Easter 2011

Kevin's Easter morning started before dawn, as he and the other Salvation's Rock Praise Band members welcomed the sun's arrival at the Florida Hospital Zephyrhills Easter Sunrise Service. I could hear, faintly, the strains of David's guitar from our front porch while I awaited Quintin's return from dreamland. Easter services at our church are always beautiful -- the altar is decorated with dozens of lilies and hydrangeas, and the choir's music is joyous! After church, we were very pleased to welcome "Uncle" David and the Price Family for an egg hunt and lunch :-) Bodhi, Ellie, and Quintin were, by this time, champion egg hunters and made quick work of the dozens of trinket-filled eggs laying around the house! The Easter Bunny had hidden small dragons (from the How to Train Your Dragon movie) in many of the eggs -- just what our little boy wanted! It was difficult to get any pictures of the Easter egg hunt, since our little ones were running and climbing all over the house ;-) Spending time with our amazing friends and precious boy was a wonderful way to continue our Easter celebration. We are incredibly blessed!

Easter Basket 2011

The Easter Bunny visited Quintin and seemed to know just what our little boy would like best ;-) Quintin was very excited to discover several dragons from his favorite movie, How to Train a Dragon! There were also a set of chalk (dragon!) eggs and a fluffy blue bunny. Happy Easter, Quintin! Your presence in our lives is a great reminder of the renewing power of love -- we're so lucky to have our own growing boy to celebrate this Spring!

Package from Grammie Czap

Quintin was very excited to receive an Easter package from his Grammie Czap (Kevin's mom) just before Easter! There were several fun Easter games and a great Easter themed cake pan (we tried out the very next day!). Thank you, Grammie!

Easter Egg Hunt with the Voorhees Family

March 17, 2011 "Auntie" Coral and "Uncle" Tom invited over to their home for an Easter egg hunt with Holden. Quintin and Holden had a great time gathering eggs into their baskets -- they were so precious in their matching Easter vests and shorts (says this proud mama ;-)!) They each found a TON of eggs! (Thank you, Auntie Coral!) Afterward, they dumped out their loot all over Auntie Coral's floor and held a great trading session. I was reminded of many years' worth of similar trading sessions with my brothers :-)

Water Park March 16, 2011

We finished up our very fun day of Easter Egg Hunts by cooling off in the Zephyr Water Park! Quintin loved splashing around in the water and playing with the neat water cannons and other water features. We are so lucky to have such an amazing park available in our community!

Community Wide Easter Egg Hunt at Zephyr Park: April 16, 2011

Our dear friends, the Price family, have hosted, for many years, a community wide Easter Egg hunt in Zephyr Park. After making the rounds at First United Methodist Church's Easter Egg hunt, we made our way over to see the Prices and enjoy the numerous activities their event offered. Dr. M.J. Price, Mrs. Pasco County, ensured plenty of fun for all ages. Best of all for us, Quintin finally felt confident enough to allow a photograph with the Easter Bunny! Thank you, Price family, for a wonderful afternoon!

FUMC Easter Egg Hunt: April 16, 2011

Each year, a couple of weeks before Easter, our church's Children's Minister, Julie, helps us to celebrate big time, with a community-wide Easter Egg hunt, games, petting zoo, pictures with the Easter Bunny, etc. Quintin was very excited to participate, and really enjoyed playing with the other kids! Pictures with the Easter Bunny went about as well as pictures with Santa (didn't happen!), but at least the line was shorter for E.B. ;-) There were a TON of kids from the surrounding area, and even though the kids were divided into age groups, the numbers were still a little overwhelming to Quintin. He made a very fast recovery, however, as soon as he figured out the eggs were full!

Legos for....Quintin ;-)

Grammie Smith sent down a bunch of very cool toys for Quintin from Kevin's step-brother, Sean, who'd kept them from his own childhood (Sean ended up with two beautiful little girls who're apparently not all that interested in G.I. Joe and Legos). There are ships and aircraft and all kinds of fun things for him to play with, but the most exciting part for Daddy is the huge box of Legos :-) Kevin recalls spending much of his own childhood playing with a similar collection of Legos, and got right to work reliving the fun :-)

Missy the Horse and Quintin

We have two Quarter Horses, Missy and Lucky, both purchased with the intent of allowing Kevin to participate in one of his favorite hobbies, Team Penning. Kevin has a natural affinity for the sport and many of our "dates" included me cheering him on while he rounded cattle into their appropriate pens (this feat requires a variety of skills, including speed, agility, an ability to multitask, teamwork, acuity, etc.). Unfortunately, work and family and life in general have taken over Kevin's free time and he does not have much chance to ride. The horses remain, however, and are still treasured "pets." Missy is particularly shy and is at ease only with Kevin -- on this day, however, she allowed Quintin to come right up to her and stood still long enough to get a couple of photographs :-)

Busch Gardens with the Berger Family March 26, 2012

On a bright Saturday morning in March, Quintin and I drove with Jason, Christina, and Victoria Berger, along with their Mom, Kelly, to Busch Gardens in Tampa. It was a great chance for Kelly and I to get in some girl talk and the kids had a blast exploring the park together. We spent a lot of time in the awesome splash & play area located in their enormous kids' section -- the cool water felt terrific on the already steamy day :-D Thanks for the great day, Berger Family!