Easter egg hunt and more

We had Tracy and Jim and their kids, Peter, Jake and Dale, as well as Lane and Kevin and Ada over for an egg hunt and Easter dinner. There was lots of big boy energy! The bigger kids were good about letting the little kids collect the easier to find eggs.

We had a good non-traditional dinner of brats and homemade cheese cake (thanks to Lane).

Dying Easter eggs

On the Saturday before Easter we died Easter eggs. Sebastian discovered for the first time that he really likes boiled eggs. Julien, on the other hand, used to like them, but not any more. Sebastian was particularly enthusiastic about egg dying.

Samurai Hat

With the help of the North High School Japanese Club, Julien made samurai hat complete with his name written in Japanese. Although he would not wear it at the festival, he wore it everyday for about two weeks at home. He put it on first thing in the morning, wore it to a friends house for dinner, wore it after bath, etc. He hasn't been wearing it lately, but he did bring it in to show and tell last week.

Flea Circus

The flea circus was really fun. This was the first time I had ever seen a flea circus. Julien was almost convinced that there were actual fleas. The guy doing the Flea Circus, Joe Lee, designed the set design for the Alice and Wonderland production I directed many years ago.

Blooming Lotus

Bloomington had a kids multi-cultural festival, Blooming Lotus, a few weeks ago. Julien was the perfect age for it and was ready to try out activities at all the booths. He even tried Buddhist monk sand painting, which was very hard to control. Sebastian had fun at first, but many of the activities were difficult for him and he got a bit worn out.

Badminton and volley ball

Grandmum thought it would be fun to play croquet, but we could not find a croquet set in any of the stores. We were, however, able to find a badminton/volleyball net. We all enjoyed playing backyard games.

A quiet moment at home

As usual there was lots of reading and snuggling. In this photo I believe Kathy is reading National Geographic to the boys. Notice Julien with his trusty Racoony.

Tired

Sebastian eventually got tired. He was not happy to be carried, but eventually he fell asleep in the carrier.

Kathy and Rick

During Kathy and Rick's visit we took another Brown County hike.

Apologize

I must apologize for being so terribly behind on posts. I will try to catch up!

Racoony

Julien used his allowance to get himself a very cute stuffed animal named Racoony. Now Julien snuggles with him daily. It is very cute.

Nature Center

We went to the nature center where they had lots of cool nature exhibits, including lots of animal skulls. We also enjoyed the view out the back.

Waterpark

The lodge had a waterpark that was new this year. It was perfect for young kids, especially Julien's age. We ran into a few families we knew, including his friend Adrian from Hoosier Courts.

Sebastian was in my arms the whole time. We went down the slide many times.

Brown County cabin

We rented a family cabin in the Brown County State Park. The cabin was perched on the hillside and there was a great path down the hill that lead to the lodge.

The boys were enjoyed watching Richard build a fire in the wood stove. Julien also brought all his stuffed animals down to watch the fire with him.

Brown County hike

We took a short, but hilly, hike in Brown county, complete with a picnic at the halfway point. Sebastian carried his bag of knights almost the entire time. Emmett took a dive off the bridge to get a refreshing drink in the creek.

Playing with Kapla and knights

Bill and Jan both helped the boys build castles and pavilians with Kapla. Hours of fun.

Little Batman

Sebastian was really into his Batman costume. He even wore it on our trip downtown. He was very proud of it. Not so much Julien who said, "I'm a little bit embarassed."