Easter

Easter weekend was surprise-filled, fun and exhausting. By 7 p.m. Sunday night, our house was ready for bed.

• Thursday night, Ken's aunt and uncle arrived from New Jersey for the weekend. They stayed at the beautiful Inn at St. John's in Plymouth. We greeted them with our favorite pizza from Compari's.


• Friday, Brendan was off school for Good Friday and Spring break. Aunt Ellen and Uncle Jimmy watched the kids while we went to work. The kids were great for them, which is always good to hear. That evening, we had dinner at home together before they drove back to the hotel in six inches of snow. Snow! That was the surprise of the weekend, and not a pleasant one.



• Saturday morning we thought we'd meet our guests for breakfast, but we were slow moving. I worked until 2 a.m. on a work project and needed a little extra sleep. When we did arrive at the hotel, we gobbled down bagels and went swimming in the very cool hotel pool. Later in the day, Ellen and Jimmy watched the kids so Ken and I could enjoy dinner alone.


• Sunday was a first for the Healys. We arrived to church on time. The kids were all wonderful (another surprise, but this one pleasant). Brendan was very concerned that the Easter bunny hadn't visited us at home, so he was thrilled to learn that the eggs were hidden in the basement. That sneaky bunny!


• While Brendan and Ryan hunted for eggs, Kelsey hunted for baskets. She was on a mission to get anything and everything out of Ryan's basket. (Her basket was obviously much less interesting!) She wouldn't cry when I'd move the basket; she'd just wait for me to walk away and the army-crawl her way back.

• After egg-hunting, we joined Ellen and Jimmy for brunch at the Inn at St. John's. The setting was in an elegantly-decorated atrium. The brunch selections were quite impressive, particularly the desserts. The children had good options -- pancakes, waffles, chicken fingers and any kind of cookie or cake you could imagine -- but they ate hardly anything. They were more interested in the children's room where the Easter Bunny spent his time and where they could, well, act their age!