Easter Break

For the first time ever, we weren't all together as a family on Easter.  

Several months ago, we made plans to go to Charleston, SC for the younger two's spring break.  Obviously we knew then that Morgan and Marissa would be in class and wouldn't be able to join us on our trip, but when I booked our Airbnb, I didn't even realize that the weekend that we were to leave was Easter weekend.  Then when I was looking closer at the dates and finalizing everything about two months ago, I realized that Morgan and Marissa would both be out of school for an extended weekend over Easter break and although they were excitedly talking about coming home for the weekend, I realized that we would be gone.  Honestly, it broke my heart because I love being all together and doing all of the fun Easter activities together, but it was just the way the calendar lined up this year, unfortunately.

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I still made Easter baskets for the kids, although they were much smaller this year.  Morgan and Marissa received their baskets when they were home two weeks ago and then I sent them an Easter card in the mail with a gift card enclosed for when they got back to school.  Melayna and Nolan received their Easter basket on Good Friday, right before we were getting ready to leave.

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Although I suggested that the two older kids could come home and spend Easter together, they both received invitations to spend Easter weekend with their roommates' families so they decided to do that instead.  I am so appreciative to the Walmer and Sensibaugh families for loving on my girls and taking such great care of them while we were away.

Morgan (and two other friends) went home to Bree's house for the weekend and they all went to church with Bree's parents on Easter Sunday and then spent the afternoon together.  Morgan's break was a bit shorter as she got out of class on Good Friday but had to be back in class on Monday morning.

Marissa went to Marta's house on Thursday night and she was able to stay there until Monday night as she didn't have class on Good Friday or Monday.  She also had the added treat of going to a free Post Malone concert that took place in downtown Indy on Easter Sunday as part of the Final Four Festivities.  Marta's house is just a few blocks from the downtown library and the location of the concert, so they spent most of Sunday at the concert after they finished their Easter meal.

Marissa said that they were able to watch three different artists on Sunday and although their tickets were free, it was a concert worth over $1000 based on the three performers.  She said that in all honesty, she was glad that the tickets were free though because Post Malone was actually quite "disgusting" to watch in person and unfiltered with his spitting, drinking, and foul language.  And the crowds became more and more unruly as the day went on with a fight breaking out near them right as the concert was ending.  Thankfully there was a lot of crowd control available (and snipers on the rooftops) and they made it back to the house without incident.   

Besides the concert on Sunday, Marissa was also able to spend the weekend visiting with Marta's entire family,  visiting coffee shops, thrift stores, and the local library and she just really had a nice time with Marta away from the stress of school.

Fabreezio (in the front left), is a swimming teammate from Argentina and since he wasn't able to go home for the weekend, he also came to stay at the house with Marta's brother Asher (back row).  Asher also attends IWU and has been in Marissa's friend group for two years.  They all get along really well and Marissa said they made a lot of fun memories.

Again, although I am sad that we weren't all together as a family of six, I'm so grateful that the girls had sweet friends to spend their weekends with.  

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Marissa also had her Recognition dinner for the IWU swim team last week.  It has been over a month now since her sophomore season came to a close so she said that it was nice to catch up with her teammates again.  Plus, they had great food!!  LOL

The coach didn't give out any team awards this year for some unknown reason, but the captains came together and voted and gave out awards to a couple of the team members.  Marissa received the "High Key Competitor" award.  "Marissa is a great competitor and teammate.  She is always supportive of her teammates.  And she is always ready to have fun and keep things light until it's time to lock in and then she gets really intense and definitely delivers!"

Congratulations Marissa.  You definitely deserve that award as we all know what a great teammate and competitor you truly are.  We are always proud of you!