I think Jesus is the Easter Bunny. And Santa Claus.

What do you get when your parents buy a minivan, your older sister comes home from England, your baby sister gets a lizard, your little sister needs to sleep and (almost) everyone's birthday happens in the spring?

An Easter weekend at Mountain Laurel Lake.

My parents booked a cabin on this bigger-than-a-pond-but-not-quite-a-lake patch of water a while ago, hoping that everyone would be able to come together and spend some QT together. Little did they know that more of us than they expected would be living under their roof, ODing on QT daily.

About 22 seconds after we arrived, Charles started fishing off the deck. And he didn't stop fishing until Sunday afternoon when the car was all loaded up and we were about to drive off. To his credit, he caught the first fish and the last fish of the weekend and increased his manliness by 86%.



Since we ladies don't like worms and cigars, we spent our time doing more ladylike things like playing cards and cooking delicious black bean burgers (Kristin's recipe) and birthday cake. My mom brought an egg dying kit so the mommies of us put on their patience hats and helped toddlers enjoy brightly colored vinegar with epic stain potential.

On the first night, we realized there was no way the babies were going to be able to sleep in the same room. Mainly because Renee kept popping up in her bed and saying, "Hi-lo" to Ben and Leiah while they were trying to sleep. So my mom and dad, you know, the people who PAID for and ARRANGED the trip, relocated from a bedroom to the loft. Betsy and I were also in the loft. On the pullout bed. Next to the prison toilet.

The prison toilet was actually a highlight of the weekend because it was the reason I laughed so hard I drooled. See, they'd put a toilet upstairs, but it was only hidden by a little screen panel so everyone could see and hear everything you might do in a bathroom. Like in prison. My mom was absolutely hilarious acting out a late night trip to the prison toilet, and I was doubled over in laughter and pain from laughter.

Another highlight was Boggle. Which is basically a game that I can add to my list of games no one can beat me at. During one round I actually came up with agile AND genius, and if you want to know how impressive that is, go get Boggle and take it on your family's Easter weekend trip.

I also recommend taking babies on your trip. Babies are freaking hilarious. Renee took her first boat ride with Dude and loved it so much that every time he'd circle in to drop her off, she'd look at me and her dad on the dock and say to Dude, "Let's go, let's go."
And Ben wasn't about to be out-funnied by Renee. After he'd made the goodnight hug-kiss rounds once, Dude asked him for an extra kiss. Well, that baby was exhausted and just couldn't summon the energy to walk over to Dude to deliver. Instead he stood on the other side of the room and blew a kiss AND a hug. And now we have a new family tradition.

During the day we took lots of walks around the lake. Well, we walked and Renee screamed and demanded someone carry her after she crossed the first bridge.


Renee was obsessed with throwing rocks in the water all weekend, an obsession I take the blame for since I showed her how to throw rocks in a puddle. We also took the babies "swimming" in the hot tub, dried off in front of the fireplace and drank beers.

On Easter the babies looked for their Easter baskets and then were sent on a hunt for eggs. Ben was faster than Renee, so Leiah kept having to sneak eggs out of his basket and drop them on the side of the road for Renee to find.

The entire weekend culminated in a pile of us on a hillside, watching the babies blow/lick bubbles, laughing at their new found addiction to jelly beans, and settling into gratitude for having so many people to love and laugh with.