Hoppy Easter

Mike and I moved over Easter weekend 2 years ago.  It was the first Easter I had spent without my family, and since then, we've started a little tradition of having a "kids Easter" every year.  April tends to be a busy month for the Mobleys, and while we would love to be with our family on Easter, it's hard to travel so far for just the weekend.  But our friends are our family too, and for the past three years (including this weekend), we've celebrated with "the kids".   Starting on Good Friday, New York transformed into full blown spring (which I'll talk about in my next post).  And while it was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful in Manhattan, we thought it would be even more festive to enjoy the great outdoors out in the country.  So we took a quick little drive out to one of our favorite "homes" at the Buck's house in Princeton.  

There is no shortage of activities to do out in Princeton, and the magnitude of festiveness is uncanny at the Buck's home.  Immediately upon our arrival, we found ourselves as the subjects of an Easter Egg hunt.  I've got a bit of an eagle eye, and we found all 29 eggs within an hour or so of getting to the house.  And what would Easter be without some egg decorating.  Yes, everyone participated....even the boys.  All the kids had their own personalized eggs that we created with a mix of vibrantly colored dye.  

The activities continued after we packed up an amazing spread of wine and cheese to head out to the club for some paddle tennis.  Yes, it's a funny, preppy sport played on a mini tennis court that requires minimal athletic gear, and you can enjoy a nice Malbec while you're waiting to rotate in.

The five of us played under the lights during a sunset happy hour, and I'm sorry to say that paddle tennis is probably not my forte, but that's 100% ok.  It's still fun, even if you're not that good.  Before his back surgery, Mike LOVED playing tennis, so it was nice to see him get out and have some fun again.


Chuck made everyone a delicious family dinner consisting of filet mignon, peel & eat shrimp and some grilled veggies.  And as for the after dinner activity...POKER!  For the first time ever in my life, I played poker. The crew taught me how to play Texas Hold 'em, and again....not my forte...but I'm so thrilled to have FINALLY learned how to play poker.  A few hours of wine, cigars and Johnny Walker Black Label later, it was the early hours of the morning before we even knew it.

Winston, as usually woke up Mom & Dad eager to get out into the beautiful sunshine and enjoy the day out in the country.  At 8:30am, it was a brisk morning and the sun was up in the sky, happy to be celebrating Easter Sunday.   We enjoyed our coffee on the back patio while waiting for the rest of the crew to rise and shine.  Everyone, donned in their greatest Easter pastels, loaded up on Easter mimosas, ham, and deviled eggs before an aggressive and challenging game of bocce ball around the grounds of the Buck garden.  Regardless of the fact that I got schooled by my husband, and the fact that Winston added a level of difficulty by pushing select bocce balls around the yard with his nose, nothing beats some time in the sunny great outdoors with our fabulous friends and my "little family".  And before we parted to head back to the city we grilled peeps to try a Peeps s'more recipe that I learned from Pinterest....AMAZING.  Although it seems a little violent to burn peeps...just sayin.

I always miss my parents and brother on holidays that I don't spend with them, but our friends really are a family to us too and made for an extremely festive and memorable Easter weekend.