Friday, April 25, 2014

Easter 2014

I know it's been pretty quiet around here lately, but it's for a good reason: we are still currently visiting family in Illinois. Since it only happens a couple times a year now, I have been trying to treasure the passing-by-in-lightening-speed time we have here. It's already been over a week and we are down to only 3 days left. I already don't want to leave.... but at least we have California sunshine and Myles' best buddy's birthday party to keep us from plummeting into a deep depression when we go back.

Now on to our Easter festivities:
(check out my recap of Myles' first Easter in his 8 Month Update)
We started our celebrating a couple weeks back with an 'Egg Scramble'. We drove about an hour to a beach front park on the bay. They had a pretty cool set-up going on there: lots of games, activities, crafts, food, and a photo opp with the Easter bunny himself! I had no plans on taking Myles to see the Easter bunny after everyone else's bad experiences I had seen floating around the internet. But when I saw him there, I had to give it a try. Luckily this bunny was super cute and nice looking. I was very impressed with this bunny suit, and so was Myles. I think it helped that he had a sucker to occupy him, but he had no problems sitting on his lap. He just kept looking at him trying to figure out what he was. He didn't even want to get up when our turn was over! First Easter bunny meet and greet: SUCCESS!
The best part of the whole day was the beach! This was the first time Myles was at an ocean beach and the awesomeness of it did not go unnoticed by him! He loved it, just like his momma does! When he first got to the water, he was asking daddy where the duckies were at(the first picture). He always does the I-don't-know hand when he asks questions. He spent most of his time discovering the beach. He found sticks and rocks to throw and his little feeties got to test out the water and sand. Eventually, he ended up with his butt in the water, so I let him go pants-less for a while (last photo). I can't wait to go back when we can stay for the whole day and actually get in the water.
After the bunny, beach, and games, we sat down for a little snack before the 'egg hunt.' It ended up being an absolutely gorgeous day with clear skies and a light breeze.
The egg hunt was more of a snack hunt, and there really was no hunting involved. The 1-2 year old area had crackers and fruit pouches, and they were just scattered around the lawn. It was still super intense though. All the parents were lined up waiting to ambush the treats and literally trampled the rope when the whistle was blown. Mark was trying to help put the rope back up and Myles took off into the sea of people. I freaked out and ran in to get him. Within 2 minutes, he walked out of the crowd with a bag of oyster crackers and a smile on his face! I don't know how he managed to get anything off of the ground with the other 40+ parents scavenging the area like it was packed with diamonds and dusted in gold! Crazy people; I'm just glad Myles got out unscathed.

Our next egg hunt was still less of a hunt, but this time we did get actual eggs! The Saturday before Easter we went to a children's museum (Discovery Center) for their Easter festival. We got there early enough to let Myles play for a while before the hunt. The tot area they have is awesome: water, trains, balls, life-sized kitchen replica, a car that can be worked on, and tons more. I'm sure Myles could spent all day there, but eventually we had to go get our egg hunt on. 

When we got there, we still had a couple minutes to wait, and Myles started getting super antsy. I let him walk around for a bit, but then he started to get really upset that he couldn't go get the eggs. By the time they were ready, Myles was over it. I tried to get him to calm down and help me pick up eggs, but he was in freak out mode. Towards the end, he did grab a couple. When we were all done, we went down by the water to open his eggs up. We got lots of goodies and Myles was finally happy again!



Later that night we took to dying our Easter eggs. This is normally my favorite Easter tradition, but with Dr. Destructo on my hands, I didn't really get to enjoy it much this year. I was able to occupy him all of 10 minutes before he decided to stick an ink pad in his mouth and proceed to freak out because I told him he couldn't chew on it! So our night ended with a scrub down in the bath and the hope that next year will go better.

