Happy Easter!

Just a quick post coming to y'all from Marietta, GA to say Happy Easter! I hope everyone had a happy holiday (for those who celebrate) or a great day anyway (for those who do not).

The vacation is going well. My flight out here last Thursday left SFO at 6:15am. And I am NOT a morning person! (Also, I have an irrational fear of getting lost in San Francisco.) So, my friend Christyn graciously allowed me to spend the night at her place on Wednesday night, so I could get up (before God) on Thursday morning to catch the nearby airporter (there isn't one by my house). We found out that there is a 72 hour parking limit at the hotel where the airporter picks up patrons, so my pregnant friend Christyn offered to let me leave my car in their parking spot and drove me to the hotel at 2:30am!!! She may be crazy, but she's awesome! (Yay Christyn! Thank you!) Anyway, I had the pickup time wrong - I thought the airporter to SFO came by at 3am, but it was actually 3:15am, so I was actually about a half hour early for it. But I wasn't the only one.

I made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. And I so love the online check-in option. I may never wait to get to the airport to check in again! The flight was fine, a tiny bit of turbulence, but really almost nothing. I managed to get a few uncomfortable hours of sleep in (to supplement the 3 I'd gotten before waking up at 2am) and a good bit of reading. I was ready to drop by 7pm EST. That's pretty sad, considering it's only 4pm at home. I toughed it out until later though, so I acclimated to the time change pretty well.

The main reason for this trip was to attend my Godson's Christening, which was celebrated at the Easter Vigil yesterday. He was the most animated child at the baptismal font (and in a happy manner - no screaming or fits, though he did seem confused about the onslaught of water over his head.) After the priest handed him back to his mother, he was all smiles and clapping and "yay!" It was just the cutest thing ever. (Though it was about a 2 hour mass...and more singing than I've ever experienced...and normally I enjoy the singing part of masses...but this was something else... I no longer believe that Catholics have the market cornered on tonedeaf singers. The choir, when they sang, were actually good. The deacon, who sang the initial, incredibly long psalm, was abominable. I was literally cringing through half of it, because of the notes emanating from the pulpit.) Even though it wasn't a Catholic mass, I decided that it counted towards my obligatory Easter service. Also, I think it may have partially served as penance. The actual priest was very good though, and aside from the overabundance of "music," it was a very nice, positive service. They had a small reception afterwards for the families of the baptismal candidates, which a few of us attended. (My friend Dan took the 5year old twins home and put them to bed - it was already 9 by the time the mass was completed.)

Today, we colored eggs with the twins in the morning and them had them open their Easter baskets. Ian and Megan were enjoying their new toys and I ended up reading about 4 books (that Kerri gave them as gifts) to them before lunch was ready. This afternoon, we all (5 adults, 3 kids) went to the Georgia Aquarium, which was really cool. I'll have pictures later, but I won't remember what they're of (aside from the basic fish, whale, shark, child, etc.). The beluga whales were really showing off while we were there. Very interactive animals. The tropical fish display was also pretty awesome - I always like those. The colors are just amazing. And, the twins did remarkably well, considering how busy it was there and how chaotic things get in that kind of setting.

Tomorrow, the twins are back in school, and Dan is back at work, so the girls and the Godson will be off to other adventures. (We haven't figured out what those will be yet.)

And by the way - never trust the weather forecast. Before packing for my trip, I had consulted The Weather Channel, which assured me that it would be in the 60's and 70's during my stay in Marietta. Well, it's been in the 40's and 50's, and my wardrobe is somewhat lacking in the warmth area! In fact, Lilibet, her sister Roz, Kerri and I all ended up shopping for clothes yesterday afternoon before the baptism because none of us had anything appropriate to wear that would be warm enough. (Lilibet, who is the one we're visiting, just didn't have anything dressy enough yet.)

I guess that wasn't such a quick post after all. Off to bed for me!