Easter

Well, we finally got a vacation worth its name, and it was just gorgeous. The clouds rolled away, the sun came out, and while the water remained a chilly 5 degrees, warm air gently blew in.

Given that in Europe you automatically get a four day weekend over Easter, we rented a car and took off to explore the local beaches and countryside. We spent two days in Prerow, one in Ahrenshoop and another day in Nienhagen. The photo above is of the coast near Nienhagen. All three spots were really lovely, with pristine beaches nestled behind forests, and old fashioned thatched roofed houses in abundance.

Given that Caeden is two and is somewhat high maintenance, our days fell into a pattern pretty quickly. We got up, drove to our destination, wandered around for a little bit and found a nice restaurant, and when Caeden fell asleep, ate a gloriously relaxing lunch. Aralyn often drew or read books, while Brienna and I took turns reading. For us, or maybe myself in particular, there is almost nothing better than the combination of interesting reading material (in my case LRBs courtesy of a good friend), beer or wine, good food, and an hour or two of relatively undisturbed free time. I get positively dreamy just thinking about it.

After lunch we headed for the beach, and splashed, paddled, explored and sun bathed. Aralyn finally got rid of the circles under her eyes and almost immediately started turning brown. Caeden's fair skin mostly managed to avoid getting burnt and both children had a blast. Who wouldn't, with a whole beach to explore, sand to dig and adventures to have?