Easter Weekend

This was a visit a long time in the making.  The Brawley family was scheduled to come to Texas for Easter in 2020.  We all know what happened there. 2021 wasn't looking much better.

Finally, they were able to come.  We used to go and visit them in Annapolis every May but that, too, stopped with the pandemic.  So we hadn't seen them for over two years!

We were all very excited.  We had the whole weekend and it was jam packed full of fun.

Friday night we all gathered at Mom and Dad's.  John and I wanted to get the girls a little treat.  Maeve's favorite color is green so we got her the green bag which had a stuffed green dragon and a book. 

Rowan also got a book and a LOL Surprise doll.  (I had to google that..)  They seemed to be happy with their toys so that made us happy too.

Friday was Good Friday so no meat.  Courtney and John are trying to figure out what to order while Maeve, the stealth ninja that she is, sneaks up behind them.

Saturday found us back at Mom and Dad's for Rudy's barbeque.  When we got there, the Brawleys were playing out on the playground by the pond so we went out to join them.  It was a beautiful day.

Later, Maeve and I looked at old pictures of them from our previous visits to Baltimore.

Easter Sunday, it was back to Mom and Dad's for lunch. The girls with Mom and Dad after church.

Lunch was a feast of lamb, ham, hummus, cheesy potatoes, potato salad, chips and dips.  You name it and we had it.  Everything was great.  

Bev brought a Easter house for the girls to decorate.  I got drafted to help...ok, I admit it.  I begged them to let me help and they did.  

Maeve got started right away.  She found the frosting to be delicious.

Maeve is giving Rowan a taste of the frosting and Rowan is not convinced.  One of the many things I like about Rowan are her expressions.  She definitely does not have a poker face.

Rowan is adding her personal touch to the house.

Here's the finished product.

Courtney and Mom were checking out the Finch family tree.

After lunch, everyone was chilling out.  Cheers from Dave!

The Easter Bunny left some things at Bev's house for the girls.  Bubbles was one of them.  So we all went outside to blow bubbles.  Rowan was then catching them on the little wand.

Bev and Mark having a chat while the girls blew bubbles.

Maeve tells the most wonderful stories.  I can only imagine the story she's telling her dad.

Everyone gets their picture with the Easter cut outs.  Me and my John.

Here's our nephew, John.

Maeve and Rowan.  I noticed that when they get their photo together, they always have their arms around each other.  That's so cool!

I had to get a selfie with my gingerbread house decorating partner, Maeve.

The cousins.  Michele, Courtney and John.

On Monday, we met the Brawleys the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.  It's a great museum for kids because it's interactive.  Here the girls can see their skeletons move around as they move.

Here they are copying the positions that are projected on the screen.

There was a cool facial recognition exhibit.  The girls are having their faces "recognized".

This was a really cool exhibit.  This is a sandbox, basically.  As the kids move the sand around, the geography changes.  The girls liked this one quite a bit.

The top floor had all the dinosaurs.  Maeve probably knows the name of this guy but the best I could do is...dinosaur.

Outside, there was a cool playground where they had leap frog.

After lunch, we took everyone out to one of our favorite places: White Rock Lake.  Normally, there are hundreds of birds around sitting along the spillway.  Today?  Nothing!  

We did see turtles and a few ducks but that was it.

After that, it was time to say goodbye.  Everyone was ready for a nap.  We had such a great time.  We look forward to seeing them again in May for more adventures.

Stay tuned!