Happy Easter!

He is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

We celebrated this Easter Sunday in Valparaiso and Crown Point. What better way to start Spring Break than by spending Easter Sunday with family?

On Friday, after my dad got home from work, we hopped in the van and headed to Valpo. At first, the beautiful, warm weather seemed like a good thing, but try spending 2 hours in a cramped van with no air conditioning! We were all thankful when we pulled into my grandparent's driveway.

After spending a few hours playing with our cousin Sarah (in this instance, "playing" means sitting upstairs talking), we went to Immanuel for the Good Friday church service.

As always, it was very sad and mournful. 8th graders from Immanuel read the entire passion story, and the beautiful choir sang the haunting Lenten melodies as the church lights slowly dimmed. By the end of the service, it was completely black inside the church. The congregation left in silence, reflecting on the great sacrifice Christ made for us.

We then went to Crown Point to stay with my Grandma and Grandpa Maravilla. My mom watched Passion of the Christ with Ben, but I refrained from watching the horrifying, disturbing tale of Jesus' death.

On Saturday we went to my Aunt Marge's house to decorate Easter eggs. I made three colorful, creative eggs, and designated one of them to be my fighter egg (read on to find out what I mean by "fighter egg").

Finally, Easter Sunday dawned! We attended St. Paul with Aunt Marge, and sang the joyful, glorious Easter songs, listened to the pastor's sermon titled, "The Sign of Jonah", and all-around rejoiced!

After church, we returned to our grandparent's house and found our Easter baskets waiting to be opened! My gifts included candy, bubbles that were at least a foot in diameter, candy, and candy.

After playing outside with our new toys, we went to my Aunt Sue's house for a delicious Easter dinner. We also had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard (David found the most eggs, with a lot of help from yours truly). Sadly, we had to go inside for the rest of the evening due to rain.

Making the most of our confinement inside, we meandered upstairs to play Star Wars Battlefront 2. Regrettably, we were interrupted during our intense battles by my parents calling us to leave.

I wasn't too disappointed, since our next visit would be to Valpo to visit my dad's side of the family! After the quick drive, we arrived once more at my Grandma and Grandpa Speckhard's house and were greeted joyously by my cousins (save the Green Bay Speckhards), grandparents, uncles, and aunts.

We played upstairs, watched some videos on Youtube, played a game of football, and then came the main event. . . the Easter Egg Crack.

The object of this game is simple: to crack your opponent's egg. When the two eggs are tapped (alright, smashed) together, only one of the eggs will crack. The other will remain unmarked, and the person whose egg breaks is the loser.

The stakes are very high. Not only does the winner of the Egg Crack receive a revered and treasured plaque, they obtain glory and bragging rights for the whole year. It is one of the most sacred Speckhard traditions, so we create a bracket for the tournament and each family member fills it out. At the end of the tournament, my Uncle Jody figures out who had the most accurate bracket, and that person receives $15. I had my cousin James winning it all. I have learned to never pick myself winning, since I am notoriously unlucky when it comes to the Easter Egg Crack.

My first opponent was my brother Ben, who I defeated. This put me in the Elite Eight, along with my mom, my brother Jacob, my cousin James, my Uncle Jerry, my cousin Michael, my Uncle Dan, and my cousin Sarah.

My next opposition was my cousin James, who I also beat, much to my surprise. By this point I was extremely shocked and excited, because I had never come that far before.

My 3 year-old brother Jacob defeated my Uncle Jerry (who had Jacob winning the tournament in his bracket), so I had to face up against him. Much to my embarrassment, Jacob prevailed, much to the delight of Uncle Jerry (who, perhaps more than anybody, gets very worked up about the Egg Crack).

Jacob was in the championship round against. . . my - and his - mother! The whole room was cheering for Jacob, who would become the youngest person to ever win the Egg Crack. However, despite the raucous support for Jacob, my mom emerged the victor and took the plaque. This is her third time winning the Easter Egg Crack.

We said goodbye and drove back to Crown Point. After a good night's sleep and delicious pancakes in the morning, we hopped in the van yet again, picked up my cousin Gianna, and headed to Chicago to visit the Museum of Science and Industry!

On the way, we got caught in traffic numerous times, but finally my dad was able to navigate the confusing Chicago streets and find the museum. After parking in the $16 parking garage, we wandered through the maze of cars, trying to find the entrance. After about two minutes of walking, Luke asked, "How much longer do we have to walk?" We knew it would be a long day for him.

After finally getting in, we started our endeavor by exploring the new weather exhibits. We saw a 40 foot-tall demonstration of a tornado, a huge coil suspended from the ceiling that created lightning, and much more.

We then went to the anatomy and health section, which was somewhat interesting but also disgusting. My mom, of course, found it fascinating, since she is currently studying anatomy and physiology at school. I usually like learning about the human body, but not when it's portrayed on a real dead body! We soon moved to a different exhibit, much to the dismay of my mother.

My favorite part of the trip was an exhibit called "Yesterday's Main Street", which showed a typical street in the 1920's, complete with the cobblestone road. It included a shoe store (the women's shoes were horrifyingly small), a dentist's office (I can't imagine what a trip to the dentist would've been like without Novocain), an ice cream parlor, a tailor shop, and a working cinema which showed old silent movies.

Another fascinating exhibit is the "Toymaker 3000", in which you can watch a small toy be made on a huge, mechanical assembly line. My dad was particularly interested in this, since he regularly works with engineering and robots. He was even more enthralled with the real Boeing airplane, which you could walk into and learn how airplanes work.

After a great day, we headed back to Crown Point to drop Gianna off, pick up our things, say our goodbyes, and head back to Fort Wayne.

Hope you had a wonderful Easter!