Before we started trying to decorate them, I let Myles play around with his egg in a whisk. A couple weeks ago I read this post from Ashley and I thought the egg in the whisk was such a clever idea! We already dyed the eggs, but I thought it would be a good way to let him mess around with his egg and be less likely to break it. He really loved this! He was super intrigued and spent at least 5 minutes trying to figure out what was holding his egg!
 
















We did get in a little fun before operation turn Myles into a stamp ensued. He loved holding the eggs and was super excited about them; he just didn't quite get what to do with them. We tried stickers and stamps, and then he just decided to take a marker to the one I made for him. He did a pretty good job, but he got bored very quickly and only wanted to play with the ink.

Sunday morning we got up, dressed, and headed to church. My mom found this super cute suit for Myles with a bow tie! I loved the bright colors and just couldn't get over how handsome he looked. I tried to keep him in the sanctuary, but he wasn't having it! He lasted about 5 minutes before he was squirming his way around our legs to get out of the pew. So I grabbed him up and took him to play in the nursery. He wasn't familiar with the people there and wouldn't let me leave. So I spent the rest of the service watching him play with cars, go down a slide, and pretend to be a baby in a crib. 
After service we had an impromptu photo-shoot out front. It was not an easy task to get Myles to stand still for more than 5 seconds, so these are the best we got:

After church, we went out to breakfast. 
Myles wasn't interested in anything but watermelon!

 And of course, a little selfie action on the ride home! Love that big toothy grin!

After a clean up, nap, and a change of clothes, we headed to my aunts for dinner and another egg hunt! The food was super yummy; all traditional, comfort foods! From the moment he walked in the house, Myles was ready to go outside to investigate the lawn that was sprinkled with tons of eggs. When everyone was finally ready for the egg hunt, I figured Myles would be all about it. HA! I walked out there with him and all he wanted to do was wonder around the yard. He picked up one egg when we first started, then after that he just walked around trying to figure out what all the other kids were doing. After a couple minutes of that, he decided that he wanted to stick an egg through a fence hole. I told him not to push it all the way through because it would be gone forever, but of course he didn't hear a word I said... bye bye purple egg! In the end, we (I) got a good amount of eggs and candy for us to share! Myles tried a couple M&Ms and I stole a mini-snickers!

Lastly, a little post-Easter basket hat fun!

I loved reading all of your Easter recaps this week! We had a really great time celebrating this year and now I can't wait for the next holiday!

21 comments :

  1. Wow, I never thought about using a whisk to dye eggs! Great idea! Looks like Easter was awesome!

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  2. Yes, awesome idea using the whisk!! What a great Easter!! Glad it was good and great pictures!!

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  3. Looks like you had a great time. I love the beach. It's so relaxing. I went for a week but only went to the beach once which I didn't like at all. but we just couldn't due to the younger kids. great pics too.

    nightowlventing02.blogspot.com

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  4. I know! I thought what a good idea! It didn't go over very well this year because he just didn't really get it, but I think next year it will be helpful when he does more dying. Yes we definitely had a great Easter, thanks!

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  5. Thanks girl! We really did have a great one this year. It's so fun with the little guy around!

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  6. I am definitely a beach lover! I could sit there for hours.. it's just so relaxing for me. I hope Myles will like it just as much as me; it seems like he will! Thanks for stopping by!

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  7. Hi Julia! I love all your Easter pictures - especially the ones on the beach! And I love the egg in the whisk idea - definitely need to do that next year. I have been a follower of yours from nearly the beginning and now I get to nominate you for the Liebester award! :) http://sweetnessandhappiness.blogspot.com/2014/04/liebester-award-x3.html

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  8. Thanks! I brought a ton of snacks, but he did not care about them at all. Myles is an explorer so he has to check everything out. I should have known there was no chance...lol... I saw him eying the watermelon and I thought no way was I going to let him ruin his new suit! Even with a bib on I knew it was going to be a mess. It still got all over his pants though, but at least I saved the shirt!

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  9. Thanks so much! I am so lucky to have such a great follower like you! To be honest, I get down a lot about the insignificance of my blog, but I can always count on your comments and interaction to make me feel better! I am headed to read your post now! Can't wait to see what fun facts you have picked to share!

