Our Easter Weekend...a week later

This year, Easter was a bit different for us.  Brent's birthday fell on Easter Sunday...and we decided to go to Dallas for a long weekend: in celebration of Brent's birthday...and so Brent could complete a written  CrossFit test to complete his instructor certification.

It also turned out that my brother Michael (as seen in the picture with the fountain above) was in Dallas on business with a break for the weekend, so we were able to spend some time with him...which is always a treat!  We celebrated Brent's birthday with several delicious meals, gifts at the hotel, a bit of shopping, and tornado sirens! (Thankfully only a tornado watch...though I can't say I like being in a hotel during severe weather!)

As we were not at home, our Easter celebrations were a bit different...Easter baskets in the hotel followed by worship as a family (and with Michael) at Bethel Church.  While there, we met a family that Brent had vaguely known many years ago while in UPT at Sheppard AFB.  Small world. :)

After lunch, we took Brent to his test, and then Michael and I took the kiddos to the Dallas Arboretum.  What a beautiful place.  If we lived in Dallas, it might become an Easter tradition.  It was an overcast day, threatening rain, but the few hours we were there were perfect.  The flowers were brilliantly colored and everything seemed so green and fresh.  There was a new path around every bend to explore...and we did just that: explore.

There is currently a Fairy Tale Castles exhibit that the children loved...as well as a Beatrix Potter village (as pictured in the top and bottom collages).  The village was exquisite...each "hut" with walls completely built of potted flowers.  The hut in the foreground above was my favorite...Jemima Puddleduck is laying her eggs inside...and you can see the tail of the mischievious red fox if you look closely at the picture above.

Towards the end of the afternoon, it warmed up quite a bit...and we had a few grumpy children...who were only cheered up by water bottles and water features...they loved every fountain, the koi pond, and racing down the large grassy hill towards the lake.

I'm already looking forward to our next trip to visit Dallas...the Arboretum will be on our list again!