Good friends

Good Friday was a long day. We definitely sacrificed that day. We had hoped to make it to Stations of the Cross, but the 2.5 hour delay getting into the US made that not possible. We made the kids wait until after 3 to eat or play video games. They were distraught by this, but it was only ½ hour after they started asking for food. Since we were fasting, we weren’t feeling too sorry for them. We drove though more rain on our way to Cincinnati. We finally made to Abby and Matt’s house around 9, I think.
I met Abby my first year at UVA. She was in my suite. We got along pretty well from the beginning and spent all 4 years there together. We lived together 3 or the 4 years and worked at the same place. She and Dave got along great, so we all hung out together a lot. Abby is one of those friends that you just know you can count on no matter how little we keep in touch. Because of her efforts to get to DC or UVA, we do get to see each other every year or two. When we began planning our trip, getting to Cincinnati was one of those must do’s. Fortunately, it worked really well that we got to go over Easter. I was glad to spend the holiday with friends rather than in a hotel somewhere. Abby and her husband, Matt, who is amazing with my kids, graciously allowed us to stay with them for 3 nights. We completely destroyed their house, seemingly did laundry non-stop, and gave their Wii more use than is reasonable. They took it all in stride, but I’m sure they were glad when we left this morning.



It rained most of the time we were there, but we were able to get to the park to see the overflowing Ohio River and geocache a little. We had a travel bug that wanted to stay on the Eastern US. Because it had been raining pretty much our entire trip, we had not geocached yet. So, we finally found a place for it before we got too far west. But, we had to cut our park visiting short as the rain was coming back. We ate at Skyline Chili to get a taste of Cincinnati.  It was very yummy!  Saturday evening, we decorated some eggs.  Not sure Abby and Matt were ready for the amount of mess 4 kids can make decorating 3 dozen eggs.











On Easter morning, the kids needed to find their Easter baskets. That Easter bunny gets trickier and trickier every year. Rachel’s was in a pot way up on the cabinet. She found it without too much looking, though.



 Zack actually found Alex’s because he was pouting about not finding his. He fell down on the couch and noticed something under the slipcover. He checked and realized it was Alex’s. Of course, he went to give Alex some super obvious clue that led him right to it.


Zack found his next while he was eating breakfast. It was actually hidden in plain sight right from the pot rack. There were a couple pots around it, but I noticed it right away. I was surprised the kids had missed it. But, he was getting upset that he didn't know where it was.


 Matthew’s was pretty easy, but he was too busy playing ball with one of the dogs. I thought he was going to be the kid that cried over not finding their Easter basket, but Alex gave him a clue about what room it was in. After that, he found it in one of the baskets under some magazines.




Not too bad finding. In fact, it was way better than Abby and Matt. I had hidden a basket for them in one of their laundry baskets under some laundry. It took them all day and a clue from Rachel after they sneaked her a dollar to find it.

On Easter, Abby’s parents and one of her sisters and her family came for lunch. It was fun. We had an Easter egg hunt and a piñata. The kids had a great time and got lots of candy by the end of the day. It was a great weekend. My kids had a blast and did not want to leave this morning. Abby and Matt, I cannot thank you enough for opening your house to my crazy crew. We love you and can’t wait to come back and visit.