3 Houses + 2 Egg Hunts = 1 Awesome Easter

April 4, 2010

Okay, technically speaking, it was actually four houses since we began our day at my parents' place.

Somebody clearly woke up on the right side of the bed, and began rolling around, giggling, pulling his hands into his sweatshirt and wildly waving his sleeves about. He was still half-asleep so I asked him what he had just been dreaming about (I was curious since he was so jolly) and it really pisses me off that I can't download videos from my new camera onto Blogger because the ensuing moment was so hilarious: I captured him on film telling me, in the sleepiest little voice, that his dream was about being a duck -- "quack quack quack" -- and he illustrated this point further by flailing his sleeves around some more (wings?) and leaping off the bed repeatedly (flying??).

We ate breakfast and made our way over to the Strickland house for (cue drum roll) The Strickland...well, you can read the sign for yourself. Ayize scurried up the steps eagerly and rang the bell about six times before I caught up and stopped him. Guess he was just eager to get the egg hunt rolling!

He's always loved plastic eggs so Easter has quickly become a fave holiday. Today was clearly going to be no exception!

Kayla shows me her bounteous bucket.

Hooray! Ayize "finds" an egg -- finally -- and only after much prodding and assistance on the part of Kai and Kayla, tee hee.

Celebrating his find with an impromptu basket-in-hand slide.

Poster children for an Easter gang of thuggish youth who guard their egg "take" against all interlopers. "Step off, peeps! Parents, that includes you."

Believe it or not, this was his first exposure to a solid piece of milk chocolate. He eyed it suspiciously...

...gave it a try...

...and was instantly addicted.

And like all addicts, he quickly resorted to thievery to feed his addiction.

Happily ensconced in the highest part of the girls' backyard playhouse.

Taking Kai's "Girlz Rule" bike for a spin around the backyard LOL. Shortly after, his eyelids began to sag so we headed home for a nap.

While he snoozed, Grandma and Grandpa ate lunch at home, so I ran off to the new house to inspect the garden's progress, water the plants, and do a little more leaf-clearing.

Wow...so far, so good! It even looked a little greener than it had two days ago.

Lots of progress here, too.

So onwards to another section of the garden. This is a large area enclosed by a small stone path. I took a "before" picture, then got down to work clearing it of dead leaves and debris, just as I had the other section a couple days' previous.

No "after" photo because Mom and Dad called after about an hour to say that Ayize was already up and calling for me on the baby monitor. D'oh! So off I raced, and forgot to take a picture of all my hard work. Though I did get one a few days later, which will make it's way here in a future posting soon...

Washing my hands in the kitchen sink before heading home.

My North Shore Electric guys had been hard at work in the house for the past few days, and the two-week job they ultimately did was so fantastic it they truly deserves its own post. But one of the many things they did was discover this "window" in my kitchen, which truly changed the whole feel of the room.

This was my first time really noticing what a change it made (they had discovered it just Friday). I finished washing my hands and snapped a photo of the view past my tea cups, looking out into the sunroom, and beyond that, into the garden. My little slice of paradise...

Anyhow, home I scurried, and then Ayize and I headed over to my sister's place to celebrate both Easter and my parent's 44th wedding anniversary. It was actually my brother Jo Jo's birthday too, so we celebrated that as well, though sadly in his absence.

The gang's all here!

This is Ayize with his cousins: Alex is my brother's son, and Madison and Sophie, of course, are my sister's girls. I was elected chief kid-minder while the adults hid eggs later that afternoon, and this was how they behaved...for part of that time...!

Anyhow, upon our arrival, my young Picasso got to work on this holiday mural...just kidding!

And then my young Beethoven pondered which of the seven sonatas he's recently written to play for the gathered families...just kidding!

And finally, my young mountaineer scaled the Mount Everest of all bunk beds, much to my niece's great trepidation...this time, no kidding! The poor girl was really worried. I had to fetch him off the ladder before she had a coronary. "The rules say, no one under six can climb up there, Aunt Zoomi!"

Okay, I was on it. I pulled him back down to the safety of the ground, much to her relief.

Kids...ha ha ha!

Ayize cuddling in Madison's lap. It was such a sweet moment.

The kids have been beckoned by the adults below. So down the stairs they trooped, with a quick pause for a photo op, baskets in hand.

My sister always goes all-out at Easter to make it fun for the kids. This year was no exception. She filled plastic eggs with not only great treats (Ayize was thrilled to get even more chocolate eggs, yikes), but with lots of little fun toys and other neat stuff, too. Truly above and beyond. The kids had a total and absolute blast.

Ayize was so excited when he found this egg in the Dora kitchen...

"I did it!"

And he was able to open it, too. There was a little truck inside. He was thrilled to pieces!

My sister also got these great flowers and a super-tasty cake for my parents' anniversary. Yum yum...and Ayize was excited to see even more chocolate!

My biggest brother, Shishin and my lovely sister-in-law, Loredana, hung with all the wee ones on my sister's sectional.

Fruit was put out for everyone. Ayize intrepidly dragged a step stool to the counter, climbed on up, and surveyed the offerings. And a second later, it was "Don't mind if I do."

Beloved DJ, you are so missed. Whenever I see all four cousins together, I think about how things might have been, should be...

Ayize kept gifting Loredana with little "gifts" of jelly beans and other goodies.

The kids put an on-demand Thomas the Tank Engine episode on "for Ayize", although they seemed pretty into it themselves! While the designated watchee was more interested in hunting down milk chocolate treasures than anything else.

Sophie and Ayize did a whirling, twirling, wild kind of happy dance together, too cute.

Ayize got dizzy and crashed, and Sophie happened to be twirling on past. I had my camera in hand and snapped this shot at just the right moment.

Opening scene, "accidental" dropping of nickels onboard a small sightseeing ship, John Candy as a child, the movie Splash...am I the only one who sees the resemblance??

Happy Anniversary, Grandma and Grandpa!

Here's to 44 years, four kids, and a lovely photo with four grandkids!

Happy birthday, Jo!

And Happy Easter, everyone!!!