Easter weekend 2022.

We had such a fun Easter weekend! Hallelujah, He is risen- the best, most joyous reason to celebrate! The girls had Friday and Monday off of school, so we headed to Des Moines Thursday after school to see the Schut side. Kley was able to switch and rearrange some work things so he could come too, yay! All of my siblings were there too, so it was neat to all be together. We came back Sunday and got to celebrate with the De Jong side too. Love seeing all the cousins! Monday we had a nice day at home. 

Cousin picture with Will and Gerrit! Wearing the hats they found in the Easter scavenger hunt the De Jong side does (instead of an egg hunt they do a scavenger hunt for a few small treats- it's fun to do different things on each side!), and terrible lighting, but it is what it is!

Scavenger hunt.

I love this picture of Great Grandma Shirley with her great grands! Just wish Gerrit was in it too, but so so cute. Love all the smiles!

Kley loves to joke during family picture sessions that he needs individual shots with random people, so he shouted out that him and Grandma needed a picture. I didn't think much of it until afterwards, but I think it's really neat, as she is his last living grandparent. Special to spend time with her!

I didn't realize until looking at this picture as I uploaded it that Lucy's headband says happy birthday- oh well- the banner on the wall says happy Easter!

Family photo at Keaton (my brother) and Rose's church in Des Moines. 

Love this one with Grandma and Grandpa!

The cutest matching sisters!

Easter meal together. Love a full table!

Right before the Schut egg hunt.

We went to the Easter party at Howell's. So fun! It was a chilly day but not too had. This was Saturday, and Easter Sunday we got some snow!

Slide fun.

I didn't get a picture of it, but basically the highlight of the weekend was taking my one-year-old niece, Averie, a slide newbie down this giant cow slide and she loved it and she willingly kept coming to me and we went down multiple times. What a special aunt bonding moment!

Hello to the Easter bunny!

They have this train ride made out of bathtubs that each have a funny tub saying on them, so fun!

Another egg hunt- we got our egg fill in and loved it!

Easter baskets from Grandma and Grandpa.

Cousin picture with Averie, Jorie, and Murphy.

Happy Easter everyone! He is risen!

Easter family activities 2022.

 Dyeing Easter eggs is a fun tradition! The girls had fun and could do it pretty independently this year!

Showing their favorites!

Opening Easter baskets.

The three cutest bunnies!

Egg hunt! I would usually think to do the egg hunt outside, but two years ago in the midst of heavy Covid, we weren't seeing family anyways and we also had lots of snow on Easter that year, so we had our egg hunt inside. Now that's what the girls talk about and they've requested to have it inside since then. Oh well I guess! We will do outdoor ones with cousins too.

Another Easter tradition we have loved doing is Resurrection Eggs!

Circus fun.

We had a family date in Sioux City (the closest big town to us). We met some friends there first because Kley was going to help his friend buy some new golf clubs, so the rest of their family and our family went to a fun park for a bit. So nice it warmed up a bit and we could be outside!

Then we went (just the five of us) to the circus and to Fazoli's for supper. I didn't even know Sioux City had a Fazoli's, but I happened to see that it was right next to the golf place earlier that afternoon, and I loved going there as a kid! Noodles are the girls favorite food, so they were easily convinced to give it a try. Honestly, the food was mediocre, but it was fun to go back down memory lane. I know I've said this about every age, but 7 and 5 is pretty sweet. :)

The circus was fun! Very entertaining and special to do something different than usual. I'm glad we were able to go! Love family dates!

Disney 2022- Animal Kingdom.

Our last park for the week was Animal Kingdom- another fun day! So glad we had good weather all week. No rain, warm temps, and some breezes and shade when we needed it. We felt hot multiple afternoons- a weird sensation after an Iowa winter, but not complaining!

Love Tree of Life photos, a classic! I'm so thankful for all the pictures of this week that I know we will look back on with fondness for years to come.

The Lion King show is neat!

The girls saw a face painting stand and really wanted to do it. They lasted for about an hour before they all wiped it off because it was making their face itchy. We got the memory and the picture and they were the ones who wanted it off, so oh well I guess! They waited so patiently and sat so still to have it done!

The safari was the highlight; we saw lots of animals and it was very cool!

Wow, what a trip! Giant thanks to my in-laws for taking us along! We don't take for granted what a blessing it was to be able to go- we had a really special time!