Easter 2011

We had a great Easter weekend! Saturday we went to church with some neighbors, friends, grandma/grandpa far-far, and grandma closer. Saturday night we went to the Balls for a fun family dinner. The boys had a blast playing baseball. Sunday AM was spent volunteering at church - this has become a family tradition in our house. It is fun to be part of the energy of Easter services. The boys had a great time searching the house for Easter eggs and opening their baskets. Carter got Wii Wipeout and Logan got a pair of RollerBlades - they are growing up too fast.

Join us for Easter at Hosanna!

Easter is a magical season. All are friends and family are invited to join us for Easter services at Hosanna! We will be going to the 2pm service on Saturday - they expect 18,000-22,000 people over the course of the weekend. AMAZING! After the service there is an Easter egg hunt for the kids.

Palm Sunday was unbelievable and I anticipate Easter services to be equally impacting.

Happy 4th Birthday Carter

Carter celebrated his 4th birthday with his first "friends birthday party" at McDonalds. Eleven of his friends from daycare and the neighborhood spent 90 minutes running around like crazy in the McDonald's playland.

Video of the kids singing Happy Birthday Carter!

Just like Uncle Jason

Sometime back around Christmas Logan asked to start playing chess. He got a chess set from the Walks and joined the Lake Marion chess club this spring. This weekend he played in his first tournament - we had no idea what to expect. There were 18 1st graders and he came in 5th place! He was so excited to get a trophy. He was even more excited b/c Lake Marion got the 2nd place team trophy out of 23 elementary schools. The trophy has a place for their picture and it will go in the trophy case at school. Logan's great buddy Zach (vikings jersey) is unbelievable! He has played the last 2 Twin Cities tournaments and has not lost a match yet (12 straight wins). Zach is a great role model for Logan - he is an incredible student and great athlete. It has helped Logan try harder and harder "to be like Zach." Sometimes peer pressure is a good thing.

10 Days of Paradise

We just returned from 10 days/9 nights of Paradise sailing around the Southern Caribbean - now it is back to reality: 10 loads of laundry and 9 sleepless nights catching up on work email. Summary of our adventure:

• Flights were uneventful and all connections made. Shawn and Logan enjoyed 1st class on (3) of the (4) segments - one of the minor perks of flying too much!


• Visited Puerto Rico, St Thomas, Barbados, St Lucia, St Kitts and St Maarten


• Weather was amazing all week: 85-95 and sunny


• Spent most of the days lounging on the beach or sipping frozen adult beverages by the pool


• Logan's highlight was going down the water slide at the San Juan Marriott 112 times - not an exaggeration....he went up/down constantly for 4+ hours. The security guard just laughed at him!


• We thought Carter would love the kids camp on the ship and Logan would be hesitant to participate. Instead, Logan was in heaven with his independence. He stayed up past us dancing in the clubs, winning trophies in the mini golf tournaments, playing Wii and xBox, and doing whatever else 6-11 year old boys and girls do without their parents. Carter went a couple of times to the 2-5 year old camp but preferred to stay with us.


• Carter's highlight was sitting in the hot tub and watching movies on the outdoor theater screen above the pool. He also loved eating free ice cream for b'fast, lunch and dinner


• Logan also enjoyed the giant size chess board on the pool deck. He challenged several older kids and actually won! He plays in his first chess tournament this Saturday.

Unfortunately we forgot our camera. We purchased a disposal one and will scan some snapshots once we get the pictures developed this weekend. We did pose for several family photos on the ship and purchased numerous images - they make it so easy since you are already dressed up for dinner - of course they also make it easy to impact your wallet. Here are a few of the photos we purchased on the ship.