Easter 2011

Although April 2011 was the rainiest April in the history books and the La Nina winter dragged on and on and on, the Saturday before Easter was absolutely beautiful, sunny and even warm enough for short sleeves! Mom took Harrison to the community Easter Egg Hunt held at the local high school about a half mile from our home. By the time we parked and walked for what seemed like forever to the fields, we arrived about 2 minutes after the egg hunt for toddler started and there was not an egg left in the field, try as we might to look for one. Luckily a guy asked if my little dud had found and egg and when I shook my head, he pulled one out of his pocket and dropped it behind Harrison's feet so he got to "find" it. When he found the chocolate kiss inside he knew this plastic egg business was definitely his style!

Our friends the Smiths lagged a little further behind since they had a toddler and newborn and completely missed out. We waited around another 20 minutes for the "older" kid hunt, with Amelie and Harrison pressed right up against the thin plastic ribbon the cordoning off the field. We watched as teenage volunteers from a local church distributed 6 giant black garbage bags worth of eggs throughout the field and I explained to Harrison that they were the Easter Bunny's helpers. Harrison, along with a couple of kids, jumped the lines here and there and tried to grab eggs nearby, but his joy-kill-mother made him put it back and pleaded with him to wait, wait, wait.

Since our kids missed out during round one, Brigitte and I stood with our legs set a little wider than usual, our toddlers poised  in between and when the count down to the hunt reached zero, instead of letting them get the egg nearest to them (and risk death-by-egg-hunter-trampling), we grabbed them under the armpits and ran straight to the center of the field, dropped them and yelled (nicely but firmly) "eggs, eggs!!" They each managed to get about 4 or 5 before the swarms descended and suddenly the field was barren again. I think that earned us our "Easter Egg Hunt" merit badges for Motherhood.

After nap time, dad wanted a hair cut so we drove to Kirkland. Harrison and mom grabbed some "special milk" (2% milk with a half pump of sugar free vanilla syrup) and strolled down to the beach. Mom sipped her iced latte while Harrison threw rocks into the bay with the other kids.

 

The next morning we put on our Sunday best to meet Michael's family at church. Harrison got a new linen khaki colored suit with a spring green striped button down shirt. Dad pulled out a sport coat and mom slipped on a skirt and heels.Yep, we pulled out all the stops. 

If you visit my blog to get your Harrison photo fix then you may have noticed that there is not a physical photo of the family scene described above. That would be because Harrison puked in the car 5 minutes from church. Twice. Right at the freeway interchange so there was nowhere to pull off. Happily he was not sick, he just had a mean cough and a weak stomach. After marinating in his vomit for 5 minutes, he wasn't really in the best shape to go to church but we thought we should stop in and at least show our faces so I reached into the diaper bag for the spare set of clothes we always keep handy. Evidently I was too quick to pack the bag that morning because I grabbed an orange pair of cargo pants and an orange and gray dinosaur shirt which separately are cute but together we would basically be hauling an odoriferous prison convict into a church stuffed with 500 people. We elected not to go.

Instead we went to grandmama's house, watched some cartoons and washed his clothes while the rest of the family communed with god. Upon their return we enjoyed an Easter brunch followed by an Easter egg hunt. All the plastic eggs were filled with M & Ms and jelly beans and while Harrison had never eaten these things he instantly knew they were his friends. When asked to share he kindly distributed one little candy to each family member, on person at a time. This was a ploy on mom's part because he wouldn't eat one himself until everyone else was served, slowing down the sugarization of my child.

After returning home for a nap, we went to Aunt Shivonne and Uncle John's house for Easter dinner with the family where we had, wait for it, another Easter egg hunt. These eggs were supplied by mom and were filled with organic graham bunny crackers and organic bunny fruit snacks as well as Toy Story stickers, because I like to think I still have some modicum of control over what my kid eats.

Easter Bunny Mommy stuffed his basket with new books and a bunny themed Mr. Potato Head. My cousin Terra and her kids US Mailed two plastic eggs filled with goodies for Harrison which you can see in the left basket (notice the stamps and labels on them, pretty cool!). Popo also sent over some toys and clothes in the basket to the left. What a spoiled kiddo!