You may ask just what we think we're doing, celebrating Easter, since we are not of the church-going variety. Well, I think the Saxons were on to something with their celebration of spring and new life (it began as a celebration of the goddess Ostara - her symbol is the hare, and the colored eggs are symbols of life and fertility). There's nothing better than seeing the world come to life after sitting through too many snowstorms. Never mind the excuse to eat chocolate. Did the ancient Saxons have chocolate? I don't think so. Yay for the advent of global economies (probably wasn't as much of a 'yay' for the people growing the cocoa beans at first, but I don't want to think about the history of chocolate - I just want to eat it). Speaking of snowstorms, I came across this recently, and it gave me a good laugh:



I love snow (well, except for driving in it), but still, enough is enough. Spring tends to come later in the Rockies than the equinox would suggest. You think you're home free, and you end up getting snowed on in April. Even so, I am thrilled to see signs of spring poking their way through the soil. Brave little crocuses are already blooming, my strawberry plants are pretending it's safe to come out, and the daffodils are preparing to put on a show. Genevieve has made me smile a lot lately, with her frequent public service announcements, "Spring, Mommy! I see Spring coming up through the dirt! Do you see it, Mom? Do you see it?" I know we'll see a few snowstorms before we're really done with winter weather, but the crocuses (and Genevieve) are doing their best to encourage me.

Anyway, here are a few more pictures of the girls at Grandma Jean's house. After our egg hunt, we headed up to Red Rocks amphitheatre and park near Golden, and hiked around for a while. It was lovely. Warm, even!