Easter

We spent Easter morning at Mimi and Pop's church in Florida. The kids enjoyed going to "kid church" and Avery ventured to the nursery. You see, their church, though lovely and welcoming, isn't really the type you bring a 13month old too. I didn't think she'd last long in their nursery and Avery proved me right. About 1/2 way through, they buzzed me to come get her. She had been crying almost the entire time. This is new territory for me. Macie, Chase and Owen NEVER cried when I left them. They have always been very gregarious and ready to head into the world with anyone at anytime. At times, this is not always a good thing(like when you are trying to explain the concept of stranger danger!) but for the most part it is a blessing. Avery is different. She is always happy and friendly but does not take well to being left in strange places, or even unstrange places for that matter. I have tried time and again to leave her in our church nursery only to have them apologetically bring her to me part way through. I have tried to get into the routine of the gym but she won't have it. On the rare occasion she has made it through my workout, it has been when her siblings were in there with her. She will stay with my good friend Margaret who gets her girl fix so that I can attend a school event or get my hair colored. Anyway, once I picked her up, she was fine. All smiles for me.

After church we went to Steak and Shake. Not exactly Easter dinner fare but it hit the spot. We headed home to put Avery down for a nap. Pop is not a beach kind of guy so I asked him if he would listen for her while we went with the "big kids" to the beach. He was more than happy to get in a nap too while she slept. We hadn't been gone 5 minutes when she woke up. He said he let her talk a little while and then went and got her. They played and walked around and had snacks. He even changed a poopy diaper!! He said he could see her get an idea of where she thought we were in her head. She'd go in that direction, when she didn't find us, she'd just move on to something else. Finally, they headed outside which is where they were when we came home. She was quite pleased to see us but not upset. I think that time alone with Pop did them both some good.

We enjoyed our last day at the beach. The kids swam in the ocean and dug in the sand until it was time to head home. We went home where Mimi fixed a real Easter dinner. We packed our bags and hit the hay early for our flight the next morning.

Other than a very rude gate attendant, our flight home was uneventful. We were exhausted after getting up at 5:30 and having a 3 hour layover in Cincinnati. The Gateway Arch was a welcome sight from the window of our airplane. It's always good to go on vacation, but there really is no place like home!