Break

We finally made it to spring break.  It is a late in the year week of school this year, and students and teachers needed the time away from each other.  Hopefully, we can come back ready for the last six weeks. 

We didn't have big plans.  But I said we needed to get away for at least a night.  So, we went to Columbus – always a good destination.  We left on Sunday afternoon and met Jeremy’s old roommate, Mike, and his kids at Highbanks Metropark.  (His wife was finishing up packing prep for their trip they were leaving on, so she didn’t join us.) We met at the nature center and then started the hike.  It was a bit longer than the kids anticipated, but it was a beautiful day and a fantastic hike.  They played in/around a creek for a short time.  At the end, we made them take the requisite photo – ages 12, 11, 10, 9, 7, 5, 3.  The first one was a smile for the camera; the second one was a show us how you feel about our hike! 

              

That night, we ate at Lucky House, a Chinese restaurant we liked in Westerville.  We got to really fitting fortunes – “Your never alone when you have a good book,” and “Dessert can make you happy”

Then, we did what Ellie had been waiting to do … SWIM.  Jeremy and the girls got in; I sat and watched.  I just wasn’t feeling it.  We went to bed without the usual shower after swimming routine.  I figured we would be getting right back in when they woke up – and they did. 

From there, we ventured out to the Book Loft in German Village to look at books.  Then, we ate Old Mohawk restaurant for nourishment with a cream puff from Schmidt’s to top it off.  (To be honest, I think I make a better cream puff, but I’m just saying…)  Jeremy had the (recommended by his aunts) turtle soup.  It tasted like vegetable beef, but now we can all say we tasted turtle. 

We followed that up with a trip to Barnes and Noble for Madison to use her gift card from Christmas.  They looked at books a long time before finally settling on one each.  The highlight for me was watching Madison gather up the courage to step on the down escalator.  It took longer than I would have thought, but she did it.  So, when we went to the Easton mall for Graeter’s ice cream and Ellie wanted to use the escalators just for fun, I was surprised Madison joined us.  Conquering the fear, I guess. 

    

Other tid bits…

A quick trip to pick up an Orange Julius at Belden Village Mall

And a pile of cups from the March/April birthday party fun at our house with my family.  It was so nice to get together and hang out. 

Hopefully, my next post will happen shortly after Easter and before May.  Here’s to finally catching up!

Erin Gets Out

I had two opportunities to go out with friends in the last month.  Both were fun and a bit out of the norm. 

Outing #1 – Cleveland Museum of Art and Pretty Woman the Musical

I went with Sandy, Tracy, and a friend of theirs to Cleveland.  We started with the art museum.  It had a special exhibit by Alberto Giacometti. I didn’t really know his work, but Sandy said he is one of her favorite.  So here are some of his pieces:

         

As well as some other things that stood out during my meandering.     

We had lunch at the museum cafe.  I had salad with some delicious mac and cheese. 

We headed out to make it to the “preshow” to the musical. (There is an actual term for this time, but I honestly forget what it was called right now.  Hopefully, Sandy doesn’t kill me!)  It was interesting.  There was a man who talked about the making of Pretty Woman the movie as well as how that led to the musical.  We grabbed a pretzel as big as our faces before finding our seats.  Then, we settled in for the show.  It was good.  I really like the movie.  The musical was a very similar (identical) storyline with songs added in.  I’ll still pick the movie over the musical, but both were worth seeing. 

         

Outing #2 – Curling

Sandy had posted a link for Learn to Curl at Mayfield Curling Club.  It was a 2 hour session for $50.  She asked on Facebook if anyone wanted to go.  I was all in.  We rounded up two others to join us – Rachael, a high school friend, and Erin U, the new family life pastor’s wife.  We left on Saturday, April 2nd in time to grab amazing food at Lock 15 Brewing Company in Akron.  Then, headed to the curling facility.  It was a BLAST!  If I could have had 4 hours, I would have been there for every minute.  The first hour we were instructed by Jenny, who had been curling since college (about 10 years).  She was fantastic.  The second hour, we played another Learn to Curl team who was (thankfully) equally as bad as us.  Curling is hard, but so fun.  I so wanted to practice throwing the stone the full length of the ice sheet to get it in the house!  (Yep, reread that sentence… so many good curling terms.)   I did get to be the skip (person who directs the throw and yells for the sweepers to sweep).  I also was a sweeper.  While I didn’t get it in the button (center circle), I think I made one in the house… which was later knocked out.  I definitely have a video (or two) of me falling; ask if you want to see it. 

              

We finished the night at Pav’s Creamery where we each enjoyed a flight of ice cream – 4 kinds!  It was a sweet ending!      

March Madness

Madness because it is gone.  Also madness because for the first time since 2008 the Kansas Jayhawks pulled the championship win out for me and I placed second in my bracket pool.  I was first in 2008.  Jeremy beat me this year by 3 points. Rock Chalk!

Jeremy and I finally went on our date to see the Eagles.  We planned to see them in October in California, but I got COVID.  He learned they would be in Cleveland in March, so we bought tickets, I took a personal day for the day after, and we made it an actual getaway.  We left on Thursday after dropping the girls off at my parents’ house.  We grabbed a quick meal at Chik-Fil-A on our way there.  After checking into our hotel, we walked to Rocket Mortgage Field House (home of the Cavs).  We were by far in the minority age-wise, but that was fine.  We found our seats waaaaay up in the arena.  The first half of the concert was the Eagles playing their Hotel California record from start to finish.  Then there was an intermission. At that point, we stepped out to use the bathroom (with the thousands of other people).  Jeremy found a lesser used bathroom for me to avoid the very long line at the one right by our seats.  In the process, he also found seats on the same level, but closer to the stage, just a side view, and with more space (less people).  So, for the last 2 hours of the concert we enjoyed this view; it was a better location and a great find.  Our two views:

   

While Jeremy pretty much knew every song, every singer and musician.  I knew more songs than I thought and pretty much only knew who Vince Gill was (who was taking the place of the deceased member of the Eagles).  I would say Jeremy loved the concert; I liked the concert.  I loved that we were away together. 

The next day, we checked out of the hotel and headed out of town.  We went to Sand Run Metropark to take a short hike.  It was a pretty hike up a steep hill; it was rated moderate or strenuous.  I would agree with this rating if it rated only the first hill; after that, it wasn’t bad.

We ate at First Watch for a brunch before coming home to get the girls.  We ended our night with our first trip to the Dalton Dariette.