Birthdays and Easter

Whew! We made it through April with birthdays, traveling and Easter. Tessa decided she wanted a pillow pet birthday and a cake that matched her pillow pet. Here is our attempt (I know not the actual size--who could eat that much cake?). But she seemed happy with it.

She had a few friends (plus the Coxs) over for a little party. They went fishing for these little dogs and made felt animals.

She opened presents and had cake--really what else do you need? She was even happier that she got to open more presents on her real birthday.

Tessa's preschool class had a field trip to Howell farm (and it was freezing). Here she is with her friend Nina grinding corn.

Oakley and Hazel after their safety puppet show.

Can I give you a little advice? Do not travel south on I-95 the Saturday of spring break with tornados coming. If you do, you just might end up in a hotel room instead of grandma and grandpas. This is Hathaway on her birthday eating an ice cream sandwich in a hotel room instead of a cake at grandmas.

We FINALLY made it after 6 extra hours on the road. Easter dinner and an Easter egg hunt were waiting for us.

Hathaway's second birthday celebration with a cake grandma Donna and Aunt Marian made.

Once we were there, the weather in SC was great and we went be the beach with the Adamsons.

The next day we headed out to Fort Sumter on the ferry. It was the 150th anniversary of the start of the civil war. It was interesting (Bryce even let me stay and listen to the lecture, since I'm not from the south and need some instruction). The kids thought it was OK for not having any animals (although we did see a lot of dolphins).

Hathaway's third birthday celebration with the cake mom brought and made.

Finally, we made it to the Caw Caw reserve. Bryce saw some kind of kite how wanted to see (it's a bird) and the kids saw: 12 alligators of various sizes, lots of birds (including the special one Bryce saw), skinks, lizards, a tree frog, lots of catepillers...I think that is it. They were upset about no turtles. It was nice to walk around outside.

We had a great time with Grandma and Granpa and Blackie and Jesse (even though Tessa isnt showing it here).

And no trip is complete without a stop at the great dismal swamp. We had a fun time walking around and then sleeping in at the hotel in the morning while Bryce went hunting for another special bird (a type of warbler this time), and he found it. We must be good luck.

We made it home just in time for Easter. The kids had time to color a few eggs.

Easter Sunday!

A final picture: I told the kids I had checked out some books at the library. A few minutes later, I walked in and this is what they looked like. I love it!