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  10. Those beach photos are the sweetest! Oh and I just love him in that little suit, too!!

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  11. Thanks! I loved taking him to the beach. If we were a little closer I would go all the time, but I think it makes it a little more special when we do get to go. I'm always loving your Instagram feed with the water and nature photos! It's the best getting them outdoors and exploring!

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  12. I love that he loved the beach! And the easter bunny is a very rare success story, he’s such a champion. AWWWWW @ “I don’t know hand!” FHDJKFH! That’s soo cute. Our easter egg hunt was crappy, no snacks or yummy fruit pouches. Just a bunch of crazy parents trying to snatch up chokable toys and hard candies (wtf). Dylan was crying because he wanted to start before he was allowed and didn’t care for the hunt at all like Myles at the Discovery egg’s hunt. I was cracking up when I read “Dr Destructo” hahah! I didn’t let Dylan help with the egg decorating because he threw the egg into the dye and it cracked. Sorry kid. Yours turned out so beautiful! I’ll have to remember the whisk idea. I am hungry for comfort foods now. You all look so beautiful! I’m glad you got to go home and have some family fun time. Much needed I’m sure!

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  13. My son has the same suit. Don't you love little boys in suits? Your Easter looks like it was pretty amazing. I love celebrating with the kiddos. We had a fun Easter too. You can check it out if you'd like: http://amominneedofadvice.blogspot.com/2014/04/no-complaints-here.html This post makes me happy. Thanks for sharing. I'm glad I found you at #mamadebloghop.

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  14. awww you boy looks had he had so much fun,lovely post.

    xx
    visiting from countdown in style linky http://www.ajulydreamer.com

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  15. Brittnei WashingtonMay 4, 2014 at 4:35 PM

    Ok so the beach picture with both of your feet is so adorable. I love when little boys where suits! They look like little men!

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  16. Thanks so much for stopping by. It really was such a great time. Holidays are so much better with children and lots of family.. the more the merrier with me!

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  17. That was my favorite picture too! I love little feet and seeing him experience the ocean for the first time was priceless! I tend to put him in clothes that make him look like an old man all the time: bow ties, sweaters, and suspenders... it's the greatest!

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  18. This was the first time I ever put him in a suit. My mom really wanted him to wear one for Easter so she found these. I picked out this one because of the bow tie. I about died when I saw it and knew Myles just had to wear it! We really did have a great time and it was so memorable. Holidays are just so much better with kids!

    Thanks for stopping by and sharing your link. I will be by to check it out!

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  19. I can't believe he was cool with the bunny either! I swear it must have been the sucker that distracted him! But hey that bunny was kinda cute. I wouldn't have minded sitting on his lap... in fact I was hoping he would have freaked out so that I would have had to sit with him in the bunny's lap. I don't know where is got that hand thing from... I'm guessing me (lol) I officially decided that egg hunts for the littles is a bad idea. Those parents are just plain ol' crazy. It's candy that you can buy at a store.. I mean it's not like there were diamonds in the eggs! Now that would be worth knocking some kids over for..jk! Our boys would be so funny together! A crazy, goofy, dramatic kind of funny :)

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  20. You're welcome, Julia. I had actually wanted to nominate you last time but I was worried that you were over the small blogger limits! I decided I wasn't going to be so worried about the "rules" this time. And I think that your blog is more significant than you think. Also, none of the nominations I got this time had the 11 random facts about yourself in the rules but if you wanted to do them I think it would be super fun to read it!!

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  21. April @ 100lbcountdownMay 8, 2014 at 7:50 PM

    So much fun and egg hunting! Myles' looks like he had a blast everywhere! An egg hunt on the beach? Never considered that at all even when we lived near it... well, now we're on the opposite coast! I love watching the pictures of him grow! Thanks for sharing with Countdown in Style!

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