And it's not that we didn't miss our families in Massachusetts. We miss them every. single. day. Painfully!
But doing an annual Easter tour to visit all our favorite people in different locations with three small kids in tow, all dressed up and high on sugar, and getting piled high with more and more sugar all day, eventually leading to a crash of epic proportions, usually while sitting in traffic, or worse, while at a Nana's house trying to eat dinner, or worsest, while trying to put them to bed. Can I get an "Amen"?
So this Easter I won't lie, we defiinitely had the urge to sit around in our pajamas and eat jelly beans all day. But this really awesome guy named Jesus died for us? To gain us eternal life? Even though we're pretty much completely unworthy, even on our best day? So we needed to get off our behinds and get ourselves to church to celebrate Him on this holiest of holy days.
We went to mass at St. Raphael's, which is probably going to be our new church. More on that later.
And since we were all dressed up and hungry, we decided to go hang out downtown in our Easter finery and wait for our 1:30 brunch reservation at Sullivan's Steakhouse. It's an awesome restaurant, but more importantly, it's brunch was cooked to order, which meant we could go safely with Ben and his nut allergies and didn't have to worry about a giant brunch buffet where he could grab a pecan sticky bun and inadvertently murder himself.
Downtown Naperville is so beautiful! It's settled on the DuPage River with quaint shops and restaurants, parks and gardens and wildlife - it's one of the most special things about this place. That we can live in total suburban bliss in one end of Naperville, but within 15 minutes can be in a really lovely, vibrant, historic downtown.
It was overcast, but not frigid, so we decided to take a stroll along the river
This is the Naperville Carillion Tower. It's a big deal around here.
We got to peek at Centennial Beach getting filled with water. It's an old, double-quarry that the city turned into a legitimate beach. I never imagined it was this deep - nearly 20 feet in some spots!
That's a lotta wotah! (that was my best Boston accent for you there).
They made a bunch of improvements to the bath house this year and we can't wait to check it all out!
There were so many little spots to enjoy.
Time to stop and smell the roses, er, tulips!
Sculptures and other interesting things to marvel at
And the river and all the geese and ducks to see.
This is a map of Naperville built into the sidewalk. We looked for our neighborhood, but it wasn't even built when the map was installed!
Even with the crummy weather we've had lately, it's nice to see that Spring won't be deterred!
Our Easter river-walk along the Riverwalk was a smashing success and I have a
feeling we'll be repeating the same new tradition next year.
And in case you were wondering, guests are welcome!!
1 comment:
It looks like a lovely day. I'm so glad you could go at your own pace and establish some of your own family traditions.
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