eggs and ipads

Easter Sunday was a day to enjoy with family.  With two families and only one day (unlike the Christmas Eve/Christmas combo), Easter is always a dilemma, but this year it worked out nicely.

Dear hubby and I went to Mass at 8:30 a.m..  He had avoided the Easter Vigil because it is uncomfortable for him to sit that long, but the 8:30 Mass was packed to the rafters.  We were fortunate to find a seat! 

His family celebrated with a crawfish boil.  Many here celebrate Good Friday with all-you-can-eat crawfish boils, but that celebration just doesn't go along with the theme of the day.  Much better on Easter!   Crawfish, carrots, corn and potatoes all boiled in a well-seasoned pot, with strawberry shortcake for dessert.

My family was getting together in the late afternoon at my sister's, about an hour and a half away, so we picked up a few things at the house and headed off.  The menu was simple...sandwiches, jambalaya, chips, veggie tray, and strawberry tunnel cake (yum!). 

We still have littles in our family, but truth be told...even during the years when there were no littles, we still hunted eggs...shamelessly...for  money!

This year, there was an added attraction.  My niece turned 4 on Good Friday, and had her birthday party on Saturday.   The "fun jump" was rented for the weekend, so it got a second use on Easter.  It was enjoyed my young, not so young, and those somewhere in the middle. 

One of the neatest things, though, was sitting with my grandfather.  He will be 95 this week!  One of my cousins in North Carolina had a baby recently (that makes the 10th great-grandchild), but he said he hadn't seen any pictures.  So I pulled out my iPad, went to Facebook, and just like that had pictures of #10.  Pretty cool. 

Then my dad suggested that I see if I could find Ringing Rocks on the map app.  Ringing Rocks is the coolest place.  Located in Bucks County, PA, it is a pile of rocks...well more than a pile... a deposit of rocks, maybe...and when some of them are tapped in just the right place, they ring.  Hence the name.   

My grandfather grew up in that area, and Ringing Rocks used to be one of their party spots, when he was a teen.  He says they'd build a fire, roast hot dogs, and just have fun on Friday evenings.  Things were different, then, he says.  We went there as kids, when we would visit, and it was very impressive to kids from Lousisiana who rarely see a rock bigger than a basketball.  My own kids have been there, as well.  (See how cute and sweet they look here on our last visit?  Sniff.) 

Then we expanded the search to include nearby Milford, NJ,  (right across the river) where my dad was born.  We were able to zoom enough for them to show me the first house they lived in, the fire station, the Church (I've been there), the paper mill, etc.  It was like he was sitting in Louisiana driving down roads in New Jersey that he's known all of his life.  A cool little virtual field trip back in time about 70 - 75 years.

And so we just slowed down long enough to spend time with each other.  Maybe back in time that's how all Sundays were?  It was good!