Ockey Family Adventures: Easter Passover

We had a great Easter Passover this year, and we even tried something new. On Friday night, the night of the crucifixion, we tried to create a unique experience for our boys. We laid out blankets in the toyroom, (our "upper room") and ate a meal on the floor. We tried to choose foods that we thought might have been eaten at the time of Christ. There were dates, pomegranate seeds, several kinds of nuts, a few cheeses, and flat bread. We also had raw spinach representing bitter herbs, cucumbers because the boys will eat that, hummus, and kabobs. We turned off the lights and lit a few candles and led them in. To the boys credit, they were pretty good at trying new things, which they are usually horrible at. Mark even liked the goat's cheese. Seth would only eat 6 pieces of flat bread, and Dax really liked the nuts. It was fun to sit and talk about the final days of Christ's life and eat different foods with our hands. I'm sure a historian would point out a few holes in our re-enactment, but it gave us something special to do.

Here is our room all set up with candles and food (and lots of toys in the background).

The boys liked different things, but we were proud of them for being brave with food.

Dax loved the mushrooms and peppers on the kabobs.

Mark ate a few dates and said he liked them.

On Saturday we had three soccer games, but we still managed to get to our neighborhood's Easter Egg hunt. We didn't do rabbits at all with the boys this year, so at least they got a little bit of the pagan tradition this way. The best thing about Easter Egg hunts is that they are over five minutes after they start. They soccer games were much more fun. Seth scored two goals and his team won. Mark scored three goals, and his team won a close one. Dax scored his team's only goal and played a great second half at goalie in his team's loss.

They were so exited to hunt for eggs.

Seth set himself up right next to the green and blue eggs.

Seth filled his basket quickly.

Mark also had a very full basket.

We took home a lot of candy!

We threw in another adventure on Saturday after the soccer games before Easter Sunday. We hiked Adam's Canyon Lower Falls. This hike was easier than we thought, and we had the waterfall all to ourselves. It was a ton of fun, and everyone got a little bit wet. Some of us got a lot wet, but everyone had a smile as we hiked back to the car. We shared about this hike on our Utah's Adventure Family site, but here are some fun pictures.

Seth is the best hiker. Really!

Mark was being a little adventurous on the rocks.

Mark, Dad, and Dax crossed the river, but Seth thought the water was too cold.
Dad carried him across later because he is such a nice dad!

Dad went behind the waterfall....twice! He got soaked!

It is a beautiful waterfall, and we had a wonderful time!

I love this picture of Dax. It is a genuine, happy smile!

On Sunday morning Dad didn't have any meetings, which was nice. We let the kids have a bit of candy and a small gift. After church, we had a traditional ham dinner and Mom made cinammon rolls, which are just about everybody's favorite. Then we packed up the kids and went to the Alpine Easter Walk. This event is in Alpine, and allows you to walk into the tomb and find it empty. Our website had a ton of traffic when we posted it, and there were tons of people there. Still, it was a great experience to see the altar, the crosses, and the empty tomb.

There are three crosses set up as a reminder of the crucifixion.

Then you can walk to the empty tomb. It is such a neat feeling to think of the blessing of the resurrection.

The man who puts this all together stood outside and took a picture of every family as they came out. So kind!

Mom really didn't want to dye eggs this year, but Dad finally convinced her to put some colors together on Sunday night. She boiled just three eggs for each kid, and they dyed them before going to bed. It was a great low-key Easter, which was just we needed.