Easter Weekend in NJ!

The family had a lovely trip to New Jersey to celebrate Easter!  First stop on Friday was Jenkin's Aquarium at the Point Pleasant boardwalk, where the kids got up close and personal with piranhas, jellyfish, sharks and penguins. 

Ellie was a big fan of pointing out all the purple fish to Bebe. 

We found an ideal spot where the sharks would come right up to the glass - take a look at those teeth! 

Look at that giant jaw of that shark! 

In the education room, the two girls found that tummy races - pulling themselves on benches - was quite enough to keep them entertained for awhile. Definitely a McDonald thing, Daddy and Bebe agreed.  

The next morning we got busy on dying the eggs a beautiful assortment of colors. 

Look at this munchkin hamming it up for the camera. 

JJ and Stan arrived and joined the girls for some fun outside  Everyone's in their Easter finest! 

Tiger Mom chases the girls around the yard. Hold onto your hats!

The kids are ready to be let loose for the hunt! 

And they're off! 

The girls take a jellybean break to send us some smiles! 

Later after lunch we had a second hunt to help Daddy and Uncle Dave search for the hard-boiled eggs. 

What another wonderful Easter with Popi and Bebe! 

The family takes a picture before hitting the road.  

The Annual Egg-stravaganza at the McDonald Burrow

Get out the PAAS and the many mugs, it's time for the Annual McDonald Easter Egg Hunt!  We had fantastic weather and 40 or so people over to enjoy egg decorating, crafts, and treats before the big Hunt.  Evie proudly holds up her namesake egg to get the festivities started. 

All the kids take turns dunking their eggs into the cups to create some masterpieces.  

Ellie loved the watermelon - she had at least 4 slices!  

Then the big Hunt started! Ellie found her 10 eggs but for some reason kept throwing the hard-boiled eggs away and looking for the plastic ones.  Doesn't she know an egg in the hand is better than two birds in the bush? 

Evie takes a break to assess her bounty -- but doesn't she know she shouldn't count her chickens until they hatch? 

For some reason, Ellie was very suspicious and thought people were going to take her eggs. 

Abigail, Ava, Evie and Izzy put on some aprons to make some serious "concoctions". Apparently when asked they said they were making a potion to turn Ellie into a kitten.  Another event for the history books! 

Easter smiles at Ba and Opa's

We headed to Ba and Opa's on Saturday for a lovely Easter brunch and egg hunt! The girls looked adorable in their matching dresses and bonnets. 

Ellie gives sis a big hug.  She is very big into giving people compliments these days - just today she admired her sister's outfit and told her "You look pretty."  Awwww... 

Ba and Opa with those two little munchkins! 

Family Picture - Say Cheese!

Ellie on the hunt, looking like she just stepped out of a Mary Poppins jolly holiday. 

Evie finds an egg in a bush - success! 

The two team up to find the last eggs in the daffodils. Unfortunately, Ellie likes to throw down hard-boiled eggs in frustration sometimes... 

Ellie doing her Billy Joel imitation... 

... and munching on a Sour Patch Kid.  

Evie trying on her new dress for the Fourth of July.

Ellie was so excited to get the final Sticker Dolly Dressing book. 

She leans over and gives Ba a kiss in appreciation of all her gifts, including a beautiful vase of flowers Ba had painted all by herself! 

It's Snowing... Cherry Blossoms!

The family took advantage of the warm temperatures on Friday to head down to the Tidal Basin and see the cherry blossoms in peak bloom.  

Evie and Mommy pretend to be beavers delivering important messages. 

And Ellie wanted some part of the action. 

Mommy poses with her girls among the beautiful blooms. 

Then, with a gust of wind, we were treated to a shower of cherry blossom petals. Evie tried to catch some on her tongue. 

Ellie loved feeling the wind and petals fly by.  

The frozen days are behind us... well, kind of...

We were so excited to celebrate London's third birthday when we returned from San Diego.  The theme was of course Ellie's favorite movie, "Frozen."  She had received this Anna dress from Bebe and Popi for Christmas and has to wear it every other day.  Meanwhile, Evie had this princess costume circa Halloween 2012 which amazingly looked just something Elsa would wear. As you can see from above, "Anna" is quite ready to get to the party. 

This week was also Ellie's class visit to the firehouse station. The kids learned a lot about what to do in a fire, the fireman's protective gear, and got to go inside the fire engine as well.  Ellie was not scared at all and gave Fireman Derek a high five.

The kids make sure their hats are looking good for their class picture.  Ellie knows how to work it!

The weather was beautiful this weekend, if a bit windy. We rode our bikes down to the park by Woodrow Wilson Bridge to take our kite on a flight.  Ellie somehow got the kite to do a loop-de-loop.  

It went so high! We were very proud of Daddy and the girls. Ellie was singing "Let's go Fly a Kite" - she can sing almost all of the words!

Safari Revisited...

And to go back to our last day of the trip, here are some shots of our trip to the San Diego Safari Park. The kids all crawled into a bird nest for this (cramped) photo. 

Ellie was great at steering her boat in the duck pond.  

That's Ellie in the turtle shell, Andrew chillin on top, Evie laughing and Justin checking out the ducks.  

We got this great family shot outside of the bat cave.  

Something feels strange at this fountain. 

Daddy and our little photographer on the tram ride.  Good times! 

Building Blocks at LEGOLAND!

What a fun adventure we had at LegoLand on Thursday!  First stop was the Fairytale Brook where we cruised by our favorite fairy tales made completely out of Legos. Andrew was great about pointing out the location of the fairies in Cinderella's castle.  Ellie's favorite was the wolf dancing with Red Riding Hood at the end. 

In Duplo Village, Ellie and Mommy took a ride in the LEGOLAND Express.  Ellie was great at saying "choo choo" as we pulled from the station. 

Mommy and Evie took turns at the controls of our Coast Guard helicopter at the Sky Patrol ride in Fun Town. 

Andrew and Evie cruise around at the Volvo-sponsored Junior Driving School.  They proudly displayed their official licenses they received after the ride. 

Two sisters cruising the Hollywood scene. 

Ahhhhh!  Watch out for those teeth! Ellie ponders the wisdom of this photo opp. In the Pirate Shores, we also all got soaked at the Splash Battle... hmmm... Mommy should have read the fine print. 

I think the girls' favorite area was Castle Hill, where the kids exhausted the grown-ups by running around in the Hideaway giant castle of bridges, ropes, and slides. Evie would talk to the horse during the Royal Joust - she kept saying "Good girl" and every once in awhile throw in a "Giddy-up."  Meanwhile, Ellie would crack up as Mommy imitated the voice of the little Lego serf pictured here who was apparently the target - "Oh, no, not again!  You know, that wasn't too bad."  

Our brave pilots took on anything, including this plane ride that would zoom them around.  Their biggest adventure was "The Dragon" rollercoaster - Evie told Daddy as they started up the hill before the drop, "I think I might voomit." 

Last stop (before the gift shop of course) was Miniland where we admired the Washington DC replicas and the band playing in front of the US Capitol.  What a fantastic day!