On Saturday morning we went with the Boy Scouts to help out with a community egg hunt. The weather was bitterly cold for it. I was joking that the day we went out and did the compass hunt at 2 degrees was warmer then yesterdays 42. The difference you ask? Well there is a big difference of 2 degrees with sun and NO wind...compared to 42 degrees with cloud covered skies and wind cutting through you at
what feels like 100 miles an hour. The boys got to help steak out all the age group areas, and then scatter all the eggs out. After we all went back inside to warm up a bit, and then help with other stations. They had a little craft there for the kids to do as well as a coloring contest, Easter tattoos and of course 
a bunny there to get pictures with. I sat and helped out with the tattoo station. Scott was there off and on, and even Michaela came over to help out there a bit. Evin with the Boy Scouts all there to help out, they were able to come out
and hunt eggs as well. Now I need to back track a moment to us helping to "hide" the eggs. Tim in all his form started to hide the older age groups eggs up in the giant pine tree there. Well at first it
was just setting them up on the higher branches, and then it was tossing them up into the tree. Some of the boys followed suit and before you know it there was a giant
Easter Egg Pine tree in the middle of the area. I've included a few pictures of the tree here to get a small idea of it. After we left there we did a bit of running around and then came home to prep the eggs. That evening Sam and Michaela came over to help with the decorating. Since I was little
we have done different things to get different looks to our eggs. This year, Scott and I found a style where you take rubber cement and drizzle it on the eggs, then dye it. After it drys you rub off the cement and voila you have 
a fancy decorative egg! I think that this one was a huge hit! The only draw back was when rubbing off the cement, if you pressed too hard the egg would break. Lucky for us this only happened to 2 of our eggs. As we sat there working on our eggs it began to snow outside big fluffy, it's almost the end of March and I shouldn't be here flakes. 
So 54 eggs later (Tim always teases me about the amount of eggs I do up...I go for at least a dozen per kid we have with us...and I always reply that what other activity makes the kids so happy for only spending about $2 a person, and entertains them for a couple of hours?) 
Easter morning we awoke (always way to early) to find Scott sleeping on the couch. For some reason on holidays he wakes up super early, comes down stairs to "scope" things out and then falls back asleep till the rest of the family gets up. Last year Scott found out
that the Easter Bunny likes to play tricks and hide the basket. So this morning Scott and Michaela found scrolls awiting them with a clue on it as to where to find an egg with another clue in it. This went on for several eggs before they finally got the last clue to their basket. Clues led them to such places as the fire pit out back. The flowers
growing out front, the laundry soap box...and the likes of that. What is great about plastic eggs is that they can be hid ANYWHERE! So this year Scott found his basket in the basement by the garden that we have started down there, and Michaela found hers in the upstairs linnen closet.
After our family
traditional breakfast we dropped the girls back at mom's house for thier dinner and Tim, Scott, and I drove down to Garden of the Gods. For me I love to do up the big traditional dinners, but when the girls can't be there, it just leaves the 3 of us, and knowing that they are right down the road can can't be there with us, just seems to take a lot of the fun out of
it all. So instead we drove to a national park here about an hour south of us. The weather at the house was
perfect...sunny and no wind which made the 41 degrees perfect weather to go walking around and enjoy the picnic I had packed for us. Unfortunatly though the further south we drove, the cloudier it became. By the time we got to the Garden of the 
Gods it had dropped 10 degrees outside, but that lack of sun didn't take away any of the beauty of the area. It is so amazing the majestical beauty of Mother Nature. These rocks are huge and stunning 
what has happened to them from the wind and weather. They have a driving path to take you around the main part of the park,
but there are also lots of paths to take as well. We had the dogs with us, and since it was snowing and muddy we opted to just take that one trail that was paved. It took us past some amazing rock formations, to include one that they 
call "Kissing Camels". It was a nice
walk around the area, except for Teddy. Lincoln is old and pretty calm on the leash, however Teddy being the little dog that he is has a strong
case of Napoleon Syndrom. It doesn't matter how big the dog is, Teddy thinks that he can take them on. So everytime we passed another dog we would have to fight with him to behave.
Good thing he is only like 14 pounds!!! After our walk around we decieded that while the weather was warming up a bit as the sun started to come out, everything was wet. So we drove back home to have our picnic in the living room, 
of ham sandwiches, potatoe salad and apples. We also had some Blood Orange Italian Soda to wash it all down with.
It was dry and we had the fire going for effect. I do think that I'm going to turn this into a tradition for the family. I can't think of anything better then an Easter
hike and picnic, I can only hope that next year is a bit warmer! 
Later that day Tim went
out front with Scott and Michaela to play catch. The sun was shining and it was perfect out for them. 
So all in all I would have to say that it was a fabulous day for us!!! And we will absolutly be going back to
the Garden of the Gods again on a warmer day, and probably with out the dogs next time to be able to explore a bit more.
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