Easter 2013

Easter 2013 surely snuck up on us being so close to St. Patrick’s Day we barely had time to take down St. Pat’s and put up Easter.  We didn’t do our usual decorating for Easter but we did more than most.  Easter although quick still turned out great and was very eventful to say the least.

Our Easter events started out with a visit with the Easter Bunny at Little Man’s favorite restaurant, Tyler’s Tender.  As many of you know we have an inside track with the Easter Bunny (pun intended) and we knew he was making a special appearance.  I raced from work to Tyler’s to find the place filling up quickly.  Jame and Hope came later with Auntie Jea Jea and got to meet the Easter Bunny who took a liking to those two.  When the Easter Bunny stopped to take a picture with them other patrons laughed as they both turned to pose for a picture.  Gee, I wonder how they learned to do that.

 

I found a cute Easter Bunny outfit for Hope and got the Roger home photo studio ready.  I changed Hope into her outfit and I’m not sure if she liked the softness of the bunny outfit or maybe it was that she had just ate or maybe it was just gas but she gave me some great smiles.  Little Man jumped in the shot a few times, I’m not sure how he does it but he does know how to pose for the camera.  I have found myself trying to pose him when he will do something completely different and it turns out to be a great shot.  I wonder if hope will develop the same talent.  If the Bunny outfit was any indication she is well on her way.

We made plans for the Dyer Easter Egg hunt.  The hunt was going to be different this year since Little Man was moving up an age group.  We met Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Rick at our favorite Mexican restaurant Chips and, we have become quite friendly with the owners.  After an accident with a hot sauce bottle, we were trying to show Jame’s rocket ship countdown He told me it was not good to use the bottle but I convinced him and he was right.  We headed to the park and Jynx took Hope back home since she was too young for the hunt, Little Man didn’t go at her age either.  Watch out next year she will be on the hunt.  We got to the park and Little Man ran to the park and started playing with all the other kids until they called for us to line up.  The one complaint I have about the hunt is how early they line us up, it’s not easy to control a three year old in front of an open field filled with candy.  The goal was to get one egg then as much candy as you can.  You could trade the egg in for a prize so I spent the long moments before the start of the hunt coaching Little Man to get an egg first.  When the siren sounded Little Man ran out in the field past several eggs and right to the first green egg he saw, green is his favorite color.  I was happy he got the egg and we traded it in for bubbles.  He had a great time grabbing candy and then he was off to the park again to play some more.

We have been in touch with Hope’s Birth-Grandmother and decided to get together with her.  We met at Chuck E Cheese’s so Little Man could run around play.  We had a great visit with her, well maybe I should say Jynx, Mimi (Jynx’s Mom) and Hope had a great visit with her while Jame and I played.  On the ride home Jynx filled me in on all the details from the visit and then asked me what I thought.  I simply told her it sounds like the kids now have a Grandma Vicki. 

 

While we were visiting with Grandma Vicki at Chuck E Cheese’s I was handed a flyer for an Easter egg drop from a helicopter.   Thought Little Man would get a big kick out of this, unfortunately the day before Little Man became ill.  The next morning Little Man was up early and back to his old self and out the door we went.  When we arrived I could not believe my eyes on how many eggs were on the ground and the number of people in attendance.  We walked around a bit and got the lay of the land, Little Man played in the park for a bit until we headed over to the rows of bounce houses they had.  Little Man had a great time bouncing while we found out there was going to be two candy drops from the helicopters and one egg hunt for the kids so it was suggested we wait for the egg hunt missing the first helicopter drop. 

As we waited by the ropes for Little Man’s age group we watched the helicopters fly over the other part of the park and drop candy.  When the horn blew for Little Man’s hunt he headed out and started to fill up his bucket that quickly became full and I started to wonder what to do with the next eggs he got when a crowd of kids came along like locust and grabbed the rest of the eggs.  I’ll have to remember next year to bring extra bags for the eggs.  We then headed over for the helicopter drop, the helicopters flew in and hovered over, Little Man’s face was simply amazed.  The helicopters then took turns dropping candy and then after the helicopters flew away the kids were allowed to run into the field.  Little Man definitely got his fill of candy.  As we headed home Little Man fell asleep after a long night of being sick and a very busy morning of egg hunts and helicopters he was not the only one who needed a nap.

When Easter morning arrived Little Man woke up quickly to the news that the Easter Bunny had come.  He got dressed in his Easter clothes and we dressed Hope in her Easter outfit.  Little Man dove into the basket finding trains cars and candy some of his favorite things.  Hope found a stuffed lamb and a teething ring.  We had to tear Little Man away from his new toys and headed off to church.  The kids were great in church, Little Man decided that his tie looked better outside of his vest rather than inside every time I tried to fix it he pulled it out again, it gave a bunch of church members a good laugh.  After church the Easter Bunny made another appearance for the church Easter egg hunt.  Little Man was now an old pro at the Easter Egg Hunt and had no problem posing for pictures with his old friend the Easter Bunny.  We quickly headed for home after church since we had a house full of people showing up.  Jame and Hope of course got way to many toys we had way to much food and we were all ready for a nap at the end of the day. 

Easter was just as great as it could have been in such a short time, maybe it was a blessing that the first holiday without Grampy Rock snuck up on us.  As great as Easter was there was an empty chair and an empty space in our hearts.  It was a joy in seeing two Easter baskets out and not that I ever want to wish time away it will be great fun and hectic next year when we have to watch two kids in two different age groups hunt for Easter Eggs.  Happy Easter.