Lord of the Rings Day!

Just for a little background, we call Easter "Lord of the Rings Day" around here. Why? Because we're dorks? Well, yes, we are dorks, but there is more! Every Easter for the past, let's say 5ish years, we've done a LOTR movie marathon (all extended editions, of course...a little over 11 hours!). We get a turkey breast cooking in the crock pot in the morning, and start The Fellowship of the Ring. When that's over, on to The Two Towers. By the time the turkey is done, we're about ready to eat while watching the final battles in Return of the King!
This year, we figured it would be a TAD more complicated with the little man around, but he didn't seem to mind watching at least parts of the movies! Our friend Jen came over to enjoy the day with us, and Sebastian just loves her! Of course that could be because she does amazingly fun stuff like tossing him in the air upside-down, carting him around on her shoulders, and giving him raspberries in his armpit. Jen is an auntie to three boys already, so she knows how it's done!
We watched some of Fellowship, and then had Auntie Laura and Mummo and Pappa over for brunch. After brunch we took a break from LOTR to take the dogs and the baby on a walk around the neighborhood...the weather was too gorgeous to not take advantage of it. A great time was had by all! We walked around the paths, in and out of some neighborhoods, and eventually even ended up in the parking lot of the Catholic church that's right up the street from us. We joked that we at least got close to a church on Easter!
At the end of the walk, we stopped at the park behind our house and played a little. Laura and Jen indulged their inner seven-year-olds on the swings, Ken ran with the doggies, and I pushed Sebastian in the baby swing. Mummo and Pappa sat and watched, enjoying the breeze and sunshine.
We all retreated back inside after a while, Laura, Mummo, and Pappa back to their house, and us back inside ours to watch The Two Towers! Sebastian took a nap...probably best because some of the battle scenes and orc mayhem are a tad violent for such young eyes!
About halfway through the battle of Helm's Deep, the turkey was ready and everyone came back! Uncle Tuomas joined us, too. Everyone enjoyed dinner, and we (of course) talked about politics and pirates and Tony Blair. Ok, so Tony Blair wasn't actually part of the conversation, but I mentioned him anyway because somehow he always ends up being discussed at Sahramaa holiday meals!
Sebastian even got to try some turkey, his very first meat! We shredded some small pieces on his tray and let him go to town. As you can see by his face, he wasn't terribly enthused. We ended up putting Cheerios on his tray, too, and he picked out the cereal piece by piece, trying to avoid as much turkey as possible. (Note: the next day, however, when Sebastian tried some of the leftover turkey in gravy sauce, he loved it! I guess our boy doesn't like bland stuff anymore than his Daddy!) He was too busy looking at everyone at the table to look at the food to distinguish what it was, so he kind of just squished handfuls in his little fist before deciding whether to let them fall back to the tray, or bringing them to his mouth. Hard and O-shaped? NOM! Squishy and stringy? Back on the tray! He ended up eating a bunch of turkey by accident anyway because it was stuck to his hands, so we called the experiment a success!
The evening wound to a close, and Laura was kind enough to do dishes while the rest of us chatted, and Sebastian gnawed on anything that wasn't nailed down (trivets, bottle corks, utensils, napkins, you name it!). Everyone went home, and while we didn't get to Return of the King, it was still a pretty great day. RotK is slated for this coming weekend! Lord of the Rings Day Part 2...the tradition continues!