Easter

My parents came to town for Easter weekend, and it was so great to see them!

Friday night Mike and I furiously cleaned our sty of a house. (Er, just kidding, Mom and Dad - our house always looks this great!) After getting to bed super late (for me), I awoke at 4:30am with terrible GI symptoms. Food poisoning, perhaps? Unfortunately it lasted right up until 6:45am, and at 7:15 I had to leave the house to pick up my friend Amanda. We're registered for the Get in Gear 10K on 4/24, and Saturday was the "preview run" for the course. It was pretty tough to run while semi-dehydrated and also sleep-deprived, but I made it through!

After I got home I finished some last-minute cleaning, then tried to take a nap. SomehowI was so exhausted that I wasn't able to fall asleep. (Makes no sense, I know.) Then around 2pm my parents arrived! Yay!!! We putzed around the house a bit (Mike was super excited to show off his new TV), then headed to downtown Minneapolis. We perused the shops along Nicollet Mall, including the Macy's flower show (so cool!), the fancy downtown Target with the special escalator for shopping carts, some art galleries, and a used book store. We tried to go lawn bowling at Brit's, but unfortunately it wasn't yet open for the season. Then we went to dinner at Hell's Kitchen, which turned out to be delicious (even though my mom had reservations about going to Hell the night before Easter!). After dinner we headed home to watch Star Trek before calling it a night.

In a wonderful turn of events for Lucy and Mac, I slept out on the couch (so no one else would be bothered by them). Mac was sooooo excited to have company overnight in the living room that he kept trying to get me to play with him. Another sleep-deprived day was going to be in store for me...

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early. I made a little smoothie for everyone, in order to tide us over until brunch, then we headed out to Jack and Marsha's. They made a lovely Easter brunch - so delicious!



After eating, we all headed out for a short walk around the neighborhood (we have been having such wonderful spring weather in Minnesota!), then came back to watch Hancock together. (Totally random movie choice, I know, but it was entertaining! Then my mom and Marsha and I went for another short walk before we all headed over to Mike and Mary's.

In addition to Mike's mom and stepdad, we also got to see his brother-in-law (and his family)...


... and the Holbachs (family friends).


Good times...



...and good wines ensued.



Mike has been desperately attempting to befriend his niece, Claire, and after a rocky start (see photo) they actually played catch for quite a long time! They're finally friends!


It was a successful and fun-filled weekend all around! Thanks to all our family for the wonderful fun!