early tuesday morning, around 12:30 am, we arrived home from a little trip we took to a big island. it's friday now and i just finished editing all of the 300+ photos i took.
the following, is a little of what happened before we left last wednesday....
friday: we met jodie at the mall to get beckam a tie and look around. then we ran over to wal-mart to get a couple easter items and darric an ironman watch for his birthday. (the girls were with us too because they were still on spring break) we had lunch and came home. when darric got home from work, we headed over to mike c.'s house for a little going away bbq for warehouse mike (from darric's work). the kids had a blast playing on mike's newer set of drums. mackenzie was even able to pick up on the full drum beat. (i think that's what it was called)
saturday: we got up early and met the daytons at 9:15 for an easter brunch. it was delicious. if we didn't have kids with us, i probably would have gone back for seconds or thirds. after eating, there were two bounce houses for the kids, but i think tommy and billy were the only ones from our group that bounced. there were two different easter egg hunts after. darric took the girls to the 5 and up one in the front of the building and the rest of us waited for the little kids one. somehow we missed it. and i'm pretty sure we were waiting in the right spot along with the other group of people. bill took care of it though. he talked nicely to the man at the front desk and they put together another little egg hunt.

[tommy and billy. tommy didn't need any help, he knew exactly what to do and he did it well]

[max climbed in chairs and under the table for eggs. a little different from last year in the grass]
they had to do it inside because of the rain (it was only sprinkling). we had a good time. and madi left with a picture of her and the easter bunny (max didn't want anything to do with him and mackenzie is too old) and a rabbit in a basket balloon.

[this scan is not great, but you get the idea]
we went back to the dayton's house for some cupcakes for darric's birthday. they were decorated like basketballs. billy picked them out.
that afternoon, the girls and i went to the luncheon for chris and tauni. they got married earlier that morning. we hung around afterwards until that evening for the reception. jen put together an awesome pink and black candy buffet and some of dave's family put together the nacho bar, which we all enjoyed very much.

sunday: the kids woke up to find their easter baskets in the front room. this is the first year, the easter bunny did not bring peeps. the kids only got one egg with a couple pieces of chocolate in it. and then some bath stuff and some things to keep them happy on the plane ride.

[max, kenzie and madi's]
we ended up staying home all day and just celebrating easter with the five of us. darric never got his chicken enchiladas for his birthday, so while i cooked them, him and kenzie went to get us drinks. after we ate, darric and i hid a whole bunch of eggs in the backyard. there were so many, we were having trouble finding hiding spots.
the kids ran as fast as they could and collected as many as they could. it was over quickly. at least they thought it was... there was one egg hidden in the outlet box that i had to help them find.
they emptied out all of their eggs, but because it was just us, they didn't have a very big assortment of candy. they either got plain m&ms, sixlets or a few robin eggs. i left to get darric and the kids golden spoon and while i was gone, mackenzie put all of her candy back in eggs and hid them for madi and max. we had a good day together.

monday: back to school for the girls (for two more days, anyways). me and max went straight to the health district to get his birth certificate for the flight. that didn't take very long at all. from there, we ran to wal-mart to return darric's watch. he decided he wanted something else. then we went over to target for a few last minute items. we picked up mcdonalds and met jodie at the park. janie came a little later with her kids too. from there we... picked up the girls, dropped library books off, went to old navy to return a couple things (and buy one more), ran to jen's house to get a golf bag cover and big suitcase. came home and my mom stopped by after she got off work. she brought us a portable dvd player and her big suitcase. (we found out it was going to cost $15 for everyone's first piece of luggage and $25 for each additional piece - not including carry ons. so the bigger our bags, the better)
tuesday: i ironed, packed, met jen and jodie for lunch, came home and did some laundry, then ironed and finished up the packing.