Extended Easter Weekend

We started our Easter weekend off with a beautiful Good Friday service at Lincoln Theatre.  A lot of music and readings from the Bible of the last supper and the crucifixion. Very theatrical in nature.  Also, just some quiet meditation and prayer time with lovely music in the background.

Saturday morning we Metro'd into the city to help set up for the Easter Eggstravaganza that National Community Church puts on for the Capitol Hill neighborhood every year.  It's in Lincoln Park, all free and it's done just to bless the community.  Easter egg hunts plus games, face painting, popcorn, cotton candy, water, and photos with the Easter bunny.  I borrowed some of NCC's photos since they were more beautiful than mine plus once things were up and running Tom & I were working the registration tables and didn't get to take any photos.  We figured we had at least 2000 guests come through!

 Originally was going to blow them up myself with my inordinate amount of hot air but we discovered a pump and that was MUCH easier.

 Our friend Mitch filled in for a few minutes while Tom acted as cameraman.

 Finished product!

 Pastor Joel with another bunny down and then the REAL bunny made an appearance.  Apparently he couldn't hold his ears up!

This is our cute friend Dave who is from England and works as a butler for the ambassador at the British Embassy.  He lives there as well with his darling wife Katy.  She is Pastor Joel's assistant and basically these two were in charge of this event.  Tom had first met him last year on a bike ride and  both Dave & Katy are very calm, even tempered and delightful.  Perfect people to put in charge!  We worked all day and helped tear down and deliver stuff back to the storage units over by the Nationals Ball Field.  Lots of work out in the sun but a beautiful day and we had a great time!

We went to the early Easter service Sunday morning and worked the Connections Table for newcomers.  They were also serving famous mini pop tarts from Ted's Bulletin just down the street.  All sorts of flavors but peanut butter/bacon?  No thank you!

Back home we packed up and drove to NYC to pick up Taylor who turned 21 on Saturday!  We also got to meet his dog Zima (Slovic for "winter") and take her along as well.  Taylor has Monday and Tuesday off so we needed to find a hotel that accepted dogs and wasn't TOO far away for a quick vacay.  My first choice is always the beach so we headed to NJ.  Close to the beach and close to Tom's sister Marie so we could see both!

 Not only was it Zima's first time at the beach but her first time in a car.  She's a city dog after all!

 Tom decided to do a little training while we had her out but the beach isn't exactly a place with few distractions!  This was a section of beach specifically for dogs.  Taylor dropped his phone somewhere a long the way and fortunately a good Samaritan found it and between phone calls we tracked each other down for a hand off.  LOVE good people!

 She got plenty dirty between the water and sand so after a Petsmart stop we headed to Marie's and gave her a good brush and bath.  Grilled some burgers and had a yummy dinner sitting out on the patio.

 We took a drive through Margate on the way back to the hotel and stopped for ice cream at this neighborhood joint.

 Cute vehicle parked in front of our hotel…...

 Tuesday after breakfast we headed to Ocean City where dogs are allowed on the beach in the off season.  The plan was not to get the dog wet and dirty again but while walking out on the rocks she fell into one of the cracks and got soaked again! So at that point we let her run free and she chased birds up and down the beach.

Wrapped up the trip by getting a bag of subs for lunch at Marie's, another bath for the dog then hitting the road for NYC mid-afternoon.  After dropping Taylor off we didn't get back home until after 10 pm. Quick getaway but great weather and a grand time.