Spring Break Part One: From Massachusetts to Maryland to Ohio

Here in Massachusetts we get a Winter Break and a Spring Break, otherwise known as February Vacation and April Vacation.  This year's time off started with Good Friday,  included Easter and then the week after was April vacation.... so an extra long Spring Break it was!  Yay!  We took advantage of the extra days and planned a road trip to spend Easter with our college boy at Franciscan University, see Phil's side of the family in Maryland/Pennsylvania, and also have some family fun in Virginia.  On Good Friday, we left Massachusetts at 4 am and arrived at Phil's parents' beautiful 9 acre homestead by noon.  Phil's sister Diana and husband Ryan and three kiddos (one in utero) hung out with us for a bit and Maggie got some much needed girl-cousin/babysitting time.  Oh to be fourteen again :)

We also met our newest niece, Petra, and I have no photo evidence of it!  Mea culpa!  She's as adorable as you can imagine and her parents (Phil's sister Erin and husband Sean) seem to be enjoying becoming a mom and dad for the first time.  So special!  On Holy Saturday, Nana and Gramps woke up to color eggs with the youngest crew:

And then we drove off to Steubenville, OH to see John-Paul at Franciscan University!!  Can you tell this mom of a first-year college kid was verrrrrry excited to smoosh her son's face (and meet his nice girlfriend)??

Say it with me..."Awwwwww!"

JP and Grace gave us a tour around campus.  Phil and I both went to college at Franciscan, but there were so many new things to see since we graduated twenty (20!!!!!!) years ago.  Like this huge turf field:

And the gym that is now named after Phil's sister's husband's grandfather (did you keep up?) who was the basketball coach there.  It was decorated for Easter Mass since the chapel would not have fit everyone.

Our Declan Kolbe was excited to see a dorm named after him...

We got in lots of steps up and down the hills on campus...

Playing pool in Grace's dorm:

And hanging out, acting like college kids do :). The MA Easter bunny brought Krypto and some candy for the college kids so we played a few rounds of that.

Andrew (17) and Eamon (15) attended the Vigil Mass on campus with JP and Grace and their cousins, Megan and Bridget (also Franciscan students) but the rest of us decided to attend the morning Mass on Easter Sunday because we just.couldn't.hang.for.the.8:30.three.hour.long.Vigil.  There was also a Resurrection Party afterwards which lasted well into the night.  Oh to be young again!  

On Sunday morning, we went to breakfast in the hotel and then back to the room to find that the Easter Bunny Came all the way to Ohio!

We attended a beautiful Mass (I miss Franciscan's music where everybody sings and praises the Lord!) and then snagged a random student to take our family photo.  Turns out she wasn't super random as JP knew her.  Love that smallish campus feeling ;)

Time for Easter dinner at Buca di Beppo!  First time and probably last time going there, but it was fun!

Cheers after a long Lent and even longer 90 Day Exodus and Magnify!!

Back to the hotel for a family swim before our last sleep in Steubenville, OH.  

Next up....Pennsylvania to see the cousins :)