Easter Top 10

With a 4-year-old and 2-year-old, nothing can really prepare you for Easter. It is a seismic bunny blast. The 2019 standout moments are as follows:

10. Better Living Room 

On Good Friday, we decided to rearrange our living room. This conquest, led by my wife, required teamwork and dexterity. There was a lot of suspense moving the love seat. Anything could have been under there - goldfish, Swedish fish, Nemo, a real fish. No fish were found. There was a broken plastic egg and a wrapped cough drop. It looked like a chick hatched and did not follow doctor's orders, leaving the cough drop and fleeing the living room. 

9.  Friday Night Lights 

To conclude Friday, my wife fled our house to spend time with some visiting family. I stayed in the new look living room with the rugrats. I watched NBA basketball while they used the IPAD to nurture their minds. I typically do not support IPAD use for the kiddos, but it was the playoffs and I knew the weekend was going to be a gauntlet. Everyone won. 

8. Race Rabbits

On Saturday morning, we all participated in the Wings of Hope, a 5K race in Richland. This race has become a family Easter tradition. The previous two years, I ran with the stroller, pushing my oldest and wisest. This year, I was a free running man. My wife did the 5K walk and pushed the double stroller like a bunny beast. I started the race with bunny ears, but due to gale force winds, I had to abandon my hare hearing. Thanks to all the event's organizers and volunteers. Another Wings of Hope in the bunny books!

7. Playground Hop 

On the way home from the race, we stopped at Arbutus Park playground, a real gem in the Johnstown playground circuit. It has a climbing wall, monkey bars, and a bunch of obstacles to almost get hurt on. Of course, there are swings. My kids could live on swings. Earlier in the week, my 4-year-old fell asleep on a swing. I kept pushing her, not realizing she fell asleep. Then, she fell on the wood chips. Then, I got scared. Then, she just got up, made a brief whimper, and asked for help getting back on. 

That's one tough rabbit. 

6. Easter Saturday Nap 

We all got to sleep after the Arbutus park pandemonium. My kids probably dreamed about all the candy they would soon receive. I dreamed about no one giving them candy and providing funds for college. 

5. Egg Dying Party 

That sounds bad. "Egg Dying Party". The funny thing is we attended a party to dye eggs and the table was covered in newspaper. One of the sections - obituaries. Now, that really is an Egg Dying Party. 

It was actually a great experience because the decorating of eggs on Saturday night was a trip down memory lane. I reunited with neighbors who once hosted this event when I was a kid. Eggs were dyed and a tradition lives on. 

4. Easter Vigil 

My wife and I attended the Easter Vigil mass at Our Mother of Sorrows at 8:30 PM. We did not take our children because we are not lunatics. The mass starts with a fire, leads to handheld candles, and ends 2+ hours later. We almost did not survive Dumbo so our girls have to wait a few years before Easter Vigil is in their wheelhouse. 

3. Easter Mass

Before 9:30 AM mass at Saint Michael's on Easter morning, our girls were in the pew, playing with toys, creating biblical scenes. At one point, Jesus, Peter, Buzz, and Woody were together in some sort of traveling discipleship. You can get away with this at Easter morning mass. It's cute. Easter Vigil? Not so much. 

2. Easter Nap 

They both fell asleep during mass. This was the most shocking moment of Easter. Did they already have a sugar crash? What did we do right? I thanked Jesus, Peter, Buzz and Woody as I held my 4-year-old. At the end of mass, my heart was full and my arms were numb. 

1. Rabbit Yard 

We hopped from house to house on Easter and the defining moment was watching kids in the midst of Easter hysteria. In a backyard on Coon Ridge Road, it was like the children's version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Kids were wandering the yard, some talking to themselves. There was a kid climbing a tree. My oldest daughter was sitting on a large bouncy ball by a large pile of tree limbs. My youngest daughter was hunting for eggs with her hands behind her back, wearing sunglasses. It was overcast and she just wanted people to place chocolate in her mouth. There were random things to throw - oversized frisbee, football, and of course sticks. 

In the end, we made it back home. Easter exhaustion was upon us. Our living room, cleaned on Friday, was now a mess to make more memories.