Easter and signs of Spring

The Zovad's, Van the Man's family, invited us over to their house for an Easter Egg hunt and brunch.  Kate, self-titled the Baroness, made some mimosa's, quiche and did a splendid job hiding the eggs. 

Sam is reading the proclamation of the Egg Hunt written by E.Bunny.

The table was set outside on their deck. Lovely.

Pi the wonder dog, was busy looking for eggs herself - eggs in the shape of a tennis ball.  She's slightly neurotic about tennis balls. Stanley has met his match.

Sam furiously looking for eggs.

I asked Van what he would rather find in the eggs: candy or money.  Any guesses what his answer was?
CANDY!

Kate's hat was to die for.  She always is a sport for fun.

The party continued as we moved from the Park house to the cabin for Easter dinner.  I invited my sister and her family as well as my mom.  The previous day we had taken Peter out for a 20 mile bike ride, where he rode strong like a healthy 17 year old could. (BTW, his ITP blood disorder has disappeared.  He took a pretty good tumble over his handle bars and he didn't bleed to death or bruise! Woohoo!)

Balin rode his bike to the cabin to meet Peter once again for a mountain bike ride - it is 6.5 miles from our house to the cabin with one very significant hill.  They had a great time while I took the kids, dogs and food in the car and got things ready for company.  Everyone arrived around 1, we ate a delicious dinner outside and then had the Easter Egg hunt.

As the weather turns gorgeous, 70 today, I wanted to document signs of spring in the yard at the Park House.  The garden may be small but it's packed with signs of life.

A coupe of the 500 bulbs I planted.  The vision I had in the fall didn't quite materialize as i had hoped.  When you see masses of flowers in the magazine, those are thousands of bulbs, not hundreds.

Trees budding out in fresh shades of green.

One of the 6 fruit trees in my front yard that are busting out with blooms and leaves.  This is a nectarine that I'm hoping will fruit this year or next.

Clematis that is excited about growing.

The front porch. Stock brings both color and amazing fragrance.  I'm actually surprised how good they look - I guess things like it when I remember to water them regularly. :)

New Bradford Pears that I had planted last year to flank the entrance to the house. They are so beautiful and hopefully will grow as tall as the house.

Old fashioned roses growing along the front rock wall.  I love the trellis's I had installed last year and can't wait for them to be covered in blooms!  

The front door - always has a sign of the season.

Spring is clearly here as Perrin is wearing short sleeves and is outside with her mama!

The best sign of spring, Balin weeding!  I love getting him into the garden as he loves to weed!