We had a fun-filled Easter weekend with the whole family, and even though we had a passing storm and a frigid cold snap afterward, we still got plenty of time outside hunting for eggs, among other things.

We had a fairly busy week leading up to Easter weekend, as well. On Monday, I dropped by the Garden Cafe to have some chicken fried steak and hear Donald Kleine talk about his work as Douglas County Attorney, including his involvement with the tragic case of Jake Gardner back in 2020. The next day, we had a line of storms pass through Omaha, which set off the tornado siren and sprinkled our lawn with tiny bits of hail, but fortunately didn’t cause much more damage (though there was plenty of lighting to go around).

I got out my bike for some quality pedaling around town in the meantime, heading by Hanscom Park one day and Trader Joe’s the next for a bottle of kosher wine, which we broke open on Maundy Thursday to have with some unleavened barley bread that I baked, just for fun. (Oy vey.) Then on Good Friday, Vivian cooked a rack of lamb for our Passover dinner, which we had with some rice made with “bitter herbs” to go along with it. Then we watched Prince of Egypt with the kids downstairs, a movie that’s quickly becoming a tradition for around Passover time every year for us.

Then on a chilly Saturday morning, we took the kids down to Stonecroft Park for an Easter Egg Hunt with Bellevue Christian Center. They each got a turn to rush onto a field to scoop up plastic eggs filled with candy, and there were a couple bounce houses that kept them occupied while they were waiting their turn (when they weren’t climbing up slides the wrong way or rolling down a hill).

That afternoon, I put The Ten Commandments on the TV for us to watch as I struggled to make some deviled eggs, which didn’t want to be peeled without getting turn to pieces. Vivian made some hot-crossed buns in the meantime, and then that evening we colored some eggs with the kids. I got some markers to go along with the dye this year, so Hannah could draw a family portrait on one of hers. I even got into the fun and made an eyeball egg.

On Easter Sunday, our kids got to find a couple baskets hidden in the house by the “Easter Bunny” before we put on our Sunday Best and headed off to church. I’d given up coffee for Lent and was quite happy to have a Cup of Joe once again instead of Postum for a change. Grammy and Pop-Pop came by with a turkey, which Vivian baked in the oven in the afternoon for our Easter Dinner, and the kids got to run around with Bella a bit before hunting for some Easter Eggs in our yard.

I put out my dish of Deviled Eggs later in the afternoon when my parents dropped by, along with Uncle Jonny, Uncle Nathan, and his girlfriend Cheryl. Vivian made Watergate and Potato Salads along with some roasted asparagus, and I carved up the turkey before dinnertime around five. It was the most people we’d ever had sitting at our dining room table, I think, and I could barely fit everyone into a single picture. Cheryl brought some cassava cake and flan for dessert, which we had with some key-lime pie Grammy made. The kids played on their iPads while I queued some Google Street View on the Raspberry Pi so Cheryl could show us her hometown in the Philippines before we called it a night.

It was a fun and busy weekend, but always a joy to have so much family under one small roof. Happy Easter, everybody!