Easter at the Land

We spent Easter weekend at our land, enjoying unseasonably warm spring weather. We did this because we aren't back to attending church services in person yet due to the pandemic. In thinking back at our favorite Easter memories, hands down our favorite was Easter in Yosemite. Although our meals were wraps and easy mac in the microwave, it was easily our best Easter ever with a modified egg hunt in our room and a day spent outdoors in the wonderful creation, hiking and enjoying nature. We wanted to capture that closeness to our faith that comes from time outdoors, so what better place than our land where we spend most of our waking hours outdoors?

Teddy really enjoys the sandbox.

We were blessed with weather that felt like summer, so that made for an enjoyable weekend. We did a few chores, some of which are actually manageable with Teddy. For example, he loves tractor rides, so he assisted Dave in tilling the land for our garden area. Other chores might take more effort with Teddy, but it's easier to entertain him at the land with Ranger rides, tractor rides and simply letting him run.

One of the bittersweet moments was what I'd call one of our last family hikes. Hiking is one of my favorite things to do, and we've managed hiking on all our vacations through the years, whether I was pregnant, we had toddlers or young children. AJ has learned to hike on his own and does quite well, as long as it's not sunny or hot, you have snacks and he can play imaginary with you. Teddy rides in his chair for the hikes where the trail allows, which isn't really hiking in my definition, but I'll take it. He's also capable of walking for short distances, but it's a challenge often to keep him heading in the right direction. He also collapses to the ground if he doesn't want to walk, which makes it challenging to get him back to his feet, or in his chair or in a backpack carrier.

This was a picture break on the hike uphill.

He's also ridden in backpack carriers since he was a baby. We're now on our third carrier for him, each larger to accommodate his growing body. He still fits in this carrier, but he's a heavy load. He also throws his weight, just for fun, and he can be downright ornery when he doesn't want to ride. That was the case on our hike this weekend, where he was constantly verbalizing unhappy sounds, flinging his weight on purpose and collapsing to the ground instead of walking when we let him down. Even though he was crabby, I still enjoyed the hike and cherished it because I know I cannot continue to carry him up and down the sides of mountains, hills and what I'd call fun trails. He's simply too big that it's not going to continue to be safe for me to carry him for anything more than short distances. That's a tough thing for me to accept, especially because I still can physically carry him (because I'm really stubborn).

The Easter bunny should have "hid" Teddy's basket on the tractor.

We enjoyed Polish sausage, bread and asparagus on the grill, along with other snacks and treats for our Easter meal, so it was an upgrade from our Yosemite meals. The boys had baskets hidden by the Easter bunny, who happened to bring Dave and I giant soaking squirt guns and much smaller ones for the boys for playing in the river this summer. 

All in all, it was a memorable and peaceful Easter. We hope your holiday celebrations were the same.