Happy Easter, Happy Spring!

We had such a fun Easter weekend with my mom here. Friday afternoon we did our traditional Good Friday lunch at the Olive Garden. Saturday, we did an egg hunt at the park across the street from the Great Dane, then went over to have an absolutely delicious lunch at the pub. Later that afternoon my mom watched Kate while Dan & I saw Titanic in theaters (I was excited beyond words to see my favorite movie on the big screen again). Sunday, we went to church at the Methodist church downtown (they have amazing music), then came home, looked for our baskets, opened gifts, and then Kate took a brief nap before we went to Tracy's for a late lunch. The Easter Bunny had come to the Hines' household, too, so there was an Easter egg hunt for all three girls. Then Dan drove my mom to the airport around 4:45 in time for her 6:15 flight. All in all, the perfect Easter day.


Such a silly cheesy grin!


Waiting so patiently for the egg hunt to start


"So I need to fill this bag up with those eggs... got it."


"Hmm. The egg is in there. Now what do I do?"






Coloring with Daddy while waiting to get her face painted




"What on earth is this woman doing to me?"








Such a pretty girl in such a pretty dress!






Her basket, before she found it.








Egg hunt at Tracy's




So much more involved in the egg hunt than she was two years ago (see the next picture for proof; why, she slept through the whole thing!)


Kate two years ago, making us do all the work for her egg hunt ;)


Eating yummy berries on a cloud, courtesy of my mom




Kate loves playing with Rori


Yeah, my eyes are closed, but everyone else looks great, so oh well

The rest of Florida

All good things have to come to an end, so they say, and our Disney World vacation was no exception. However, we still enjoyed our time at the Marriott very much; my mom, Kate & Nancy spent a lot of time together during the day while I was at my forum, and my mom, Kate & I even got some pool time in before we left for the airport Wednesday afternoon.


Trying to escape the sun by hiding under a palm frond














I love this girl so, so much!




She loves the water!




Our beautiful room








"I'm just chillin' in my chair, eating some cheetos and watching Cinderella. What're you doing?"


Kate & Aunt Nan doing crafts at the Marriott






Resting at the airport before our flight

Disney World: Day Three

On Sunday we got up and headed to the Animal Kingdom, and the first thing we did was go on the Safari. Kate absolutely loved seeing all the animals, especially the elephants and rafs (giraffes). We also saw the Lion King live show (lots of dancing and music, so of course Kate loved that!) and then we did some rides (like the triceratops ride) in Dinoland. It was such an incredibly hot day, though; holy cow! Ninety-three degrees or something. Oh well, we certainly didn't mind; we were having too much fun!

Then we went to Epcot for dinner at France. Kate met Marie, the white cat from Aristocats, beforehand, and we had such a delicious dinner at the restaurant. We also got on the ride in Norway, and Kate is such a brave little soul; even though it was dark and there was "thunder/lightning", it didn't phase her in the least. Then we went back to Port Orleans and got our luggage before going to our new hotel, the Marriott (I had to stay there for my conference; it was very nice, but I would have much rather stayed at Port Orleans! For that matter, I would rather have skipped the conference altogether and just kept going to Disney, but I don't think they'd pay me for that, ha!)




On the safari






Happily clutching the new elephant souvenir my mom got her; she named her Ellie


She loved this ride; she kept saying "Up, down, up, down."






Playing the drums in Africa




I love all the creative flowers and plants in "England"




Kate & Marie


At Port Orleans waiting for our cab to the Marriott