Easter Egg Fun Before Palm Sunday

Our apartment's management gave the kids an early Easter treat yesterday.  Understandable, they also wanted to spend Easter with their own family and spend the holiday in their own home.  Just a little bit info of what this Easter egg tradition is:

In Christianity, the celebration of Eastertide includes Easter eggs symbolizing the empty tomb of Jesus: though an egg appears to be like the stone of a tomb, a bird hatches from it with life; similarly, the Easter egg, for Christians, is a reminder that Jesus rose from the grave, and that those who believe will also experience eternal life (source: Wikipedia).

In my country, we spend Easter going to church and remembering the life of our Lord.  Sure we heard and have known it's associated with these colorful eggs but I seldom see children with their families gathering for an Easter egg event.  But my kids loved the idea.  By the time we saw the announcement, they never stopped asking me to buy them basket for the eggs.  Well we attended it alright, and man, was I glad.  The kids enjoyed picking up eggs (just 10 eggs per kid as specified by a girl to them after she noticed their basket overflowing with eggs) and playing the games (my girl won first place in a race) while I did what the other parents were doing... eating the candies inside the egg (no kidding, nice huh... LOL!!!).

We went to church today, deciding the last minute since we woke up late (as usual).  It's Palm Sunday and we agreed to go to a church in the vicinity, St. Pius V in Pasadena.  We arrived in a noon mass (just in time) but (yup, there's a but)... the mass was in Spanish (not our first though), and we can't understand a thing.  there's nothing much we could do so, we just made the best of it and that's to pray.

After the mass, we attended the blessing of the palms.  It was just like in the Philippines where everyone's gathered outside the church and the priest reads the bible passage of Palm Sunday.  Then he blesses all palms (but unlike in our country, the palms used in the ceremony was not formed into crosses) and attendees with holy water.  However, there were various palm crosses sold in a sidewalk outside of the church where we bought one (reminds me a lot of home).

Anyway, more than the physical representations, knowing the essence of Palm Sunday should be in utmost importance.  Our Lord teaches us that we should peacefully settle any disputes or disagreements.  War should never be an option.  And with the present happenings around the world, I pray that it would be realized that there are more pros than cons if we choose peace over war.  For the children's sake.  Yahweh bless.

Strolling Along Kemah Boardwalk

Our visit to Kemah was not planned, we just decided to go there basing on the suggestion of friends who visited us.  In fact it was raining along the way going to the place, so we were just glad that it wasn't pouring when we got there.  And luckily, we got to roam around the place before the rain started again.  Kemah Boardwalk is indeed popular to both locals and tourists basing on the volume of people we saw, considering the awful weather at that time.  Why do people go there?  Well I guess, because it's a one stop amusement center.  Let me give you an idea around the place based on our visit:

Goods for sale all around.  In the entrance, we were greeted by food stalls were you can dine in their picnic area.  Place specialty... I think, that would be crawfish, since they have a festival in it's honor.  There were also memorabilia stores along the way which sells a variety of fun items for kids and tokens for your visit.

Mechanical stuffs.  Though the kids haven't tried the mini train roaming around the place, they had fun with the remote-controlled boats on a pond.  You just need to make sure you find your boat first (the boats are numbered but hard to see see from afar and confusingsing especially if all the boats are moving).  Like us, we found one of our boats, just seconds before the time expired. 

Bird feeding.  In the boardwalk, we saw people feeding seabirds.  Don't worry if you had not brought along seeds or food pellets with you, there's a dispenser along the boardwalk (it's just not free).  And one more thing, birds drop all sort of things.  Watch out, especially for the yucky ones... if you know what I mean.

Fun and extreme rides.  There were a couple of rides in the place, including those we parents don't want our children on (so we can't be on it... LOL!).  But anyway, it rained, so rides weren't an option at the time.   Maybe next time.

Prison time.  There was this old western prison cell just beneath the "Boardwalk Bullet" and along the game booths.  The kids really enjoyed taking their pictures inside it... but we really made it sure that they know there's nothing enjoyable about being in prison.

Buffet @ Lighthouse.  Speaking of saving the best for last... a buffet meal.  Glad they had an elevator, we didn't need to climb the stair having to carry the stroller of our kid.  Well, their food tasted fine.  Loved the shrimp and the fresh fruits.  Kids and wifey loved their pastries.  The coffee's too strong for me though.  And the prices were above the average.  Overall, who doesn't like eating all you can (the drinks not included by the way).

And as we thought we already had the highlight for the day, we were unexpectedly dragged in the freeway which left my heart pounding fast throughout the whole experience.  It's already dark and the rain made it even tougher.  My wife just kept on telling me to concentrate on the road, missed a couple of exit ramps... just glad we made it out in the third.  Then after we got through the dark exit ramp and highway (wondering also why it was not well-lighted).  I thank the Lord for everything, and one of those would be... reaching home safe and sound.  Yahweh bless.