Easter brunch @ Descanso Gardens

Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge, CA has themed events for each holiday that includes activities for children. It's also where Uwe and I were married. For both reasons we wanted to take Astrid there to spend the day strolling through the gardens. Here we are having Easter brunch in the Rose pavilion. They have Easter brunch both today and tomorrow (Easter day), but the Easter egg hunt is today only, so we decided to go today (the day before Easter).

In the above photo Astrid is making a new face. When Uwe was taking the photo he said, "Look at the face she's making." She's pulling her chin in and making a funny face. Here she is eating food from mama's plate. "I love grown up food." Here we are enjoying the flowers and sunshine.Astrid enjoying a ride on papa's shoulders. When we got to the main lawn where the Easter egg hunt was taking place every 45 minutes, we found out that we had to pay an addition fee, on top of our $75 brunch. It just didn't seem worth it since we'd be the ones picking up the plastic eggs for Astrid, and each egg just had candy inside which Astrid can't eat yet.

Next year hopefully we'll have our backyard terraced and landscaped so we can do our own Easter egg hunt for Astrid.Next we walked through the forest to Feather Falls, the garden/grotto where Uwe and I had our wedding ceremony. Our happy little nuclear family."Peek-a-boo."Uwe and Astrid standing in front of the area where our harpist played at our wedding ceremony.The same spot back in October 2001.

Yes, the harpist even played the traditional "dum dum dee dum" music as I walked down the aisle.Kisses in front of the grotto.The 3 of us are standing where Uwe and I said our vows to each other.We wrote our vows together and I remember getting into some pretty heated discussions about what was important for each of us. Now we both laugh about it because neither one of us remembers what our vows were. Isn't that how it always works? After the fact it always feels like "what was all the fuss about?" This October we'll have been married for 5 years and have a beautiful daughter together.Astrid looking like a little doll sitting on Uwe's shoulders.The same spot back in October 2001. My two adorable flower girls (Caitlin and Maya) carrying the flower baskets I made for them. I'm standing in the distance with my dad and our friend Ilona. My dad was cracking jokes and talking about sports. I had to remind him that he was about to walk me down the aisle in a few minutes and to get ready.Another shot of Uwe and Astrid standing in Feather Falls.A color photo of me walking towards the aisle on my dad's arm. I wore a floor length antique veil that was to drag on the floor behind me. I realized at the last minute that I wouldn't be able to drag my veil behind me because of the wood chips on the forest floor, so I asked our friend Ilona to hold my veil and walk behind me.

This was the first view of me in a wedding dress that Uwe had standing from his vantage point up at the front of the ceremony. He said it was so dramatic to see me in my white gown and veil, holding a bouquet of red roses.
Upside down Astrid.

Look at the expression on her face. Classic.
Mama and Astrid in front of the grotto's ferns.Sharing a giggly moment together. I can say without a doubt that my most favorite sound in the world is Astrid's laughter.Astrid pointing to a leaf.Astrid touching a leaf."What's this green skinny thing sticking up out of the ground?"Pretty as a midsummer's morn. (Lyrics from the song "Dawn" by Franki Valli.) A true Easter photo with Astrid sitting on the green lawn in front of yellow tulips holding a green plastic Easter egg.Touching the grass.Astrid didn't like sitting there alone, so I sat down next to her and Uwe got some sweet photos of us together in front of the red and yellow tulips.Both of us all smiles dressed in our Easter dresses. My mom always tells me that Astrid looks like a German baby. But here with the tulips behind her, Astrid looks like a Dutch baby.There were tons of parents there taking photos of their kids. And then there were those people with those big & long camera lenses to take close ups of the flowers. Uwe said to me, "I hope you're not like that in a few years." Obviously hinting at my shutterbug tendencies. I love my digital camera so it's doubtful I'll be switching anytime soon."HAPPY EASTER!"Initially we sat Astrid down on top of her traveling changing pad, in case the grass was wet.Fascinated by the texture of the grass.Squinting at the bright sun.Eagle-eye Astrid spots a discarded candy wrapper and crawls over to pick it up and examine it. You can spot Uwe's Bruno Magli shoe in the bottom right hand corner.At this point we determined the grass was pretty dry and it made for a cuter pic with Astrid sitting on the grass.We didn't get professional Easter photos taken of Astrid this year, but I think these photos of her sitting in front of the blooming tulips definitely made up for it.
Sitting in front of the Easter exhibit at the front entrance/exit.Where's the Easter bunny?
"Easter bunnies!"A black and white photo of Uwe and Astrid. Astrid looks like she could be a baby in a past time period.Astrid saw her first mallard duck waddle by in front of us, (just like the photo in her Discovery Einstein book) but she wasn't at all interested. But we can't say the same for the ceramic rabbits. Maybe she thinks they're real bunnies.
When Astrid is sitting on Uwe's shoulders she likes to put her head on top of his. So sweet.

We took 100 photos today and after looking at the photos when we got home, it still felt like we didn't take enough. Long gone are the days where you have 24 exposures that will have to last you the whole day, or week, and you don't know how a single one will turn out until you get the film developed. Thank goodness for digital cameras.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend!