One of the differences between living in NYC and living in the South – we are always out of school for something. There are the Jewish holidays. There are the Muslim holidays. There are the Christian holidays. There are the national holidays. There is Winter Break (right after Christmas). There is Presidents Day break (a week). There is Spring Break (which always coincides with Passover since we live in a heavily Jewish area). Seriously, so many breaks!

For Spring Break, we thought about traveling to Washington, DC. We thought about traveling to Philly. We thought about visiting an indoor water park or going skiing. We thought about traveling to Boston. But, what happens when NYC is huge and ALL the schools are on Spring Break and you have to pay for a rental car and housing for a family of 6? Prices to do things are INSANE! It was a little more than we wanted to spend, so we ended up staying here and making the most of our “staycation”.

We attended an Easter Egg Hunt that our church held in a nearby park – there was face painting, there were games, there were pictures with the Easter Bunny, there was an egg hunt, and there were SO MANY PEOPLE. They use it as a chance to love on our community, to invite them to church, and to share the Gospel with them in a big group setting. They did a great job of organizing everything and have lots of volunteers, but what happens when you get tons and tons of people, lots of them not speaking English, and you put eggs on the ground? Yes, a stampede. Thankfully, by the time the older kids got to do their “egg hunt” (Kinsley was super confused about why the eggs weren’t hidden), they had the kinks worked out and the kids actually got to pick up some eggs.

I will have to say that the highlight of the day was hearing Ed tell a story about a lady asking him if you could eat the eggs. He explained to her that “No, they are plastic and you can’t eat them.” and she proceeded to tell him how much better the egg hunt would be if you could actually eat them. File that away as “Things I haven’t heard asked until I moved to NYC.”

We spent time the week before Easter doing the resurrection eggs and talking about the reason for Easter, we helped Kinsley “learn to sew” using a kit she got for her birthday, and we dyed eggs (which is quite fun with 3 eager kiddos and 1 more who has now learned to climb on the table ALL BY HERSELF!). Their Easter baskets are well traveled – they literally are combined of things we bought here, things we bought on Amazon, and items we both (in separate trips) and my mom brought back from The Dollar Tree in SC and NC in our carry-on luggage. There are no true $1 stores in NYC (or things close to that price!), so we save money where we can :).

Check out our Sunday best! I could seriously eat them up…adore them! Nevermind the food in Brynn’s hand, there was no way to get her to let me have it and get a decent picture, so, food it is.

One day on our break, we traveled into the city and went to Barnes and Noble and then the Kelloggs store. At the Kelloggs store, you get to fill a bowl with cereal and then top with as many toppings as you like that will fit in the bowl. Mind you, these aren’t traditional cereal toppings but more like what you find at an ice cream bar. The kids loved it and also enjoyed lounging in the hammocks they had at the front.

We had a few fun play dates with newer friends, went to the library, watched the snow (again!!) and went to the zoo with friends.

They are all smiling in that pic, but let me tell you, the end of that trip around lunchtime, it all went south. Brynn started throwing a fit, Emerson started throwing a fit and talking back to me super bad, and I was DONE. People were staring, I was losing it, Brynn was laying in the dirt screaming because she was wriggling out of the stroller and wouldn’t stand or sit or stay in my arms, and my other kids were nowhere in sight. Our sweet friend gave us a ride home as I shared with her “We have to leave now…I just can’t do it with 2 acting out…you can stay but we have to go.” See, it doesn’t always go smooth when we do fun things out and about….just ask Hannah 🙂

And how fun is this? We had a playdate with a family we met at the park. We found out that they moved their entire family (3 kids) from the South because the Lord gripped their heart with how much NYC needs to know Jesus and how influential it is (less than 3% Christian and all the nations are here) – just like us! When they lived in Alabama, they attended David Platt’s church and a girl named Whitney taught their daughter’s Sunday school class for a few years. Whitney was a girl I discipled for a few years in Kentucky at Transylvania University. Talk about connecting the dots and it being a small world. So thankful for how the Lord is providing community and fellowship in the most unlikely ways.

And one more thing – do yourself a favor and check out this adorable video I posted on our YouTube channel – it is of Brynn dancing. This girl starts moving EVERY TIME any music turns on (ice cream truck, a toy, a cell phone ring, you name it) and it. is. adorable.