it was certainly a memorable easter! as our world is so in need of peace, renewal, and healing, it felt so good and right to celebrate the resurrection of jesus christ. we had a great long weekend (good friday and easter monday are public holidays in the uk) and a special easter sunday as a family. we even changed out of pajamas for a bit – had to capture that with some self-timer family photos in the garden 😉

a few photos and tidbits from easter-time on lockdown in london…

on good friday ian took the boys on a loooong walk to richmond park (he calculated that he walked seventeen miles by the time they got home!) and i had a bit of free time – such a gift! it was rejuvenating. i went on a bike ride through hyde park, down oxford street and regents street, through picadilly circus and back home via knightsbridge. it was so wild to see the usually bustling streets nearly completely empty (here more than anywhere else we’ve ventured to in the city in the past month).

 

the next day we took a family walk to green park and had a little easter egg hunt (and some “tree races”) in green park. some of london’s parks are pretty packed right now, so it can be a bit stressful to maintain social distancing, but green park is e-m-p-t-y. it’s like the countryside! the “popcorn-popping” blossoming trees that easter saturday were gorgeous and we had a great little family exercise session in nature.
 
 

when the easter bunny comes to our house, he ties a bit of yarn for each child to their doorknob. on easter morning they need to follow their yarn to find their easter basket! it’s hard to see in this picture, but we spent a bit of saturday night playing easter bunny and stringing yarn all over our living room.

after a rousing round of the song “he is risen” (we always sing this right when we wake up on easter!), the boys followed their yarns to their easter baskets and were so thrilled by a few little treats and surprises (moses is obsessed with frozen, so he couldn’t believe his luck with elsa, anna and olaf toys!).
 
we had our “family church” in our garden. it was such a beautiful sunny morning. we did a fun little easter egg hunt – inside each egg was a little item (i.e. some coins, a bit of red cloth, some nails) and a scripture, and as we opened them in order they guided us through the story of jesus’s last days and resurrection … the last egg was empty, reminding us of the empty tomb. it was such a simple thing, but i felt so much gratitude and joy in my heart as we opened that last egg together. i really believe jesus came back to life, and that brings me so much peace.
 
we went on a walk through chelsea to our favourite street in april…

…this one lined with cherry trees!

our kids were pretty hyped up on sugar so our easter walk wasn’t exactly peaceful … but it was so nice to be outside together, feeling the promise of spring and the resurrection.

on easter monday, ian took the boys to battersea park in the morning. they love finding paths in the “forrest” and looking for “trolls.” i love that ian stopped to snap a photo of this cherry blossom petal dust on the way home!
 

then it was back to work for ian! here’s the hilariously tiny makeshift “home office” he has set up in the teensy shower room that’s inside the boys’ bedroom. he is a champ and creatively has made this setup work so the kids and i have access to everything else in the flat throughout our long days of quarantine. his monitor is in the sink, and this photo is taken from the shower … he has about a 3’x3′ space in there.

while ian is working away in there, the boys and i are getting wiggles out, climbing trees and playing hide-and-seek in the garden (gosh we love this cherry tree!!!)…

 
or making crafts in the living room. here’s our second craft wall! (our third is currently half-way filled 🙂 )

i’ve recently signed up to receive daily meditations via email from richard rohr, an author, spiritual writer, and franciscan monk. i love to read these each morning – it helps me to center myself and think a little deeper than duck-duck-goose and chutes-and-ladders (and beyond coronavirus news!) for a minute. here’s one of my favourite thoughts from richard rohr lately:
“love flows unstoppably downward, around every obstacle – like water. love and water seek not the higher by place but always the lower. that’s why forgiveness is often the most powerful display of love in action.”

we were supposed to be in italy and poland over the past couple of weeks. of course we are sad that we couldn’t take this trip, and we are looking forward to traveling again one day. but i feel like i have gotten used to this different world quicker than i thought i would. there’s a lot of things i miss that i intend to really relish when things normalize. i think the chief of these may be a good yoga class – what i wouldn’t give for that right now, ha!

just before easter we were waiting with bated breath to hear news about my niece elle’s wedding. her big day was set for 21 april in the temple on oahu (where she and her fiance live), and obviously plans needed to change. she and her true love, carson, ended up getting married on 9 april with just the most immediate family watching (from a distance) at the most gorgeous spot in southern utah. my dad (elle’s grandfather) performed the ceremony. we were sooo excited to see pictures and hear details. pretty wild circumstances for a wedding, but also so very special! i’ve loved elle since the day she was born (i even got to meet her on that very day, when i was eleven years old!) and i’m so happy for her and carson. they’ll have their sealing and big wedding celebration back in hawaii in a few months. (you can see stunning pictures of their wedding on my sister (elle’s mom)’s blog here.)

as a family, we are learning a lot from this unique time, and hoping that the world generally grows in positive ways from it as well. ian and i started a google doc where we can jot down things we don’t want to forget – ways our perspectives have changed, things we intend to appreciate more when they are again part of our lives, etc.

wisteria season popped up a couple days after easter! yayyy! we will definitely route our walks/runs/bike rides past my favourite wisteria spots in london over the next couple weeks.

we bought a jogging buggy that also is a bike trailer. the boys love it … except gabriel isn’t a huge fan when moses falls asleep since there’s no barrier between their seats. ha, poor guy! we’ll figure out a solution.
 

every day our garden is a little different with blooms and blossoms and buds. the boys and i, all three of us, gasped when we came around the corner and saw all this petal dust a couple of days ago! magical.
 
gabriel only has a couple of more days to be one – his second birthday is this coming tuesday! we are excited to celebrate (sans birthday party, but maybe with some “happy birthday” singing over zoom from family and friends?). and then gabes won’t have to borrow his brother’s scooter anymore (shhhh, he’s getting his own for his birthday!!! and he will be soooo excited).
 

who knows what the next few months will look like. what a wild time to be alive!