Our Unconvntional Easter

Conventional Easter, to me, means a couple of things: A. My family is together for typical Easter morning with baskets and candy. B. We attend Graham's family's annual Easter gathering complete with 13 children, egg hunt, and lots of homemade food. This year, my anticipation of Easter was bittersweet, mostly bitter, but a little sweet as I anxiously look forward to celebratory candy/egg hunt holidays like the next guy. Both of my ideas of a conventional Easter were thrown out of the window; Graham was out of town working and we were 900 miles away from the annual family gathering. Aside from my grief, I was determined to make this day special for my babies; each day is what you make of it!  So I decided that the kids and I would go enjoy creation and adventure together in Rocky Mountain National Park. We also had an impromptu Easter Egg Hunt and BBQ with some new-found friends, which was a nice surprise and gave me the sense of togetherness I like about Easter.

Let the egg hunting begin! My friend, Sina, really knows how to put on an egg hunt with 30 minutes notice!

The girls and their new friend checking out Easter loot.

Our view during the drive up to RMNP...does the sky get any bluer?!?! The kids were all asleep, so I got to enjoy some good tunes, spectacular views, and a little self reflection.

Being new to the area, we didn't get the memo that while it's 70 degrees and sunny in Longmont, (only 25 miles from RMNP) there is still a foot of snow on the trails. We were the only people in tennis shoes, while everyone else was snow shoeing or wearing waterproof boots. Our hike was short and sweet and ended with 8 wet, squeaky shoes.

Eating snow is part of all hikes, right?

After a bittersweet anticipation, I was pleasantly surprised with a beautiful day of new traditions!